Chicago Bulls: How Lonzo Ball became a knockdown shooter

One of the most exciting additions for the Chicago Bulls so far this offseason came in the form of the former restricted free agent and New Orleans Pelicans point guard Lonzo Ball. Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley landed Lonzo from the Pelicans in a sign-and-trade deal back in early August.

The Bulls shelled out combo guard Tomas Satoransky, veteran shooting guard Garrett Temple, and some draft capital to the Pelicans to get the franchise’s point guard of the future in Lonzo. This was a good deal by all indications for the Bulls, and it’s good to see the front office get him signed to a pretty long-term deal.

Lonzo signed with the Bulls for four years, worth a total of around $80 million ($20 million in average annual value). That is right around the benchmark that most figured Lonzo would sign for in restricted free agency this offseason.

Finding a point guard like Lonzo should be a perfect fit for head coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls heading into next season. The Bulls needed someone who could help facilitate this offense as a distributor instead of star shooting guard Zach LaVine and/or point guard Coby White.

This will give the Bulls the ability to let the likes of LaVine and former San Antonio Spurs star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan be the primary initiators of the offense. Meanwhile, Ball can be used as more of a threat in transition and someone that can get the ball out in the blink of an eye to a plethora of true threats on the offensive end of the floor.

What Lonzo also provides for the Bulls next season is another legit floor spacer and threat from the outside. Lonzo has gone from a questionable three-point shooter in the first two seasons of his career, with a suspect shooting stroke, to someone who can really stroke it from all over.

Lonzo registered a true shooting percentage well under 50 in his first two seasons in the NBA, with the Los Angeles Lakers. But over the course of the last two seasons, he’s posted true shooting percentages of .517 two years ago, and a career-best 55.1 last year.

When you look closer at the adjusted shooting numbers for Lonzo, you can see what Lonzo brings to the table in terms of how much he’s improved from downtown. Lonzo was nearly six percentage points below the league average in three-point shooting percentage as a rookie and three below the league average in 2018-19.

Fixing form key to Lonzo Ball becoming a knockdown shooter the Chicago Bulls can rely on

In the last two seasons, though Lonzo was no less than 1.5 percentage points better than the league average shooting from beyond the arc. And he’s now shooting around 38 percent from beyond the arc at the highest frequency of his career. Lonzo posted a career-high three-point attempt rate at .650 last season.

There are so many good signs about where Lonzo’s game is headed in terms of his two-way effectiveness, and his overall improvement in shooting efficiency.

So what changed for Lonzo to go from a disappointing shooter in the first two seasons of his career, to one of the most reliable three-point shooters that the Bulls will have on the roster next season?

First and foremost, Lonzo took it into his own hands to improve his shooting stroke a few offseasons ago. After the Lakers traded him to NOLA in the deal that brought superstar big man Anthony Davis to LA, Lonzo took it personally to improve as a shooter.

The mechanics for Lonzo weren’t great, especially when he was shooting from deep. That was true from the time when he was a star point guard for the UCLA Bruins, to his first two seasons in the NBA with the Lakers.

Lonzo got the bend in his elbows right for the first time in the past two seasons. He’s also finding his rhythm faster by getting a quicker release and dribbling less.

It’s not said enough that Lonzo is a rhythm shooter. He either needs to get the ball off immediately or truly know what’s going on with the offense and find some open room to hit his three-point attempts. That is evident with the fact that Lonzo shot better than 40 percent from beyond the arc on catch-and-shot attempts, compared to just 31 percent shooting off-the-dribble from downtown.

Moreover, Lonzo shot 52.2 percent from beyond the arc when he took at least seven dribbles in that possession. Meanwhile, he shot around 28 percent from beyond the arc if he took anywhere between one and six dribbles in that possession.

Lonzo works best on offense when he’s able to find his spot, and get the ball out of his hands fast. That is true whether the method by which he gets the ball out of his hands is a shot or a pass.

And that is good for the Bulls heading into next season because there are so many other capable threats that will be in this starting unit. The Bulls boast good catch-and-shoot stars from deep such as LaVine and center Nikola Vucevic.

There are other threats from beyond the arc in the starting unit, and coming off the bench, such as forward Patrick Williams, guard Alex Caruso, and Coby. Lonzo should do nothing but help all of these players more effectively get open room to hit their looks from deep.

Moreover, the improvement in shooting form for Lonzo has done nothing but help the rest of his game form together nicely over the course of the last two seasons. He’s become a true two-way threat as a lengthy 6-foot-6 point guard.

It’s hard to find a much better option for the Bulls’ point guard of the future than Ball. This was the guy that it seemed like the fans and Arturas Karnisovas wanted to be the point guard of the future in the Windy City since the trade deadline this year.