LaMelephant: The LaMelo Ball Thread (#2)

Liver_Pooty · Post #1441 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Mon Jul 28, 2025 8:28 pm

Chapelchilla wrote:That dudes calves are scrawny. Like a chicken. I wish he would work on that as much as the art. No wonder he hurts his ankles every year.

I have chicken legs and I murder them in the gym. My quads are ok but I can’t do **** with my calves.

Chapelchilla · Post #1442 » by **Chapelchilla** » Mon Jul 28, 2025 10:57 pm

Liver_Pooty wrote:
Chapelchilla wrote:That dudes calves are scrawny. Like a chicken. I wish he would work on that as much as the art. No wonder he hurts his ankles every year.

I have chicken legs and I murder them in the gym. My quads are ok but I can’t do **** with my calves.

I know what you mean! I am very strong up top but have thinner legs too. Yoga and bike riding definitely helped me there though. I also haven't twisted my ankle since I started the yoga. Hmm

Chapelchilla · Post #1443 » by **Chapelchilla** » Tue Aug 5, 2025 1:15 am

Melo has a new show coming out - https://us.puma.com/us/en/pd/mb-05-world-tour-basketball-shoes-unisex/312129

It doesn't look like a fantastic basketball shoe, sorta cheap and flimsy. Hopefully it is better then it appears to be.

JustBuzzin · Post #1444 » by **JustBuzzin** » Tue Aug 5, 2025 1:31 am

All I'm asking for is 60+ games is that too much to ask?

Post #1445 » by **fatlever** » Tue Aug 5, 2025 4:33 am

i was kinda hoping he'd play in ski boots this year

GoBobs · Post #1446 » by **GoBobs** » Tue Aug 5, 2025 10:26 am

JustBuzzin wrote:All I'm asking for is 60+ games is that too much to ask?

He could have played 60 games easily last year if we had anything to play for.

He missed a 7 game stretch, a 5 game stretch and a 3 game stretch. Other than that we held him out of back to backs and he missed the last 10 games of the season.

Bassman · Post #1447 » by **Bassman** » Tue Aug 5, 2025 11:43 am

When even the front office and head coach are talking about how LaMelo needs to get stronger and conditioned for maintaining his health, you know it’s an issue. Do we ever see any video of him in the weight room, or working with trainers off the court? I see snippets of him on a court shooting. We see plenty of “fun” vids.

Maybe he’s earnestly lifting, doing strength training, yoga, whatever behind the scenes. I sure hope so. If there was ever a moment for him to wake up and realize his destiny depends on him being a man, not a teenage phenom, it is now. He turns 24 this month. Via social media and the glimpses we see, he still seems more focused on his tattoos and lifestyle than basketball.

Chapelchilla · Post #1448 » by **Chapelchilla** » Tue Aug 5, 2025 1:53 pm

While I really like parts of Melos game and he is very talented, I am not sure he is a great player. Definitely not an alpha type leader anyway. Maybe he can be the next best guy on a really good team
though.

Snidely FC · Post #1449 » by **Snidely FC** » Wed Aug 13, 2025 12:38 pm

I am curious in these dog days and given the decent amount of negativity toward LaMelo on here, for those who think LaMelo either won’t be able to stay healthy or because of his personality can’t lead the team to the highest levels, and while the Chicago-Giddey stalemate is ongoing, would people rather have Josh Giddey and sanction some sort of Melo - Giddey trade?

Post #1450 » by **Walt Cronkite** » Wed Aug 13, 2025 1:11 pm

I would prefer to keep LaMelo over Giddey. Without comparing numbers, feels like LaMelo has a much higher possible ceiling and I'd like to see how the additions to the roster positively impact his game. It is an interesting idea though and I could probably be talked into it without a lot of arm twisting if it seemed apparent that Giddey would always be available for more games than Ball going forward. Would be bummed to move LaMelo though.

Chapelchilla · Post #1451 » by **Chapelchilla** » Wed Aug 13, 2025 1:46 pm

Walt Cronkite wrote:I would prefer to keep LaMelo over Giddey. Without comparing numbers, feels like LaMelo has a much higher possible ceiling and I'd like to see how the additions to the roster positively impact his game. It is an interesting idea though and I could probably be talked into it without a lot of arm twisting if it seemed apparent that Giddey would always be available for more games than Ball going forward. Would be bummed to move LaMelo though.

It would need to be Melo for Giddey and other REAL assets for this to make sense for the Hornets. Picks and/or good players. If they sweetened the offer it could be worth exploring.

Bassman · Post #1452 » by **Bassman** » Wed Aug 13, 2025 9:11 pm

I can’t see the scenario where a Giddy plus assets for Melo would actually be agreed to by both teams. I really do LIKE Giddy, but they just drafted Kon to be an important part of the near future, traded for Sexton (who we assume would take over PG in this scenario) and really need a quality center far more than any other position. Same thing relative to Kuminga, even though he’s a smallish PF.

I want Ball to be a really big hit, a dependable player, and a great player for the Hornets. This is the year we see how much he puts into it, both now in the offseason and results during the season.

Post #1453 » by **fatlever** » Wed Aug 13, 2025 9:48 pm

no interest in melo/giddy swap unless the 'additional assets' are suberb.

HornetJail · Post #1454 » by **HornetJail** » Wed Aug 13, 2025 9:51 pm

fatlever wrote:no interest in melo/giddy swap unless the 'additional assets' are suberb.

the Bulls do not have superb assets so I'm out

Braggins · Post #1455 » by **Braggins** » Wed Aug 13, 2025 10:17 pm

I just want to see one season of prime Melo where he has a real team around him before making any decision to trade him. I think hes weird and completely unrelatable and I also share many of the same concerns about his seriousness both on and off the court, but hes still an insane talent and probably the most talented player this franchise has ever had. The one season when they actually had a reasonably decent team around him (at like age 21) the team was actually pretty good. Every year since then the roster has basically been a train wreck. Its possible he can't be the main guy on a good team, but I don't think that can really be determined based just on these last few disaster seasons.

Post #1456 » by **yosemiteben** » Wed Aug 13, 2025 10:33 pm

Really my only issue with him is health. Yeah he needs to improve in some other areas, but he's so effective even without that improvement that the only reason I would move him would be to outsource the injury risk.

HornetJail · Post #1457 » by **HornetJail** » Wed Aug 13, 2025 10:38 pm

yosemiteben wrote:Really my only issue with him is health. Yeah he needs to improve in some other areas, but he's so effective even without that improvement that the only reason I would move him would be to practice the injury risk.

I think we've reached the point where we kind of have to ride or die with him. He's an elite player when he's on the court, but has been hurt too much that we're never going to get enough value in a trade to make it worthwhile. Not unlike Zion in NOLA. Neither team has a real reason to trade him unless they truly just want to start the whole rebuild process over.

NOLA might be at that point soon. Maybe we are this time next year if Miller hasn't taken a step forward, Kon looks like a nobody, and Melo has season #4 of not being able to stay on the floor. But I'm not there, and I probably won't be until there has actually been an effort to build a team around him.

Post #1458 » by **yosemiteben** » Sat Aug 16, 2025 3:16 pm

Read on Twitter

SWedd523 · Post #1459 » by **SWedd523** » Sat Aug 16, 2025 3:23 pm

Can you go ahead and translate that for me

Post #1460 » by **yosemiteben** » Sat Aug 16, 2025 3:32 pm

SWedd523 wrote:Can you go ahead and translate that for me

Melo don't like red lights when he's driving