The new point guard has barely left the practice facility since June, and the front office is taking notice.
LaMelo Ball has spent his first summer with the Minnesota Timberwolves all but living at the practice facility, and the people who run the team want everyone to know it.
Minnesota paid a heavy price to get its new point guard in June, and the front office is already talking like the deal is paying off before opening night.
The Front Office Has Noticed
General manager Matt Lloyd told Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News last week that Ball has been around the team for most of the offseason, getting to know his teammates and working on his game.
“He’s been in there 90 percent of the day since the day we acquired him. He’s a hard worker, an incredibly focused worker, and he creates an atmosphere of positive energy,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd added that Minnesota did extensive background work before the trade, and people around the league kept describing the former Rookie of the Year as a committed worker.
That reputation had real value because of what the deal cost.
Minnesota sent Naz Reid to Charlotte along with an unprotected 2033 first-round pick, three future pick swaps and three second-round selections in the four-team trade that also included Brooklyn and Chicago.
A price like that only works when a team fully believes in the player, and Ball gave Charlotte 20.1 points and 7.1 assists a game across 72 games last season.
Why the Fit Makes Sense
Anthony Edwards averaged 28.8 points but only 3.7 assists in 61 games last season, the profile of a star being asked to create everything himself.
Tim Connelly said back in July that a true point guard is one of the hardest things in the league to find, and that he expects Ball to lift the whole group in an environment built for his growth.
Chris Finch pointed to the playoffs as the lesson that this team needed a bigger backcourt, and at 6-foot-7 Ball is exactly that.
On paper the starting five now has the size and the scoring to hang with anyone in the West.
Ball is not the only new face either.
Jonathan Kuminga officially signed his two-year deal last week after Connelly, Edwards and co-owner Alex Rodriguez all helped recruit him, and the two additions land in a rotation that looks very different from a year ago.
What Still Needs Watching
There are real questions left. Donte DiVincenzo is working his way back from the torn Achilles he suffered in the first round of the playoffs, and Lloyd would not put a timeline on his return, saying only that he is hopeful the guard plays at some point this season.
The frontcourt still leans heavily on Rudy Gobert, and the thin depth behind him is a fair concern heading into camp.
Lloyd also praised Edwards for growing into a leader on his own this summer, one more sign the locker room is in a healthy spot.
If Ball brings the same focus to the season that he has shown in the building since June, Minnesota will have gotten exactly what it traded for, and the price Minnesota paid in June will look smaller by December.
