Tag: Illawarra Hawks

NBL CEO says LaMelo Ball has had biggest ever impact on league

NBL CEO Jeremy Loeliger spoke recently on LaMelo Ball’s enormous impact on the league in his one year with Illawarra.

LaMelo Ball’s impact on and off the court this season with the National Basketball League (NBL) has been evident from the moment he stepped foot in Australia. On top of breaking attendance and viewership records, Ball is breaking records on the court, particularly in recent weeks.

Ball has brought the league to a mainstream audience, a fact not lost on the upper brass within the league. In a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, NBL CEO Jeremy Loeliger not only had his highest praise yet for Ball.

“LaMelo Ball has had the biggest impact on this league that any player has ever had. We never had a North American viewership until this season, we were available there and some people were tuning in but you couldn’t talk about a consistent audience. We’ve had over 10 million views of the highlights of his triple-double.”

Ball’s growing list of accomplishments includes being apart of the most-attended and most-watched game against the New Zealand Breakers in the first meeting with R.J. Hampton. The game drew an attendance of 17.516 and a television viewership of over two million people.

He has parlayed that off-court success into on-court success with consecutive triple-doubles for Illawarra. That has led to him moving to the top spot in the DraftExpress’ latest 2020 NBA Draft big board.

LaMelo Ball moves to top spot of DraftExpress 2020 NBA Draft board

LaMelo Ball has continued to ascend the 2020 NBA Draft boards and DraftExpress placed him atop their latest big board.

After high praise during the first months of the season, DraftExpress unveiled its latest 2020 NBA Draft big board with LaMelo Ball atop for the first time. Ball has steadily risen from a late second-round pick last year to top pick this year.

DraftExpress’ current projection for Ball is as a franchise point guard. While Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz discussed who should be the top pick with a wide open competition that includes James Wiseman of Memphis and Anthony Edwards of Georgia, the consensus opinion is Ball, at least for now.

While delivering lengthy glowing reports in the past, DraftExpress offered a more brief version of his strengths in the latest big board.

– Has elite size for a point guard at 6-foot-7. Controls the game from his unique vantage point with impressive creativity, flair, poise and instincts operating off a live dribble. Gifted ball handler who plays at different speeds and can make every pass with either hand, especially operating out of pick-and-roll. Throws 90-foot outlets, makes magical touch passes.
– Has a chance to be an adequate defender eventually due to his combination of terrific size, quick feet and instincts, particularly when he’s playing with energy. Already has some impressive moments at times rotating for steals and contesting shots around the basket. Excellent rebounder for a guard.
– Won’t turn 19 until well after the draft. Will be one of the youngest players picked in the first round. Might still be growing. Frame should continue to evolve into his 20s.

Much of Ball’s positives focus on his potential due to his size and youth. He has a high IQ, the length to be a lead guard and the youth to still grow into his body as it continues to grow.

The negatives, meanwhile, deal with some of his inconsistencies on the offensive end.

– Has struggled to score efficiently throughout his career. Currently shooting 44% from 2-point range and 18% from 3. Shoots jumpers with unorthodox mechanics, including a two-handed release while kicking his legs out. The touch he shows on floaters and career 84% free throw percentage leaves room for optimism, but his inability to buy a basket at times this season has been discouraging.
– Lacks a degree of high-end explosiveness creating offense from a standstill and beating opponents off the dribble. Doesn’t have the strength to finish what he does create around the basket. Relies on a lot of tough floaters and other high degree of difficulty attempts inside the arc. Might not ever be a guy who goes and gets you a bucket in a pinch. Much more effective when he can move the defense and create for others.
– Indifferent defender for much of his career. Still reverts back to that frequently, especially off the ball, where he falls asleep regularly. Struggles to get over screens due to his lack of strength. Has been maligned at times for his work ethic and level of focus on and off the floor.

