LaMelo Ball suffered as season-ending foot injury while playing Australia last month.
Now, he’s returning to the United States – and leaving behind some hurt feelings.
Timothy Fernandez of ABC News:
American basketball sensation LaMelo Ball has unceremoniously ended his Australian stint, leaving the country without telling his teammates.
His club, the Illawarra Hawks confirmed the 18-year-old guard had taken a flight home and will continue his rehabilitation from a foot injury, which kept him sidelined since November, in the United States.
Meanwhile, the owner of the Illawarra Hawks has criticised the star’s unannounced departure from the club.
“I’m really disappointed that he didn’t say goodbye to his teammates and his coach,” Simon Stratford told NewsCorp.
“We had some indication via his minder Jermaine Jackson that he wouldn’t stay for the rest of the season.
Ball was in Australia because the NBA still hasn’t lowered its age minimum. So, that’s where could go to earn money and improve his draft stock.
Did Ball handle his departure appropriately tactfully and respectfully? Maybe not.
Do I completely trust messaging from a spurned team? Nope.
As long as LaVar Ball remains in the picture, there will be concern about controversy surrounding LaMelo. Teams should look into how LaMelo handles this situation. Perhaps, his exit from Australia shows something about his dependability.
But LaMelo’s time in Australia absolutely showed his talent. That will get him picked high in the 2020 NBA draft.
Kobe Bryant’s death is unique tragedy.
No NBA player anywhere near that great has ever died anywhere near that young. So, people are struggling to find the proper reaction. Every tribute seems too small, not grand enough to honor Bryant’s monumental legacy.
An idea gaining traction among fans: Change the NBA logo to Kobe Bryant.
Currently, Jerry West’s silhouette graces the logo. I know that. You know that. The logo’s designer, Alan Sigel, has explained that.
But the NBA doesn’t formally recognize – and, importantly, doesn’t pay – West to be that symbol.
Sources familiar with the league’s thinking said there is no interest in having an individual player as its logo because there are so many who have been instrumental in the growth of the game and the NBA. Generic is better.
Again, follow the money. West, who has said he prefers no longer to be on the logo, hasn’t pressed for compensation. Keeping the current logo is safe financially.
But for any of us not earning an income from the NBA, who cares how much it costs the league to put the “right” person on the logo? That’s the NBA’s issue, not ours. We can base our logo preference on how it makes us feel.
That said, I don’t think putting Bryant on the logo is the appropriate response. At the very minimum, let the emotion of this moment subside before making decisions that could last decades. If putting Bryant on the logo is fitting, that’ll still be the case next year.
Jerry West recognized Kobe Bryant’s potential before anyone else did. In 1996, West – then Lakers general manager – traded for Bryant, whom the Hornets drafted No. 13 for Los Angeles.
By 2004, West had left to run the Grizzlies. Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal had won three championships together but were feuding. Bryant was a free agent and even said, “I could see myself playing for the Clippers.”
Of course, Bryant re-signed with the Lakers and spent the rest of his 20-year career with them.
But only after talking to West, with whom he shared a special relationship.
West on TNT:
I remember when he was going to leave the Lakers, and I’ve never really mentioned this to anyone. He was going to come and sign with the Clippers, who I’m now involved with as a consultant. And I told him, “Kobe, under no circumstances can you do this.” And he was mad at everyone at the Lakers, the owner, everyone else. I said, “Kobe you can’t go play with the Clippers. You can’t play for that owner. Period.” We had two conversations about. And he supposedly made a commitment to the Clippers. And after the last one, we talked the last time. But there’s so many things that we talked about as he was just seeking information. His parents were with him for a while. And, honestly, I felt like his father for two years. I don’t know if I can get over this. I really don’t.
Amid the Donald Sterling scandal, Bryant declared, “I couldn’t play for him.”
Every day in the NBA there is a lot to unpack, so every weekday morning throughout the season we will give you the three things you need to know from the last 24 hours in the NBA.
1) Some players are switching numbers away from 8, 24 to honor Kobe. Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban made the first move, saying on Sunday that no Dallas player would again wear No. 24 in honor of Kobe Bryant. It was a decision made to honor Kobe in the wake of his death (along with his daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash).
