Skeptics vs. The Ball Brothers
Lonzo Ball’s 2016-17 season at UCLA was phenomenal. While his stats (14/8/6) a night were enough to draw attention it was the eye test that made Lonzo so appealing as he soared up draft boards. The vision, the ability to play fast, and the competitive energy he brought to game justified the attention he garnered. However, instead of simply becoming an emerging talent that could be groomed into an NBA stud, Ball and his family soon became a sensation due in large parts to his father, Lavar, and the Big Baller Brand sensation.
As is typical with the nature of the soap opera that is the NBA, the on the court performance and personalities of players are often marred by their off the court pursuits convoluting the perception of the player and their extracurricular activities. As the Ball brothers have grown into their own as basketball players a unique kind of microscope has followed them; the opinions of the brothers is almost without fail definitive. Whereas some stars are caught between love and hate from NBA fans, the Balls brothers have created a new kind of binary in which you simply either love or hate them and their brand.
The aggressive criticism of the brothers is even more stunning when you consider that Lonzo, LiAngelo and Lamelo are all relatively lowkey in the sphere of the digital age. The pompous and loud nature of Lavar Ball, their father will forever be attached with their journeys whether for better or mostly worse. Part of it is actually quite admirable, because as a father Lavar truly believes his sons to be generational talents, and he is willing to use his platform and clout to promote them and drive home his conviction in their talents, remaining steely in the face of talk show hosts and even demanding a 1 on 1 basketball game with MJ to prove just how much basketball talent runs in the ball blood.
So while Lonzo’s beginning in the NBA were relatively tempered as a member of the Lakers, where not only he but other top 3 pick Brandon Ingram never truly blossomed. But in New Orleans, Lonzo has found his stride, stepping into confident jump shots, raising his 3p % and showing a level of confidence in his half court game that had only really been seen on the break before.
LiAngelo, though waived by the Pistons has continued to work on his game behind the scenes knowing that he’s right on the fringe of a potential breakthrough.
Finally, Lamelo has been really exciting in limited minutes thus far this season, proving volatile sure, but his ceiling is outrageous. Lamelo’s trajectory towards stardom has been unique to say the least. Becoming the youngest American to play professionally ever with his decommitment from UCLA, move to Lithuania, return to play high school basketball, and then move to play in Australia. Part of the criticism he still draws are from videos of the ambitious 14 year old heaving shots up for Chino Hills in viral videos that made the Ball trolls drool over themselves. Alternatively, he also draws ridicule for the sheer volume of media he generates. With BR and other sports media insisting on posting every alley oop, rebound, assist and sip of Gatorade from Lamelo some have grown tired of his overwhelming presence on their timeline…which is once again not his fault.
So I think it might be time that the critics and the Ball fanatics relate in this truth. The Ball brothers are fantastic basketball players. No story of the failing Big Baller Brand, theft in China, underwhelming freestyle or Lavar Ball First Take Appearance, should mask this simple fact. With Lonzo undeniably learning his strengths as an NBA player and Lamelo showing no trepidations about embracing NBA stardom, you can be sure that the Ball name isn’t going anywhere. So maybe just watch the show?
