Lonzo and his brother Chuck Cunningham and his other brother Chuck Cunningham

Kliq

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He looks like Paper Boi on that episode of Atlanta with Justin Bieber.
 

reggiecleveland

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#8 getting schooled by Jordan and Co.
I have seen some pretty good overweight 6-6 guys, this isn't one of them.

As for taking on MJ. SMH.

It was pretty common for guys in the CBA etc, to rag on NBA guys in a delusional way, usually bench guys. One guy I knew spent all summer ragging on how John Bagley was small, fat didn't belong in the nba and how he would post him up, and use his length to give him space, etc. The way he tells the story, he went for workout as a free agent, and a free agent at the same workout was...Mr. Bagley. He said he would from then on refer to him as "Mr". the beatdown was so complete, and humbling.

That may be a good thread "tales of beatdowns from real athletes"
 
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Kliq

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If you watched that same game on YT that I did, where the Ball brothers took 70 shots, you wouldn't want anything to do with those kids or their father.
 

Kliq

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I have seen some pretty good overweight 6-6 guys, this isn't one of them.

As for taking on MJ. SMH.

It was pretty common for guys in the CBA etc, to rag on NBA guys in a delusional way, usually bench guys. One guy I knew spent all summer ragging on how John Bagley was small, fat didn't belong in the nba and how he would post him up, and use his length to give him space, etc. The way he tells the story, he went for workout as a free agent, and a free agent at the same workout was...Mr. Bagley. He said he would from then on refer to him as "Mr". the beatdown was so complete, and humbling.

That may be a good thread "tales of beatdowns from real athletes"
One thing that always amazes me is just how many people have no idea how good people in the NBA actually are. I remember talking to a guy during pickup; he was probably about 6 feet and 180lbs and he was adamant that he could defend Steph Curry because he would "just push him around and be physical."
 

DJnVa

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One thing that always amazes me is just how many people have no idea how good people in the NBA actually are. I remember talking to a guy during pickup; he was probably about 6 feet and 180lbs and he was adamant that he could defend Steph Curry because he would "just push him around and be physical."

It's similar to a guy lamenting that Hanley swung through a 90 mph meatball over the heart of the plate and his beer league softball guys would've crushed it.
 
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allstonite

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That's why Scal did the "Scallenge" with Toucher and Rich a few years ago. Every time he would call in they got texts and calls "why is this guy on? He's a bum he sat on the bench". So they weeded it down a bit and got a few of them who could actually play (one guy had even walked on to Syracuse I think) and then Scal wiped the floor with all of them. Then he beat T&R and Wallach 1 on 3. These guys are all really really good

I think I'd enjoy Lavar a lot more if we weren't in a position to draft his son and potentially have to have him in my life for the next 5-10 years.
 

reggiecleveland

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At my peak I played 3 on 3, and my team went to the national championships in Canada. The team that beat us easily,with former Rapters coach and current Sun assistant Jay Triano went to the final big Reebok 3 on 3 in Houston. They were blown out in the 3rd round. The team that won was a bunch of former DIV 1 guys, a good 6-11 guy two great shooters, one point guard that had an NBA tryout. These guys were all 26-30. This was 93. As a reward for winning they played the Iceman (age 40 retire 7 years) MacAdoo 41 retired 7 years, and I can't remember the other two,but these old NBA guys played with these guys like they were children. I believe they went up about 14-0 before Ice started mugging for the crowd and missed a finger roll from the 3 point line before the other team got the ball. I remember you could hear the organizers say, 'Guys we need this to last ten minutes." The guys dribbled around like the Harlem Globetrotters for a while missing connecting on some Alley-oops or crazy passes. When the regular guys got the ball it was pretty clear the old pros would not let them score. They may have got a hoop or two, but half their shots or more were blocked. Macadoo casually went around the big guy and soft dunked like an NCAA warmup. One guy accidentally smacked Gervin in the face and he got mad and ended the broadcast early by scoring 4 or 5 times in row, with a max of one dribble each time.
 
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snowmanny

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After he retired Jerry Sichting worked for awhile as an analyst on Celtics broadcasts. One night he was calling a game from NY and said that during the day he had stopped to watch a pick-up game and one thing led to another and he ended up in a game with a bunch of people who had no idea who he was. And of course he was barely 6 feet, balding, looked older than he was...you'd never guess he was fairly recently an NBA player and the way he told it they were pretty skeptical of allowing him to play. He made it very clear that he really enjoyed destroying the whole bunch of them.
 

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To get to the league as a guard? That is like making MLB as a SS, NHL as a center, NFL as a skill position guy. It is one of the hardest things in the world to accomplish. So back to the 3Balls. The other two kids have work to do just to get there.
 

