LaMelo Ball was a global sensation in the NBL. With possibly being the most talented player in this draft, Should the Chicago Bulls draft LaMelo Ball?
LaMelo Ball has become one of the highest-rated recruits in this year’s NBA draft, Ball is projected as a top-3 pick with only a very small sample size of only 12 games as the biggest success story to come out of the NBL Next Stars program. Ball averaged 17.0 points per game, 7.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game while playing for the small working-class town in New South Wales, Australia with the Illawarra Hawks of the NBL.
In his time down under, Ball was on full display to the world and took that opportunity to show what he could do in a professional league, with the likes of and playing against past NBA players such as Aaron Brooks, Miles Plumlee, Scott Machado, Mitch Creek and Shawn Long.
Ball only playing 12 games due to a foot injury that led to him cutting his season early to rehab in preparation for the draft. The Hawks only won three while he was active.
LaMelo Ball was the star of the show and had the ball in his hands often, with a usage percentage of 27.73, which ranked ninth overall in the NBL regular season. Watching all of Ball’s games and the rest of the NBL season, he jacked shots, hijacked the offense and was inattentive of defense.
There’s a lot of hype around LaMelo and with the recent draft lottery, we can see where the pieces start to fall and with the Minnesota Timberwolves landing the No. 1 pick. The Timberwolves with recently trading for D’Angelo Russell (another ball-dominant, non-defending point guard) to pair with All-Star Karl Anthony-Towns, it’s hard to see LaMelo Ball joining the dynamic duo of non-defenders.
The same applies for the teams that landed the second and third overall picks in the Golden State Warriors and Charlotte Hornets. The Warriors want to contend and will likely use that pick to add veteran talent to their team rather than take on a project in LaMelo Ball.
Charlotte paid Terry Rozier $58 million dollars. Along with the unexpected rise of Devonte’ Graham, it’s hard to see the Hornet draft Ball to plug him into the already full backcourt.
Speaking of Michael Jordan, that leaves the fourth luckiest team with a solid chance (if they don’t trade up, which could happen) the Chicago Bulls to draft LaMelo Ball. So, should the Chicago Bulls draft LaMelo Ball?