Lonzo shooting 39% from 3.

the impressive part is the % with the attempts.

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Even more, though, is the fact the he improved his free throw % by HUGE amounts the last 2 seasons, which signals that he is a competent shooter you can rely on most games.

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So you would be ok with Lonzo getting fouled and shooting 2 free throws up 1 with 10 seconds left?

His FT% is almost insignificant b/c he never gets to the line. He's shooting less free throws this year than last. He pretty much gets to the foul line once every other game.

Lonzo has played in 38 games, a total of 1205 minutes. He's attempted 43 free throws in the 1205 minutes.
NAW has taken 41 free throws in 748 minutes.
Kira has taen 27 free throws in 442 minutes.


The next step for him is to get to the line more than once a game. There's no reason someone with his athleticism, size and usage shouldn't be taking 3-4 FTA per game.

I said it last year, if Lonzo would be smarter with his 3 point shots he'd be a 40% 3 point shooter easily. When he has the time to set his feet and shoot his shot with confidence, he's almost automatic. I can tell when he lets the ball go if i expect the ball to go in or not. We've seen a lot less stupid step backs, deep 3's, and 3's early in the shot clock where he passes to no one and takes his own shot.
He's shooting 41% on catch and shoot this year, and that's 5.5 of his 7.8 3 point attempts per game. That's 70%. He's shooting 31% on all other 30% of threes he's taking.
He shot 39% on catch and shoot 3's last year, taking 67% of his threes that way, and again 31% on all other threes.

More telling for the decline of Bledsoe is the fact that he has been on a downward trend of FTA since 2017 where he attempted 6.9FTA, and now sits at 2.2FTA. Clear sign that his athleticism is leaving his body.

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Ball is a flame thrower in the first half of games. His issue is the steep decline in his shooting percentages behind the arc in the second half. If he could hit his 3s at a decent rate in the second half of games, we'd probably win more games.

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2019
1st quarter 45% on 1.9 attempts
2nd quarter 30% on 1.3 attempts
3rd quarter 32% on 1.6 attempts
4th quarter 37% on 1.5 attempts

2020
1st quarter 45% on 2.6 attempts
2nd quarter 44% on 1.6 attempts
3rd quarter 32% on 2.2 attempts
4th quarter 30% on 1.6 attempts

Looks like he's more comfortable hitting 3s when we play at a good pace where he seems to be in better rhythm. We generally play with good pace in the 1st half of games and tend to slow down once teams make adjustments to Williamson and Ingram in the second half leading to more half court sets and probably less ball movement.

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anyone that has watched this team a good bit should be able to tell when Lonzo shoots the ball with confidence and when he takes a bad shot.

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It's a glass half empty/full situation. Either he has a fatal flaw that will always keep him living up to his potential, or he still has a ton of room to improve and maybe become a 40%+ 3 point shooter with real gravity.

If I'm Griff I challenge Lonzo to hit the weights hard this summer. I want to see what added strength does for him. It should improve his defense and his ability to drive. When he aggressively drives now he often looks a lot bigger than the guy guarding him. He should be able to do so much more than he's doing. I think the glass is half full, the key question is will the glass be in our price range.

I think the team should also invest in a sports psychologist for Lonzo lol.

I’m honestly not really joking though, I think part of his reluctance driving the ball is clearly
mental. Likely a residual fear of being fouled and embarrassing himself at the line.

But Lonzo is a legit solid FT shooter now, fouling him is now a good outcome for him and us.

And the times he has shown confidence doing it you can see the pieces are mostly there, just some additional skill work and repetition.