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When I lived in San Diego back in the day I played a pickup game in a pacific beach gym with a couple SDSU volleyball teammates - not pure ballers for sure, but big strong fit athletes with sick ups, and they thought they were pretty cool. I have no such delusions personally but enjoyed the game nonetheless. Then a 40ish Terry Cummings walked in with a young kid point guard and just mopped the floor without ever leaving first gear. It was genuinely astonishing to be on the court for that and I've never forgotten feeling so puny and slow.
 

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Used to live in San Antonio in the mid-90s and played pickup with a couple Spurs in the offseason since many of them belonged to my gym. I went there enough that they would recognize me. For the first few times, I was pretty quiet and didn't really say much. Then I started having fun with it and began having mini trash talk sessions with...Chuck Person. I wasn't good enough for him to care so he just laughed but then one day I came decked out in my Bird jersey and Celtics shorts. That day he threw me around like a rag doll, hard screens you name it, and then proceeded to hit like 8 of 10 threes from like 5 feet beyond the arc. From that day on, I was just "Celtics shorts" to him and he basically laughed at my existence until he left town.
 

CantKeepmedown

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That's why Scal did the "Scallenge" with Toucher and Rich a few years ago. Every time he would call in they got texts and calls "why is this guy on? He's a bum he sat on the bench". So they weeded it down a bit and got a few of them who could actually play (one guy had even walked on to Syracuse I think) and then Scal wiped the floor with all of them. Then he beat T&R and Wallach 1 on 3. These guys are all really really good
That was fun to watch. I think most of the guys underestimate just how big, strong, and quick these guys are (at least these guys with Scal). He just backed them down and got to the rim at will.
 

Bleedred

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That was fun to watch. I think most of the guys underestimate just how big, strong, and quick these guys are (at least these guys with Scal). He just backed them down and got to the rim at will.
And he still had a fantastic jump shot. Whenever one of those guys tried to guard him close, he blew by them; when they gave him space, he just drained jumper after jumper. It was silly how good he was relatively speaking. And the "jamokes" he was playing were all legit athletes, just nothing close to an ex-NBA player.
 

Kliq

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At my peak I played 3 on 3, and my team went to the national championships in Canada. The team that beat us easily,with former Rapters coach and current Sun assistant Jay Triano went to the final big Reebok 3 on 3 in Houston. They were blown out in the 3rd round. The team that won was a bunch of former DIV 1 guys, a good 6-11 guy two great shooters, one point guard that had an NBA tryout. These guys were all 26-30. This was 93. As a reward for winning they played the Iceman (age 40 retire 7 years) MacAdoo 41 retired 7 years, and I can't remember the other two,but these old NBA guys played with these guys like they were children. I believe they went up about 14-0 before Ice started mugging for the crowd and missed a finger roll from the 3 point line before the other team got the ball. I remember you could hear the organizers say, 'Guys we need this to last ten minutes." The guys dribbled around like the Harlem Globetrotters for a while missing connecting on some Alley-oops or crazy passes. When the regular guys got the ball it was pretty clear the old pros would not let them score. They may have got a hoop or two, but half their shots or more were blocked. Macadoo casually went around the big guy and soft dunked like an NCAA warmup. One guy accidentally smacked Gervin in the face and he got mad and ended the broadcast early by scoring 4 or 5 times in row, with a max of one dribble each time.
Simmons once told a story about how he asked Magic who the best pickup player he ever played with was and Magic emphatically answered it was Ice. Bill was like "Who else though?" And Magic responded "There is nobody else, only Ice!"
 

reggiecleveland

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That was fun to watch. I think most of the guys underestimate just how big, strong, and quick these guys are (at least these guys with Scal). He just backed them down and got to the rim at will.
That's the thing Scal is around Chara's size. Scal would turn and shoot over Gronk like he was not there. Everybody thinks about size in terms of being around the hoop, but length is such an advantage on D and if you are not close to the guy's size it is like you are not there guarding a bigger guy. And when guys can play it doesn't take much of a size advantage. The time I played when I got most of my stories, coaches liked me because I was a physical defender. I am 6-4 but many times I would be all over guys who were 6-6 and they just abused me. On the way out the door I asked the coach about trying to keep playing in Europe. "Lots of 6-6 guys who can shoot in Europe Reggie." Ouch, in other words get a day job.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Dei won in overtime because their PG was like a white Chris Paul and was the best player on the court for the whole game. They also have Manute Bol's son who is like 8 feet tall and destroys people at the rim. If anyone should be talking about a billion dollar shoe deal it is that kid; holy shit.
Bol Bol is actually REALLY good. Aside from being 7-2 and long he is athletic with a good foundation of ball skills including a face-up game. An AAU buddy of mine raves about him.


