LaMelo Ball’s strengths
Ball is an excellent passer. He makes complicated reads out of the pick and roll as well as in transition and he can find open teammates going full speed with both hands. At his age, that’s rare.
His overall feel for the game is pretty special and with his 6″7 frame he can see over the defense and make the right play. Well, sometimes he’ll make the flashy play instead of the right one.
The thing that separates him from the rest is that he’s always one step ahead of the defense. He can read defenders and adjust on the fly. He’ll often fake a pass to a teammate and hit the open man when the defense overreacts.
He can make multiple complicated calculations in a short period of time while handling the ball, which is a sign of high IQ. Also important is his ability to make one-handed passes, even over long distances, with either hand. That makes pick and roll defense against him very difficult.
His elite passing is accompanied by a high level of ball handling. Ball has advanced dribbling moves for his age, which he can use to rock defenders to sleep to set them up for a screen or a blow-by.
Hesitations, head fakes, in and out dribbles are a big part of his game when attacking big men in the pick and roll and he can create a ton of forward momentum out of those moves. He has the tools to be explosive going downhill, which is very important for a point guard’s ceiling.
Floaters are also a big part of his arsenal and a great indicator of his shooting touch. While the shot selection is questionable—we’ll question it later—his ability to hit those kinds of shots is remarkable.
He displays the same touch around the rim where can make really tough finishes and has a great understanding of angles and how to protect the ball from defenders. Ball is a tough-shot maker and that’s really promising.
It’s the reason why there’s a good chance he can be a shooter at the next level despite his horrible current percentages. Whether you buy into that hypothesis is your deal and we can’t really predict what will happen.
But we can say that there’s room for him to grow on that department conditioned on the fact that he works hard to improve his mechanics. It’s also noteworthy that he looked more capable when spotting up rather than pulling up but his role was primarily on the ball.
On defense, Ball shows infrequent flashes of brilliance. He has quick hands and he shows high levels of anticipation instincts at times, which is supported by his steal numbers. When engaged, he smartly plays the passing lanes and makes difficult swipes.
He has an eye for the ball, which also translates to lots of rebounds. When he gets defensive boards, he pushes the ball and finds open teammates with crisp passes. In time, he should be a force in transition.
He’s also pretty agile on defense and knows where and when to rotate. However, he’s not consistent with his effort, which we’ll get into in a bit. On the ball, he’s shown the ability to stay in front of players and the length to contest shots.
His high IQ, feel for the game and physical tools make him a very promising prospect on both ends on the floor. The potential is there for him to become a two-way player but to realize it he needs to put on some muscle.
Of course, that can be said for most of the 18-year-old prospects out there but it can’t be omitted. Getting stronger is necessary for him to become an efficient finisher and a capable defender at the next level.