LaMelo Ball

[Nate the Great]

He’s good at everything except offense and defense. But if you want Globetrotter-esque passing, he’s your guy.

[Nate the Great]

No, he is flat out horrible and way over hyped just like his brother. He has the worst jump shot I've ever seen in my life.

I don't like anything about this guy's game. No fundamentals, no IQ, his defensive IQ is a negative, and he has an ugly and broken jump shot just like his brother. Right now he is shooting 21% from three and 35% from the field. He is not even worth a second round pick. He is a worst version of Dante Exum or Dante Exum with no defense and a no jump shot.

The only good thing I can say about they guy is that he has good height and is a willing passer.

His jump shot is just really bad, like on the same level bad as RJ Barrett and Lonzo Ball bad.

On defense, he doesn't try and he doesn't care, even though he has long arms and decent athleticism.

One thing that stands out for me is that he really gives no effort during the game. The only time he gives effort is when he has the ball in his hands, but if he is playing off ball, you never see him working or hustling. I watched a few games and I was trying to see how many times Melo would sprint or dive for a loose ball, or help set a pick on a back screen and I didn't see any hustle from the guy at any point.

So is this 2020 draft a bust or are there some promising players the Knicks should focus on drafting?

I have Jalen Smith, Anthony Edwards, and James Wiseman as my top 3.

If you want a PG, look at Tyrese Haliburton, he is a cross between Micheal Ray Richardson and Jayson Tatum. Haliburton has a high basketball IQ and is an elite shooter, he has no weaknesses but he just needs to bulk up. In the right situation, Haliburton could be the same level impact player as Damian Lillard.

Anthony Edwards can also play PG, but he is more of a Bradley Beal type of player.

I like Tyrese a lot. His shot is also unorthodox, but it goes in the basket, so that’s okay. Pesky defender, passes and rebounds well. He’s skinny, but otherwise I don’t see any major weaknesses.

Killian Hayes is also a good prospect. 6’5”, super quick with a nice crossover. Very good ball handler. His only major negative was perimeter shooting, but he’s improved that.

There are many other point guard options, this draft is full of them. But those two are my favorites.

[MotownMadness]

Really wish he was at least a good defender like Lonzo. I could see him him having a impact at the next level if you want to build around him with shooters and cutters but he does have a lot of flaws that take away from his elite passing skills and size.

I just think you would really have to commit to build around him if Your taking him.

[Nazrmohamed]

So is this 2020 draft a bust or are there some promising players the Knicks should focus on drafting?

I have Jalen Smith, Anthony Edwards, and James Wiseman as my top 3.

If you want a PG, look at Tyrese Haliburton, he is a cross between Micheal Ray Richardson and Jayson Tatum. Haliburton has a high basketball IQ and is an elite shooter, he has no weaknesses but he just needs to bulk up. In the right situation, Haliburton could be the same level impact player as Damian Lillard.

Anthony Edwards can also play PG, but he is more of a Bradley Beal type of player.

I like Tyrese a lot. His shot is also unorthodox, but it goes in the basket, so that’s okay. Pesky defender, passes and rebounds well. He’s skinny, but otherwise I don’t see any major weaknesses.

Killian Hayes is also a good prospect. 6’5”, super quick with a nice crossover. Very good ball handler. His only major negative was perimeter shooting, but he’s improved that.

There are many other point guard options, this draft is full of them. But those two are my favorites.

I like every one of the PGs mentioned and agree about just about everything except I just don't see Haliburton being anywhere as prolific as Lillard. I actually don't like the comparison at all. There are things Halliburton can do that Lillard doesn't but from a scoring standpoint I just don't see him as a team's primary or even secondary scorer. I think hes alot more Jason Kidd like or possibly even Rondo like. I see a traditional 12-17pt scorer who fills up other areas of the stat sheet....... once he fills out of course. Keep in mind though that filling out part isnt some minor thing to fix. That's like a 3 season project even with him being skilled.

