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

Boston Brawler

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So this ends with either Lonzo playing in Lithuania, or Lonzo breaking away from dad. The entertainment will never end.
 

BigSoxFan

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So this ends with either Lonzo playing in Lithuania, or Lonzo breaking away from dad. The entertainment will never end.
The story will end with a standoff between LaVar and Magic and Lonzo will choose his new dad. LaVar will then spend the rest of his life unsuccessfully trying to re-insert himself into Lonzo’s life.
 

YTF

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He's under team control through the end of the 21-22 season. There's really not much to see here other than the old man finding yet another way to keep his name in the news. Personally I think LaVar's lifeless body is found in a ditch somewhere long before then with Lonzo's fingerprints all over the scene and the cops willing to turn a blind eye.
 

bowiac

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So this ends with either Lonzo playing in Lithuania, or Lonzo breaking away from dad. The entertainment will never end.
Or maybe Lonzo becomes such a transcendent star that they sign LiAngelo and LaMelo off the bench.

13 guys per NBA roster. Cap dynamics aside, it's actually not such a big cost to throw away two roster spots, especially on league minimum guys.
 

DannyDarwinism

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Or maybe Lonzo becomes such a transcendent star that they sign LiAngelo and LaMelo off the bench.

13 guys per NBA roster. Cap dynamics aside, it's actually not such a big cost to throw away two roster spots, especially on league minimum guys.
But if Lonzo has enough pull with the Lakers to make this a possibility, and Lavar has enough pull with Lonzo to insist upon it, what happens when Lavar starts demanding Gelo and Melo start too?
 

10-96

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But if Lonzo has enough pull with the Lakers to make this a possibility, and Lavar has enough pull with Lonzo to insist upon it, what happens when Lavar starts demanding Gelo and Melo start too?
Lithuania would get Magic in any sort of trade so LaVar would run the Lakers.
 

Sportsbstn

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It’s going to be hysterical when Lonzo gets dealt away from the Lakers this off season. lebron is coming, but Lonzo won’t be there
 

HomeRunBaker

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It’s going to be hysterical when Lonzo gets dealt away from the Lakers this off season. lebron is coming, but Lonzo won’t be there
LaVar is gonna take this newfound "rivalry" with LeBron and absolutely run with its narrative!
 

DJnVa

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LaVar pulls sons from Lithuania due to coaching dispute:

https://sports.yahoo.com/lavar-ball-predictably-pulls-sons-lamelo-liangelo-lithuania-coaching-dispute-182822581.html


LiAngelo, 19, averaged 12.6 points on 42.5 percent shooting and 2.9 rebounds in 21.7 minutes per game, mostly off the bench, over 14 appearances for Vytautas, according to RealGM.com. He has reportedly been battling an ankle injury. The 16-year-old LaMelo, meanwhile, has appeared in just eight games, averaging 6.5 points on 26.8 percent shooting and 2.4 minutes in 12.8 minutes, per RealGM’s database.
 

DJnVa

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He said he might take LaMelo back to Lithuania, but not with that coach.

In his last 2 games he was 4 for 30 from field (2 of 18 from three). His team went 1-9 in the games he played.
 

mauf

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Maybe it’s just the normal development curve over the course of his rookie year, but Lonzo was a different player with his family in Lithuania than when they were generating drama at home. I think their return makes it materially less likely that Lonzo will play for the Lakers next season — Magic might decide the drama isn’t worth it, or LBJ might tell him he’s unwilling to put up with it.
 

OnWisc

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Or they don't have many options at this point besides suckling off bro's teet.
There are worse options. It makes it easier to watch the disaster that is Lavar Ball unfold when you know that Lonzo's contract likely offers his brothers somewhat of a safety net from a standard of living perspective. It's still pretty much beyond debate that Lavar has done irreparable harm to their careers- high-school, college, and any chance they had at the NBA, but it's not like they're going to be working at McDonald's in two years.
 

DJnVa

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The youngest still needs to play somewhere next year--he was at least considered a good college recruit. Hopefully for Lonzo that is somewhere far away from LA.

The other one will be lucky to get a G League job and I would guess and will likely head overseas. But if it's away from his dad (because with the younger one), that might not be the worst thing.
 

Infield Infidel

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Liangelo can still be eligible to play college in Canada. The programs up here range from good mid major to bad naia. Surely there is a spot somewhere.
I think they'd have the same problem in Canada as in Europe. None of the better coached teams like Carleton or Ryerson would want anything to do with Lavar, so they'd have to find something lower, with a coach who would be subjected to ridicule from pops.
 

the moops

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Much better when the family was away.