It was pretty common for guys in the CBA etc, to rag on NBA guys in a delusional way, usually bench guys. One guy I knew spent all summer ragging on how John Bagley was small, fat didn't belong in the nba and how he would post him up, and use his length to give him space, etc. The way he tells the story, he went for workout as a free agent, and a free agent at the same workout was...Mr. Bagley. He said he would from then on refer to him as "Mr". the beatdown was so complete, and humbling.
One thing that always amazes me is just how many people have no idea how good people in the NBA actually are. I remember talking to a guy during pickup; he was probably about 6 feet and 180lbs and he was adamant that he could defend Steph Curry because he would "just push him around and be physical."
Bagley used to put on an extra 20 lbs each summer and played in our summer league tournament back in the day. I never was out there with him but others I played against were......and he made good D-3 players and decent D-1 players look like Sully from the neighborhood competing in the Scallenge. It was one of my earliest experiences of truly understanding how the game slows down for some players while other less talented players are forced to play "too fast" to try and compensate.

To get to the league as a guard? That is like making MLB as a SS, NHL as a center, NFL as a skill position guy. It is one of the hardest things in the world to accomplish. So back to the 3Balls. The other two kids have work to do just to get there.
This is spot on and aligns with my comment above on having to slow the game down to your skill/speed level to be successful. I've experienced it myself and grew up in an era of other great HS guards become limited college players (Jamie Benton, BC).....and seen some real good college guards become limited NBA players (Tommy Garrick, Chris Herren). The skill levels from one jump to the next is extraordinary.......at the guard positions it is more quickness and explosiveness, at the wings it is more height, length and athleticism. The old pure 5 was just size in many cases.
 
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Kliq

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Bol Bol is actually REALLY good. Aside from being 7-2 and long he is athletic with a good foundation of ball skills including a face-up game. An AAU buddy of mine raves about .
Oh I wasn't joking about Bol Bol. He has a Maker-esque highlight reel.
 

reggiecleveland

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HRB is right. Getting to the NBA as a wing or forward mean being genetically freakishly tall.

Sadly my AAu experience is that there are a lot of Dad's like this. Lots of teams have a former power forward assistant coach whose job it is to intercept fathers as they attempt to talk to players or even the head coach during the game. I saw a funny incident when a father tapped the head coach on the shoulder in Vegas at a summer tournament. After the assistant noticed and put his big body between dad and coach and got the dad to sit down the head coach turned on his muscle, "Why the f*** am I paying for two buffets a day when s*** like that happens?!"
 

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Drocca

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Lonzo Ball said he is a better player than Markelle Fultz, citing his ability to "lead a team better" than the Washington star.

"I think I can lead a team better than him," Ball added. "Obviously he's a great scorer -- he's a great player, so I'm not taking that away from him."

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19024163/lonzo-ball-says-better-fellow-nba-draft-prospect-markelle-fultz

The question, Lonzo, is whether you can be a good follower on a team that won't need you to lead
Those comments from Ball are totally respectful and exactly how we want competitors to feel.
 

sezwho

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I get the Ball/competition thing, but my question is why are you going there at all and what do you actually know about Fultz's leadership?
 

slamminsammya

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Love all the anecdotes about professionals destroying amateurs. Its easy to forget watching the pros play all the time just how amazing the things they do are.

Having said that, I think I read once that at some point about 50% of seven foot americans between the ages of 20 and 40 were in the NBA. In other words, if you can run without falling over and you are 7' you can play in the NBA.
 

sezwho

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Love all the anecdotes about professionals destroying amateurs. Its easy to forget watching the pros play all the time just how amazing the things they do are.

Having said that, I think I read once that at some point about 50% of seven foot americans between the ages of 20 and 40 were in the NBA. In other words, if you can run without falling over and you are 7' you can play in the NBA.
I've enjoyed this aspect of the thread too. On the 7ft thing though I think it's not accurate. Hard to exactly quantify (are you really 7 foot?) but I've read closer to 3 or 4 percent. https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/3r0ema/busting_the_myth_that_17_of_american_7_footers/

Either way it's a big leg up. Ha.
 

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I get the Ball/competition thing, but my question is why are you going there at all and what do you actually know about Fultz's leadership?
Well you had two head to head matchups where Fultz' team lost by a combined total of 73 points. Sure, the Huskies were a hot mess but yeah, part of that "could" be attributed to a lack of leadership on that team. Ball saying he "thinks" he's a better leader isn't exactly LaVar-tone in answering the question that was presented to him.
 

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Well you had two head to head matchups where Fultz' team lost by a combined total of 73 points. Sure, the Huskies were a hot mess but yeah, part of that "could" be attributed to a lack of leadership on that team. Ball saying he "thinks" he's a better leader isn't exactly LaVar-tone in answering the question that was presented to him.
It wasn't that bad but he did have the option of pulling a Brady and deflecting the question. End of the day, the media was going to latch onto whatever he said.
 

