The Big Board #237: LaMelo Ball

Welcome to the 2020 NBA draft profile series. We’ll be ranking the top players in the upcoming draft, breaking them down to the extent we can, and analyzing their fit on the next iteration of the Cleveland Cavaliers. There will be a lot of assumptions about these guys, and the biggest one is due to the fact that most of them haven’t played in a public game in at least three months (or in today’s case, five). This is one of the weirdest and least top heavy drafts in memory, and most players can be described as “this guy could be good, but…” followed by a glaring flaw or three. This draft will be a fascinating to see which players took the opportunity to work on their game and fix those flaws, and which guys sat on their butts. To start it off, I’m ranking my least favorite prospect in this draft: LaMelo Ball, who finishes way at the bottom of my big draft board, one spot behind Kevin Hart.

The Breakdown: LaMelo Ball, Age:18.8 Height: 6-8; Wingspan:6-10 Weight:180 lbs , Illawarra Hawks of the National Basketball League (Australia). Splits (Pts./Reb./Ast.): 17/7.5/7.0, 1.7 steals. Shooting splits (FG/3Pt/FT): 37/25/72. Ball decided to forgo his freshman year of college to play ball down in Australia where a large number of former NBA players play. His NBL team included former NBAers Aaron Brooks and Josh Boone. It’s probably the third best professional league in the world.

Ball’s strengths include a very good handle, as he’s adept at stringing multiple dribble moves with either hand together to get anywhere he wants on the court. He’s developed a preturnatural ability to pass with either hand off any dribble, and that ambidexterity and touch leads a lot of scouts to believe he could be come a good finisher and decent shooter.

In addition his “feel” for the game is nearly unmatched for a player his age. He knows where players are and are supposed to be, can feel the defensive help, and manipulate the defense with his dribble and his eyes. Ball possesses an innate feel for pick-and-roll timing, hitting cutters, and most especially finding guys on the break and in transition with a flair that even if it doesn’t win basketball games, will put people in the stands (or at least draw TV eyeballs). He also has a very quick first step when decisive and a very quick (if unorthodox) release on his shot. LaMelo also possesses outstanding length for a lead guard and projects to be able to guard well if he’s able to hone that side of his game.

Unfortunately, Ball’s weaknesses are glaring, and they include some pretty damning trends that include at times horrific shot selection, standing around and/or not even caring on defense and a general sense of disengagement when he’s not a part of the action. He was also a poor shooter and finisher in his time down under with a very unorthodox shot form and footwork. The story I’ve heard is that the Balls developed poor mechanics because their Dad had them shooting threes and half courters at way too young an age and they developed the habit of throwing throw elbows out too wide to get more push because of it. Spencer Pearlman at the Stepien broke it down in January.

If you want to buy his shot, you buy it because of his touch and thinking there will be form improvements. It starts low, below his head, and both elbows flare out in the shooting motion. He gets great arc on his shot but his footwork is not consistent.

Ball has a lack of physical strength and compounds it by playing too upright on both ends of the floor and lacking a physicality to his game. That will be exposed in the NBA. His defensive lapses come and go in spurts, but he gets stuck on screens easily and hasn’t played in many structured defenses and the learning curve on that side of the ball will be steep. He also is lazy off the ball defensively. The lack of competitiveness in the leagues and games he’s played in is also a concern. Finally, the Ball family circus could absolutely be a distraction to an NBA as it has been since the son, Lonzo Ball was at UCLA

While it would be tempting to compare LaMelo to his brother, Lonzo, the elder Ball came into the league a much more complete defensive prospect after his relatively sane high school and college experience at UCLA. When it comes to passing and dribbling, LaMelo compares favorably with his brother, and probably has better shot form than Lonzo did coming into the NBA (but not by much). It remains to be seen if the younger Ball has the discipline and work ethic his oldest brother did.

