Los Angeles Times

Rookie guards like Lakers' Lonzo Ball can learn from past experiences of others

What's changed are the names, the numbers, the hairstyles and the salaries.

What's changed is the way they communicate with each other and about each other.

What's changed is that impatience has permeated every part of society and social media, which means that impatience is impossible to escape.

What hasn't changed? Point guards still tiptoe into the NBA as fresh meat, and often they're expected to lead from the start. They come in as teenagers or men in their early 20s, as presumed saviors, and not all of them can shoulder the burden.

What hasn't changed is that succeeding as a first-year point guard is demanding, and that week after week these young men will face players with more skill, more experience and more savvy.

In their stories lie lessons for Lonzo Ball as he works through the weight of outsized expectations as the point guard for the Lakers.

___

Jason Kidd, second overall pick by the Dallas Mavericks in

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