Skip Bayless admits he doesn’t see Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball as a future superstar just yet
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Seems like any worries stemming from LaMelo Ball’s lackluster preseason were nothing to give heed to after all.
31 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists on 47.8% from the field, and 77.8% from deep. That’s incredible.
Moreover, he led the team to a 20 point comeback against a very good Pacers team, who had blown them out by 32 points during the play-in tournament last season. Needless to say, that is a superstar’s performance… right?
Well, it seems Skip Bayless would beg to differ. On a recent episode of his show ‘Undisputed’, the analyst was full of praise for the youngest Ball brother. However, he had one vital point of criticism, despite the impressive performance.
Let’s get into it, shall we?
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Skip Bayless doesn’t see LaMelo Ball making a superstar leap despite all the speculation
Oh yeah.
Now, to be frank, here, we believe LaMelo Ball is already pretty close to being a superstar. To us, this man could make that transition at any given moment during this season. So, to hear this from Bayless, has us more confused than a homeless man under house arrest.
Still, let’s give the man a chance to explain himself. Peep the clip in the tweet below.
Michael Jordan finally got one right. He got this one in LaMelo Ball right. @Undisputed. 9:30 AM-Noon ET. FS1 https://t.co/ViYFQKQb1P
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) October 21, 2021
So, there are two reasons Skip Bayless has made the statement that he has. His efficiency from three last year, and his contributions in the final five possessions against the Hornets. And honestly, both these arguments are easily debunked.
For starters, before his wrist injury, LaMelo Ball wasn’t just shooting it well, he was doing it from well beyond the arc, consistently. As the season went on, his percentage from three started to rise and even stood at a league-average rate of 37%. And then, of course, he broke his wrist.
Sure, he came back. But because it was his right wrist that was fractured, he had lost a lot of his touch, causing his jumper to be iffy at best, which caused his efficiency to drop down to 35%.
Coming to the second argument, we agree that Melo didn’t take a shot in the final five possessions. And the reason is, he knew better.
What Bayless failed to mention was that his teammates Miles Bridges and Gordon Hayward were starting to catch fire at this time. And so, letting them take the shot was the obvious choice to make.
Not all superstars are scorers like Michael Jordan, Skip! Playmakers like LaMelo Ball can be superstars too.
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