[atlantabbq99]

I have Jalen Smith, Anthony Edwards, and James Wiseman as my top 3.

If you want a PG, look at Tyrese Haliburton, he is a cross between Micheal Ray Richardson and Jayson Tatum. Haliburton has a high basketball IQ and is an elite shooter, he has no weaknesses but he just needs to bulk up. In the right situation, Haliburton could be the same level impact player as Damian Lillard.

Anthony Edwards can also play PG, but he is more of a Bradley Beal type of player.

I like Tyrese a lot. His shot is also unorthodox, but it goes in the basket, so that’s okay. Pesky defender, passes and rebounds well. He’s skinny, but otherwise I don’t see any major weaknesses.

Killian Hayes is also a good prospect. 6’5”, super quick with a nice crossover. Very good ball handler. His only major negative was perimeter shooting, but he’s improved that.

There are many other point guard options, this draft is full of them. But those two are my favorites.

I like every one of the PGs mentioned and agree about just about everything except I just don't see Haliburton being anywhere as prolific as Lillard. I actually don't like the comparison at all. There are things Halliburton can do that Lillard doesn't but from a scoring standpoint I just don't see him as a team's primary or even secondary scorer. I think hes alot more Jason Kidd like or possibly even Rondo like. I see a traditional 12-17pt scorer who fills up other areas of the stat sheet....... once he fills out of course. Keep in mind though that filling out part isnt some minor thing to fix. That's like a 3 season project even with him being skilled.

My Lillard comment refers to Haliburton's ceiling. That is why I phrased it as "In the right situation".

Like Lillard, I think Tyrese could have a few years where he is averaging 20-25ppg on good shooting number and averaging 5-8 assist per game.

I also don't agree with you about adding bulk. Alot of players today can get it done like Kobe, TMac, Anthony Davis, Josh Smith where all able to do it in a year. Anthony Davis probably the best example of a guy who added alot of bulk from college to the pros in a very short amount of time.

[Roddy B for 3]

I have Jalen Smith, Anthony Edwards, and James Wiseman as my top 3.

If you want a PG, look at Tyrese Haliburton, he is a cross between Micheal Ray Richardson and Jayson Tatum. Haliburton has a high basketball IQ and is an elite shooter, he has no weaknesses but he just needs to bulk up. In the right situation, Haliburton could be the same level impact player as Damian Lillard.

Anthony Edwards can also play PG, but he is more of a Bradley Beal type of player.

I like Tyrese a lot. His shot is also unorthodox, but it goes in the basket, so that’s okay. Pesky defender, passes and rebounds well. He’s skinny, but otherwise I don’t see any major weaknesses.

Killian Hayes is also a good prospect. 6’5”, super quick with a nice crossover. Very good ball handler. His only major negative was perimeter shooting, but he’s improved that.

There are many other point guard options, this draft is full of them. But those two are my favorites.

I like every one of the PGs mentioned and agree about just about everything except I just don't see Haliburton being anywhere as prolific as Lillard. I actually don't like the comparison at all. There are things Halliburton can do that Lillard doesn't but from a scoring standpoint I just don't see him as a team's primary or even secondary scorer. I think hes alot more Jason Kidd like or possibly even Rondo like. I see a traditional 12-17pt scorer who fills up other areas of the stat sheet....... once he fills out of course. Keep in mind though that filling out part isnt some minor thing to fix. That's like a 3 season project even with him being skilled.

I hope Haliburton is the universe giving us modern day Shaun Livingston. Modern day being trading the automatic mid-range jumper for a steady 38+% three that he launched on high volume.

I didn't see much of young Livingston, but he was a great role player for the Cavs, Nets and Warriors (The Thunder too?).

I always enjoyed watching him play with GSW.

[KobesScarf]

He has a very good jumper. If he can tighten his ball handling he'll be a great offensive player

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Lamelo is currently shooting 21% from three and 33% overall FG. His jump shot sucks! He is just a garbage ball player all around.

