The Ball Brothers have been in the news pretty consistently for the last couple of years. Older brother Lonzo is in the NBA with the Lakers, middle brother LiAngelo and two of his former teammates at UCLA caused International drama when they stole sunglasses at a store in China and got thrown in a Chinese jail, and younger brother LaMelo was pulled out of high school by his dad and ultimately ended up playing professionally in Europe with the middle brother LiAngelo.
Are you confused yet? Well here is the main rundown. LiAngelo averaged like 34 points / game as a high school senior which was pretty insane but then screwed up bad when he stole those sunglasses in China. Instead of staying at UCLA or transferring to another school his dad pulled him out and they went to Europe to play professionally. That might not have been such a bad plan because the other two guys who stole sunglasses ended up not playing all season and were redshirted. UCLA just never gave a time line as to when the suspension was going to be over.
Criticisms Of His Game
He is 6'5" and around 215 lb and doesn't have enough handles or quickness to be a point guard. He is a spot shooting specialist but also has solid post moves. People keep talking mad smack about his post moves and to be honest with you I'm sick of it. They keep saying that, **"He won't be able to do that in the NBA." **
Let's look at some other players who "weren't supposed to be doing post moves" but constantly put their back to the basket.
Jordan and Kobe were both 6'6" and weren't forwards or centers and post moves were a big part of their games. LeBron also does tons of post moves. One play he will take the ball down the court like he is the point guard and the next play he is posting someone up. The point being having many facets to your game is a good thing. If you can do more than one thing well then great! So I don't know why people keep talking smack about that. If he gets in that position and puts the ball in the hoop then great.
The only criticism I think is relevant is determining how tough the competition they were playing was. They were mainly playing grown men and LiAngelo is only 19. Usually in the NCAA you won't be playing anyone over about 23 years old unless they go to Utah, Utah State, or BYU or there is a rare situation where someone was in the military and then played basketball after their enlistment term. The point being they were playing some players who were 25+ who were more experienced. They just didn't play that many games. Officially I think there were like 9 games or so. That isn't a lot to go off of.
What I Think Will Happen
I think he will certainly get some workouts with teams so they can try to access his skill level better. He has a nice shot that is pretty text book and he gets it off quickly and he is efficient from behind the arch. I personally think that he can fit into a roll eventually as a three point specialist who gets the shot off quick like Kyle Korver or Klay Thompson. Both those guys are a couple inches taller than him but I don't think that is going to exclude him.
I think ultimately what will happen is that either he gets selected and will ultimately play in the NBA summer league this year and will ultimately get placed on a G League team to develop more next season. I honestly think that would serve him well and people will want to go to the G League games and comment on the situation because it has been such a big topic.
I personally think it will be tough for him to get time with an NBA team in the 2018/2019 season but we have to remember he is only 19 years old. That is super young so he has a lot of opportunity to add traditional elements to his game.
I don't think he will be some sort of bust like everyone acts like. I think he will have a good basketball career even if it ends up being in Europe or China. I'm not sure he wants to be in China after his stint in the Chinese jail but he might have to put up with it eventually.
