I didn’t quite know what to expect when Lamelo Ball first stepped foot on an NBA court. His father’s heavy-handed decision that saw him forgo the college experience, opting instead for professional basketball overseas, put the 19 year old on a whole different benchmark and firmly in the spotlight of the world, a spotlight that gleamed extra bright as he was selected number 3 overall in the 2020 NBA draft earlier this season.
Luckily, the spotlight is not foreign to Lamelo. Something of a teen reality star, he hovered in the background of father Lavar’s feud with the entire basketballing world over a whole range of random issues from attacking Laker head coach Luke Walton over his apparent misuse of golden child Lonzo ball, to calling out NBA goat Michael Jordan to a 1v1, occasionally featuring on TMZ flexing his lambo and shit talking his brothers.
Even his basketball career has been something of a circus. I used to joke about the way he used to strut around the court at Chino Hills high school rocking those crazy light brown curls, casually pulling up from obscene distances whilst his open teammates just stood there and watched. I watched in awe as he dropped 92 points over Los Osos high school and remember thinking to myself,
“Not bad young fella but try doing that against NBA opposition”
Flashforward nearly 4 years and I guess he is. In spite of putting up zero 92 point performances, Lamelo is firmly forcing the haters and keyboard warriors back into their caves. Aside from a nervous opening night which saw him shoot 0-5 and 0-3 from deep, Lamelo is fast proving himself to be the runaway rookie in this draft class. Averaging roughly 13 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists per game off the bench for the Hornets. Production that Hornets starter at the point guard position Devonte Graham has not been able to keep pace with.
The confident swagger that was oozing at Chino Hills still remains but age, experience or a helping of both means that LaMelo is playing with IQ far beyond his years. His decision making ability is mesmerising for his age, possessing the vision and the talent to find the open man on every possession or take it himself and finish from behind the arc and at the rim.
In no game was this more apparent than in last night’s matchup against the Atlanta Hawks. A tight game in which neither offense could get any kind of rhythm and pull away, Lamelo stepped up big, carving up the Atlanta defence to put up 22 points, shooting 70% from the field and went 3-5 from behind the three point line. All the while getting easy looks for his teammates racking up 11 assists and 12 boards, breaking the record for the youngest triple double in NBA history. To the casual eye, it may have just been another win in a season with 82 games it was an indication that this is the level Lamelo was built for. An indication that in spite of his rookie status, Lamelo is owed a starting spot on this roster.
See what I failed to acknowledge properly in my hating past was the stones on this kid. It takes stones to put up 92 in a high school game, it takes stones to leave your home country and hoop professionally overseas at 16, it takes stones to continue to succeed under suffocating expectation. When Lamelo steps onto the court you are witnessing the unwavering confidence of a young man who manifested every goal and dream of any kid who ever picked up a basketball.
I’m here for it
You guys want my opinion?
Lamelo Ball is a stud.
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