With the NCAA tournament now winding down, college basketball has been at the forefront of the sports world, and that has brought about the rise of the Ball family. Lonzo Ball was the superstar point guard of UCLA this year, and following his team's loss in the Elite Eight, he officially declared that he would be entering the upcoming NBA Draft. I think that many people, myself included, do not pay much attention to college basketball prior to the month of March. Yes, I knew what teams are good and I had a vague knowledge of who the top players are, but I think that if you asked most sports fans who De'Aaron Fox or Sindarius Thornwell were a month ago, they wouldn't know. Lonzo Ball was somewhat more known than those other two, but he never really made the front pages of sports news outlets until the tournament started. However, I think that from now on, Lonzo Ball and his family, for better or worse, are going to be impossible to ignore.
In the year 2017, there are all sorts of ways to become famous. YouTube has become one outlet in which anyone can broadcast themselves to the world, and apparently Lonzo Ball and his two younger brothers had become YouTube sensations as high school basketball players. One of his younger brothers scored 92 points in a game earlier this year, and we got to actually watch Lonzo at UCLA. It is pretty evident that Lonzo Ball will be one of the top picks in the upcoming draft, and from what I have seen of him, I think he has the talent and potential to be a good NBA player. However, with his ascension to fame, the world has also been introduced to his father, and that is the biggest reason for all of this news about Lonzo and the rest of his family.
Let me get this out of the way right now. Lonzo Ball's father is named LaVar. LaVar Ball is one of many people that never got to live out their dream of becoming a superstar athlete, and he is using his kids to shine the spotlight on himself that he always wished he could have had. There are thousands and thousands of people who played sports in high school, thought they were great, and then for any type of reason were never actually able to become great. It isn't their fault, but somewhere along the way, their greatness was denied because of someone or something else. These people can't face the fact that they just were not good enough to be a professional athlete, and they will spend the rest of their life telling people about how good they should have been. The only difference between those thousands of people and LaVar Ball is that he has at least one kid that is probably going to be able to become the star athlete he always wanted to become. I have no problem with that. Great for him, his children, and his family. What I do have a problem with though, is that he is clearly using his children to try to shine the spotlight on himself.
Parents live vicariously through their kids all the time. It happens a lot in the sports world, but it happens in all types of other walks of life as well. Maybe Bill Gates' father thought he should have been richer than his son but someone or something sabotaged that from happening. Maybe John Lennon's father believed that if he had just gotten one break that he could be even more famous than his son. I don't know, but there are parents all over the world that have successful children but deep down inside envy their children for gaining the stature that they always wished they could have had. That is clearly what is happening now with Lonzo Ball and his father.
LaVar Ball has made claims that he could beat NBA legends in a game of one-on-one basketball because "back in his day," he was better than everyone else. Really? Back in my day I played soccer. No matter how great I ever thought I was, I would never be stupid enough to say that I "could have been" better than Pele or Cristiano Ronaldo. This guy is delusional, and while I do feel bad for Lonzo for having to answer questions about his father, I have to admit that his father is also making me cheer against Lonzo.
LaVar Ball was on First Take last week as they were broadcasting from Los Angeles and said that L.A. stood for "LaVar's Awesome." It's sad that he thinks that because if anything, it should stand for "Lonzo's Awesome." He was on the show with his son and was the loudest person on the set while his son sat next to him seemingly ashamed to be associated with the guy. Instead of appreciating the fact that the only reason anyone knows him is because of his children, LaVar Ball is making daily appearances in front of cameras and acting like he has finally become the basketball superstar that he always wanted to be but never was, and I think that his ridiculous behavior is making a whole lot of people turn against his children.
Is all of this idiocy going to hurt Lonzo Ball's draft stock? No. I have heard people compare him to Jason Kidd, and while those are lofty expectations, I do think he has many of the same skills as Kidd. He sees the floor extremely well and makes everyone around him better because of his all-around game. He definitely needs to get bigger, but put him with an NBA training staff in a weight room for months at a time, and he will surely be able to add a lot of muscle. Some people believe that his father's big mouth might be something that an NBA franchise would worry about, but I don't think that is the case. All 30 NBA franchises are used to facing distractions, and in the grand scheme of things, I think an overbearing parent is far easier to deal with than some rookie that comes into the league with a criminal record or any type of injury history.
Supposedly Lonzo's two younger brothers are also planning to attend UCLA, so I think that university should be more worried about the father than whatever team ends up drafting Lonzo. Lonzo has let his play do the talking this year, and despite not winning an NCAA championship, he clearly cemented his status as one of the best college players in the country. The stupidity espoused by his father will most likely be white noise to any NBA franchise. However, LaVar Ball should at least try to consider the fact that he is clearly riding the coat tails of his kids to put himself into the spotlight that he always wished he could have had. If he realizes that, then that is fine. At the same time though, he needs to realize that he is making people cheer for his kids to fail based solely on his behavior, and that is really something that a parent should not do to their children.
Daily Giants Update: Johnathan Hankins remains unsigned, but I think the closer and closer we get to the draft, the better that is for the Giants. Other teams are going to focus more and more on the draft, and that means that Hankins is likely to accept the Giants offer and be back for the 2017-18 season.
Daily Rangers Update: The Rangers are on the brink of clinching a playoff berth with five games left to play in the regular season. The first round opponent is still unknown, but I do like the fact that Dan Girardi and Henrik Lundqvist both are back from injuries, and the Rangers should be at full strength heading into the postseason.
Daily NBA Update: Apparently the sky is falling in Cleveland, as the Cavaliers have struggled over the past few weeks, but they will still be in contention as the playoffs wind down. Kevin Durant's return is imminent, so the Warriors will be looking good, but let me say this right now: Go ahead and continue to overlook the San Antonio Spurs. They are the best team in the NBA.
Daily Diamondbacks Update: We are now only days away from the beginning of the 2017 season, and Zack Greinke will be on the mound against Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants. Arizona still may not have the best team, but at this point that doesn't matter. Right now, we should be shooting for a record of 162-0!
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