A cold knowledge that few people pay attention to: The Hornets, who have never loved their uncles and uncles, have secretly become the top five teams in the league box office last season offseason.
Last summer, 90 percent of the Hornets' season pass holders renewed their season passes and sold an additional 2,200 units. The team's number two jersey was snapped up, and all Charlotte fans wanted to wear it to watch the game. Hornets forward Miles Bridges recalled: "In the first two years of my career, we could only have a little more spectators when we played the Knicks or the Lakers at home. Now more and more fans are willing to come to the Spectrum Center to watch us play. This kind of change, I think, was brought about by Lamelo. ”
The team has played in only three playoffs since joining the NBA as the Charlotte Bobcats in 2004, never breaking through the first round, and producing only two All-Stars. And now it looks like it's going to change. Today, the Hornets are 25-20 and seventh in the East, and the team's average score per game is second in the league at the instigation of Lamelo. Lamello himself averaged 19.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game, as well as a 37.2 percent three-point shooting percentage, another level of improvement over his rookie season. He is the only player in the league who can complete all four indicators at the same time. In the All-Star vote, he currently finishes fifth in the Eastern Conference backcourt and has a great chance of being selected for this year's Cleveland All-Star Game.
The 20-year-old "Queen Bee" has become the league's top guard, in addition to being young on the court, he has long been popular on social media and already has his own signature shoes. In October 2020, PUMA signed the promising youngster as a veteran sports brand that had signed superstars like Walter Fraser, Ralph Sampson and Vince Carter. Recently, PUMA also unveiled their first signature shoe since returning to basketball: mb.01.
The fans who voted for him were very knowledgeable: Lamelo's way of playing was more blood-curdling than the dazzling statistics. We've seen a lot of players with great vision and excellent passing, but La Mello is different from them. He has access to information so widely that he can process it so quickly that he seems to be able to see through the future. When he grabs a defensive rebound and looks up the field, he can read the position of everyone on the field in an instant, and then in the crowded space where everyone is moving at high speed, peeling back a tiny defensive loophole — sometimes it's only theoretically existing — and then in an instant, he passes the ball to where it should go, igniting the passion of everyone in the field with a single assist.
Hornets coach Borrego, who served as a former assistant coach at the Spurs, likened his experience in coaching Ramello to Popovich's coaching Ginobili: "Bobo found a delicate balance between Manu taking responsibility for his mistakes and allowing him to unleash his creativity. Manu had an innate instinct, and So did Lamelo. What sets them apart is this instinct, which none of us can teach. What I'm going to do now is improve his basketball IQ and improve his understanding of the team and the players. When the time comes, he will become even more terrifying. ”
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To understand how Lamelo awakened this instinct, perhaps we should go back to his backyard. The Ball family's backyard is home to some of the best field fields in Chino Hills, Southern California. There, Raval Bauer pitted his three sons against children several years older than himself, as he had done for decades. Many people think that the reason why La Mello is so good at the offensive and defensive transitions now is because of the habit of playing this kind of game since childhood: when facing opponents who are taller and stronger than you, you have to seize every opportunity to push the game faster. Because in that kind of game, fast attack is probably the only way to score.
This pattern continued, and when Bauer competed against adults in the lithuanian and Australian professional leagues, he also demonstrated his fearless courage and unique creativity. Such talent impressed almost all NBA scouts, and in the 2020 draft, the Hornets plucked him off with a probe stick. When he first landed in the NBA, some fans questioned his career prospects, and some NBA players were ready to make the "internet celebrity boy" suffer a little. But soon, Lamelo melted the ice of these stereotypes with his astonishing non-human passes, bulletless three-point long-range shots, warm and innocent smiles and humble and lively personality.
A player like him, you would think he's very arrogant, Bridges said, but in fact Lamelo is the complete opposite, he never gives a or a rhetoric. He works very hard and is always eager to make progress. ”
Hornets general manager Mitch Kupček was skeptical of Lamelo, but after a detailed investigation, he was taken aback: "Because of Lamelo's performance on the field and the lot of attention his family received, we tried to find some shortcomings in him. Will he sometimes appear selfish? Will he be addicted to parties before and after the game? But in the end we didn't find any shortcomings. He's as simple as a blank sheet of paper: he just likes to be in his apartment, his hobbies are playing games, training and playing very hard, and he's a great teammate. ”
After a successful rookie season, Ball could have returned to his hometown of California for the summer. With the trophy of best rookie, the aura of a super newcomer on his head, and a million dollars, he can visit every nightclub in Southern California and enjoy all that he has won.
But he didn't. He stayed in Charlotte. Travel to and from the training center and his downtown apartment. He spends all his time training jump shots and strength, and the only pastime is video games. He was so professional that many people would forget the fact that Ramello Bauer was actually only 20 years old. Many 20-year-olds like him lose themselves in the face of the temptations that come and go, but for now, Lamelo just wants to play better basketball in Charlotte's Spectrum Center.
Such a talented and determined young man is so rare that the PUMA brand returned to basketball and was the first to find him. Adam Petrick, PUMA's Global Director of Branding and Marketing, praised Ramello in an interview: "We've never seen a player as different as Lamelo Bauer, with amazing talent for all-round skill, and no one can match that, perhaps from an outer space player. He is a strange force on the playing field, his dunk breaks free of gravity, and every shot is so wonderful and sci-fi. ”
The Celestial Ball – not from Here – became the subject of the first collaboration between PUMA and Lamelo, creating the puma MB.01, a unique pair of basketball shoes. Brilliant cosmic colors with epoch-making PUMA HOOPS technology: PUMA Nitro Foam midsole and subversive 3D printed upper structure, PUMA MB.01 is an exclusive weapon that cannot be copied.
Lamelo himself co-designed the sneakers, from bold color choices to unique design details, MB.01 deeply blends the strong personal style of "three balls". The ankle collar of the shoe refers to The rocket pattern tattoo at the ankle of Lamelo Bauer's unique ankle, and the rocket flame tail is continued with a woven pattern. The base of the tongue is printed with Lamelo Bauer's famous "NOT FROM HERE" creative Slogan, while the words "RARE" on the outsole represent his outstanding talent on the pitch that cannot be replicated. The XXX logo on the back of the MB.01 outboard pays homage to Lamelo as the youngest triple-double in NBA history at the time. This pair of shoes has the first explosion red and the subsequent bright black and red color matching, of which the black and red color of the ankle collar inside and outside the rocket flame tail pattern are presented by the embroidery process.
As PUMA's first pair of signed basketball shoes after returning to basketball. Lamelho Bauer and MB.01 truly embody the core concept of PUMA basketball, emphasizing the brand tone of both practical and fashionable, integrating competitive sports with trend culture expression, while driving the brand forward with bold, bright and subversive design. MB.01 is just the beginning, more exciting projects are on the way. From the current PUMA signings of Lamelo Bauer, Ayton, Kuzma, Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart and even the future super newcomer McGee Williams, who will soon land in the NBA, we can see the vitality and potential of PUMA basketball.