He's grown like 8 inches in 2 years its simply a matter if him adjusting to his body. But he was an amazing shooter during that Sophomore season at Chino Hills so we know he has it in him.

[clyde21]

He has a very good jumper. If he can tighten his ball handling he'll be a great offensive player

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Lamelo is currently shooting 21% from three and 33% overall FG. His jump shot sucks! He is just a garbage ball player all around.

He's grown like 8 inches in 2 years its simply a matter if him adjusting to his body. But he was an amazing shooter during that Sophomore season at Chino Hills so we know he has it in him.

not really, he was just chucking from really far and made a few of em, it was cute at Chino Hills, now it's just a terrible basketball play

he'll be fine as a shooter, the question is will he be efficient enough to overcome the bad decision making and bad defense.

[KobesScarf]

Lamelo is currently shooting 21% from three and 33% overall FG. His jump shot sucks! He is just a garbage ball player all around.

He's grown like 8 inches in 2 years its simply a matter if him adjusting to his body. But he was an amazing shooter during that Sophomore season at Chino Hills so we know he has it in him.

not really, he was just chucking from really far and made a few of em, it was cute at Chino Hills, now it's just a terrible basketball play

he'll be fine as a shooter, the question is will he be efficient enough to overcome the bad decision making and bad defense.

He forced a ton of shots but when he shot the ball in rhythm he was Great. And even the bad forced he was really good until he got tired cause he never came off the court

[UcanUwill]

He's grown like 8 inches in 2 years its simply a matter if him adjusting to his body. But he was an amazing shooter during that Sophomore season at Chino Hills so we know he has it in him.

not really, he was just chucking from really far and made a few of em, it was cute at Chino Hills, now it's just a terrible basketball play

he'll be fine as a shooter, the question is will he be efficient enough to overcome the bad decision making and bad defense.

He forced a ton of shots but when he shot the ball in rhythm he was Great. And even the bad forced he was really good until he got tired cause he never came off the court

What were his highschool percentages?

[atlantabbq99]

not really, he was just chucking from really far and made a few of em, it was cute at Chino Hills, now it's just a terrible basketball play

he'll be fine as a shooter, the question is will he be efficient enough to overcome the bad decision making and bad defense.

He forced a ton of shots but when he shot the ball in rhythm he was Great. And even the bad forced he was really good until he got tired cause he never came off the court

What were his highschool percentages?

Watch on YouTube

The film on LaMelo in high school is really bad, he shot is really bad and his shooting numbers are really bad. LaMelo was playing all "Me ball", very selfish, and forcing alot of shots, even though he was playing on a team filled with D1 talent.

[HeadtopChunes]

Interesting move here

Read on Twitter

Ball enjoyed his time in Australia so much that he decided to make the country a part of his long-term future, especially when financial issues threatened the team.

"Melo loves the Illawarra fans," Jackson told ESPN. "He loves that community. They opened their arms to him. They made us feel like we are at home. When we started hearing about the issues they were going through, we talked about it and decided, 'Let's own the team.'

"He is going to be locked into his NBA career, but we are going to hire the right people to oversee everything. He wants to create the best basketball program possible for that community there."

Seems to be targeting HS prospects

"When high school kids hear LaMelo owns the team, they will want to come," Jackson said. "They'll know they will be taken care of. We're going to put the organization on steroids, building it into a program that guys want to play for. I'm in touch with several former NBA GMs that want to go there to help out and high-level coaches that won every championship you can imagine."

[GimmeDat]

The Hawks are a community club in a small market area - they would've struggled to keep afloat past this pandemic. Ball had apparently floated the idea even when he was playing with the team. So hats off to him, he's really thrown the club a lifeline, and hopefully good things can come of it. From his comments, he sounds like he wants to come back and actively be involved with the community, and I'm sure his connections will be helpful.