Now some players who have been wearing No. 8 or No. 24 are switching numbers for the same reason, a sort of unofficial number retirement. The first was Brooklyn guard Spencer Dinwiddie, who wore No. 8 but asked the league (and got rare in-season permission) to change to No. 26.
Honor your people.
Number 26, Spencer Dinwiddie. pic.twitter.com/Y3oZREw602
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) January 28, 2020
The next name we heard was Orlando’s Terrence Ross, who wore No. 8 but is switching to No. 31. New Orleans center Jahlil Okafor and Philadelphia guard Zhaire Smith are making changes.
Is that the best way to honor Kobe’s legacy?
Or, would it be to continue to wear his number but play with the passion, dedication, and pride that made Kobe special?
There is not a one size fits all answer to that question. Kemba Walker, who wears No. 8 for the Celtics, is grappling with that. (Walker wore No. 15 in Charlotte, but in Boston that number is retired in honor of Tommy Heinsohn.)
Would Kemba change No. 8 for Kobe?
“I’m considering it but I’m not sure yet. I definitely have tons of respect for Kobe. But everybody mourns a little bit different. For me, I’m thinking I would love to honor him by wearing that number.“pic.twitter.com/zrShVuFhzH
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) January 29, 2020
There were 30 NBA players this season wearing numbers 8 or 24, and they have a personal decision to make.
Personally, I like how Joel Embiid handled it.
2) 76ers Joel Embiid returns after a nine-game absence, wears No. 24 to honor Kobe, scores 24 points, leads Sixers to win. Joel Embiid was one of many NBA players hit hard by Kobe’s sudden and tragic death.
Man I don’t even know where to start😭😭 I started playing ball because of KOBE after watching the 2010 finals. I had never watched ball before that and that finals was the turning point of my life. I WANTED TO BE LIKE KOBE. I’m so FREAKING SAD right now!!!!
RIP LEGEND
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) January 26, 2020
Embiid returned to action Tuesday after a nine-game absence and donned No. 24 for the night (getting permission from Bobby Jones, the number was retired in his honor), then went out and scored 24 points to spark the 76ers win against Golden State — yelling “Kobe” as he hit his final shot.
Philadelphia needed Embiid back in the lineup.
The Sixers did go 6-3 while Embiid was out — and Ben Simmons stepped up, he averaged 24 points a game on better than 70 percent shooting in the final five without Embiid. However, Philly’s offensive rating in the nine Embiid-less games was 104.9, 29th in the NBA in that stretch. Even in the last five it was 103.2, still 29th in the league. Ben Simmons may have been playing better but the offense was not, and on the road the team really struggled.
If the Sixers are going to make any run the second half of this season and into the playoffs — if they are going to prove the best of a crowded second tier in the East — they will need a lot more from Embiid.
3) Khris Middleton makes his All-Star case, drops 51 on Wizards with Greek Freak out. Giannis Antetokounmpo has a sore shoulder and the Milwaukee Bucks — with their comfortable eight-game cushion on top of the East — gave him Tuesday night off to get healthy.
Khris Middleton said, “I got this,” stepped up and dropped a career-high 51 on the hapless Wizards’ defense (worst in the league).
Middleton was an All-Star last year and wants to get back to the game this season, but he is in the mix with players such as Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo from Miami, Jayson Tatum from Boston, Domantas Sabonis of Indiana, and a lot of quality guards in the East who are deserving. There will be “snubs” when the All-Star reserves are announced Thursday night on TNT.
I would have Middleton on the roster, but its the coaches who cast that ballot.
Follow @basketballtalkCarmelo Anthony, like many fans of Kobe Bryant, doesn’t understand why.
Kobe, his daughter Gianna, and seven others died in a helicopter crash Sunday in Southern California. It has left the NBA world stunned, thinking about his legacy, his impact, but mostly just trying to come to grips with the loss.
That’s where Kobe’s good friend Carmelo Anthony is, as he showed in this Instagram post.
Anthony and Kobe competed against each other in the NBA for years, grew to be close friends, and won Gold Medals together in 2008 and 2012.
He speaks for a lot of Kobe’s fans with that.
"ball" - Google News
January 29, 2020 at 10:39PM
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LaMelo Ball leaves Australia, supposedly without telling his team - NBCSports.com
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