LaMelo Ball must 'get stronger,' Hornets coach says

Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee laid out expectations for All-Star guard LaMelo Ball during this offseason.

"He's got to get stronger," Lee said Monday following exit interviews.

The Hornets are coming off one of the worst records in franchise history and haven't made the playoffs in nine years. Ball has been out the final month of the season after two surgeries, but Lee wants more from the 6-foot-7, 190-pound offense-first player.

"Teams are trying to deny him, trying to be physical, and you can see early in the year when teams did it, it definitely bothered him," Lee said. "As he got used to it, he got a lot more comfortable, so it's going to start with his body. He's got to get stronger and more conditioned to be able to play both sides of the ball and sustain efforts. ... When you're one of the best players in the league, you have to be ready for physicality. In order to combat that, you have to be stronger."

Ball averaged a career-high 25.2 points this season, along with 7.4 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game. While those are decent numbers, there were stretches of games where he would disappear. Not to mention the injury issues during his time in Charlotte. Ball has played 56% of games over the course of his five years in the NBA and hasn't come close to playing a majority of the season in the past three years.

Hornets general manager Jeff Peterson is trusting the process with Ball and believes he's making progress year-after-year. However, when will this experiment run its course? Ball has value on the trade market, but his $40 million next year is year two of a five-year $203 million contract. Worth the price for an average of 35 games per season?

To put it all in perspective, Ball averaged $1 million per game last season.

"Is it where we want it to be? No. Is it where he wants it to be? No. LaMelo is an incredible competitor, and he knows that in order for us to have the best chance to win and get to where we want to go, he has to be on the floor," Peterson said. "We're providing every resource, and again, he's putting the time in and taking ownership in it. We're happy the season is over in that regard and he's able to ramp up and have a healthy start to the season next year."

Peterson added that Ball will be ready for training camp and looks forward to the future.

"LaMelo, he can be as good as he wants to be, and we've seen that," Peterson said. "He's played at an All-Star caliber level. I told him this the other day that I've been fortunate, and Charles has too, to be around some great players in this league, and LaMelo is very unique and does some things that no one else can do, quite frankly."