Debunked Rumor: LaMelo Ball spotted in Boston

[Smartacus]

https://www.eagletribune.com/community/lamelo-ball-in-boston-for-private-workout-with-celtics/article_bcdecff4-f851-11ea-89d6-5f4b9e70c878.html

So when he Caron, who works for the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) and serves on the city's Commission of Disability Advisory Board, and lives in the city, saw Ball at the Ritz hotel gym working out.

"I saw him and said, 'Hi' and we chatted a bit," said Caron, who had a standout year at Northfield Mount Herman after graduating from Central. "He was really nice, a happy kid. He said he was headed to a private workout at the Celtics facility (in Brighton)."

Interesting, I've never been a big fan of the Ball family circus but LaMelo really could be an incredible addition to a Smart, Kemba guard rotation.

I've always read Ball as a better scorer than his brother while still possesing the upper echelon passing instincts. Several on this board has commented that we need a high tier guard to coexist and grow with Tatum and Brown. LaMelo has legitimate size and speed for the position and could quickly carve out a role as a crafty distributor with burst.

Of course the the real thing to consider is how would we get him. The speculation of course would be a trade involving Hayward for the number 2 pick.

GS wants another veteran Wing to take another run at the championship.  Celtics can feel good about trading Hayward out of the conference to the perfect situation and still come away with fair compensation attaining the final piece in the rebuild to take the reigns as a perennial Eastern Conference contender.

Personally I'm fairly sold. What do you all think?

[ozgod]

Hard pass for me, I saw some of this play for the Australian team Illawarra and he's not the best shooter, and I definitely don't want to give up Hayward for him.

[CelticsBR]

The point of an eventual Hayward trade would not only be getting a high pick, but also using his huge salary to bring bench pieces.

[footey]

Interesting. Shows Celts doing their due diligence. At least he showed up. Lonzo wouldn’t.

[RPGenerate]

This seems very odd to me. Not a name I would think be connected to the Celtics. Due dilligence, or is there actual interest from Danny? Do we even have the pieces to hypothetically get the second pick?

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Please, no. Don't go there, Danny. Don't want crazy old man Ball anywhere near the Cs.

[BringToughnessBack]

If we think Hayward is going to get us the 2nd pick in the draft, we are all truly sipping drugged koolaid.

You will either need to  send out a treasure trove of firsts like Nets once did or add another player like Smart or replace Hayward with Brown..

GS is not trading the 2nd for Hayward...guaranteed unless Danny sends a Nets slew of picks their way and adds one more player to mix...

The fact that Danny is working out a potential 2nd though is very interesting....Sure this leak will motivate team now😩

[tazzmaniac]

I thought Lamelo was supposed to be a shooter.  His shooting percentages are terrible. 

Before we could trade Hayward, doesn't he have to pick up his last year option?  To make the salaries work, we'd have to take back Wiggins. 

[furball]

He wasn't here for the Celtics.  They can't work anyone out yet.  He was here for Puma, who apparently has a headquarters or some office in Boston. 

[ozgod]

Here are his stats for the Illawarra Hawks Australian team. Obviously he dominated the stats but the efficiency is nothing to write home about. Looks like he's an even worse perimeter shooter than Lonzo 



I don't know how good the Illawarra team was...I'm sure he'll face tougher D in the NBA than he will there though, so the efficiency is a concern. Maybe @gouki88 can tell us more.

[liam]

I thought Lamelo was supposed to be a shooter.  His shooting percentages are terrible. 

Before we could trade Hayward, doesn't he have to pick up his last year option?  To make the salaries work, we'd have to take back Wiggins.

Lamelo's "defense" is also terrible. He doesn't seem like a Danny pick.

[Stig]

Interesting, I like this idea, our bench desperately needs a versatile scorer. But how can we possibly get him, isn't he projected to be a top 3 pick?

[gouki88]

Here are his stats for the Illawarra Hawks Australian team. Obviously he dominated the stats but the efficiency is nothing to write home about. Looks like he's an even worse perimeter shooter than Lonzo 



I don't know how good the Illawarra team was...I'm sure he'll face tougher D in the NBA than he will there though, so the efficiency is a concern. Maybe @gouki88 can tell us more.

LaMelo was super unimpressive. The standard in the NBL isn't very high. Like, at all.

To give an example of that, let's look at the two last NBL MVPs: Andrew Bogut and Bryce Cotton.

Andrew Bogut went from a 4PPG 5RPG washed up big-man in the NBA to averaging 12/12/3/3 in just under 30MPG in the NBL. He might have won it for sentimental reasons in part, but you can see the questionable quality of the league when a toasted old big guy goes on to dominate here.

Bryce Cotton has won the 2 MVPs either side of Bogut's win. He won putting up 22/4/3 on championship teams. Not too bad, plays sort of like a dollar shop Allen Iverson. His play in the NBA? 23 total games.

Even if you take an NBL success story like Joe Ingles, it isn't promising. He took the NBL by storm, doing pretty much what he does in the NBA - averaged 15/5/4. But he took around 5 years to transition from the NBL to the NBA.

So finally, we get to Ball. An EFG% in the 30s (!) and weak defence (1 total block as a 6'7 rangy guard is really poor against the level of competition he was playing). That just screams be careful, at least to me. I don't want him anywhere near the Celtics. Has the exact same issues his brother did

[Smartacus]

He wasn't here for the Celtics.  They can't work anyone out yet.  He was here for Puma, who apparently has a headquarters or some office in Boston.

Almost didn't put the 'rumor' tag on this post but I'm glad I did.

Its entirely possible that LaMelo was just joking with the guy about the private workout with the Celtics and the guy took it seriously.

[Jvalin]

The speculation of course would be a trade involving Hayward for the number 2 pick.

Imo, Hayward cannot fetch us #2. I really like his game, but he ain't that valuable.

I bet Kemba can fetch us #8. Let's say Kemba for #8 + future first + cap relief. No need to match salaries. The Knicks can absorb Kemba's contract via cap space. This would allow the C's to go after a max free agency in 2021 (Giannis/Kawhi/George/you name it).

Really not sure how we could realistically trade up for a top 2 pick. Maybe Danny believes that LaMelo might be available in mid lottery (?). In any case, I hate LaMelo's game. Please Danny, don't trade up for him.