Dealing with Chinese manufacturers is a slippery slope. I'm sure with the Ball ego involved they are screwing him on purpose.
BBB is, mercifully, about to die. People have figured out Lonzo is nothing special. So far he looks like a Ricky Rubio clone, except Ball can't shoot free throws and lacks leadership.
WHAT??? I disagree. I think that was likely PART of the reason, but the owners didn't like the risk associated with drafting high schoolers. The few exceptions became monster stars, so they felt compelled to take the risk, and it likely would have accelerated...with all the failures deteriorating the game.
Spoiler Lavar on Undisputed: What are you hearing? I'm not hearing anything. I told the Lakers a long time ago, you trade my son, it'll be the worst thing you've ever done. I guarantee. They trade my son, they will never get a championship. Trying to get all these players thinking they'll get a championship. It ain't the players. It's the coach. You don't have the coach, you're outta luck. You can get as many players as you want. If you don't have a system or understand what you're getting ready to do, you're not gonna win. So you're saying LeBron without Lonzo cannot win a championship in LA? LeBron James WITHOUT Lonzo is not gonna win a championship. I guarantee that. Skip & I can criticize a coach or player but we don't have a son on that team playing. Do you understand how people look at that like "C'mon Lavar." You think I care about how people look at me? I'm gonna keep doing what I do. They can't do anything about it. Why did you go on record & say I don't want my son in New Orleans? We don't want to live in the cold & they already have a point guard. They don't have a point guard. I say they do. We don't like living in the cold. ... Phoenix, if you get Lonzo, get LiAngelo, get LaMelo. I'm not just trying to go in there & play. I'm trying to build a dynasty. The worst team in the West. The worst team. Can't do nothing but go up but they gotta listen & let's go play our way. My boys are winners. The Lakers turned them into losers. New Orleans has Elfrid Payton, Tim Frazier, Frank Jackson... Those are some point guards. My son is better than them. Show me. Show you? I'll show you in Phoenix. The sun rises over there. My son would take that thing... You can't do it by yourself. That's why I'm into building a dynasty when you bring my other two boys. Never worry about leaving. Hypothetically, if you're son goes to New Orleans. That's a pretty good nucleus. Do you not trust those other kids to rise with your son? Those other kids will rise with my son. Whoever plays with my son will go up. The fact Lonzo isn't playing now, those players you thought were good ain't that good. This ain't new. How many players do you hear about from UCLA right now? TJ Leaf, all those guys, you don't hear about them because Lonzo isn't there to make them look as good as they are. Brandon Ingram struggling, Hart struggling, Kuzma struggling, they're all gonna struggle if Lonzo ain't in the picture. When you declared you don't want your son in New Orleans, is it possible you blew the trade up? If the trade blew up, oh well. I'm just letting you know. You torpedoed the trade on purpose? No. Why? If it's torpedoed, you got a lot of players to choose from. My son ain't that good. That's what they say. So take them other guys & do your thing but he must be a big part. ... I can say what I want to put in other people's head and let them know we don't want to be there. If I don't want to be there, don't take that guy. That's like having a girl and saying "Oh, she's so pretty." but you can't make her love you. If it's an arranged marriage in the Middle East you can. Who's going to the Middle East? If you hear your son has been traded today to New Orleans, what are you going to do about it? What am I going to do about it? Gotta go over there but you can't make him play. So he'll sit? He'll do whatever he wants to do. You're talking the talk. I didn't hear him say that. You won't hear nothing because he don't want to talk to you because he knows how you are against me. You're negative. ... I'm gonna criticize. When things go bad, I always criticize. I don't sit there & take it. Tell me it ain't Luke Walton. I dare you to say that. You know it's right. You say it's Luke. Does Lonzo bear any culpability in this? No. Let him do what he does. Let him win. That's not how it works. Why? It worked like that the last few years. What did you win at UCLA? He went to the Sweet 16 & won 30-something games. They don't hang banners for that. Lonzo has no excuses for nothing. Son, go get that championship at UCLA. He's on his way to get it but can't get it. Someone on our side texts Lonzo something to get him out of his mind & the text had to deal with his mom. He ain't gonna say nothing. That's how he found out. If he's thinking his mom is gonna die the