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LaMelo Ball, reigning NBA Rookie of The Year and current starting point guard on the Charlotte Hornets, is a legitimate superstar-level talent and a franchise-changing player. Yet, most of the basketball community rarely talks about him in that light, and I’m here to change that.
LaMelo was probably the most polarizing prospect of the last decade. Before getting drafted third overall in the 2020 NBA Draft, the discourse surrounding LaMelo was all over the place. Lots of people loved him and saw the potential he had but many, and I mean MANY of the people following the 2020 class were very skeptical of LaMelo coming out of the NBL. Some didn’t like his unorthodox shooting form and bad shot-selection, some didn’t like his carelessness with the ball, some didn’t like his lack of effort on defense but, in a Justin Herbert-esque way, he squashed almost all of the pre-draft narratives surrounding his name in his first season. Ball cut down on the contested threes and stopped settling for those inefficient long twos that he used to take. His unusual jump shot didn’t hinder his ability to be an average, sometimes even above average, three-point shooter. He was locked in and put in a ton of effort on defense. He also showcased some awareness and anticipation on the defensive side of the ball that we haven’t seen from him before. His defensive growth alongside his great size and length for the point guard position led to him being near the top of the league in steals (1.6 per game) and deflections (3.0 per game). When you combine all of the improvements LaMelo has made in his game with the skills that he came into the league with, such as the generational passing, the good handle, the high IQ, and the potential he has as an overall creator and defender you get an elite and high-end young talent. LaMelo is in the same mold as Penny Hardway, who would’ve been a perennial All-NBA player and All-Star if his career wasn’t derailed by injury. I’m not saying LaMelo is as good as Penny right now but he has the upside to be as good and maybe even better than Penny was. LaMelo obviously has the tools to be an all-time great player but for some reason, his potential is severely underrated by the basketball community and I've even seen some people say he’s overhyped, let’s dive a little deeper into that.
LaMelo Ball averaged 15.7 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game and 6.1 assists per game on 43.6/35.2/75.8 splits en route to becoming the 2021 Rookie of The Year. He also posted a 8.0 Passer Rating (1-10 scale of passing ability) and a 8.1 Box Creation (an estimate for the number of open shots created for teammates) which are both relatively good. Now, the 2021 Rookie of The Year race was very controversial for a plethora of reasons but one of them is just the fact that LaMelo won the award. LaMelo only played 51 games of the shortened 72 game 2021 regular season. In LaMelo’s 41st game of his NBA career versus the Los Angeles Clippers, LaMelo went for a layup, got fouled, and braced his fall with his right wrist. He ended up fracturing it during the process. At first, LaMelo was projected to be out for the rest of the season but surprisingly he was able to come back and play the last 10 games. He struggled in those 10 games, but after the season we would learn that LaMelo’s wrist wasn’t fully healed. Here’s where all the conflict comes in. Right after LaMelo got hurt Anthony Edwards, the #1 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and current starting shooting guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves, started to pick his play up after being underwhelming to the start of the season. From the day LaMelo got hurt to the day he came back early from injury Anthony Edwards averaged 22.0 points per game, 5.2 rebounds per game, and 3.1 assists per game on 43.0/31.5/77.4 splits. Edwards started to really put things together when LaMelo was out and this prompted people to say that he deserved the Rookie of The Year award over LaMelo. My inner Hornets fandom is coming out here but I never and still don’t understand that. Yes, Anthony Edwards was good when LaMelo was out with that wrist fracture but people just completely brush aside that he was an offensive liability before LaMelo got injured. Before March 30, 2021, the day LaMelo fractured his wrist, Anthony Edwards averaged 16.7 points per game, 4.3 rebounds per game, 2.5 assists per game on 38.5/31.9/77.5 splits. He was straight-up terrible for half the season and people were saying that he deserves Rookie of The Year, I just don’t understand it. The same people that were saying that Edwards deserved the award brought up that LaMelo missed some time, but there has been prior Rookie of The Years that have won the award while missing around the same amount of time that LaMelo did. LaMelo played 71% of the Hornets’ games last season and won Rookie of the Year, Brandon Roy played 69% of the TrailBlazers’ games in 2007 and won the award and Patrick Ewing played 60% of the Knicks’ games in 1986 and won the award. It's not even like missing the amount of time LaMelo did and winning Rookie of The Year is unprecedented, but when LaMelo won Rookie of The Year, the “Anthony Edwards for Rookie of The Year” people were upset and just chalked it up to the media overhyping LaMelo. Out of all the Rookie of The Year finalists, LaMelo was the best player and had the best individual season, but apparently, the media is just “d-riding” him.
Another reason why people call LaMelo overhyped, and I genuinely believe this, is because a majority of the major sports pages on Twitter and Instagram post him a lot. I’ve seen people say in the comments under those posts that they’re starting to hate LaMelo because those pages post him frequently and my response always is, why do people care so much? They’re just highlights. Just scroll past that post if you don’t like it or block that account if you don’t like the content they’re posting instead of hating. It’s not hard at all.
In conclusion, LaMelo is already a tremendous player and will be one of the best players in the league. The traits and potential are undeniable and stupidly obvious even to the casual fan so you guys better wake the hell up before it’s too late. Hop on the bandwagon while there’s still room.
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