When Do Ball Bros Play Again in Lithuania
LaVar, LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball arrived in Lithuania on Jan. 3, to enormous fanfare. The younger brothers of Lonzo Ball were foregoing their college eligibility to play professional person basketball game for BC Vytautas in the modest town of Prienai.
With that, came a reality show, Large Baller Brand, and — of grade — LaVar Ball's clashes with another coach. The disagreements with Vytautas coach Virginijus Seskus ultimately led to LaVar pulling his sons out of Lithuania with two games remaining in the LKL flavor.
Donatas Urbonas, a sports reporter for 15min.lt, covered every step of the Ball family unit'due south experience in Lithuania. He discussed the whirlwind 3 months in an interview with For The Win.
How would y'all describe the by three months covering the Brawl family's time with Vytautas?
There were probably three parts of the Ball feel in Lithuania. The start month was completely crazy. Everything was new. Everything was kind of shocking. Everything was kind of exciting. We were following what the Ball brothers and what LaVar was maxim. What are they going to say about Lithuania – every step, every move, every word, every new feel in Lithuania was something fun.
Then, the second office was kind of coming back to reality. Watching it, we started following more closely. Like, how LaMelo was performing on the courtroom. If LiAngelo was good, and he actually was pretty good. He was very, very underrated coming into Republic of lithuania. We idea probably that LaMelo might contribute more than because we saw more potential in Melo's game. Gelo is three years older and he's more mature for the pro game, but still, we expected more from Melo.
But the third month was kind of sad. I don't know if yous saw, but during the games that nosotros broadcasted on Facebook, you could tell that there wasn't many people in the stands. Too, the Facebook numbers decreased a lot. Comparison to the first games where nosotros had more than than 100,000 people watching, then in the end, information technology was like 5 or 6,000 people. Information technology was a picture of the overall attention in Lithuania. Nosotros got bored, people got bored. Mostly because we saw that LaMelo can't perform at the pro level yet, and most of the people were irritated with the LaVar and Motorbus Seskus stuff that hurt the team. Also, some of the players had a bad approach to LaMelo and LiAngelo, so these inside conflicts were dissentious to the overall image in Lithuania.
Three months is a pretty short time, but information technology was a very different experience month by month.
What did you notice about LaVar and Seskus' relationship and how it deteriorated over time?
For me personally, it was strange. I was surprised why LaVar was and then mad. The main thing why he was and then mad and why he went crazy on the coach was that Seskus didn't put both Ball brothers in the starting lineup. It was the game against Zalgiris – the best team in Republic of lithuania, which actually made the EuroLeague Final Four (Europe'south most prestigious tournament) – he wanted Seskus to play both brothers in the starting lineup confronting the best team. The thing is they actually played a really adept game against Zalgiris. They just didn't start, which in Europe isn't really a big business organisation. Sometimes practiced players are not starting, and who cares because they are playing the crucial minutes and being a game-changing gene.
Seskus probably idea that Melo, every bit a 16-year-one-time kid, wasn't ready to play against these grown men in the elite league. LaVar got mad, and he didn't desire to listen to anybody, not Coach Seskus. He didn't want to listen to why he did that. LaVar was fired upwards simply by the fact that LaMelo didn't start. I was surprised, and Coach Seskus was surprised as well. I don't know – maybe information technology's language barrier. Seskus simply couldn't explain to LaVar everything. Probably, it was the matter of dissimilar cultures. LaVar, Gelo and Melo are from a different basketball culture, and European basketball is unique in its own way. Probably it was a conflict was basketball cultures.
(Photograph by Alius Koroliovas/Getty Images)
Was Vytautas aware of LaVar's history of ambivalent with every coach his sons play for?
I'd say yes because they were following the Ball history really closely before they signed them. The assistant double-decker at Vytautas was a large fan of the Ball brothers. He liked Lonzo Ball very much, and he was following him even when he was playing in the NCAA. So I expect the assistant coach, Marius Leonavicius, also knew the history of LaVar's clashes with coaches. It wasn't something surprising to direction, but probably the club didn't expect how difficult it would be to handle information technology.
How was the presence of the Ball family's reality TV evidence perceived around the guild?
I think we expected that it might be more crazy than information technology really was. The biggest business with Lithuania was that the Ball family was coming here with their reality prove, and they're going to make fun of u.s.. Let's be real: Prienai is a very small city. For Americans coming from LA to small-scale-town Prienai in the wintertime, it would have been an like shooting fish in a barrel style to destroy our image. But information technology wasn't that bad.
I don't recollect the Ball family made this move only considering of their reality bear witness. I think (Lavar) expected to meliorate his kids' basketball experience of playing at the pro level. For Melo, it was a really big gift considering they tried to play him a lot in the beginning, and he did play Gelo a lot really. But maybe as Charabanc Seskus said, they didn't appreciate the opportunity how they should. They wanted to be successful in both stages, producing a practiced reality show while improving the kids' basketball game experience. The last few weeks accept shown that it's gonna be hard.
I think Gelo got the most out of this experience considering he was playing a big number of minutes and contributing really expert. Information technology was great for him. I'chiliad kind of scared about Melo considering he was not playing much this flavour. He didn't play at a loftier level, and Jitney Seskus is never known for good practices. So, I'chiliad afraid it was like a setback here for LaMelo.
LiAngelo is preparing for the NBA draft, but LaMelo still has two more years. Do you see any EuroLeague-caliber order taking a serious expect at Melo afterward this?
I've talked to a lot of people effectually Europe who embrace the biggest clubs, and, equally far equally I know, the superlative clubs don't consider having the Ball brothers or LaMelo on their team. But I feel like there might be another team similar Prienai, which had nothing to lose, and might sign him. There'due south the large plus considering Republic of lithuania got so much international attending. And I believe at that place are some clubs in Europe that want the similar attention, to raise their status, to raise their financial situation. They might endeavour it and have the Ball family there.
AFP Photograph / Petras Malukas
What will yous remember from this experience?
Information technology was an exciting experience because nosotros Lithuanians, nosotros're different. Nosotros're not that expressive. We're not so energized, and LaVar is something infrequent. I don't know how his personality is perceived in the USA, merely in Lithuania, it was something really new, something actually different. He made u.s. express mirth. He fabricated united states smile – not in a negative mode. He was an inspiring figure in Lithuanian basketball game for a few months. It was a fun experience for all of Lithuania.
And in the end, I was thinking virtually the advantages and disadvantages of this whole experience. And information technology really wasn't that bad, actually. In some ways, information technology helped the club much: to stay, to pay the players. If they weren't here, so probably Prienai would be unable to finish the season because of their fiscal troubles. Besides, Gelo played better than we expected – even the coaches and the players really respected Gelo. Coaches in Lithuania didn't understand why there were so many skeptics. He might not be the NBA player, but nevertheless, he produced adept numbers in the pro league.
And so, it was fun. I met LaVar. I had a one-on-one interview. And again, I sympathise that he'south a crazy person, but he has his own arguments. He'due south a funny guy to heed to, he's a funny guy to have on the sidelines. It was fun. At that place were some bad moments, some good moments, simply aught that would destroy basketball game in our country.
Overall, I'd say information technology was not bad.
Source: https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/04/lavar-lamelo-liangelo-ball-lithuania-coach-vytautas-exit-donatas-urbonas-reaction