We had 17 months to analyze the 2020 NBA Draft, which was of course delayed because of the pandemic. For myself, that might have been just enough time to screw it all up. I say that, principally, because of LaMelo Ball’s early play in this NBA season.
Prior to the draft, Ball’s reputation was a moving target, despite a lack of source material. Ball played his last game for the Illawarra Hawks in Australia in November of 2019, meaning that he would not be seen in uniform for a full year before his draft night. During that span, Ball rose up the draft rankings due to two different phenomena: The 2020 draft class was not impressing people in the college season and savvy experts were taking a shine to the film out of Illawarra. When sharp observers like Nate Duncan and ESPN’s Kevin Pelton started to back LaMelo, I wrote an article in June titled, “Am I wrong about LaMelo Ball?”
So far, the answer is, “probably?”
Locally,…
