INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — Cavs guard Lonzo Ball arrives at his new practice facility, and he starts to look like a person. He walks, He talks, He rocks a pair of Supreme Ducati sweatpants.
Not pictured: Ball’s contract details or basketball reference tables.
The NBA offseason turns too many basketball fans (present company included) into cold, data-driven analysts. When the Cavs traded for Ball 10 days ago, they acquired a $10 million “asset” that tallies 11.4 career points per game and shoots 36.2% from 3-point range. And they incurred risk by replacing Ty Jerome with a player who plays just 35.9 games per season on average (47.8 if you don’t include Ball’s two full seasons missed). If Ball can’t stay healthy, then ...
Are we still talking hoops?
Between math, finance and logic puzzles, all is fair in trade analysis. But basketball is still defined as much by humanity as it is data. Sharing, alchemy and sacrifice drive winning, too. And in these regards, I can promise you:
Cleveland will love Lonzo Ball.
The reasons start with unselfishness, around which Ball orients his game. Cleaningtheglass.com has a stat called “assist to usage ratio,” and I know. I lamented statistics earlier. We’ll make this quick.
In layman’s terms, this is an anti-ball hog metric. Essentially, how often does a player generate assists compared to how often he has the ball?
Ball has ranked in the 90th percentile of assist to usage ratio during three of his six healthy NBA seasons, which is particularly notable given his basketball background.
Remember, Ball played high school hoops at deep-three-chucking hectic-pace-forcing Chino Hills High School under his father, LaVar. Hornets guard LaMelo Ball, Lonzo’s younger brother who learned under the same tutelage, was one of three NBA players to attempt 21 field goals per game last season. Meanwhile, in an era defined by youth basketball “showcases” (a flashier word for tournaments), individualized training and ball-dominant guards, Lonzo is the child star who doesn’t play like one.
Despite arriving at UCLA as the nation’s top point guard (with one-and-done NBA dreams), Ball attempted fewer than 10 shots per game in college. Since being drafted second overall by the Lakers in 2017, he averages just 10.6. And he owns the second-lowest usage rate — percentage of a team’s possessions that ends with a player’s shot attempt, free-throw attempt or turnover— of any NBA guard drafted third overall or higher since 2000.
Sound like a fun teammate? Just ask new Cavs forward Larry Nance Jr., who played 42 games alongside Ball in Los Angeles.
“Zo is so exciting,” Nance Jr. said Tuesday. “The game of basketball is a better place with Zo playing, and I mean that. I truly do. He plays the game as pure as pure, gets. (He) gets off the ball and shares it and just wants to make you better, you better, you better (and) you better. Doesn’t just want to, does.
“I think he’s incredible, really. I’m excited to play with him again, and I’m just looking forward to him making my job a lot easier.”
Don’t diminish Nance’s optimism. We all know Ball’s unselfishness — and his elite defense, and his improved 3-point stroke — comes with a caveat. No use in rehashing our risk assessment now that he’s here.
In fact, try re-framing: What if Ball’s injury history makes his first Cavs season more enjoyable?
Stick with me. Ball has missed 258 of a possible 328 games over his past four seasons due mostly to a nagging left knee injury that required three surgeries, including one that doctors called a “Hail Mary” to save Ball’s career (Ball’s knee held up OK last year, but a nagging injury limited him to 35 games). Red flags? Sure, to the icy analyst in all of us.
But feel your heart pump. Check your human spirit. Find the promise in Ball’s suffering.
Remember how fun it was to watch Cleveland revive Jerome’s career last year? Ball could provide a sequel this season, complete with a wider pendulum swing.
From future franchise point guard to forgotten player to potential playoff contributor, the Cavs are counting on Ball’s comeback next season. Eight years into his career, Ball has never logged a playoff minute. He’s watched one first-round exit (2022 Bulls) from the injury report. That’s it.
How cruel. One of basketball’s purest win-first, stat-pad-later players has never tasted the success he deserves. But how cool would it be for Ball to earn it playing for his favorite team?
Call it a technicality, but Ball counted himself a “LeBron (James) Fan” this week despite growing up in Lakers Country. When the 2016 Cavs broke Cleveland’s drought, Ball celebrated, too.
Fun coincidence or divine timing? Depends on who (or when) you ask. Too often this time of year, NBA heads swap their souls for shooting charts. But I wonder if Ball’s playstyle, parlayed with his painful journey, can reorder our logic puzzles so that two things can be true.
The Cavs’ newest asset can’t stay healthy. And you can’t help but root for the guy.
“I always loved the game,” Ball said this week. “I never took it for granted. The love for the game never left. It was just more so, like, not knowing the unknown. I’ve been playing basketball my whole life, so for that to get taken away, and (for me to) not really know what I wanted to do with myself, it’s kind of hard to get through.
“But I feel like I came out a better person for it, and I’m excited just to be able to play today.”
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