I mean, Lonzo was a sub-60% FT shooter for the first part of the season, and it’s not like he had the hips or something. Have to think the family drama was affecting his preparation or something.
He was a sub 50% FT shooter for the entire year
 

johnmd20

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Much better when the family was away.

I mean, Lonzo was a sub-60% FT shooter for the first part of the season, and it’s not like he had the hips or something. Have to think the family drama was affecting his preparation or something.
Hips. I laughed.
 

the moops

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Lavar needs to teach his kids to not have such goofy looking shots. For some awful reason I was watching a video of the youngest one. Check out this release point. Yikes
ball.JPG
 

DJnVa

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I read someplace that they have weird shots because dad had them shooting on 10 foot hoops with regulation balls from the start and of course didn’t have strength to get ball there. No idea if that’s true but it’s cool to think it is.
 

djbayko

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I read someplace that they have weird shots because dad had them shooting on 10 foot hoops with regulation balls from the start and of course didn’t have strength to get ball there. No idea if that’s true but it’s cool to think it is.
Isn’t that how most people start? Certainly everyone I know. Sure, children have awful form because they lack strength, but they figure it out over time.
 

Royal Reader

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Isn’t that how everyone starts? Certainly everyone I know. Sure, children have awful form because they lack strength, but they figure it out over time.
There's a Michael Porter Jr piece on the Ringer at the moment about how Porter Sr trained his kids by lowering the hoop as much as possible so that they'd have proper form from a very young age. So maybe most people do, but it's not optimal.
 

SumnerH

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Isn’t that how most people start? Certainly everyone I know. Sure, children have awful form because they lack strength, but they figure it out over time.
We definitely had much lower hoops in elementary school. I think in junior high the full-court was 10' hoops but the cross-court hoops were still a little lower.
 

djbayko

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Okay, so not everyone I guess. But I still find the notion ridiculous. If you continue to shoot like a child even as your body matures into adult form, it’s because you let it happen.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Isn’t that how most people start? Certainly everyone I know. Sure, children have awful form because they lack strength, but they figure it out over time.
Yes this is how we all started back in the day before adjustable height rims became available. It's a lame jab at Pops despite the pain I feel for defending him here.
 

djbayko

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Yes this is how we all started back in the day before adjustable height rims became available. It's a lame jab at Pops despite the pain I feel for defending him here.
I see it as a bit of a shot at the dad no matter where you stand on this tall hoop theory, considering how much control he appears to have over their sports careers.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I see it as a bit of a shot at the dad no matter where you stand on this tall hoop theory, considering how much control he appears to have over their sports careers.
Yeah I mean you can nail him on so many other things that picking something like this is very much a reach since it has been effective in building shooters strength and range for decades without negatively affecting proper mechanics.
 

djbayko

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Yeah I mean you can nail him on so many other things that picking something like this is very much a reach since it has been effective in building shooters strength and range for decades without negatively affecting proper mechanics.
Maybe I wasn’t clear. What I mean is, one could argue the kids having terrible shooting form is the dad’s fault, regardless of how they got there, since he is so controlling. As I mentioned, I don’t buy the tall hoop theory because it has been proven that children can transform their shot as they mature. However, a failure to make such corrections to their form does fall at least partially on his shoulders, especially if he was going to take them on this pro basketball-or-bust life mission.
 
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Eagle3

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I read someplace that they have weird shots because dad had them shooting on 10 foot hoops with regulation balls from the start and of course didn’t have strength to get ball there. No idea if that’s true but it’s cool to think it is.
In my opinion this goes way beyond Lavar Ball, as it's the 3 point line, not the 10 foot hoops causing this. Before the 3 point line little kids had bad form until they got strong enough to reach the 10 foot hoop. Now, as soon as they can reach they immediately head for the 3 point line and start chucking it up from there, and a lot of them NEVER get strong enough to have good form from there.

