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Who wants to swap De'Aaron for Lonzo now?!? This "future superstar" is NOT even as good as Frank Mason! His pro debut was an embarrassment! Down by 30 on their home floor against Clippers team that did not even play that well! Here's a guy who got body bumped to the floor by Patrick Beverly at half court for the whole arena and national TV audience to see and had NO response! Are you kidding me?!?! What a baby! You gotta respond when you get punked like that. Unbelievable. Just like when De'Aaron got up in his face and he timidly went into a competitive shell. Ha-ha, thank you Magic for caving to pressure and making the stupidest draft pick since Okafor over Porzingis (another one I called
).
Here's the problems with this scrub that some wanted to trade#5 and #10 pick then I am going to talk about our franchise man De'Aaron. I said this many times. This guy cannot keep his dribble in traffic. He cannot beat his man. He has bad lateral quickness. His shot is hideous. His athleticism is below average. This was the #2 pick??? Ha-ha, joke! Lakers are pathetic without a draft pick or a hope or a prayer! He's a good rebounder for a PG. So he has that going for him. The player I thought he reminded me of pre-draft oddly enough was on the floor last night. If Lonzo works hard on his game he can become as good as Austin Rivers. That's my lofty comparison for him! Austin is a better athlete. Lonzo has better court vision. But here's what I am meaning to get at: A PG should NOT be throwing the ball ahead with lead passes when teammates are not a distinct advantage. There's a reason you don't see this universally. This is what Ball does and it doesn't make sense. It puts the teammate in a position to fail. It's a mask for HIS weakness as a player who cannot create opportunity with HIS skill in the open court by drawing defenders, drawing fouls or creating for himself.
Lonzo plays hot potato with the ball. It is weakness in disguise. There's selflessness as an attribute then there's selflessness to a fault! There's a reason Chris Paul dances and dishes. There's a reason PGs are judicious and economical with their passes. They are not sharing for the sake of sharing! That may work in the NCAAs when you have more talented teammates around you and that is what I was saying for 3-4 months leading up to the draft!!!! His performance at UCLA was very deceptive to susceptible prognosticators! 3 or more times Lonzo passed the ball to Ingram where he was 1 on 2 and 1 on 3 and ended up taking a low percentage shot. You are setting up your teammate to fail!!!! This is the guy the "draft gurus" were salivating over?!?!? Give me a break.....And before you think I am jumping the gun to conclusion after one game, I don't think so. His skillset and athleticism are not to magically transform. Plus he has a bit of a target on his back because of his Dad.
The good news for Kings fans is both Ball AND Ingram look like busts, undeserving of being #2 picks. It will help Ball to have KCP as a running mate, whom he didn't have last night. That will help him and mask his many defensive deficiencies but KCP was 51% TS last year so it is not like he is a reliable offensive weapon. The only way it gets substantially better for Lonzo is if he starts making his outside shot but this is disclaimer you can grant to almost ANY player. Sure, a player is going to look good when their shots go in. But Lonzo was NOT picked #2 because of his outside shooting ability. He was picked because he was supposed to have superior talent at running a team. I think Magic made an egregious error in this assessment and this will play out over the months and season ahead.
Now onto De'Aaron vs Smith. Smith is another guy I think is overrated but he did show me NICE poise and presence and judgement in summer league. If he can make his 3s at a clip of 36% to 38% then this will be good. He's not a 40% shooter from deep but if he can be respectable it will open up driving lanes. He's not the next pre-injury Derrick Rose. He's more like a D'Angelo and that is a stretch. The last time these two went "head-to-head" De'Aaron was hurt with a bum ankle. I think he is going to want to make a statement in the context of winning the game. Winning comes first but showing this guy why you were picked a few spots ahead of him is part of the competitive motivation. Because De'Aaron missed all but a couple of pre-season games his timing and rhythm is off. No more does lack of rhythm come into play then your shooting stroke. So let's see if De'Aaron starts nailing the outside jumper as he finds his rhythm and gains increased comfort with new teammates. This is my expectation as he establishes himself as the best rookie in this class and leading ROY candidate.

Here's the problems with this scrub that some wanted to trade#5 and #10 pick then I am going to talk about our franchise man De'Aaron. I said this many times. This guy cannot keep his dribble in traffic. He cannot beat his man. He has bad lateral quickness. His shot is hideous. His athleticism is below average. This was the #2 pick??? Ha-ha, joke! Lakers are pathetic without a draft pick or a hope or a prayer! He's a good rebounder for a PG. So he has that going for him. The player I thought he reminded me of pre-draft oddly enough was on the floor last night. If Lonzo works hard on his game he can become as good as Austin Rivers. That's my lofty comparison for him! Austin is a better athlete. Lonzo has better court vision. But here's what I am meaning to get at: A PG should NOT be throwing the ball ahead with lead passes when teammates are not a distinct advantage. There's a reason you don't see this universally. This is what Ball does and it doesn't make sense. It puts the teammate in a position to fail. It's a mask for HIS weakness as a player who cannot create opportunity with HIS skill in the open court by drawing defenders, drawing fouls or creating for himself.
Lonzo plays hot potato with the ball. It is weakness in disguise. There's selflessness as an attribute then there's selflessness to a fault! There's a reason Chris Paul dances and dishes. There's a reason PGs are judicious and economical with their passes. They are not sharing for the sake of sharing! That may work in the NCAAs when you have more talented teammates around you and that is what I was saying for 3-4 months leading up to the draft!!!! His performance at UCLA was very deceptive to susceptible prognosticators! 3 or more times Lonzo passed the ball to Ingram where he was 1 on 2 and 1 on 3 and ended up taking a low percentage shot. You are setting up your teammate to fail!!!! This is the guy the "draft gurus" were salivating over?!?!? Give me a break.....And before you think I am jumping the gun to conclusion after one game, I don't think so. His skillset and athleticism are not to magically transform. Plus he has a bit of a target on his back because of his Dad.
The good news for Kings fans is both Ball AND Ingram look like busts, undeserving of being #2 picks. It will help Ball to have KCP as a running mate, whom he didn't have last night. That will help him and mask his many defensive deficiencies but KCP was 51% TS last year so it is not like he is a reliable offensive weapon. The only way it gets substantially better for Lonzo is if he starts making his outside shot but this is disclaimer you can grant to almost ANY player. Sure, a player is going to look good when their shots go in. But Lonzo was NOT picked #2 because of his outside shooting ability. He was picked because he was supposed to have superior talent at running a team. I think Magic made an egregious error in this assessment and this will play out over the months and season ahead.
Now onto De'Aaron vs Smith. Smith is another guy I think is overrated but he did show me NICE poise and presence and judgement in summer league. If he can make his 3s at a clip of 36% to 38% then this will be good. He's not a 40% shooter from deep but if he can be respectable it will open up driving lanes. He's not the next pre-injury Derrick Rose. He's more like a D'Angelo and that is a stretch. The last time these two went "head-to-head" De'Aaron was hurt with a bum ankle. I think he is going to want to make a statement in the context of winning the game. Winning comes first but showing this guy why you were picked a few spots ahead of him is part of the competitive motivation. Because De'Aaron missed all but a couple of pre-season games his timing and rhythm is off. No more does lack of rhythm come into play then your shooting stroke. So let's see if De'Aaron starts nailing the outside jumper as he finds his rhythm and gains increased comfort with new teammates. This is my expectation as he establishes himself as the best rookie in this class and leading ROY candidate.