HomeRunBaker

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It wasn't that bad but he did have the option of pulling a Brady and deflecting the question. End of the day, the media was going to latch onto whatever he said.
Sure but why would anyone expect a 19-year old kid to respond in a similar manner to a 39-year old and 17-year NFL veteran? Ball has showed tremendous maturity for his age when dealing with the media for a first-timer.
 

BigSoxFan

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Sure but why would anyone expect a 19-year old kid to respond in a similar manner to a 39-year old and 17-year NFL veteran? Ball has showed tremendous maturity for his age when dealing with the media for a first-timer.
You don't have to be a 39 year-old NFL veteran to know when to deflect a question. With that said, I like his demeanor and don't think what he said was that bad.
 

sezwho

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Yeah, clearly not a big deal. However was a rookie when he told Kraft he would be the best decision he ever made...without saying anything about Bledsoe

Edit- sorry I misread and thought there was a reference to Papa Ball and Brady
 
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E5 Yaz

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Those comments from Ball are totally respectful and exactly how we want competitors to feel.
Except for the part where he "knows" that Fultz isn't as much of a leader. It's actually possible to show confidence in yourself without denigrating someone else
 

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"I think I can lead a team better than him,"

You are reading too much into this
Probably. I guess I just don't want what the Celtics have built to be distracted by the Ball Family Circus
 

Cesar Crespo

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He was asked a question and answered it. No one cared when Paul Pierce claimed to be the best basketball player in the world. It goes with the territory, they all think they're the best. Plus he didn't say anything negative about Fultz, he just thinks he's better.
 

Soxfan in Fla

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Probably. I guess I just don't want what the Celtics have built to be distracted by the Ball Family Circus
That's the problem. What Lonzo said wasn't really a big deal. On the heals of his dad's non-stop loud mouth for the last couple months it seems like a big deal. Kid is in a tough spot thanks to non-Baller Lavar.
 

reggiecleveland

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Love all the anecdotes about professionals destroying amateurs. Its easy to forget watching the pros play all the time just how amazing the things they do are.

Having said that, I think I read once that at some point about 50% of seven foot americans between the ages of 20 and 40 were in the NBA. In other words, if you can run without falling over and you are 7' you can play in the NBA.
This is way off. We had a 7-1 kid on our team here in Canada and he never played, and went to JUCO. I know of at least 20 footers in college or JUCO the last 15 years or so in Western Canada and only Todd MuCullough, Kelly O, and Robert Sacre got to the NBA. Each of those guys was considered a generational talent when they were in high school. I think KO was maybe 14 or 15 when I heard about him. A 6-8 kid drilling 3s.

here are at least 8 or 9 other guys I just ran into that either never played at all of were high school players. Go to 6-11 and another 20 or so kids, none in the NBA, Tinme you get to 6-10 too many to count.
 

Kliq

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This is way off. We had a 7-1 kid on our team here in Canada and he never played, and went to JUCO. I know of at least 20 footers in college or JUCO the last 15 years or so in Western Canada and only Todd MuCullough, Kelly O, and Robert Sacre got to the NBA. Each of those guys was considered a generational talent when they were in high school. I think KO was maybe 14 or 15 when I heard about him. A 6-8 kid drilling 3s.

here are at least 8 or 9 other guys I just ran into that either never played at all of were high school players. Go to 6-11 and another 20 or so kids, none in the NBA, Tinme you get to 6-10 too many to count.
I find it hard to believe that someone 20 feet tall wouldn't have at least had a cup of coffee in the NBA. Also, isn't Sim Bhollar Canadian?

All you have to do is look at college basketball and see how many seven footers there are playing; and very few of them will make it to the NBA. With the league actually getting smaller the quota for seven footers is lower than it has been in a long time. I think a player like Karnowski for Gonzaga would have been a top pick 30 years ago because of his size and skill, but today I don't think he will ever play in the league.
 

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I know of at least 20 footers in college or JUCO the last 15 years or so in Western Canada and only Todd MuCullough, Kelly O, and Robert Sacre got to the NBA.
Maybe the 20-foot centers had trouble with their mobility.


Edit: Damn, Kliq beat me to it.
 

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Maybe should go into a different forum, but Papa Ball potentially will be on with Dale, Holley, and Keefe this afternoon. Or maybe just Keefe. When they were talking about it yesterday, both Dale and Holley said that they had no interest in interviewing him. Keefe was the only one up for it.
 

scottyno

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Duke did it in 2010 too with Singler Scheyer and Zoubek (plus the Plumlees off the bench)