One cannot ignore the spectacle that is the Big Baller Brand. In less than a year it has absolutely taken over a majority share of overall basketball conversation. Sure Nike, Adidas, Under Armour and other brands are not necessarily worried about the money side of things, or business market share, however, love it or hate it, Big Baller Brand has certainly placed itself on the tip of everyone’s tongue. To add more fuel to that fire, LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball made their pro debuts yesterday in the Big Baller Brand Challenge in Lithuania.
First off, let’s go ahead and get it out of the way, we think LaMelo Ball will be an NBA player…There, we said it (and we will dive a little more into that later in this writing). However, now that is out of the way…
Most recently, middle brother LeAngelo and youngest brother LaMelo signed pro contracts with a professional team Vytautas out of Lithuania. Prior to signing the Balls in December, the 2017-18 version of this team failed to qualify for the 2018 Basketball Champions League and started the season off 4-13 in Betsafe-LKL league play (Lithuania’s Top Professional League).
Then the Ball’s came along and changed the course of the team a bit. Vytautas pulled out of the Baltic League this season to play in a series of Showcase games called the Big Baller Brand Challenge Games. This is a series of five (5) showcase games that will take place throughout January as Vytautas will play scrimmage type games (friendlies) against other Lithuanian teams. Every one of these five (5) games will be broadcast on Facebook Live on the Ball is Life Facebook page. A truly groundbreaking event.
Much of this has not been done previously. Yesterday, LaMelo, who earlier this year dropped out of public school in order to be homeschooled, became the youngest (16 years old) American born player to debut in Europe professionally. The Facebook Live broadcast peaked at around 125,000 viewers at one time and it was said to net over 1,000,000 views in totality throughout the viewing.
Yes, we checked into the game to watch. We were curious to see what the event looked like (as we expected, one major Big Baller Brand advertisement). We wanted to see how the broadcast went (Ball is Life did a great job with the production). And most of all, we were curious as to how the Ball’s would fare against good young Lithuanian talent (and the debut was a mixed bag, but overall went well).
To start, Vytautas ended up playing against the Zalgiris 2nd Team, rather than the Minsk team they were originally scheduled against. Some may hear second team and scoff, however this matchup was actually very intriguing. The Zalgiris 2nd Team carries some of Lithuania’s brightest young talent, with the likes of Rokas Jokubaitis (point guard) and Martynas Arlauskas (wing) who are both starters on Lithuania’s U19 national team and considered top prospects at their positions.
Seeing that this was each of the Ball brothers first competitive game in a few months (LaMelo hasn’t played since AAU season and LeAngelo was UCLA’s last exhibition game), they each showed pretty well.
The youngest Ball brother, LaMelo is currently the only one of the two who is being talked about as an NBA prospect at this point. He had a good outing for himself, as one of the younger players on the floor, he showed a mixed bag of immense natural talent and immature habits that he will need to tighten up.
Off the rip, you noticed LaMelo was strikingly taller than he was, even this summer. They listed him at 6’5” for this game, and with the eye test, he looked every bit of that. Throughout the game he showed he has good court vision. He had a very nice no look pass in transition (that we am sure you saw all over Twitter), but he also had a couple pin-point pitch ahead passes (a poor man’s version of the full court bombs his brother Lonzo made famous quarterbacking Chino Hills) to go along with some nice finds in the half court. On the ball he showed poise in the half court and he showed the ability to create for himself and others, which at 6’5” (and only 16 years old) is very intriguing.
However, it was also apparent LaMelo is very undisciplined as a player. His first shot of the game was a pull up 30+ footer that was badly missed. His shot selection and his unwillingness to consistently lock in on defense are things that will HAVE to tighten up as time goes on. His play can be summed up by his stat line, he finished with 10 points on 4-10 (40%) from the field. He also led all players with 9 assists, but also had 6 turnovers. All in all, it was not a bad first showing, against the country’s top PG prospect, in his first real game since July.
LiAngelo on the other hand is considered to have a much lower ceiling and isn’t thought of as an NBA prospect at this point. He struggled to get going in the first, missing a wildly viral lay up early. He seemed to settle into his groove in the second half of the game going 6-10 from the field after halftime and finishing the game with 21 points on 8-19 shooting.
LiAngelo is more of a spot shooter. When his feet are set, off the catch, LiAngelo has consistent range out to 25 feet. He is a muscular type guard tipping the scales around 235 pounds on a listed 6’5” (although he is noticeably shorter than LaMelo when standing side by side) frame. Lots of questions with his ability to create, his athleticism lead to the low perception of ceiling, but it wasn’t an awful debut for him.
For the Zalgiris 2nd Team, Jokubaitis was the best player on the floor. The crafty guard showed why he is widely considered Lituania’s top point guard prospect as he finished with 31 points on 13-24 shooting from the field.
The next game is Saturday, which is not an exhibition and will be in actual league play…We are eager to see how much playing time the Balls will end up with in this setting.
It is without question that the big winner of the first day, first game, of the Ball’s in Lithuania was the Big Baller Brand itself.
The curiosity will now come with the proposed Big Baller Brand professional league that Lavar ball announced for players as the look to forgo their NCAA eligibility and start playing professionally…Could this be a proof of concept for that endeavor'!
*Photo via Headline Sports News*