If you've closely read my work over the past 24 hours, you'd know that I'm a massive supporter of the Minnesota Timberwolves trading for LaMelo Ball. However, to act like it's a risk-free move wouldn't be telling the full story.
The Charlotte Hornets traded their franchise player, who is just 24 years old, after their best season in years. That in itself is odd.
Perhaps the Hornets are merely concerned with his health. Regardless, it's also fair to assume that they had some concerns about his ability to contribute to winning basketball and his general maturity. Whatever way you slice it, this move is a vote of no confidence in Ball from the Hornets.
Simply watching him play, you can see this with his questionable shot-selection, overall decision-making and apathy toward defense. A lot of times, head coach Charles Lee benched Ball down the stretch of games due to these issues.
Then there are the maturity concerns off the court, including his reckless driving. I'm not saying he's a bad person, but he clearly has some maturing to do both on and off the court.
The Wolves surely understand these risks, and trading for Ball is a vote of confidence that their culture can help fix these issues. To me, this is a worthy gamble. Does Ball have some question marks attached to his name from a maturity standpoint? Absolutely, but he's still young and has actually shown some positive signs in the right direction.
Why the Timberwolves' culture can help LaMelo Ball
Ball is walking into a team that has made two conference finals runs in the past three years and has advanced past the first round in all of the past three seasons. He understands that he's playing second fiddle to Anthony Edwards and that he will have to adapt his game.
The same carefree playstyle and erratic shot-selection that he played with Charlotte won't fly in Minnesota.
Simply from a role standpoint, Ball will be counted on more as a playmaker, which has long been one of his biggest strengths. For his career, Ball has averaged 7.3 assists. While he still has some lapses as a playmaker, Ball offers a lot more good than bad in this department, and most of his decision-making issues are shot-selection related.
LaMelo will also have to remain more engaged on the defensive side of the ball. Given the Wolves' established defensive infrastructure, I think that's a fair proposition. His plus positional size could allow him to guard opposing wings at a decent level if he buys into this role.
Now, had Ball not shown much improvement as a decision-maker throughout his six-year career, I would have been a bit more skeptical of the Wolves' ability to get the best out of him. Nevertheless, last year we saw the best version of Ball. No, not from a statistical standpoint, but from a general refinement and decision-making standpoint.
Ball took a backseat to Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller last season. He played off the ball more and adapted to more of a facilitating role. The Hornets ranked second in net rating and first in offensive rating since the turn of the calendar this past season. This was largely due to LaMelo's ability to run the show as the team's primary initiator.
The bigger picture to me is that the end of this past season showed that Ball can adapt to a lesser role and rein in the chaotic part of his game to some extent.
While LaMelo showed some signs of improvement this past season, he still needs to refine his decision-making and adopt more winning habits to reach another level. I lean optimistically, as you might be able to tell, but I have to acknowledge the other side of the coin.
Then there's the leadership and support around him. Whether it's experienced players within his own age range, including Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, or consummate professionals like Mike Conley (assuming they re-sign him) and Rudy Gobert, Ball has the perfect leadership infrastructure around him. Frankly, in Charlotte, Ball didn't have the same number of players to hold him accountable.
And while I like Coach Lee, Chris Finch can also hold Ball to a different level of accountability, given how established he is as a successful head coach.
All things considered, I think the Timberwolves' culture and basketball infrastructure make them the perfect spot to bring out the actualized version of LaMelo. It's still a gamble, though, and there's a chance that Ball's erratic decision-making doesn't improve to the degree Minnesota needs it to.
