 So, Lamello Ball in the MBL is officially over. His career in Australia is done and it wasn't the best end to his season after he injured his foot he couldn't play for the rest of the year but we did learn a lot about Lamello Ball this season in the MBL and obviously I've made countless videos on Lamello Ball this season and I felt like it was my duty to make videos on Lamello considering he's playing in my home country, I was able to watch every single game live and obviously considering I have a basketball channel I felt like it was my duty to post videos on Mello so it's only fitting to end his career off in the MBL with a video and summarizing my thoughts on Lamello Ball and his time in the MBL and what we can expect going into the MBL. So if you enjoyed this series and you enjoyed me covering Lamello Ball in the MBL I would greatly appreciate it if you guys could drop a like on this video it would really support me and the channel and if you're new around here be sure to hit that subscribe button for more NBA content every single week. Hit that notification button so you never miss an upload and comment down below what you thought about Lamello's time in the MBL and if you were unable to watch him in the MBL tell me what you thought about my content covering him this season because obviously I would love to know what you thought about me covering Lamello Ball considering that many of you I know were unable to watch him and his games so hopefully I did a decent job of it at least. I could have obviously made a lot more videos than I have made but I think the videos I've made have actually gone pretty in depth and they've looked at his flaws, his weaknesses but also his strong suits and why I believe he'd go as a top five pick in the NBA draft and I made that video six months ago so this isn't anything new I've known Lamello Ball would be an amazing talent from the start but now officially I think he's really proven that throughout his time in the MBL and you have to keep in mind that Lamello Ball only played 16 games in the MBL he played 12 games during the regular season and four games during the preseason so overall his experience in the MBL I think taught him a lot about what it's like to play against grown professional athletes obviously he played in Lithuania and obviously he played in high school but playing in the MBL is a little bit different in my opinion obviously because number one it's a whole new country number two the style of play is just different as we all know the NBA is a pretty unique style of play compared to every other country and that obviously makes sense the athletes are a lot bigger they're a lot stronger and they're a lot quicker but in Australia in Europe and in China and of course other leagues around the world the style of basketball is normally different and we can see that when we do watch things like the World Cup but overall Lamello's time in the MBL was extremely impressive so I wanted to cover five things that we learned from Lamello Ball's time in the MBL number five Lamello Ball's defense this was a part of his game that was very questionable going into the MBL a lot of people covered it during his time in Lithuania but then that talk slowed down once he went to Spire Academy and played kids his own age but at the end of the day there was a reason why these discussions were being made and that's because his defense looked a little bit sus and that was clear from the start during his time in the MBL he obviously is an 18 year old kid who has a lot to work on and Lonzo is obviously Lamello Ball's older brother and he's somebody on the other spectrum because he is really good on the defensive end so based on Lamello's attributes it seems as if he could become a good defender he just needs to put it together and I think throughout his time in the MBL we saw a little bit of an improvement for example just sliding his feet and getting out to open shooters that was pretty bad to start his time in the MBL but towards the end of his time in the MBL that was seen as an improvement I think just being able to slide his feet against smaller guards yes he is very agile and he's pretty skinny but he's guarding guys that are quite small but they're quicker and they have a bit more size on them like Casper Ware, Bryce Cotton, Mello Trimble all those guys are very nimble guards they're quite small 6'1, 6'2, 6'3 but they're big guards they have size on them because they are grown men Lamello Ball throughout the end of his career did a better job of getting down low sliding his feet but at the end of the day he is 6'7 so it does make it a little bit tougher but at the end of the day he still isn't above average in my opinion and I think he's got a lot to work on especially just getting out to open shooters that's something that frustrated me at times and obviously you can get away with it sometimes in the NBA I've seen guys like Harden do it even LeBron during his time in 2018-2017 sometimes I could see him not get out to the open shooters like the time where Carl Kuzma had to push him so I think at the end of the day it's all mental I believe he does have the physical attributes to become a decent defender a decent to above average defender but at this point in my opinion it's all just a mental game and I think he'll learn that as he grows up and matures a little bit more he's only 18 years old but just getting out to the open shooters is something I think he definitely needs to work on. Adding on to Lamello becoming a better defender I think the one thing that does help him is that he looked a little bit stronger he physically looked bigger like more dominant he looked like he grew a tiny bit and just had a bit more muscle on him and that was another reason why he came to Australia and came into the MBL he stated that in an interview it was to work harder and work on his body throughout the season so that I think worked well for him but throughout the season he averaged 1.6 deals per game and he definitely went after a lot of loose balls and passes he was very eager to go for the still when normally players would hold back be tentative and guard their man but he was actually pretty good on the defensive end he was a little bit like Stefan Curry where Steph isn't an amazing defender but he does average a lot of stills when he does play Lamello was second overall in the entire league for stills per games so we definitely knew how to get into the passing lane and go for stills but stats don't always tell the whole story and I do think Lamello has a