After the NBA Draft lottery earlier this week, the Boston Celtics are scoring on and off the court. The Celtics have the No. 1 pick in next month’s anticipated draft. Currently, Markelle Fultz is the projected top pick in the draft with Lonzo Ball close behind.
Considering how much Lonzo’s father has talked about himplaying for the Lakers, it begs the question, will the Lakers even have a shot at taking him, or will he end up in Boston?
Lonzo’s got a leg up on Fultz by pure comparison, in my mind. Fultz and the Washington Huskies didn’t have a NCAA tournament appearance while Lonzo’s UCLA Bruins made it to the Sweet 16, where they were stumped by Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox and company.
The Lonzo-Lavar duo is kind of ironic. Lonzo is very reserved and quiet while LaVar has quite an outspoken quality to him. While LaVar claims he could beat Michael Jordan, I’m pretty sure that the fifth-greatest player of all time (Behind Bill Russell, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and John Stockton) and 1985 rookie of the year would dare to disagree.
History on this day, May 16th, 1985
Michael Jordan named NBA Rookie of the Year.#GOAT pic.twitter.com/c0D31OBWRk— Brian Chojnacki (@BroadcastingBri) May 17, 2017
A pair of reasons that the Celtics may end up taking Lonzo Ball:
- There’s a good chance his dad won’t be at every Celtics home game. His younger kids are in high school and he lives on the other side of the country
- Lonzo isn’t a ball hog like Kobe Bryant was early on in his career. Lonzo has more of a team-first mentality, and pairing that with Isaiah Thomas would be deadly.
While LaVar might not be at every Celtics’ home game if Lonzo goes to the Celtics, you can’t rule that out. But here’s a couple reasons why the Celtics may not take a chance on Lonzo:
- Lonzo has stated that he wants to play for L.A.
- Dealing with LaVar would be a pain, and so would dealing with the drama around the Ball family in general.
I wouldn’t bet your Benjamins that LaVar won’t be at TD Garden often, especially if the C’s start losing some games. Don’t put it past LaVar come in and throw his temper tantrums at Danny Ainge and blame Brad Stevens just like he did with the Chino Hills High School head coach last year.
When I say the C’s don’t want to deal with the drama, well, that’s what I mean.
LaVar Ball is like that little kid you see in the grocery store that sits on the floor and cries because his mom didn’t buy him a candy bar. If the team doesn’t win, that means it’s always someone else’s fault.
Also, the Ball family is looking to have their own reality show. So is it going to be like “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” except the title would be “Keeping up with Lonzo, LaMelo and LiAngelo and Their Annoying Dad?”
And will the TV show be willing to travel to Boston if Lonzo ends up there? If not, then Boston might be a very attractive location for Lonzo, who for the most part is like George W. Bush post-presidency. Bush served in the White House for eight years and now is out of the spotlight. When out of his dad’s spotlight, Lonzo is reserved and quiet and plays well and has stayed out of the spotlight.
Boston could be a new and fresh start on Lonzo’s basketball career and not his entertainment one that his father has been pushing. And Lonzo could learn behind veterans like Al Horford, Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas. All in all, Boston would be a place where Lonzo could just focus on basketball.