Ball will certainly have lots of questions about his game as he comes into the 2020 NBA Draft. But he’s also coming into his own in Australia with Illawarra and answering many of those questions as the season continues.

He’s closed the gap at the top of the NBA Draft and now could put some distance between himself and the rest of the field if he continues his strong play.

LaMelo Ball notches back-to-back triple-doubles, Hawks fall to Breakers

LaMelo Ball recorded his second-consecutive triple-double on Saturday but Illawarra could not overcome a slow first half despite a lively second-half rally, falling to the New Zealand Breakers 91-78.

LaMelo Ball recorded his second-consecutive triple-double on Saturday but Illawarra could not overcome a slow first half despite a lively second-half rally, falling to the New Zealand Breakers 91-78.

Ball wasn’t nearly as efficient in his second consecutive triple-double but he was imperative in Illawarra’s second-half rally. The Hawks slowly began chipping away at the huge deficit in the third quarter and cut the margin to single digits in the fourth period.

However, down six points in the latter stages of the quarter, Ball missed a pair of free throws after a flagrant foul and the Hawks came up empty on the ensuing possession before Sek Henry buried a three-pointer to put distance between the two sides again.

From there, Illawarra never could find its footing back in the game as the visiting Hawks stumbled down the stretch. While Ball notched his triple-double late in the contest, his 23 points on the night came on 28 shots as he finished just 10-for-28 from the field. Most notably, Ball’s three-point shooting, which had improved in recent weeks, regressed dramatically on the night as he finished 1-for-11.

But Ball pulled down 12 rebounds, handed out 10 assists and had a big role in pulling the Hawks back into the game late. His highlight of the night came on a coast-to-coast play that started with a rebound and ended with a two-handed dunk.

The New Zealand lead peaked at 21 points early in the third quarter at 63-42. But a 14-3 run cut the advantage to just 10 points, a margin that would carry to the end of the third.

A three-pointer from Tim Coenraad after a Ball rebound cut the lead all the way down to 71-69, the closest the Hawks would get in the fourth quarter.

Ball became the first player in the 40-minute era of NBL’s history to record consecutive triple-doubles. It’s the fourth back-to-back triple-double in league history.

Report: NBA teams question LaMelo Ball’s work ethic, reluctant to hand keys to franchise over

While LaMelo Ball has found success carrying a franchise in the NBL this season, NBA teams are reportedly still holding reservations.

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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Tim Coenraad says LaMelo Ball has surpassed expectations with Illawarra Hawks

LaMelo Ball’s teammate, Tim Coenraad, spoke highly of Ball’s constantly improving play for the Illawarra Hawks this season.

LaMelo Ball has exceeded expectations in the National Basketball League in many ways. In terms of production, after a slow start, he has more than come around, culminating in his recent historic triple-double. Off the court, he has drawn an international audience and repeatedly broken attendance and viewership records.

One of the less-discussed areas of improvement for Ball has been in his mental approach to the game. After years of playing in disorganized leagues and without having to run any sort of system offensively or defensively, Ball has been forced to adapt with the Illawarra Hawks.

Following his 30-point triple-double on Monday, teammate Tim Coenraad brought up Ball’s progression in that area and how impressed he was with it.

“He hasn’t really played any structured basketball. He’s 18 years old and he’s coming into a league that’s really well-scouted. Everyone pretty much knows what everyone’s running and you have to make adjustments. I think one of the things that he’s shown that I think has surpassed all our expectations is his ability to learn on the fly.

Compare him at the start of the season compared to now, it’s 10 times the better player cereberally with his mindset. For an 18 year old kid, that’s pretty impressive.”

Ball’s ability to absorb the information about these systems and learn on the fly shows how high his basketball IQ is. It’s one of the more underrated aspects of his game and more of a sign of how successful he could be at the next level.

On a game-to-game basis, Ball has improved on both ends of the floor, which shows not only an improving understanding of what’s happening on the court but a willingness to learn as well, which is just as important. With that as well, Ball will only continue to improve as he grows more and more comfortable in the league, meaning even bigger heights could be in store for he and the Hawks.

