Lonzo Ball - Lockdown Potential Part 1 (2021)

This project will be by far the most time consuming one, VERY hard to make videos on 1v1 defense since the footage is random and you never know the exact scenarios of good defense.

Basically it's much easier to make a steals or blocks video because it's all organized in one category, but 1v1 defense is all random and based on what you find - so it requires a lot of time searching through games.

ALSO, there is NO SIMPLE WAY to find clips on off ball defense such as denying the ball or forcing a pass - there is no way to find these clips EXCEPT downloading a full game which is ridiculous and basically impossible for my 20mb internet.

And eitherway, including those clips would make the workload unbearable - so just take into account that there are clips such as the beginning where the commentator says "lonzo is doing a good job on curry off the ball" that imply his performance that I can't show to you.

There are too many elements of defense for me to be able to represent them all in a limited amount of time. As well as lonzo is an excellent help defender but it's also hard to present.

What I will say though, is that lonzo definitely has lockdown potential - some of you might say he ALREADY is.

And I won't disagree with you, but I won't agree either - because I want to leave room for improvement, and I believe lonzo still has a lot of room to grow as a defender.

His primary weaknesses as a defender are the following.

1. Sometimes gets caught ball watching and loses track of his player, happens to a lot of players but with his level of ability it shouldn't be - TO BE FAIR, he IS an excellent HELP defender - so sometimes it is a gamble whether he should help / attempt a steal etc.

2. Level of commitment, it may be due to his current paycheck and him believing he deserves more or just fear of injury. But lonzo does have instances where you watch him and you say to yourself .. he just gave up.

With his speed, good wingspan, solid vertical, active hands, defensive knowledge - there are times where he can DEFINITELY do more, but from a superficial perspective it looks like he just gave up and allowed a bucket without more effort. Who knows, maybe he made the right decision and avoided a foul or something. But I personally believe, he can definitely DO MORE in many instances and that's another reason why I don't consider him a lockdown YET.

3. Predicting the first step, one of the most difficult things to guard in this league is guards who have an explosive first step and blow by you. Now yes, you could argue this is unguardable and practically everyone struggles with it. But I believe lonzo has the lateral quickness to better guard this, and he will cut off offensive players more and more successfully as his career goes on.

That being said, the NBA is the best league in the world and offense can beat great defense - this is why I included clips in the video where the players still made the shots despite lonzo's defense.

Realistically there is no such thing as "Lockdown defense" it's just a cool phrase, but let's be real - great offense can beat great defense, it's just how it is - everyone tries to stop curry but you can only try to make it harder for him.

A lot of players considered "Lockdown defenders" often get into foul trouble, as time goes by the league punishes defense more and more and it becomes more about whether the player is hot that game or not.

In conclusion, lonzo has a lot of potential to be one of the best defenders in the league. Is he already? depends on your standards and personal POV.

If you enjoy these videos and want me to make more of these defense videos in particular - please consider donating since these videos can't be monetized

https://paypal.me/MKZO3?locale.x=en_US

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If I don't see enough support I will eventually stop making them due to time restrictions.