I actually dont think so.. He's transitioned so well to college I'm rather convinced it's legit.
The father had the brothers shooting like that from really deep range at an early age to train them. It appears to have worked, their extremely confident shooters, I'd say LaMelo is a cocky/borderline-disrespectful shooter..
The youngest brother shoots the same way and he's got no conscious, pulls up from 30-feet with regularity in HS games and makes it.. Check out this vid I posted in the 2020 thread a few days ago.
Regardless of his siblings, when I just look at Lonzo:
His release is awfully low and slow, but it's funky. I think less skilled/athletic/lengthy D1 trash guards are still 1 level away from making up for his body.
When he played vs Kentucky, the 6'2 guard duo really pressured his release, made him uncomfortable even on close outs.
6'2 is roughly below avg nowadays in the NBA. Quality guard below that threshold are Paul, Conley, Lowry, Kemba and Thomas. The first two are very speedy heads-up players that can even crossmatch on bigger guards while still holding their own. I'm confident they'd find a way to pressure him up close and be quick enough to slide. A lot of other guards are taller anyways and could make him very uncomfortable with his release. Hill, Westbrook, Wall, Jackson, Payton, Delly, Rubio, Mudiay, Booker, Russell, Harden, Mills are 6'4 and taller. I probably forgot some. Some other smaller guys are athletic and/or pesky like Bledsoe, Beverly, Schröder, Rondo(back in the days lol) and even Rose when he's dialed in. I'd even argue that 6'3 Curry has enough length to be not a total disappointment against him.
A lot of teams found ways to tinker with hiding guys. Like if you're not confident matching up your 5'11-6'1 guard against a 6'6 dude with inconsistent ballhandling and limited athleticism and a weird shot, then you can still move over your nominal SG and find a spot to hide your PG on the least versatile wing who usually chills in the corner and isn't even a 40%+ corner threat.
THat's why I said it's gonna be interesting. If he can't find his shot early in his NBA career, shooting coaches will pressure him hard towards reworking his shot. Will he be open to that? Can time fix the issue where he getts more comfortable finding gaps and finding just enough time to pull the trigger? Can he improve a lot in other areas of the game so the defense has to respect his drive? I can see someone like Paul just putting insane pressure on him.
You probably catch a lot of UCLA games. Just observe how teams are already starting to force him left and then see how often he can finish at the hoop when he's forced to bounce it with his left. I always see him passing in those situations. Being predictable like that will make life hard for him in the NBA.
I like how he can read the floor and predict movement. With his height he'll find guys and he's really smart when it comes to realizing he's getting doubled and where the double comes from. Will he need a backcourt partner who's equally capable at creating action or can he run a show on his own. I think he'll be interesting to watch in his first years.
