trading forward Julius Randle after a difficult NBA Playoffs<\/a><\/p>\nThe pairing of Ball and Edwards should be interesting, as the now-former Hornets guard is one of the most divisive stars in the NBA.<\/p>\n
The trade was met with mixed reaction from NBA media,<\/p>\n
NBA analyst Nick Wright questioned the Timberwolves\u2019 motivations for the trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cCongratulations for the Charlotte Hornets for making a tough decision when they needed to make it and having a chance to move forward with Kon Knueppel Brandon Miller and build around that team rather than be attached to, who I believe to be \u2014 while exciting\u2014 an unserious, injury-prone player,\u201d he said on First Things First<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Wright pointed to the fact that Ball has three years left on his contract and is eligible to sign a two-year, $119.2 million extension on July 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo It\u2019s five years, $250 million ($360 million AUD) for the next half decade of Lamelo Ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand what Minnesota is doing. Even if you like the talent more than I do, trading established pro Julius Randle and Naz Reid, who is beloved there and I think one of the more valuable sixth men in basketball, to add a high useage no defence guard is baffling to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Veteran commentator Stephen. A .Smith was more positive, however the veteran NBA commentator issued a warning to the Timberwolves.<\/p>\n
\u201c[LaMelo Ball] can score, but his gift is passing the basketball, and look who he\u2019s passing it to, a superstar, if ever there was one, in Anthony Edwards,\u201d he said on First Take.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly from a basketball persepctive, <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I find myself looking at the Timberwolves and thinking that they got a bit small.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ball is not known as a player who takes defensive effort particularly seriously, although he did play better during the Hornets\u2019 second-half playoff push, where they went 18-9, among the best in basketball.<\/p>\n
Shot selection is another key sticking point that has frustrated Ball fans, as he sometimes shoots off-balance jump shots from several feet beyond the arc.<\/p>\n<\/amp-img>CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – NOVEMBER 27: LaMelo Ball is off to Minnesota<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIt\u2019ll be up to Timberwolves coach Chris Finch to reign in Ball\u2019s questionable shot quality and inconsistent defensive prowess.<\/p>\n
The poor defensive metrics will likely be masked somewhat by the presence of perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate Rudy Gobert backing him up down low.<\/p>\n
Ball has also seldom been available during his NBA career.<\/p>\n
He played in 72 games last season, the second-most of his career, but suited up for just 105 of a possible 246 games in his prior three seasons in the league.Ball averaged his fewest points per game since his rookie year (20.1), but he still helped the Hornets qualify for the Play-In Tournament, and last season was the most wins he has contributed to since he entered the NBA.<\/p>\n<\/amp-img>CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – SEPTEMBER 30: Josh Green has been traded<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nFor Minnesota, the loss of Reid certainly hurts their big man depth, as they also just traded their other forward, Julius Randle, to the Nets in a salary dump earlier this week.The Hornets will now go forward with guards that consist of Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel, while welcoming in Reid to their backcourt.<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared in The New York Post.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hornets are out of the Lamelo Ball business, trading him to the Timberwolves on Thursday, ESPN.com reported. Ball was shipped to Minnesota in exchange for Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, and 2030) and three second-round picks. Get all the latest baseball news, highlights and analysis delivered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":250056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-250055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}