First off, I just watched a t.stats pu kcon of Hornets games. Like, really watched. Tried to get a feel for his flow, when he looked aggressive, when he was trying to get others involved. You know, the eye test. But honestly, that only got me so far. Some nights he'd look amazing and put up duds, other nights he'd look quiet and suddenly rack up stats.
Getting Down to Brass Tacks
I figured I needed something more concrete. So, I started pulling up his game logs. Basic stuff – points, rebounds, assists, steals, turnovers, shooting percentages. I even started keeping my own little notebook, jotting down notes after each game. Who was he playing against? Was it a back-to-back? Did he look tired? Simple stuff.
Then I thought, maybe I can spot some patterns. I started looking at his usage rate – basically, how much of the offense runs through him when he's on the floor. I checked his matchups too. Does he do better against certain types of defenders or teams? I spent some time looking at how he played with different teammates on the court. It was a lot of just looking at box scores and comparing them, trying to connect dots.
- Tracking Minutes: His playing time seemed key. More minutes usually meant more chances, obviously.
- Opponent Pace: Faster games seemed to lead to more stats, more possessions.
- His Own Aggression: Tried to gauge this from previous games – was he shooting more? Driving more?
The Reality Check
Here's the thing though: predicting basketball, especially a creative player like LaMelo, is tough. Real tough. Just when I thought I found a pattern, boom, he'd have a completely unexpected game. And injuries, man. That was the biggest headache. He's missed a fair bit of time, and predicting anything when a guy is out or just coming back is pretty much a guessing game. It really messes up any kind of flow or pattern you think you've found.
I wasn’t using any fancy algorithms or anything. It was mostly just me, stat pages like the official NBA site or ESPN, and my notes. Sometimes I'd put numbers into a basic spreadsheet to see averages against certain teams or in certain situations, but nothing complex.
What I Learned
After a while, I kinda backed off trying to predict exact numbers. It felt like chasing my tail. Instead, I focused more on predicting his general impact or role in a game. Will he be the main scorer tonight? Will he focus more on playmaking? Is this a matchup where he might get more rebounds?
I realized looking at the team situation was huge. Who else is healthy? Are they trying to win or develop players? What's the overall team strategy looking like? Those bigger picture things seemed to matter just as much as his individual stats.
So, yeah, that was my little project trying to get a read on LaMelo Ball. Didn't crack some secret code or anything. It was mostly just a process of watching games, digging into some basic numbers, getting frustrated sometimes, and learning that predicting sports is harder than it looks. Still a huge fan of his game, though. You just never know what you're going to get, and that's part of the fun, right?
