Warriors head coach Steve Kerr says LaMelo Ball has tremendous feel for the game
Few teams were more heavily linked, both positively and negatively, to LaMelo Ball in the predraft process than the Golden State Warriors. The most popular prospect and the most popular team at the top of the draft were a natural pairing for rumors and reports.
While the Warriors passed on Ball, they became very familiar with him during the scouting process. Prior to last weekend’s match-up between the Hornets and Warriors, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr talked about Ball and the opening months of his rookie season.
“I think that was the one thing that you could for sure identify in the pre-draft process was that he was a great passer and had tremendous feel for the game and that’s what made him such an exciting prospect,” he said. “I think his shooting has proven to be much better than a lot of people anticipated. He’s at 35 percent on 3s. He’s shooting them very confidently. He just looks much more solid fundamentally than when he did when he was in Australia last year.
“And then I think the big thing is just the energy that he brings to the game, you can tell people like playing with him and he’s fearless out there,” Kerr continued. “He loves to play. He really is, not solely responsible, but a huge part of them building this identity that they’ve built already. He’s going to be a great player if he’s not already.”
To Kerr’s point, Ball has been surprisingly effective as a scorer, considering that was one of the largest concerns of his game coming into the draft. Through Monday’s game against the Jazz, Ball is shooting 43.1% from the field and 34.6% from 3-point territory as well as 80.6% from the line.
What hasn’t been a surprise has been the way Ball has impacted the game in other ways. His 6.1 assists per game have not been shocking nor has the pace at which he’s played at that has energized the team.
As he moves closer to the Rookie of the Year and looks more and more like a star with each passing game, it’ll put a brighter and brighter light on the Warriors’ decision to pass on him.
