“I expect to have Rookie of the Year, honestly” - Caleb Wilson, Bulls Rookie, possibly having that Dog in Him.
🏀 Hard In The Paint
Tim Connelly
There’s a scene, not unlike all the others, in Succession season 4 where Logan Roy has his kids huddled around him (in a karaoke bar) to discuss sealing a deal to sell his company. The kids pepper the patriarch with all their complaints and insecurities. Logan gives ground, but holds the rope. After a minute or two, he realizes there’s no convincing the kids his plan is sound. As he prepares to leave, immensely disappointed, he tells his family, “I love you, but you are not serious people.”
Logan, the business scion, is explaining to all his children, who hold executive positions and extreme wealth, that they are not actually the titans they believe themselves to be. The Charlotte Hornets just did much the same to their Prodigal Son, Lamelo Ball, and shipped him to Minnesota.
Ball is the most Unserious Basketball player in the entire league. He doesn’t pretend not to be. He doesn’t make any claims to treating the game with the type of discipline needed to win an NBA title. There’s nothing not transparent about Ball, it’s just that his approach to the sport doesn’t conform with decades and decades of evidence that suggests he needs to change should he ever want to help a team win.
I’m holding out hope this trade works because I enjoy Anthony Edwards and I don’t want to see his prime compromised. All my feelings toward this pairing are based on wanting more for Ant. If I squint, I can see Ant coaxing out the best version of Ball. I can picture a mid-season practice where Jaden McDaniels reminds Lamelo that none of his bullshit will be tolerated and that the messaging finally lands coming from a peer with credibility instead of Steve Clifford. Not unlike Metta World Peace next to Kobe, or JR Smith next to Lebron, there’s a world where Lamelo finally cancels out the noise and maximizes his talents.
The issue is that Lamelo is now the second best and probably most important final puzzle piece in Minnesota. In the other examples, the Lakers and Cavs were asking for much, much less from World Peace or Smith. They weren’t asking their second best player to start acting like it. Can Lamelo commit defensively for three rounds of playoff basketball? Can he shun 30ft bail out jumpers and get downhill possession after possession against Lu Dort, Caruso, or Castle, or Amen Thompson? Does he raise the ceiling on offensive efficiency high enough to take out Wemby?
I don’t think any of the criticism leveled at Lamelo is pearl clutching. By the numbers, he’s a radically average shooter that is frequently injured and yet has a massive contract. More to the point, we can learn from our past 4 champions. These are teams that played with and for each other. The Gen Z Darlin Thunder. Jayson Tatum and Jaylon Brown buoyed by veterans Derrick White and Jrue Holiday. Steph, Klay and Draymond’s last dance in 2022. Can’t forget the Nova Knicks. Teams need a connective tissue to reach the highest ceilings of the game and Charlotte just deemed Lamelo too divisive to take their franchise there.
Tim Connelly left Denver (and Nikola Jokic) in 2022 one year before the Nuggets would claim the title. He wanted a big boy seat at the table and joined Minnesota in exchange for $40m and bonuses tied to the team’s equity value. The Nuggets were unwilling to part with such contract escalators and Connolly walked out the door. Since that moment, he’s seen the ascent of Ant, shipped in Rudy Gobert, shipped out KAT, and now lands Lamelo. Perhaps Ball undergoes the same type of growth we just witnessed from Anthony-Towns. Or, in the event that doesn’t happen, and Connelly goes fishing for equity elsewhere, he’ll be reminded that he failed to build a championship basketball team around one of the game’s brightest stars. It’ll be in that moment that some other billionaire explains to Tim that he’s just not a Serious person.
📻 Over The Air
📡 JumboTron: Tonight’s Must Watch
All times PST
Cubs vs Brewers, 3:45pm Apple TV
Dodgers vs Padres, 6:45pm Apple TV, take a soccer break for mid-summer baseball
☎️ The Phone Line
Best thing on the timeline today:
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Walkup Song
Walkup Song
Kenny Chesney
For maybe embracing Lamelo:
Spotify