Page 4 January 25, 2018
The Lonzo Ball Effect on the LA Lakers
By Adam Serrao
Nowadays, mentioning the last name of
Ball may have the tendency to elicit feelings
of annoyance as LaVar Ball’s smug smile
and constant commitment to bravado likely
are the first things that come to mind. Very
quietly, though, LaVar’s son, Lonzo, is living
up to the hype of the number two pick in
the draft whether Lakers naysayers choose
to acknowledge it or not. Lonzo, who is the
only Ball family member that anyone should
even care about, is proving himself as much
by being off of the court as he has proven
himself on it. Though he is only 20 years
young and just a rookie in a league that
is full of grown men and proven veterans,
Lonzo has quickly established himself to be
this year’s most valuable player on the Los
Angeles Lakers roster.
The Laker rookie point guard came of
college at UCLA and quickly turned into
one of the most polarizing players in all
of the NBA. Whether that’s because of his
father’s incessant gabbing or the game that
he brings to the hardwood may never be
fully determined, but Lonzo has certainly
developed a knack to absorb scrutiny for
anything and everything that he does with
a basketball in his hands.
Coming out of college, the knock on Lonzo
was that his jump shot would never make it
in the NBA. In his first month or two in the
league, Lonzo seemed to be proving all who
knocked him right. His shooting percentage
was in the cellar, his three-point percentage
was horrible and his jump shot…well, if
you’ve ever seen it, it certainly speaks for
itself.
Despite what those who are paid to speak
might make up about Ball, it is clear that
his presence on the basketball court is
extremely valuable to his team. That fact
can even be seen to be represented in his
one year with the Bruins. While at UCLA,
Lonzo’s natural instincts had the clear
ability to lead to efficient outcomes in the
game. In the one and only year that Ball
played for the Bruins, the team’s offensive
efficiency increased 49 spots. Teammates
like T.J. Leaf, Ike Anigbogu and Thomas
Welsh, who hadn’t been heard of before
Ball took the court, have not been heard
from since. In addition to putting up his
own stats once he became comfortable in
the system, Lonzo made everyone around
him better with his tendency to pass first
and his brilliant court vision.
Sure, Ball may have struggled in his
first few months with the Lakers, but it’s
important to remember that even Kobe
Bryant struggled while showing flashes in
his first year in Hollywood as well. Lonzo
will never be Kobe, but now that he has
settled in a bit, his value to the team has
presented itself in more ways than one.
“This is why I think if you asked anyone
in our organization all year about Lonzo’s
shooting struggles, we’d tell you, ‘He’ll
be fine,’” Lakers head coach Luke Walton
explained of Ball’s effect on the team. “We
know how important he is to us with the
way he plays, the way he pushes the ball,
the way he just hits whoever is open every
time -- that’s contagious.”
Before Ball sprained his shoulder and was
forced to sit out a few games, the Lakers
averaged 23.2 assists per game as a team
through their first 31 games. In one of the first
games without Lonzo against the Memphis
Grizzlies, the team recorded just 14 assists
in a double-digit loss. Without their point
guard, the Lakers average less points per
game, have a lower field goal percentage and
a lower three-point percentage on offense.
More notably, the team is much worse on
defense in Ball’s absence. The Lakers allow
nearly 107 points per game with Lonzo and
a staggering 124 without him. When Ball
is on the floor, opponents shoot close to 44
percent from the field. Without him, they
shoot near 52 percent. With a record that
is well under 10 games below .500, it’s not
like the Lakers are necessarily setting the
world on fire when Ball is out there on the
court either. When he is, though, the team
at least looks a bit more competitive, even
against some of the better rosters from
across the league.
The Lakers managed to attain their first
win of the season without Lonzo last Friday
night in a 99-86 victory over the Indiana
Pacers that saw Jordan Clarkson finish
with one of the best games of his career.
That victory put the Lakers at 1-8 without
Ball -- a record that shed light onto coach
Walton’s previous statement: “I think it’s
much harder to win without Lonzo, but it’s
not impossible. There’s games that we could
have won he hadn’t played in. We just didn’t
finish them out.” Walton was right. Not only
did the Lakers win for the first time without
Ball against the Pacers, but they made it two
straight without their starting point guard
when Clarkson increased his value by putting
up 29 and 10 against the Knicks last Sunday
afternoon for the team’s second win in a row.
While his last name may allow others to
simply rush to judgment and accuse him of
being the worst player that the league has ever
seen, it has become clear that Lonzo is the
heartbeat of the Los Angeles Lakers, despite
Clarkson’s recent efficiency. Without him,
Walton and the rest of the Lakers coaching
staff hope to instill a mindset that will motivate
others to make the extra pass and get other
teammates involved. When Lonzo is in the
game, however, those intangibles simply
happen because of his natural instincts. Ball
may not be the best player in the league and
the Lakers may still have one of the worst
records in the NBA, but numbers never lie.
