Hoops

LaMelo Ball done for the season

Good luck to LaMelo.

Hope the NBL experience was positive for him and more prospects will follow his steps.

Just not at the Hawks.

I've had bone bruising. I'm no expert but in my case it was a result of a single blow.
It's a PITA, because once the soft-tissue bruising heals, everything seems fine, until you start using it normally, and it starts to hurt like hell.

Of course this also makes it the perfect injury to fake.
X-rays show nothing, you have full range of movement, and can even tolerate moderate usage. Plus once it eventually heals, there are no residual problems.

But I also don't have any evidence or first-hand knowledge regarding Ball.

That said, my suspicion is that if Illawarra weren't an embarrassing basket-case, and had managed to stay in play-off contention, we might have seen more of Lamelo.

Hey cousin where you been.

Ballgate

Tell me this, why does he have a moon-boot on during the games, but all over IG yesterday, while he is feeding his horse, he has sneakers on?! Moon-boot nowhere to be seen!

"If Brooks hadn't gone down, would his stock have climbed so much since he was basically thrown in to play starters minutes when otherwise his minutes would have been way lower."

The minutes played scarcely changed as he was a starter all season. Ball was playing 30 minutes per game pre Brooks' injury and played 33 minutes per game after that injury.

The difference was that he took more shots after the injury (21.2 per game - 28% of the team's shots) than he did before it (13.4 per game - 18%). And his 3 pt accuracy improved from 18% to 30%. I imagine his rebounding numbers went up as well, but I didn't check those.

It's possible not having to share the ball with Brooks meant he picked up more assists and shots, leading to those couple of big games that preceded the end of his NBL season. Someone who's followed the Hawks' games this season might be able to comment? I'm just going off stats.

I heard he got it at the Comet Ping Pong Pizzeria and only ended up in the NBL because he was trafficked here.

All the best to him.
He made Hawks games more entertaining for me to watch now I don't bother.

Yeah, it's clear he could play if he wanted to but they're protecting his draft stock. Many were saying early in the season that he might be shut down around mid-season if his draft stocks look a certain way, and they do, so that's what happened. Skeptical that there even is an injury. It just seems too convenient.

I've had terrible bone bruising on my foot from coming off a bike on the road, it affected me being able to walk properly for 12 months, 2 years later and I have no issues with it whatsoever.

You're getting caught up on the public message. Irrelevant if you're a doctor or seen an injury before. The story for clubs looking to draft him or trade for him is likely different.

The headline in the Illawarra Mercury is "Taking his Ball and going home".

Does he skip to China after the NBL season for a short contract before the draft? I can't see him sitting around for 6 months doing workouts...

Isn't it basically breaking contract to not play when healthy? I am surprised that people are so understanding of this, whereas someone like Webster was heavily criticised for skipping off to China mid-season for extra money.

It probably helps that the higher Ball is selected in the draft, the better it is for the NBL's Next Stars program. From an outsiders perspective, the timing of Ball's injury coming immediately after mock drafts put him at #1 was always suspiciously convenient. Hopefully it is all genuine.

Koberulz, your initially believed he’d play again, so you’ve been off with this.

Ofcourse he is fit, but just by simply saying, I’m good to go but don’t want to risk it, looks shit for scouts. By any means possible. Nba fans won’t care about this, and that’s all that matters along with teams.

I have no idea what you have just said

"lesson" = listen & "carey" = Corey. Not sayin' that'll help but worked for me.

Completely healthy but six weeks away from being able to play?

Not buying it.

No shit he wasn't coming back, don't lesson to carey William or same time Liam Santamaria , if you want straight talk lesson to trash talk podcast with Hooley and Felix von hofe , Hooley is a suck up and Felix tells how it i

I have no idea what you have just said

So in the end, LaMelo played half a season for an estimated $500,000 (or possibly more). Did the NBL get the same amount back in value? Will they get what they're hoping for from the NBA draft buy out? Will throwing the Hawks season into disarray be seen as worth it?

A lot of this will inform how they move forward with the program.

Hope all the jerks who dogged me for saying he want returning from day 1, hope you’re enjoying this.

It's a shame but understandable.

Hopefully he provided the NBL with a pretty big revenue gain.

A great kid with plenty of talent.

Let's hope the NBL are in advanced talks with new (high level draft picks) next stars for next season

Well I'm shocked!

“ Ball had been out since December 8 with a bone bruise in his foot, and Jackson said that the conclusion from Ball’s most recent visit to the doctor was that he’s “totally healthy,” but would have to train for a further six weeks until he’s ready to play in games.”

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/21791581/ncaa-hits-st-marys-with-probation-coach-bennett-suspended

How with this affect the school's recruiting base in Australia?