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LaMelo Ball's offensive maturation is key to Charlotte Hornets' future success

Matt Alquiza

Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
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It is a treat to watch a healthy LaMelo Ball hoop. The do-it-all Charlotte Hornets point guard has been the driving force in the team's blistering start to the season on the offensive end. Ball, a fifth-year NBA starter, is a one-of-one talent that can single-handedly carry an offense when he's at his best. It starts with his unfathomable efficiency behind the arc.

Ball's hot shooting defines his game

LaMelo's shooting ability is impossible to overstate. Great shooters like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson fire up jumpers with metronomic consistency. The Splash Brothers are lauded for their ability to fly off of screens, catch passes, and shoot with the same, squared shoulders, feet shoulder-width apart base on nearly every single attempt. Curry and Thompson are almost robotic with their movements from behind the arc. Ball is the complete opposite.

LaMelo has made 48 three-pointers through the first three weeks of the season and it feels like none of them have looked the same. The effervescent guard can get to his shot off two feet, one foot, fading left, sprinting right, off a step back, a snatch back, off a catch - do I need to keep going? The form on his jumper is erratic, but the results are pure. According to Cleaning the Glass, Ball is in the 67th percentile of three-point accuracy among NBA players, which becomes even more impressive upon learning that he's put up the most three point attempts in the league.

Ball's proficiency from beyond the arc was key in Friday night's fourth quarter explosion and Sunday night's fourth quarter comeback. In the latter matchup, Ball's heroics forced overtime. A classic Ball off-platform fadeaway corner J tied the game at 97, completing a comeback from down 10 to start the quarter. His four fourth quarter three-pointers had him feeling nicey heading into OT, but in the extra stanza, Ball's jumper let him down. It didn't matter.

LaMelo's overtime rack attacks show a maturing point guard

Ball started overtime 0-3 from the field (0-2 from deep). His Hornets teammates cooled off at the same time, as Charlotte failed to score for nearly three minutes in the bonus period. In that situation, a lesser guard would have continued forcing up long-range jumpers to try and recreate the downtown magic that brought Charlotte all the way back. The LaMelo Ball of 2024 did the opposite. He put his head down and got to the cup.

When it mattered most, Ball changed up his game. He was acutely aware of Charlotte's inability to score in overtime, so he did what every great scorer in the history of the NBA has done and found a way to pressure the rim and tilt the defense by getting downhill. In the second clip above, Ball's elite shooting ability froze the defense, and he took advantage of the Sixers indecision to attack the parted sea in front of him instead of taking a semi-contested three-point shot. That's what the great three-level scorers do.

A one game sample size does not mean that a tectonic shift in Ball's game is afoot, but it's encouraging to say the least. Ball still struggles to finish around the rim (shooting 54% through 10 games, in the 26th percentile across the league), but instead of being hesitant to drive amongst the trees Ball lauds his opportunities, and they'll only become more effective.

Anecdotally, the Hornets guard has yet to be given the benefit of the doubt on most of his rim runs. Referees have swallowed their whistles on many a Ball drive early in the 2024 campaign, but as the driving force of Charlotte's offense gains more tenure in the Association, he'll begin to draw the same calls that superstars of his ilk famously receive.

The Charlotte Hornets will go as far as LaMelo Ball can take them, and the maturation of his game will not only bring his status among his NBA compatriots to new heights, but his traditionally moribund franchise as well. Brandon Miller said that the combination of him and LaMelo is a 'scary sight' for opposing defenses, and if Ball can continue to grow, they'll only become more terrifying as they develop as a duo.

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Matt Alquiza
MATT ALQUIZA

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