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Matt Flinn on LaMelo Ball’s triple-double: ‘It’s exciting to be a part of’

After LaMelo Ball’s historic triple-double on Monday against Cairns, Matt Flinn reflected on Ball’s incredible performance.

No person has been a stronger public supporter of LaMelo Ball during his time in the National Basketball League than his head coach Matt Flinn. In his first year as a head coach, the Illawarra Hawks’ main man has thrown his full support behind his Next Star despite his struggles to open the year.

Ball made good on Flinn’s high praise early in the year with a historic performance on Monday, becoming the youngest player in league history to record a triple-double. Ball finished with 32 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in an overtime win over the Cairns Taipans.

After the game, Flinn talked about Ball’s historic performance in his post-game press conference.

“I think everyone saw tonight what he’s capable of. We see it pretty regularly in practice when the doors are closed. It was really nice for him to get into a flow. He just impacts the game in so many different ways. It’s exciting to be a part of. It’s also the way he brings his teammates into the game as well. There’s so many good players in this league but the really great ones make everyone around them better. I think we saw tonight he can bring other people into the game.”

Ball has continued to improve game by game in the NBL and has really hit his stride in the weeks since Aaron Brooks’ injury. He’s also helped slowly drag the Hawks back up the table.

The win over the Taipans moves them off the bottom of the table at least in the short-term and within two wins of a top-four spot. It’s still a long road but with Ball steadying improving, anything feels possible with the Hawks moving forward.

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WATCH: Every highlight of LaMelo Ball’s historic triple-double

LaMelo Ball made history as the Illawarra Hawks once again beat the Cairns Taipans. Here are all of the highlights from Ball’s breakout game.

In the midst of a disappointing start to the season, the Illawarra Hawks finally caught a break against the Cairns Taipans thanks to a monster night from LaMelo Ball.

The 18-year-old guard led the Hawks to a 114-106 overtime win with 32 points — including a clutch 3-pointer to send the game to extra quarters —11 rebounds and 13 assists. His triple-double was the youngest by any player in NBL history and the first of Ball’s professional career.

For those that couldn’t stay up and watch Ball and the Hawks take on the Taipans, the NBL posted every highlight from Ball’s triple-double on Twitter Monday morning.

What the highlights don’t show, though, is just how well Ball was taking care of the Ball. In addition to dishing out 13 assists, Ball turned over the ball just two times. As impressive as a 30-point triple-double is, seemingly small things like Ball’s assists to turnover ratio are what’s going to separate him from the other guards at the top of the draft like Cole Anthony and Anthony Edwards. It also doesn’t hurt that Ball is pushing 6’7.

Ball will look to build on his breakout game on Friday, when the Hawks take on RJ Hampton — another 2020 NBA Draft hopeful — and the New Zealand Breakers.

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LaMelo Ball posts historic triple-double, knocks down clutch three in Illawarra win

Behind a historic triple-double from LaMelo Ball, the Illawarra Hawks picked up their third win of the season over Cairns, 114-106.

LaMelo Ball became the youngest player in NBL history to record a triple-double, and also was just the second player since 2015 to achieve the feat, on Sunday to lead Illawarra to a 114-106 victory over Cairns.

Ball finished with 32 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists (all game-highs) while shooting 55 percent from the field and 57 percent from the arc. Ball played 40 minutes on the night – notable because of the NBL’s 10-minute quarters – and finished with just two turnovers.

Illawarra came flying out of the gates and it was Ball who got his teammates going early, picking up five assists in the first four minutes. After playing the distributor role, he switched his focus to scoring, knocking down a mid-range jumper than a pair of threes before the end of the first quarter, the first of which from way behind the arc and the second coming on a step-back.

