LaMelo Ball has been forced to work particularly hard throughout his young career shedding perceptions of himself that were given to him largely out of his own control. Being the son of the outspoken LaVar Ball brought much criticism and scrutiny with it, neither of which LaMelo could change. However, early videos of a young LaMelo playing high school basketball by shooting half-court jumpers and cherry-picking his way to 90 points fueled many of the perceptions about him.
Since then, Ball has been forced into an uphill battle to shed the labels given to him from his early mixtapes. It’s been a long, slow process but performances in the National Basketball League (NBL) have done the most to prove Ball’s credibility as a legitimate prospect.
In a recent piece for The Daily Telegraph in Australia, DraftExpress’ Jonathan Givony talked about Ball’s battle against his perception.
“There are preconceived notions that people have about the type of player and person that he is. There are highlights of him cherrypicking on defense, not getting back and taking bad shots from 40-feet early in possessions. That is definitely who he was early on in his career and that isn’t something that he can hide. But to his credit, he has done a really good job of discrediting a lot of those preconceived notions at Illawarra. Being in a stable situation and helping the team win games is going to go a long way to changing that perception.”
The necessity to continue to shed preconceived notions of Ball might be the strongest case against Ball leaving the NBL. While the rumors were far closer to speculation than fact, they gained momentum. However, it would be counterproductive to everything Ball has done during his time with the NBL.
Regardless of what the perception of him is to the general public, Ball is going to be a top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. Until then, he will continue to shed most of the negative perceptions around him.