next day, how do you come back from that? I told him go do what you gotta do, I got her. You don't put that out there like that. He's still young. Get your ass over there & play. I got her & she'll be fine. When your mind isn't right & thinking about other things, no way you can perform like that. What about the unrealistic expectations? Unrealistic expectations make us the Big Baller. How do you come into a league with your own brand? Never been done before. You said Luke Walton turned your son into a loser. Luke has a great mindset for losing. Been losing for 3 years. Great mindset for losing. Lonzo is a winner. Go to Summer League. You're gonna say Summer League is just Summer League. The coach did a heck of a job. How does he get MVP without even playing the last game? The coach said go do what you do, get triple doubles, have fun, do what you do. Then, when the season starts, starting him, play 4-5 minutes, sit him down for 12 minutes. ... How about telling him to go out there & do what you normally do & we won't have any problems. He's been scoring his entire life. I've said many times I don't like the way Luke has played your son. Can you explain the psychology of this? I don't know what his attitude towards Lonzo is. I don't know if it's a jealousy factor or old school where you gotta go through the veterans. Back in the day, you'll have a backcourt but not a $300M back court. Things are different now. Why didn't Magic intervene? Magic is just a face. His say so isn't his say so. I know it's not. Who is charge? I'm trying to figure out. That's why the system is crumbling down. I don't know what's going on. Jeanie Buss? She just said she told Magic to get Lonzo. If Magic wanted Fox, why didn't you get Fox? What is your biggest issue with Luke Walton? The way he plays my son. Nothing new. Talk to Luke? I never talk to Luke. Rob or Magic. I ain't gonna talk to Luke. I can talk to Magic & Rob. Head Coach is down there during the game. I ain't gonna waste my time going to practice. "Excuse me Luke, can I talk for a minute?" No. ... Will Luke get fired anytime soon? Anytime some players want to whoop your ass, you gotta get up on outta there. Would it be best for Lonzo to be traded? Best for Lonzo to be traded or get a new coach. You want a new coach? Brian Shaw right there on the bench. Does Lonzo get along with Brian? He gets along with Brian. Lonzo does best flying up & down the court. ... SS: Lonzo is not the best player on that team. Are you crazy? SS: Are you saying Lonzo is better than LeBron? YES! LeBron is getting older. I'll make Zo better than LeBron if I'm coaching because I'll let him loose. You want to coach the Suns? I'm just giving them the first right of refusal like I did the Lakers. Someone will take all three of my boys. You know Lonzo isn't better than LeBron. Why? Because LeBron has been in the league 15 years? How do you judge LeBron being better than my son? I'm not gonna say anyone's better than my son. LeBron is getting old. He can't guard Lonzo on the fast break. Where is Lonzo's head at with trade rumors? He's like whatever y'all want to do, fine. He's not gonna get an attitude or point fingers. Point of no return with Luke/Lonzo? There's no return. It's over. Intrigued by your idea of building a Ball dynasty with the Suns. Spoken with the Suns? Haven't talked to anyone. This is all me. Everyone ends up where they're supposed to be. ... Point A is to get all my boys in the league and then all on the same team. I'm gonna keep working until it does. It's gonna happen. How good can the youngest become? He can be the best one. ...
Los Angeles Lakers guard Lonzo Ball has severed ties with a co-founder of Big Baller Brand over concerns that the longtime family friend has a criminal past and also has not adequately accounted for the whereabouts of roughly $1.5 million from Ball's personal and business accounts. http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...owner-allegations-15-million-unaccounted-espn Who would have ever thought that hiring a friend, letting him talk you and your son into starting a shoe brand instead of getting a $$$ sponsorship (in frikking LA), giving him part-ownership of your company, giving him unsupervised access to your finances while you're in Europe with your other kids, while ignoring warnings from your son's financial advisor, oh, and not even knowing that said friend is a convicted financial fraudster...who would have thought that this would backfire?
... I don't know what your dots mean. Speak English or Morse Code or something. It's just sad to see this happen repeatedly. Why pro athletes don't take care of their money, and let their family and friends have access, and inevitably get ripped off...it's mind boggling to me.
There's a myriad of athletes who have been scammed by their "financial advisors". A whole bunch of them are broke now. It's sad.