Worth noting also, the league has had to butt in and refute the news, saying they had discussions a while back,that's it, and nothing has been agreed upon. I imagine it happens, though.

As for the high school kids, well the rules limit to 1 'Next Star' per team, so it's not like he's going to go recruit a team of US kids. You'd have to imagine that puts the team in a good place to get a good pick of the bunch. Interestingly, his coach in closing statements actually said it was not ideal having a young PG running the team and if they utilized the program again, it would likely be at a vastly different position with less responsibility.

Hopefully it helps in recruiting good imports, too. While recent events have undoubtedly hurt the league financially, same goes everywhere, and places like Europe and China are being hit hardest. Might actually work in the leagues favor to potentially gain some top quality imports that would usually go and play out that way.

[InsideInfo]

Ill admit that i may be bias bc I don't like Lavar at all, and I'm not a big fan of Lonzo either.. so with that out of the way.

I don't like LeMelo either lol. I can not wrap my head around this kid being a top pick. I just don't see it. He is not efficient at all. High volume/low percentages. From everything I have seen of him he doesn't seem to be a high character guy, a hard worker....anything that says he is going to be a quality player in the NBA. Add that to the fact that his dad as distraction. I just dont get why teams would want to use a high pick on him.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Ill admit that i may be bias bc I don't like Lavar at all, and I'm not a big fan of Lonzo either.. so with that out of the way.

I don't like LeMelo either lol. I can not wrap my head around this kid being a top pick. I just don't see it. He is not efficient at all. High volume/low percentages. From everything I have seen of him he doesn't seem to be a high character guy, a hard worker....anything that says he is going to be a quality player in the NBA. Add that to the fact that his dad as distraction. I just dont get why teams would want to use a high pick on him.

I'm on board with you regarding the Ball family. That said, I think sometimes it gets underrated the ability to put the ball in someone's hands and get creative results and I think Ball has some of the better handles + on-ball creativity in this draft.

These days everything is about efficiency, which is important, but everyone forgets you need someone to get the ball to the right spots for efficiency to mean anything - it doesn't matter if you have a team full of 40% 3 point shooters if no one can break down a defense to get it to them in a good position. I usually frame this in terms of the dynamic nature of basketball, that a 40% shooter isn't going to shoot 40% if they face a stifling defense, so how you get them the ball matters.

Ball has good size, speed and ball-handling ability, plus the unteachable ability to get creative with the ball in his hands. Those are things that don't necessarily show up in analytical metrics but are absolutely necessary to actually playing basketball. So if I was trying to sell someone on Ball (and I'm not really), its that he has the intangible and unteachable qualities that can lead to an NBA star and that his deficiencies are things that can be taught/improved on over time.

[NO-KG-AI]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy that isn’t all that special as an athlete or a physical specimen get away with so many question marks and red flags.


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[getrichordie]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy that isn’t all that special as an athlete or a physical specimen get away with so many question marks and red flags.


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Lonzo? Bennett?

[The Box Office]

Pepperidge Farm remembers Trae Young before the Draft. The half court jump shots. The no defense. The high turnovers. The recklessness. Short kid. No athleticism. "Bust" they said. Even I was highly pessimistic.

Look at Trae Young now. 29.6 points per game. 9.3 assists. 4.3 rebounds. 23.9 PER.

[getrichordie]

Pepperidge Farm remembers Trae Young before the Draft. The half court jump shots. The no defense. The high turnovers. The recklessness. Short kid. No athleticism. "Bust" they said. Even I was highly pessimistic.

Look at Trae Young now. 29.6 points per game. 9.3 assists. 4.3 rebounds. 23.9 PER.

Yeah, I specifically remember telling my brother that Trae Young was going to suck. I just thought he was too small and his shooting fell off in college which made me very skeptical. I don't think I've ever been so wrong.

[MotownMadness]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy that isn’t all that special as an athlete or a physical specimen get away with so many question marks and red flags.


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Family hype and being 6'7 with what looks like some elite passing skills