Ball also crashed the boards in the opening quarter to finish with the stat line of eight points, five rebounds and six assists. With Ball spending most of the second quarter on the bench, his teammates continued to shoot the lights out, Tim Coenraad (27 points) being the main offensive threat as he hit four first-half three-pointers.

Ball hit his third three-pointer of the night off a deep step-back with a hand in his face to bring his points tally up to 14 at half time. Shooting an outrageous 10-14 from behind the three-point arc, Illawarra’s 59 first-half points equaled the most in any half this season and gave the Hawks a 12-point lead at the break.

Ball picked up where he left off to start the second half, knocking down a mid-range jumper for his first points of the half before finishing an and-one after a tough reverse layup to get himself up to 19 points.

After maintaining a double-figure lead for the majority of the third quarter, the Hawks started to fall apart in the last few minutes of the quarter, most of which Ball spent of the bench. Cairns were able to cut the lead to five points in the final minute of the quarter but Coenraad’s fifth three-pointer pushed the Hawks lead back out to eight points with a quarter to play.

The margin stayed around this mark for all of the last quarter as the teams traded baskets. Ball earned his triple-double with an assist on a lob to AJ Ogilvy with 3:14 to play in the fourth, but the excitement was short-lived as the margin was quickly cut to four points just moments later.

A DJ Newbill three tied scores at 93 with just two minutes to play as Cairns pushed their way back into the game out of nowhere thanks to some clumsy Illawarra turnovers.

Ex-Laker point guard Scott Machado hit back-to-back three-pointers to give the Taipans a four-point lead with 1:07 to play.

Ball came up clutch for the Hawks, knocking down a three-pointer with 5.6 seconds on the clock to send the game to overtime after the Hawks looked out of it. Coenraad scored the first five points before Ball punched home a huge one-handed dunk as the Hawks came out of the blocks in overtime.

While the margin was briefly cut to three points after an unsportsmanlike foul from Ogilvy, the Hawks finished strong to come home with the win.

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LaMelo Ball becomes youngest player in NBL history to record triple-double

LaMelo Ball became the youngest player in NBL history to record a triple-double on Sunday, scoring 32 points in an overtime win over Cairns.

LaMelo Ball had the best game of his professional career on Sunday and made history, yet again, in the process. On a night punctuated by his overtime-forcing three-pointer at the end of regulation, LaMelo Ball became the youngest player in National Basketball League history to record a triple-double.

Ball finished his spectacular night with 32 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 shooting from three-point territory to go along with 13 assists, 10 rebounds and just two turnovers in the win. And he did it all at just 18 years old. The Hawks would dominate the extra session with Ball leading the way both scoring and setting up teammates as Illawarra picked up its third win of the season, 114-106.

Ball notched his triple-double midway through the fourth quarter with lob at the rim to AJ Ogilvy for his 10th assist.

Ball’s overtime session saw him build off his clutch three-pointer with an emphatic finish at the rim to literally punctuate his strong game.

Over his last five games, Ball is now averaging 21.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.8 assists while shooting 14-of-37 (37.8 percent) from beyond the arc.

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WATCH: LaMelo Ball forces overtime with clutch three-pointer

In a historic 30-point triple-double on Sunday, LaMelo Ball’s biggest moment came on a clutch three-pointer to force overtime.

LaMelo Ball continues to find his groove in the National Basketball League and continues to one-up his performances in the process. In Sunday’s contest against the Cairns Taipans, LaMelo Ball had a historic night, becoming the youngest player in league history to record a triple-double.

But that wasn’t his only highlight of the night. Despite leading for much of the contest, the Hawks found themselves down late. After a late steal and pass that led to a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to three points, Ball hit the biggest bucket of his season.

The Next Star took a feed from Sunday Dech in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter and splashed home a three-pointer with 5.0 seconds left, eventually forcing overtime.

The basket was the 28th points of Ball’s historic night and none were bigger on the night. After his slow start to the season, Ball has found his groove and is showing out, strengthening his case to be the top pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.