Go watch an average High School game these days. Except for the really strong kids most of them are shooting set shots (reverting back to 60 years ago) because they were so busy shooting 3's their whole life they rarely practiced the mid-range shots and learned how to shoot a real jump shot. And the coaches at the younger levels let them get away with it. Drives me crazy.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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https://www.theringer.com/2017/3/17/16077266/lonzo-ball-ucla-shooting-mechanics-6eeda2ef3e41
I read someplace that they have weird shots because dad had them shooting on 10 foot hoops with regulation balls from the start and of course didn’t have strength to get ball there. No idea if that’s true but it’s cool to think it is.
It's been in a couple of places. Kevin O'Connor's article in the Ringer mentions it here. Also, here's another story: https://lonzowire.usatoday.com/2018/03/08/heres-why-lamelo-ball-shoots-the-ball-with-two-hands/
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Maybe I wasn’t clear. What I mean is, one could argue the kids having terrible shooting form is the dad’s fault, regardless of how they got there, since he is so controlling. As I mentioned, I don’t buy the tall hoop theory because it has been proven that children can transform their shot as they mature. However, a failure to make such corrections to their form does fall at least partially on his shoulders, especially if he was going to take them on this pro basketball-or-bust life mission.
The problem is that Lavar had his kids playing against much older competition from jump street so in order to compete, they had to stay with the weird mechanics. By the time they got old enough to shoot with their regular mechanics (in fact, it's not clear LaMelo could shoot with regular mechanics since he needs to spend a bunch of time in the weight room), the stakes were too high to change.

For example, I believe Lonzo tried different mechanics before his freshman season with UCLA when the team toured Australia but he wasn't getting it and he had to scrap the changes when basketball season came about in order to produce.

Tweaking one's mechanics as Tatum did isn't hard. But changing one's mechanics completely - as we know from various threads we have had on the Sox and their minor league pitchers - is really hard to do and really hard to stick to when the lights come on and the games are for real.
 

djbayko

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The problem is that Lavar had his kids playing against much older competition from jump street so in order to compete, they had to stay with the weird mechanics. By the time they got old enough to shoot with their regular mechanics (in fact, it's not clear LaMelo could shoot with regular mechanics since he needs to spend a bunch of time in the weight room), the stakes were too high to change.

For example, I believe Lonzo tried different mechanics before his freshman season with UCLA when the team toured Australia but he wasn't getting it and he had to scrap the changes when basketball season came about in order to produce.

Tweaking one's mechanics as Tatum did isn't hard. But changing one's mechanics completely - as we know from various threads we have had on the Sox and their minor league pitchers - is really hard to do and really hard to stick to when the lights come on and the games are for real.
Okay, this is believable, but it seems to me that there should be some time during the year to work on this. And the mechanics change needs to come much, much earlier than the year before UCLA. That was doomed to fail.
 

bakahump

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Agreed with Eagle and Co.
I am no BB expert. But I have 1 boy and 1 girl playing 10yo BB. Both played the majority of the season on 8 footers. seems to be the common consensus for youth. Their shots (including Layups) looked better and the quality of play was much improved. For some strange reason it also reduced the "chucking". Some kids would take 10-15 footers but much less 3pt attempts. In the few locations that didnt have easily adjustable hoops (so they kept them at 10') the kids would often chuck from at or around the 3pt line. Often with hilarious results. And nothing was worse then a "Chucker" who happened to hit a 3 or long 2. They turned into some ugly hybrid between Chuck Person and Marcus Smart. I am talking basically 2 handed hook shots from 3pt land at times. I did wonder how screwy it must have been for their development for them to adjust from practice on a 8 to a game on a 10 and vice versa throughout the season.
My boy (who is a small PG type) has a sweet stroke on an 8 footer and looks down right "Ballish" on a 10. MY daughter (PF type) looks a little more awkward on both but (even though she is a big strong girl) I figured it was a female physiological thing. But she is productive. I often think female shots look "less fluid like" then mens. Dont get me wrong they would smoke me in a competition. My girls coach owns the record for 3pts Made at a local div3 college but even her shot looks "strange" to me, and she would sink 8-10 in a row just to impress the girls.
But no stranger then mine LOL! I look like Parish taking a three, all arms and Elbows releasing from behind my head and jumping a couple inches with this huge looping rainbow.

FTs on the 8 Footers were also often from @12 feet as well. Much better looking FTAs. On the 10 footers from 15ft you could tell it was an obvious struggle for the kids to get it there.
 

Kliq

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When someone has an "unconventional" shot and they are very good shooters, nobody seems to care that they don't have good form. Like Bakahump, I have seen tons of tons of women college players with odd forms that look ghastly at times, but I've seen a lot of them shoot around 40 percent as well. Peja Stojakovich had a very unconventional release; but nobody ever told him to change it. Even Steph Curry doesn't have the kind of jumper I'd want to be showing off as a perfect motion.