Superstar transformation? Three-goal Ball should be seen?

For NBA players, a five-year career is definitely not short.

For the Hornets, since they selected LaMelo Ball in 2020, they have been trying to build a playoff team with him as the core. In the past few years, although there have been some promising sparks occasionally, overall, the cooperation between the Hornets and Ball has not achieved the desired results.

Part of the reason is due to the team's draft mistakes in previous years, and part of the problem is that the head coach failed to play a reasonable lineup. In addition, the team has been injured for many years. Whether Ball's injury caused him to be unable to play, or other important teammates fell down, this has made it difficult for the Hornets to move forward in the past few years.

Of course, this season has only started a month ago, so it’s hard to tell.

However, judging from the potential of the Hornets' current lineup, it is likely to be their best lineup in the past decade. Ball also played All-Star statistics in the first 6 games of the season, averaging 23.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game. But this is not surprising. Since the 2022 season, Ball has maintained his personal data at an All-Star level.

Just for Ball, in addition to his personal data, the Hornets must accept some of his characteristics. He is a high-shooting player. He also likes to challenge various exaggerated offensive actions, such as long-range and casual three-pointers from the center line, or difficult shots that forcefully break through multiple defenders. Watching him play is like playing a basketball game for the first time, wanting to try out all the moves of the players.

For Ball, his signature feature is to do difficult things seemingly effortlessly, but sometimes it is indeed difficult to accept. More fans hope that his playing style will not be so fancy, but that he can play more steadily and more efficiently. But the key problem is that if you take away his style from his personal arsenal, you basically take away all his advantages.

Ball's fancy style of passing brings as much pleasure as direct scoring. His passing creativity is as eye-catching as his offensive mode. He can not only perform many wonderful alley-oop cooperations with teammates, but also send long passes from the backcourt that are comparable to legendary defenders.

In the past few seasons, limited by the scoring ability of his teammates, it was difficult to see his super good balls turned into assists. This also made him develop a bad habit of scoring directly instead of passing the ball.

Especially last season, this phenomenon was particularly obvious. Since Brandon Miller was out for almost the entire season, and the offensive and defensive status of Bridges, the team's second scoring point, was also unstable, the consequence of these problems was that Ball gradually began to have a strange idea that if the Hornets wanted to win, he would have to handle all offenses.

The result is that, whether inside or outside the three-point line, Ball has averaged a career-high number of shots per game, but his two-point and three-point shooting percentages have both hit career lows. In addition, his assists per game last season also reached the lowest level since his rookie season.

Looking at the report card of last season, in addition to the decline in offensive data, Ball's defensive performance is still terrible. Of course, defense has never been Ball's strong point. His free-spirited style on the offensive end has become a loophole in defense. Coupled with his relatively thin body, he can easily become a shortcoming as long as his opponent makes a strong breakthrough or high-intensity confrontation.

But so far this season, his defensive role has also changed a lot. Head coach Charles Lee began to let him participate in the defense in different ways, letting him focus on cutting off the opponent's passing lanes and participating in the second line of defense during defensive rotations, rather than letting him guard specific opponents alone.

From the current point of view, this adjustment has indeed put his chaotic energy on the right track, allowing him to make good use of his wingspan advantage and flexibility, instead of being limited to a traditional single defense role. Under such changes, not only the defense, but even the offensive end began to show more potential.

So far in the new season, he has averaged 1.7 steals in 33 minutes per game, the second highest number in his career. More importantly, this season is the first time in his career that he has a positive defensive plus-minus data.

Of course, the season has just begun and it is too early to tell. It's just that the focus is not on the data, but on Ball's way of playing and his ability to read the game. It's completely different from before.

This change is largely due to the Hornets' offseason reinforcements. In this year's draft, the Hornets selected Con Knupper with the fourth overall pick. At present, he averaged 14.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 30.4 minutes per game, which is enough to show that this choice is quite correct.

The Hornets did not select a talented newcomer in the draft who had a chance to grow into a superstar. Instead, they deliberately selected a group of supporting players who could complement the core combination of Ball and Miller. At present, it seems that Knuupel is gradually getting used to the team's jack-of-all-trades player, stably playing the third or fourth scoring point on the team, and at the same time responsible for some inconspicuous blue-collar jobs on both offense and defense.

Currently, Knuupel has become LaMelo Ball's most trusted target in outside passes and the most common target for passing the ball. Although it is uncertain whether the subsequent chemical reaction will change, at least for now, his fixed-point shooting and Ball's ability to distribute the ball after attracting double teams are almost a perfect match.

Previously, center Carl Buchlena, who was selected by the Hornets in the second round this year, also performed unexpectedly on the offensive end in the new season. His excellent finishing at the basket and rebounding ability also gave Ball an inside partner worthy of cooperation..

Going back to what was mentioned above, this season’s Hornets lineup can be called the deepest and most talented lineup that Ball has ever led. Although they have more losses than wins at the beginning of the season, and the team’s ranking is in the second half of the division, most of the content presented from the beginning of the season is still positive.

Judging from the team's reconstruction timeline, the Hornets are still in the reconstruction period. Their main goal at the moment is to build a high-quality puzzle lineup, and now it seems that the Hornets have indeed achieved this. This lineup can allow Ball to have fun on the court while also stably maintaining positive offensive and defensive statistics. At present, we are gradually seeing him control the game in his own way, and then slowly piece together this new lineup.

After the puzzle lineup gradually becomes complete, the most critical link lies in LaMelo Ball.

According to the team's official announcement, Ball missed the game against the Pelicans due to an impact injury to his right ankle. Although it will not have an impact on the entire season, it seems to have sounded the danger bell for the Hornets in advance.