On the court, LaMelo Ball has proven that he is arguably the most talented prospect in the upcoming 2020 NBA Draft. His talent has been on full display in recent weeks for Illawarra, capped off with his triple-double against the Taipans last week.
An area in which there are still many questions, though, comes off the court. While the attachment to his father, LaVar, will always hang over him, it’s not the only area scouts and general managers have hesitations. In a piece on Sunday in which DraftExpress’ Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz discussed which prospect should top the 2020 NBA Draft big board, Givony talked about NBA teams being uncertain about whether they can trust Ball to lead the franchise.
However, I believe that if the draft were held today, (Ball) probably would not be the No. 1 pick. Of course, that will heavily depend on the team that ends up winning the May lottery. But both Schmitz and I have just received a significant amount of blowback from NBA teams who say that they simply don’t trust Ball enough to hand him the keys to their franchise. They worry about what all the attention around him will do to their team culture, how strong his work ethic is and whether his father, LaVar, could become a distraction.
The idea that Ball wouldn’t be able to lead an NBA franchise feels rather unfounded. After a bit of a learning curve, Illawarra handed the keys to its franchise in the wake of Aaron Brooks’ season-ending Achilles injury.
The results have been wholly positive for the Hawks. Ball has helped revitalize the team and has powered the team to a pair of wins over Cairns. While the NBL certainly isn’t the NBA, it is a blueprint for how putting Ball in a position to succeed can lead to a bright future for a franchise.
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