Those numbers plainly state that the Lakers
are a much better team with their MVP -- and
one of the most underrated players in the
league -- stepping foot out on the basketball
court. – Aserrao6@yahoo.com •
Politically Speaking
One Man’s Opinion Another Man’s Opinion
Congress to
Demonstrate Ineffectiveness
as to why military personnel experienced
an interruption in salary and benefits. The
Kentucky senator, who is part of the party
and conservative ideology that attacks Colin
Kaepernick for the latter’s silent protest
against police brutality, and which claims
that kneeling during the national anthem is
disrespectful to the troops, just gave the entire
military a two-finger salute. McConnell just
told the families of those who serve that it
is more important to win a staring contest
against his political foes than to protect those
who sacrifice to protect us.
The Kentucky senator did not have to block
the bill, yet he did for political leverage. There
are plenty of issues that a politician can be
attacked for, and for a variety of reasons.
However, when the GOP has been beating
the patriotism drum since Sept. 11 and has
used every opportunity to praise and thank
our military personnel, it is disgusting that
its leader blocks a bill that would ensure
the salaries of the same people they parade
around during campaign season. It would
be nice to see Kentucky voters rebuke this
shameful and hypocritical behavior and kick
McConnell out of office -- because if an NFL
player kneeling bothers, then the senator must
be held to that same standard.
Regardless of what happens, McConnell
showed his vile nature. He cares more about
his political gain, as do many in Washington,
than anything else. Instead of the troops being
denied their checks, Congress should go
without a salary. Maybe only then, they can
take their sweet time. •
By Cristian Vasquez
The government shutdown is a childish battle
of egos between politicians too stubborn and
comfortable in their positions to actually get
work done. Regardless of who one decides to
blame for the second shutdown in less than
four years, there is something particularly
disgusting about this year’s dysfunction. The
fact that military personnel is not getting paid
for their work is unacceptable, to say the
least, and proves what a despicable human
being Sen. Mitch McConnell has become.
Yes, McConnell is a scoundrel who this
past week demonstrated to lack even the
slightest shred of human decency. In the chaos
of this unnecessary government shutdown,
which hopefully has ended by the time this
prints, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri)
proposed a bill that would guarantee pay for
military troops despite the shutdown. The
bill was very similar to the one approved
during the 2013 government shutdown and
would ensure pay, as well as death benefits,
to the men and women serving the country
around the world. However, McConnell in
his infinite hypocrisy killed the bill. Word for
word, the Senator said, “We passed similar
legislation back in 2013 and my hope is that
we can pass funding for the entire government
before this becomes necessary. I am
going to object for tonight.”
The thing was, this bill was necessary at
the time and the senator blocking the bill was
nothing more than a move for political leverage.
He was not only part of reason for the
shutdown, but then became the main culprit
Democrats Shut Down the Government,
While Kowtowing to Illegals
By Duane Plank
onderful weekend, celebrating the first year
of the Trump presidency. A lot going on, or
not going on, as the obstructionist Dems in
the Senate weaponized their votes, shutting
down the government Friday night as they
continue to place the “rights” of the illegal
DACA-ers above the rights and paychecks of
the military men and women protecting our
sacred shores -- or the federal employees who
faced a Monday morning furlough.
Can’t say I noticed any of the effects of
the governmental shutdown last weekend. I
hadn’t planned on visiting a national park, or
the Statue of Liberty, anyway.
No, the establishments that I favor in my off
hours, many that open at 6 a.m. and close the
next day at 2 in the morning, were apparently
not affected by the government shutdown.
Protests galore last weekend, as the Dems
and their acolytes rallied to support women. I
will go on the record here. I support women!
But great. Rally around, march around. And
you and your brethren protest…whom, what?
Trump? Men? Or maybe another Hollywood
liberal, so help me, James Franco, who took
advantage of a gal half his age who was trying
to “sleep” to stardom in Hollywood? Many of
the leftist privileged Hollywood-ers addressed
the protesting throngs, adding their shrill and
pointless comments to the mix.
That is not to expunge the misdeeds of the
male – and occasionally female -- miscreants
who have been allowed to run rampant in
places like the liberal bastion, cover-up-forall,
Hollywood.
Ticked off a bit here. Paid to buy the Trump
book, Fire and Fury, and also added the Hillary
book, What Happened? Ordered the books on
Amazon, which apparently is on a straight path
to owning the world. They are omnipresent. I
sometimes despise them, by the way. As you
all know, Amazon, Facebook, Google and You
Tube apparently run the world. And, kind readers,
how much time do you waste each day
on those websites, not to mention staring at
your phone like a zombie, not living your life?
Anyway, it is five days after ordering the
tomes and I haven’t seen the books yet, but
have seen countless emails from Amazon,
mentioning delays in delivery.
Currently watching the libs on CNN, as
Nancy Pelosi and the others who are still getting
paid with a government shutdown rail on
incoherently about the shutdown… and as CNN
cheers on the resistors, possibly marching like
lemmings off a political cliff as we set sights
on the critical November mid-term elections
when the party in power typically takes a hit
with voters exercising their power to “throw
the bums out.”
So as Cali turns more into a place where
no one except the entrenched rich, or illegal
immigrants, should desire to live -- a sanctuary
state -- my nephew Nolan, godson to me, said he
wants to get out of Cali after the leftist AG
shockingly called for fining firms if they violate a
state law (not a federal law) that protects illegals.
Love a state that protects illegals, eh? I wonder
what the cost of a neat little two-bedroom,
two-bath bungalow nestled in a picturesque
portion of Western Canada is? Oh, Canada! •