The Paper's reporter Ma Zuoyu
"Ball Daddy" third son Ramello Bauer was selected by the Hornets with the third pick.
This is what the media and fans call the "darkest star" NBA draft in recent years.
Due to the ongoing spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, there is no NCAA's "Crazy March" to show the ability of newcomers, no talent for joint physical observation, no large-scale team trials, not even the most ritualistic "Little Green House"...
As a result, 19-year-old Lameló Bauer became the focus of the entire draft.
On the 19th, at the 2020 draft, the Charlotte Hornets selected Lamelo Ball with the third pick, and the "three goals" in the mouth of the fans officially entered the NBA as a flower show.
As the younger brother of former Lakers and Pelicans player Ronzo Ball, in the analysis report of the NBA scout, he is a young man who is "half angel, half demon" - with top passing ability and shining physical talent, but his father Laval Ball (commonly known as "ball daddy") has chosen an alternative growth path for him.
Is this path the key to prompting Jordan, the "god of basketball" and his Hornets, to choose Lamello?
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Lameló Bauer Collection. (08:34)
He was chosen by Jordan to make history
Even though the Timberwolves selected Anthony Edwards with a pick and the Golden State Warriors selected James Wiseman with a pick," when Adam Shaw said "Hornets chose Ramello Ball," most of the pick night was destined to be stolen by the 19-year-old.
Lamelho Ball has created a history of the NBA - three years ago, his eldest brother Lonzo Ball was selected by the Lakers as the top spot in the draft, and now, he entered the NBA as a flower detector, thus becoming the first pair of brothers in the history of the NBA to all enter the "top three" of the draft.
You know, the NBA has a lot of brother players in history, but even the Gasol brothers and the Lopez brothers have not been able to make it into the top three together in the draft.
However, The "three goals" of Lamelo Bauer, a fan, almost missed such an debut that is the peak of the honor.
The Bauers (Far right, Ramello Bauer).
In the past half a month, Lamelo's draft prospects can be described as "roller coaster-like" ups and downs - first NBA veteran journalist Kevin O'Connor led the "three goals of decline", according to his communications and interviews with many teams, O'Connor said that "many teams think his performance in the league will not be up and down, so if his draft eventually falls out of the top five, it will not be surprising."
Coupled with Lamelo's struggling performances in the Lithuanian league and his low shooting percentage in the Australian league, for a time, his draft prospects were overshadowed.
However, a few days later, Espn listed Ball as the only first player in the draft and gave the news that he had performed well in the Timberwolves trial, and in this way, Ball became a "big hit" again.
But no matter how the outside world looks down or bullish, Lamelo himself has always been confident about entering the NBA with a high pick and succeeding, as he said in an interview before the draft, "I believe I will succeed, I was born for this, this is the answer I firmly believe." ”
The eldest brother, Lonzo Ball, played for the Lakers.
Overseas league training, absolute outlier in "rookie"
Unlike his eldest brother Lonzo Ball, Lamelo Ball is an outlier.
With the eye-catching statistics of 16.4 points and 3.8 assists per game, Lamelo helped Chino Gang High School win the national championship with a record of 35 wins and 0 losses, but due to the bad relationship between his father "Ball Daddy" and the high school coach, Bauer resolutely decided to play in overseas professional leagues.
After the "silence" of the Lithuanian league and his father's own JBA league, the "three-goal" returned to play at Spiel College in Ohio – that season, he proved his ability and worth with the data of averaging close to the "triple-double" per game.
Lamelo previously chose to play in overseas leagues and felt the pressure of the game in advance.
Just when the fans were expecting the "three goals" to be tested and baptized by the ncaa, he once again chose to go overseas to participate in professional leagues. A big part of the reason for this is that Ramello Bauer's father didn't want to be tied down by the NCAA system.
The "three-goal" win was the rookie of the year for the Iliwala Hawks in Australia, and at the age of 18, he averaged 17 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7 assists per game in the professional arena. But his weaknesses are also quite pronounced, with only 72 percent free-throw shooting and just 24 percent from three-point range as a guard.
That season, there were 97 players with three-point shots in the Australian League, and the "three-goal" three-point shooting rate was only ranked 86th.
However, in addition to basketball, compared to college students who play in NCAA, "Three Ball" has its own manager to help him take care of business - he is not only the youngest player in the American basketball circle to have signed shoes, but even close to "financial freedom".
According to Espn, "Three Balls" and his agents have bought their old club, the Irawala Hawks, and Bauer's net worth is already about $1 million, and he also holds a shoe endorsement contract worth nearly $100 million.
Laval Bauer and eldest son Lonzo.
Angel or demon? The pressure is all on the "ball daddy"
"I think there are only two outcomes for The selection of Lamelo Ball in the draft, either a great victory or a tragic one."
This is the assessment given by Espn draft expert Seth Greenberg when analyzing the draft prospects of the "three goals". After all, the risk of choosing Bauer was his father, Ravar Bauer, "If it were me, I would only choose Raval Bauer if he was far away from his son." ”
Mouthless, high-profile, arrogant and stubborn... When the big brother of the "three-goal" Lonzo Ball entered the NBA, the "ball daddy" in the mouth of the fans has already shown his absolute talent of "fancy pit baby" in Los Angeles:
Criticizing the coach, criticizing the team's tactics, commenting on the decisions of the team management, the "ball daddy" has made the entire Lakers uneasy on his own.
It is no wonder that when Lonzo Ball was still wearing the Lakers jersey, the team announced that all media would not be allowed to interview players' families, agents and friends in the family rest area after the game... And many American netizens jokingly call it the "ball daddy rule" on social networks.
This time, when the Charlotte Hornets select Ramello Ball, all the pressure will fall on the shoulders of Michael Jordan, the "god of basketball.".
Interestingly, "Daddy Ball" has been clamored more than once in the past few years that he can beat Jordan in a single-handed way.
"If it's a head-to-head, I'm sure I'll be able to blow jordan." I'm faster than him and I'm stronger than him. Just in April of this year, Raval Bauer revived the old story in an interview, highlighting his confidence in the victory over Jordan.
"Look at how good I am, we are both people with sons, why is his son not as good as my son?" My sons are all raised by me. ”
"Ball Daddy" has been clamoring to go head-to-head with Jordan.
This is also why, when the "three balls" put on the Wasp hat, there was a carnival on social media - many fans joked, "The ball daddy finally got the opportunity to go head-to-head with Jordan, and now the pressure is all on Jordan." ”
The single-handed drama may not be staged, and the epidemic has also prevented the opportunity of "Ball Daddy" to show his personal charm in the Home Audience of the Hornets, but the "three-goal" Lamelo is still under pressure:
Can he use his talent to prove the value of tanhua, but also help Jordan avoid another "draft joke" recurrence.
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas
Proofreader: Luan Meng