LiAngelo and LaMelo in Lithuania

Remember, LaMelo had a goofy high school career where he started at Chino Hills in California, then left after his Sophomore year after his dad (Lavar) pulled him out of school because he didn’t like the new coach the school hired. After that, LaMelo and the middle brother, LiAngelo, signed with Prenai in Lithuania and LaMelo become the youngest American to sign a professional basketball contract in history. After getting hurt and quitting the team. He joined the Los Angeles Ballers of Lavar’s newly formed (and short lived) Junior Basketball Association, and after winning the Championship left the league after slapping a Lithuanian player in an exhibition game. Then he joined SPIRE institute in Geneva, OH for his senior year. It’s trip that would make Jerry Garcia jealous.

LaMelo Ball doing his best Rick James impersonation with the Lithuanian Charlie Murphy. pic.twitter.com/JYos8uBLnI

— David Astramskas (@redapples) October 1, 2018

How he’d Fit on the Cavs: Lonzo is a high risk, high reward style draft pick. His comp for me is a 6-8 Jason Williams. White Chocolate was a flashy player for the Memphis Grizzlies who didn’t win a championship till he was in his 30s with Miami. He was a career sub 40 FG% player and 33% from the three point line. If Ball isn’t just a glorified And1-mixtape-tour player, then he’d be a very interesting lead guard to pair with Collin Sexton who can guard the smaller opposing guard and focus on scoring. It would also realistically relegate Darius Garland to the bench, but LaMelo could feature in three guard lineups if he can guard small forwards (he’ll have to add a lot of muscle). Best case scenario, it will take a while for LaMelo to get to where he’s a winning basketball player -at a bare minimum, 2-3 years. Lonzo didn’t sniff being close to an efficient baller till this year, and as mentioned LaMelo isn’t nearly the defender his oldest brother was coming into the league..

However, this could dovetail with the Cavs’ timeline. As many have noted, this draft stinks, and the 2021 draft appears loaded. Drafting and playing LaMelo would drive the tank for Cleveland, though watching LaMelo and Drummond together might drive me to become a Memphis fan. Still, if the Cavs could make it work, the team would fly with Ball, Sexton, and KPJ and (unnamed 2021 wing) running the floor.

What he should be working on: Strength. Conditioning. A consistent, repeatable jump shot. Defensive habits. Kineseology mechanics for injury prevention. Finishing around the basket. Pick and roll. Off ball movement.

Why the Cavs Should (or Shouldn’t) Draft Him: You could chalk up the off-the-court red flags to several things: a father intent on capitalizing on his sons’ abilities, boredom, immaturity, and/or a crazy adolescence. But the bigger issue in my mind is this kid looks like an injury waiting to happen. I just hate the way his legs flail and are all over the place when he shoots: a recipe for ankle and knee injuries. And he can get twisty on his J. His better developed brother has averaged only 51 games in his three NBA seasons. LaMelo did finish a whole season at SPIRE, but his NBL career was limited to just 12 games. While I see a frame that can build muscle, I also see spindly legs and an undisciplined past.

Futher, the Ball circus comes with costs. Lavar recently noted that all three of his kids should end up in New York playing for the Knicks, something I’d love to see happen if just for Knick futility. However, the big market concerns of his father should be a concern that is Ball is good, keeping him in the 216 could be an issue. Talkbasket.net covered as much Lavar’s recent stint on Say Less with Kaz with Kazeem Famuyide.

Ball has been saying for a long time that his goal is to get all of his three sons to the NBA, ideally all one the same team. He think the Knicks could be that team.

“They don’t have anything,” LaVar threw a jab at the Knicks on Say Less with Kaz with Kazeem Famuyide. “The last time they won a championship back in the 70’s. The bright lights. You need a whole new turnaround over there. … If you’re getting Melo, you’re getting Gelo! … You don’t need one person to change no franchise. You need the whole culture change and that takes all three of my boys.”.

Ultimately, there seems to be a lack of professionalism and dedication to the process of improving as a winning basketball player to the LaMelo experience that has to be off-putting for any serious NBA team.

Both those factors ignore the core basketball issue which is: this kid is a bad shooter who takes bad shots, doesn’t defend, and by the time he figures out how to do those things, he could be on his way out the door, if he ever does figure it out. There are guys in this draft with much lower risks and just as much upside. If the Cavs do end up with a top one or two pick and Ball is available, they should absolutely trade down. Some team will do something dumb to try to get him.