Context
Last night probably two the most famous basketball teenagers agreed terms on one year pro deal in Prienu Vytautas from Lithuania. Younger brothers of Los Angeles Lakers rising star recently signed with agent which closed the door to their NCAA career. LiAngelo was already member of UCLA but the team suspended him indefinitely after shoplifting scandal during the tour in China. LaMelo is a 5 star class of 2019 recruit and will become the youngest American player to ever make it professionally overseas.
Vytautas is a team located in the small city with a population of approximately 10.000 people. Even though it’s just 25 miles away from Kaunas which is not a bad place, still this is gonna be major culture shock for someone coming from California also regarding the weather which can be very harsh. Moreover Prienai struggles financially. Average salary in the league for mid table teams is approximately 3-4 thousand of Euros but brothers will most likely be earning much lower. Destination seems weird as team had only one American player in the roster past decade and coach barely speaks English which caused him troubles while working for country’s powerhouse Lietuvos Rytas. Beside Lithuanian LKL team participates in Baltic League which gathers the invitees from Estonia, Latvia, Belarus or even Kazakhstan. The overall level can be considered less demanding there but still hardly suitable for any playing time for Balls.
Analyzing the fit
While pace of the game may not be overwhelming, the competition is very physical which both teenagers will struggle with. None of them has proficient experience facing the old men and I am affraid they have absolutely no idea what does it feel like. The amount of energy that you lose because of boxing with much stronger opponents and going through much harder screens that has ever been set for you is something that you have to witness before fully realizing. It reduces your chance to make offensive impact and utilize your moves offensively. You are unable to play consistently night in night out during the entire season. Your legs are weaker, it’s harder to breathe and confidence level goes way down.This is not an accident that very few 16 or even 19 years old players are given substantial minutes in Top leagues all over the Europe. Even Luka Doncic was not impressive at the end of last season in Euroleague Final Four and Liga Endesa Finals because the challenge is extremely demanding for the body and mind of teenager.
Apart from physical adjustment there is one more important factor. Prospects make mistakes and there is simply no place for them. You face veterans who started when you were born. They have longevity thanks to understanding the game and avoiding unnecessary moves. They can predict your plays and each error immediately ends up as easy bucket on the other side of the floor. And there is no time to learn as you must make results. Every coach needs to protect himself and think about winning first instead of developing players.
Moreover basketball is clearly religion in Lithuania. It’s hard to find any other country which pays more attention to details and fundamentals. If you watch high school or even college basketball there is usually few players who you can find to have high IQ. Here you will hardly ever find opponent without good knowledge and understanding of the game. Discipline is just phenomenal and there is not much tactical freedom. You cannot come out gunning from every spot. The worse decision you make the longer you will be benched.
There is also not much sense regarding marketing aspect of this endeavour. Lithuania wouldn’t even be classified in Top 30 States of U.S. as far as population. Target group is small and people are not overly rich to sell them the Big Baller Brand products. Moreover league doesn’t draw any attention outside of the region (probably 90% of fans never heard about Prienu Vytautas until yesterday evening). Since the affair China was probably no longer an option but other Asian countries like Japan could definitely work. Besides you can shoot there a lot and people are mostly happy and excited about the big numbers you make regardless of results. On the other side it gives some opportunities for the team to benefit from this situation. According to league website club already started to look for American companies willing to pay 50.000 Euro for becoming the jersey sponsor. It is not that much of a big deal and I can see it happening. However it’s just a cash injection unlikely to become permanent option. After few months Prienu will come back to its normal existence and be remembered just from accepting the experiment which is very questionable on professional level.
Also Lithuania is the country of Lavrinovicius not Ball brothers. Basketball can be entertaining here but at the same time remains very serious. Why would club invest in youngsters from USA since the chance for them to become franchise members is basically non existing. Americans changes clubs in Europe almost every year and Lavar obviously would love his sons to make a jump here and move to better place on the ultimate road to Los Angeles Lakers. Aside from obvious statement that this is just wishful thinking achieving solid production level in this league is currently just impossible for Ball sons. How can you use this stop as a trampoline to big leagues if you in fact still need 2-3 years to stand out here? Furthermore what after you fail? If Lamelo and Liangelo barely play what is the timetable for Lavar to invite local media and say that coach is a trash? How can he remain the hype without making scandals if kids don’t make a name for themselves on the court? What kind of executive on any serious basketball level would decide to hire Balls if it happens. I don’t like to be negative but the odds for this are just much higher than a chance to make it work.
Disaster seems to be coming very soon. First few games will attract fan base, media attention etc. so father will be proud and in his element. When he faces reality and understands that British Leagues or some low level in Germany may be reasonable destinations in Europe for now can he accept the failure? To some degree he is smart guy especially business wise. He smiles at all the haters and is extremely happy to have their growing database. They have a great security in Lonzo who will earn many dozens of millions in NBA. He probably realizes that LiAngelo is unlikely to ever become serious player and is kinda living in the moment to benefit as much financially as possible from all the buzz around the Ball family. I just hope the potential of LaMelo who won’t be ready like Brandon Jennings to play Euroleague at the age of 18 but still can be considered as very good prospect won’t be hampered because of his decisions. So he could make actual basketball career instead of starring in reality shows.
