Lonzo Ball's much-anticipated rookie season hasn't gotten off to quite the start that the Los Angeles Lakers may have envisioned. The No. 2 overall pick has struggled mightily shooting the ball, knocking down just 32 percent of his field goal attempts, and 24.6 percent of his 3-point attempts.
As he's gone through some tough times, nearly everyone has offered their thoughts on how to improve things. Few, however, are as qualified to talk about the Lakers' new franchise player as Kobe Bryant. The Lakers legend sat down with Spectrum SportsNet recently, and when Ball's name came up, Bryant offered his thoughts:
Here's a little more context from @kobebryant's interview with @geeter3 from our 'Connected With...' series. Go #Lakers! pic.twitter.com/S3xprzJphr
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) December 9, 2017
Speaking not just about Ball, but about the rest of the Lakers' youngsters, Bryant said that they need to have a sense of urgency. "We never thought, 'OK, we're gonna win four years from now," Kobe said about his playing days. "We really thought, 'This is our year. We're gonna get this done.'" Having this mindset, Bryant explained, will help Ball and Co. develop. As transcribed by USA Today's LonzoWire:
"He needs to get better now," Bryant said, before adding that fellow youngsters like Kyle Kuzma and Julius Randle must have the same mentality if the Purple and Gold are going to improve.
"We never thought, 'OK we're gonna win four years from now,'" Kobe explained. "We really thought, 'This is our year. We're gonna get this done. We're gonna push, push, push, push, push, get better now.' And in the process of having that kind of impatience, you develop. If you're just patiently going about it, you'll never get there. For players, it's a kind of patient impatience."
Things may change depending on what happens this offseason, but at least for the rest of this season, Ball and the rest of the Lakers' young players will get every opportunity to do just that. They'll all be playing plenty of minutes, and will have every chance they want to push their games forward.