Tag: Eli Scott

Lonzo, LiAngelo, LaMelo Ball likely to team up in Drew League contest

For the first time since their Chino Hills days, Lonzo, LaMelo and LiAngelo may be teaming up together in the Drew League this summer.

The 2015-16 Chino Hills basketball team will likely go down as one of the best high school teams ever. On top of a perfect 35-0 season and a state title in California, the lineup featured three future top-6 NBA draft picks in Lonzo and LaMelo Ball and Onyeka Okongwu as well as Eli Scott and LiAngelo Ball, both who received Division I scholarships.

That group of players, though, only played together for one season with Lonzo graduating following the unbeaten season. A chance to reunite that group, then, is an exciting proposition that may come to fruition this summer.

During his house tour for SLAM, LiAngelo revealed the potential plan to team up with his brothers, and potentially Scott and Okongwu, in the Drew League this summer.

“I’m going to be playing in the Drew League with my brothers. That’s going to be exciting. That’s going to be a show. Damn near our whole high school team, for real. Me, Melo, Zo, Eli (Scott). (Onyeka Okongwu) might play. It’s going to be fun, just all grown up now and coming back together so I’m excited to see what’s going to happen but I know it’s going to be a show for sure.”

Big Baller Brand does have a team in the Drew League this season which is comprised at least partly of players from the now-defunct JBA. LaMelo and Lonzo were spotted in attendance during last week’s games.

Having the three brothers play together seems like a very plausible scenario, especially considering LaVar has spent time as the coach of the BBB team. Scott, who is entering his final season at Loyola Marymount, could also rather easily get clearance.

The one hangup would be Okongwu, who is currently playing in the Eastern Conference finals. The Drew League season typically runs into August, which means the NBA season would end but the turnaround would be quick for Okongwu to join a Drew League contest.

Having all three brothers team up again would be a fun proposition regardless whether Scott and Okongwu join. After a year off, the Drew League could really be heating up again.

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Chino Hills teammates talk about historic 2015-16 with Ball brothers

The 2015-16 Chino Hills season remains a memorable and magical one that is only aging better as time passes.

Only recently has the 2015-16 Chino Hills team started to receive more recognition for what was a truly historic season. While the team certainly received plaudits in the moment and the immediate aftermath of their season, the season has aged tremendously as more and more members of that starting lineup near the NBA.

The Ball brothers were the surest candidates to earn spots in the NBA and two of three will fulfill that in Lonzo and LaMelo Ball. The only of the trio not to appear in an NBA game, LiAngelo, latched onto a G League team just prior to the season being canceled.

Onyeka Okongwu is set to join LaMelo as incoming rookies from the 2020 NBA Draft class. Eli Scott, the oft-forgotten fifth member of that starting lineup, has carved out a role at Loyola Marymount, has an outside shot at an NBA job if he can finish his senior season strong.

NOLA.com’s Christian Clark recently profiled the team with some voices not often heard from. While the likes of Lonzo, LaMelo, LaVar and Okongwu have all talked about that season in some regard in the past, Clark spoke with Scott, head coach Steve Baik and Eric Sondheimer, who covered the team and the high school basketball landscape in Los Angeles for the LA Times.

The story as a whole provided one of the longest looks behind the curtain of the team that season and is a must-read. One of the most memorable quotes, though, came from Baik when describing what made the team and season so special.

“Nobody knew about Chino Hills. Now it’s like an international phenomenon. We were so proud that we were able to do that. So proud that we were neighborhood kids. So proud that we were a public school and came from a no-name town. There were so many stories within. It’s just really, really cool. It should be a movie one day.”

Honestly, it’s more than a little surprising LaVar hasn’t proposed a movie of the season to Hollywood execs. Maybe the demand of playing himself in the movie, something he almost assuredly has in any contract, is not something directors want to sea with.

Nonetheless, both Clark’s story and that of the Chino Hills team as a whole is a fascinating one that is only going to look better and better with time.