Hoops

Jordan Ray

And who said Stock Risers is a legitimate source of information? They only have 2k followers on Twitter. It's the standard fake news source artificially hyping the status of players.

If he was a true 4* athlete it would be noted someone reputable.

It's got nothing to do with stereotyping. Simple fact is that if you exclude players based on self-promotion and dumb tweets, then its going to be slim pickings.
Furthermore, regardless of who we get s next stars, we need them to generate publicity.

I have no idea whether this kid is any good, or just some random nong who happens to have heard of the NBL. So my bad.
(Fortunately, its not my job to select Next Stars. :-))

I simply make the point that not everyone will be an 5-star pick.

Be interesting to see what happens with Bowen.

The downside with the system is that if he isn't drafted, he'll have to go to G-League, Europe, etc, and then if he does make it, we don't get the credit.

Maybe they should amend the system, such that Next Stars have to be guaranteed a minimum of two years. SO in the 2nd year he either takes a import slot, or plays as a Next Star for a 2nd year and you can't have a new one.

D2.0 (1st anon here) -

Go have a listen to the video posted by anon - he was not indeed invited to the combine, he lied about that. It is also only claimed he was a 4* recruit by JBA affiliated outlets.. no where else will you find this information. Watch any footage of him play online and you will feel more certain that he is not up to the level of play that is claimed.

Any accolades or stats in the JBA league are both worthless due to the level of 'competition' and the artificial hype they try to generate for their so-called prospects.

And no, not all American athletes are delusional and arrogant, way to run with a stereotype. Both Bowen and Ferguson would humble, good character kids who tried their best in their limited roles. This kid is delusional and arrogant. He's nicknamed himself 'Hollywood Ray' ffs.

I want to see LaMelo in the NBL, he's a genuine talent and most of the baggage/character stuff is his dad who will remain overseas. But accepting one of his BBB friends that has zero chance of playing NBL minutes AND dealing with an intolerable attitude? That's not happening.

It's as simple as this - Ray to the NBL is unsubstantiated and highly unlikely. The NBL are smarter than this and he's simply not an NBL level player, even in garbage minutes.

The thing is this kid wont even be close to drafted. Watch this video, this kid is the biggest liar ive ever heard we dont want him at all!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u_7XMunklI

"in an interview on YT he described himself as the best shooter in his class and he said "my agent said I'd be a star in Australia, they love me", lol."

So what you're saying is that he's an American bsketballer??

He was invited to the Draft combine, and is referred to as a star of the JBA league. One source referred to his season as MVP worthy before being injured.

Not everybody is going to be a guaranteed top 5 draft pick.
Keep in mind that the next stars program is for kids. They're not meant to be superstars in our league. They're bonus players who you'd hope will get maybe 10 minutes, develop their game, and raise the profile of our league.

But also keep in mind the ability of our league to actually IMPROVE these kids!
Ideally, what we want to see is guys like him, come here as 3 or 4 star prospects, return home as a 5-star, and have their NBA teams enthusing how much better prepared they were than your average college drop-out.
After a few more years, we'd hope to see dozens of prospects putting up their hand and our teams getting to pick and choose.

This guy sounds like a headcase we dont need this guy in the NBL!!

Thinks of himself as a lottery pick too from what I read.

I just looked in to this - there's nothing about him from anywhere reputable on the web about him as a prospect, and he played 3mpg in EYBL. There's some info out there from JBA (Ball league) affiliated links suggesting he was a 4* prospect, had Div 1 offers, but there's nothing to verify that, and there's even suggestions he has lied about his age.

Watching what footage there is of his game makes me think he'd struggle to make an impact at NBL1 level let alone getting minutes on an NBL team.

On top of this, he seems even more of a headache than the Ball dad, in an interview on YT he described himself as the best shooter in his class and he said "my agent said I'd be a star in Australia, they love me", lol.

So my initial reaction to all of that is that this guy can't seriously be considered for a Next Stars spot. But then, there is the connection to the Ball family, and LaMelo is obviously a legitimate candidate for a N.S. spot. It seems quite unusual for Ray to just put this out there so definitively if it's clearly not true.

So maybe there's some sort of 'package deal' with LaMelo at play? Idek.

One thing that appears certain to me is that if he was put on an NBL roster, he wouldn't be getting many, if any, minutes, so it should be inconsequential regardless. LaMelo himself, who actually could be a lottery selection if all the baggage and BS wasn't attatched, will only be getting a backup role here in the league, and we've seen guys with legitimate draft buzz in Bowen/Ferguson be rotation pieces at best. A guy with no serious draft chances isn't getting minutes.

I just put a tweet out to Uluc/Santamaria/Ward about it, we'll see if they debunk it.