{"id":91470,"date":"2024-08-20T21:52:32","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T01:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=91470"},"modified":"2024-08-20T21:52:32","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T01:52:32","slug":"bulls-lonzo-ball-makes-brow-raising-proclamation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/20\/bulls-lonzo-ball-makes-brow-raising-proclamation\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulls\u2019 Piece Makes Brow-Raising Proclamation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chicago Bulls point guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/balllo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lonzo Ball<\/a> hasn\u2019t had the best luck. In his first three seasons, he missed 65 games with myriad knee injuries. He\u2019s missed the entirety of the last two seasons while trying to recover from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/24\/bulls-lonzo-ball-secret-behind-latest-surgery\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">another series of knee injuries<\/a>. As he says on his podcast, <em>What An Experience!<\/em>, \u201cEvery time I catch my stride, something goes wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Lonzo Ball on himself before Covid-19 shut the league down in 2019-20:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery time I catch my stride, something goes wrong. That month before Covid, if you ask me, I think I\u2019m the best point guard in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lonzo in 5 games before the shutdown: 20.8 PPG, 7.8 APG, 7.8\u2026 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KYXZ1JBFAY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/KYXZ1JBFAY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Courtside Buzz (@CourtsideBuzzX) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CourtsideBuzzX\/status\/1825758768367304928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 20, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>However, there were two seasons that Ball was relatively healthy. After the Los Angeles Lakers traded him to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019, he only missed 26 games. Now in the Big Easy, Ball built his reputation as a high-level point guard at the NBA level.<\/p>\n<p>So much so that the 26-year-old says, \u201cthat month before COVID, if you ask me, I think I\u2019m the best point guard in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Bulls\u2019 Lonzo Ball Makes Brow-Raising Proclamation<\/h2>\n<p>To Ball\u2019s point, his blend of shot-making, playmaking, and defense doesn\u2019t come around every day. Furthermore, in Mar. 2020, the former No. 2 pick averaged 20.8 points, 7.8 assists, 7.8 rebounds, 2.2 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game. On top of that, he shot 53.5 percent from the field and 51.2 percent from 3. So, him feeling like he was the best point guard in the league at that time is understandable.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lonzo Ball BEST Passing &amp; Scoring 2019-20 Highlights | CLIP SESSION\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VmufufSKaLs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Of course, Golden State Warriors guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Curry<\/a> was the league\u2019s golden boy at the time. A breathtaking perimeter threat, his proficiency from beyond the arc has changed the way the game is played. However, Ball\u2019s passing ability and court vision are more advanced than Curry\u2019s. His defense was \u2014and perhaps still is \u2014far and away better than Curry\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Still, that was the only month that Ball has averaged 20 or more points per game. The closest he\u2019s come since then was averaging 19.2 points per game in May 2021. So, even if he was fully recovered from his knee injuries, it would be foolhardy to expect him to play that well when he returns.<\/p>\n<p>On the bright side, Ball <em>does<\/em> look like he\u2019s ready to play again. He took the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/08\/lonzo-ball-achieves-major-breakthrough-in-injury-recovery\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">latest step in his recovery<\/a> this month, playing 5-on-5 in open runs.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Lonzo Ball , Jaren Jackson Jr, and Daniel Gafford spotted in LA open runs.\ud83d\udd25\u2705<\/p>\n<p>Via Chris Johnson <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GL9n2ALAao\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/GL9n2ALAao<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 HoopsWrld (@HoopsWrld0) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HoopsWrld0\/status\/1826022837423095832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 20, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The fact that he\u2019s sharing the court with his peers shouldn\u2019t be dismissed, even if it\u2019s in an informal setting.<\/p>\n<h3>What\u2019s Next For Lonzo Ball?<\/h3>\n<p>Whenever Ball returns next season, he\u2019ll find that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/giddejo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Giddey<\/a> has taken over as the starting point guard. At least, the job is Giddey\u2019s to lose after the Bulls acquired him from the Oklahoma City Thunder, setting the stage for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/derozde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DeMar DeRozan<\/a>\u2019s exit. Should Giddey\u2019s struggles with 3-point shooting and perimeter defense be too glaring, Ball may have his opportunity for redemption. It\u2019s a long shot, but players like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/livinsh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shaun Livingston<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dunnkr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kris Dunn<\/a> have shown why players can\u2019t be counted out.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever happens, it has to be quick. With his contract expiring next offseason, this could be his best opportunity to prove that he can continue his NBA career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chicago Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball hasn\u2019t had the best luck. In his first three seasons, he missed 65 games with myriad knee injuries. He\u2019s missed the entirety of the last two seasons while trying to recover from another series of knee injuries. As he says on his podcast, What An Experience!, \u201cEvery time I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":91552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1608,62,33,3],"tags":[667,4745],"class_list":["post-91470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulls","category-basketball","category-nba","category-pelicans","category-news","tag-lonzo-ball","tag-nba-injuries"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}