Robert Horry has scathing, inaccurate criticism of Hornets star LaMelo Ball

Can LaMelo Ball be a winning player in the NBA? Plenty don't seem to think so. That's been the criticism of the Charlotte Hornets guard for a long time. No matter how well he plays or how many highlights he compiles, it doesn't often translate to wins.

Count ex-NBA star and seven-time NBA champion Robert Horry among those who don't believe in Ball's ability to win basketball games. He was on the Big Shot Bob podcast recently, and he had some scathing but totally off-base criticism for Ball.

Robert Horry incorrectly calls out LaMelo Ball

Robert Horry won seven titles in the NBA, so he would know a thing or two about winning, right? Maybe not, at least based on his latest comments. He complimented LaMelo Ball as a good player, but he doesn't think he'll ever be a winner.

Horry said, "He’s a great player, but to me, he reminds me of White Chocolate. You can always be this fancy player, but you ain’t going to win s**t with that fancy s**t because when it comes down to the end, you need someone who can play defense, grind it out. He’s a great showman, but I just don’t think he can win you a game because he got too much razzle-dazzle in him.”

This is wrong on multiple fronts. For one thing, Jason Williams is an NBA champion. He won the title in 2006, and he played over 31 minutes a game, so it's not as if he was just an aging veteran along for the ride. He also developed better defense as he got older, so that criticism doesn't hold water, either.

And in the modern NBA, you definitely can win with elite, creative offensive players who aren't better than traffic cones on the other end of the floor. Luka Doncic just dragged the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals with abhorrent defense.

Steph Curry, a four-time champion, has never been regarded as a good defender, and he's undersized. Nikola Jokic is a terrible defender, but he's a champion and the best player in the world. You can definitely win without being an elite defender if you're that good on offense.

This is not to say Ball is like those players. He's definitely not. But to say you can't win with exciting, creative, visionary offensive players who give no effort on defense is just not true in today's NBA. It's fair to criticize Ball's defense since it is that bad, but it's not fair to say he'll never be a winning player because of it, as so many winning players have bad defense.

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