Illawarra Hawks coach Matt Flinn has no plans to rein in young gun LaMelo Ball in offence, despite the start to his NBL career being marred by inaccurate shooting.
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Ball, 18, top scored for the Hawks with just 15 points in their 27-point loss to the Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena on Friday night. That followed a 12-point performance against Brisbane in Round 1.
But despite trailing only Aaron Brooks in total points scored for the Hawks over those two games (by one point), Ball has struggled to drop shots taken from behind the three-point line.
Not that he hasn't tried.
He sunk just one of six shots from long range against the Wildcats, following his zero-from-five return against the Bullets.
"He shoots a lot of reps, like everyone does," Flinn said of Ball.
"A lot of the shots he took tonight we see him make a lot. We want to give him belief; we're not going to put handcuffs on him.
"My job is to put him in spots to suit his skillset. He's 18... I know what I was doing when I was 18 and it wasn't running an NBL team.
"He a unique talent, but like any 18-year-old and coming into one of the best leagues in the world, it's not an easy task, but he's made significant progress since he's been here."
Ball isn't the only Hawk struggling from long range, with the team shooting only nine-from-49 (18 per cent) over those first two games.
Friday night's loss in Perth (their 32nd from their past 33 visits to WA) left Illawarra winless after two games to start the season, making Monday's game against Cairns important for both clubs.
The Taipans also fell to 0-2 record after a less-than-impressive 90-74 loss to the Brisbane Bullets on Friday night.
Monday's loser will be playing catch-up and neither side has an easy challenge facing them in Round 3.
Cairns have to fly to Perth to face the Wildcats next Friday night and the Hawks have a double-header against the South East Melbourne Phoenix (away) and the Adelaide 36ers (home).
Flinn said that the NBL competition home-and-away season is like a constant finals series and that the Hawks would continue to be aggressive, just like they were playing finals.
"We do want to be aggressive; we're trying to find that balance," he said.
"We work hard at it. We won't dwell on (the loss to Perth) too much, we have a short turn around before we play against Cairns.
"They are like us - 0-2 - so it's going to be a real battle."
Australian Associated Press
