One of the NBA Draft mainstays across decades of coverage for ESPN has been Jay Bilas. The long-time college basketball analyst has been an equally long-time NBA Draft analyst, having become infamous for his use of the wingspan.
Joking aside, few analysts have greater experience in covering the draft and prospects than Bilas. While he’s given his thoughts on LaMelo Ball in the past, calling him ‘as talented as anybody’ in the 2020 NBA Draft, he recently offered a much more detailed scouting report on Ball for the Charlotte Observer.
While the entire scouting report is far too lengthy to include in this piece, here’s a small snippet on his summary of Ball’s game.
“Ball has positional size. He’s a legitimate 6-7 or 6-8. He’s insanely creative with the ball. He’s ridiculously talented. Just a fabulous passer; every bit the passer his brother (Lonzo, a point guard for the New Orleans Pelicans) is. He just doesn’t shoot it (well). He’s going to have to really work on it. He’s got an odd release. And worse than the odd release? It doesn’t go in.”
Overall, Bilas ranked Ball third on his big board with Anthony Edwards first and James Wiseman second. Bilas noted Edwards’ age and athleticism and Wiseman’s size and versatility as positives in each of their respective scouting reports.
On Ball, his inconsistent shooting was one of the main talking points as a negative. Bilas also discussed at length about how Ball has “not been socialized” due to his unique upbringing.
Ball has not spent more than one season with a team since leaving Chino Hills. His stint with SPIRE, which lasted from November through early March, is the longest he’s spent with an organized team in recent years. Ball still holds relationships with both Rocket Watts and Isaiah Jackson from that team, two of the other standout prospects, as the trio routinely interacts on social media.