lot to work on on the defensive side but he did have an improvement in my opinion from the start of the year. Number four Lamello balls 3.0 percentage and overall stats. If you watched the MBL you would have seen that Lamello ball definitely struggled early on he wasn't able to shoot the ball at his normal pace as we saw in his time in Lithuania his time in Chino Hills and then his time at Spire Academy. Lamello ball entered the league and he was absolutely shocking shooting the ball. He had an abysmal 3-point shooting percentage through the opening six games of his career he shot only 15% five from 32 from beyond the arc but then after those six games he bounced back in the three games after those opening six he shot 36% from three nine of 25 and he had a performance that went five from 11 from three and he scored 24 points so what can we take out of that knowing that Lamello ball will enter the NBA in my opinion Lamello ball has always been a pretty solid 3-point shooter so even though he was having a pretty slow start to his career he was able to bounce back and in my opinion that's the most important thing for a young man like him 18 years old the way that you can bounce back from something is extremely important. Here's the thing if you didn't watch Lamello ball and each and every game his stats don't look that impressive. He did average 17 points per game 6.8 assists and 7.6 rebounds which that's impressive but he's shooting percentages are pretty abysmal 25% from 3 and 37% as the full goal percentage but the reason why stats don't tell the whole story is because the Lamello ball started off his career at a shocking pace he wasn't able to hit any of his shots but since the start of his six game stretch he actually performed very well for the rest of his time in the NBL and his 3-point percentage improved game by game and that was very exciting to watch because obviously coming into the NBL he was known as somebody who could shoot the lights out and hopefully it was just a bad patch for him and now going into the NBA he can still be a decent shooter because if he's unable to shoot at a high percentage in the NBA like his brother Lonzo or somebody like Marco Foltz it does have an effect on point guards in the league and we have seen that recently number three you have to remember that Lamello ball is on the 18 years old Lamello ball coming into the NBL had a lot of expectations obviously he's part of the ball family and anybody a part of the ball family gets a lot of attention gets a lot of hype and that's to be expected but Lamello still is an 18 year old kid and he was competing up against past NBA players guys that are more mature have bigger bodies are bigger frames and are heavier than him but he was still able to learn and you could see him improve each and every game he was able to understand the use of a pick at the start of the year he used the pick and roll but he didn't use it to his advantage throughout the last couple of games he used the pick and roll very well he was able to use his IQ and passing vision to get his teammates open but also on the offense event as a scoring option and he was able to learn that throughout his time in the NBL in my opinion because when he first entered the NBL he wasn't a go-to scorer by the end of his time in the NBL he was that go-to guy he was the man that they would feed the ball and he would be the scoring option on the Illawarra Hawks and I think that just shows his improvement and his time in the NBL from an 18 year old kid who was not as mature to an 18 year old kid who's grown in maturity through his time in the NBL number two the Aaron Brooks injury Aaron Brooks obviously as we know spent a lot of time in the NBA he played with the Houston Rockets the Chicago Bulls the Indiana Pacers and a few other teams Aaron Brooks was a guy that Lamello Bull could definitely learn a lot from and I think he did and when Aaron Brooks went out with his injury he tore his Achilles and was unable to play for the rest of the year Lamello Bull stepped up in his absence in the last five games when Aaron Brooks was not there Lamello Bull dropped 19 points and nine rebounds 24 points nine assists and seven rebounds 16 points six rebounds and six assists 32 points 13 assists and 11 rebounds triple double and then to end his career a 25 point 10 assists and 12 rebound triple double you could just see his growing confidence in the league he was able to start scoring he had a 32 point game a 25 point game a 24 point game compared to the start of his career when he was unable to score over 15 points in the first five games of his career you can just see the difference overall and he was just playing really well in the absence of Aaron Brooks it meant that he played with a little bit more freedom and nobody was really on him for missing any shots or making any turnovers but at the end of the day he didn't make many turnovers throughout his time in the MBL and he was the main guy on that Illawarra Hawks team and he stepped up in Aaron Brooks absence which was very impressive to see and number one Lamello Bull's floor awareness and IQ is off the charts that is the reason he'll get drafted he can find players that not many players can find on the court his IQ is something that is impeccable and his floor awareness is off the charts he reminds me of his brother Lonzo Bull in terms of running the floor and getting teammates open his ability to find his teammates was something I knew coming into the league but I didn't know it would be this good and this amazing towards the end of his time in the MBL I think he's improved even more than when he actually came into the MBL and I think that's the reason he'll get drafted Magic Johnson Jason Kidd Lebron James I'm not kidding Lamello Bull is up there in terms of finding his teammates and floor awareness those are some of the best players in NBA history to get their teammates open and find their teammates in the best possible spots Lamello Bull simply has that IQ that not many players can have yes he's got a lot to work on defensively he's got a lot to work on offensively in his jump shot I think he still needs to work on but his floor IQ and his awareness to find his teammates is something I think is already there and it does remind me a little bit of Lonzo but to me personally even better than him with that said if you watch Lamello Bull let me know what you think about his time in the MBL let me know what you think he'll go in this year's NBA draft originally I made a video about six months ago that he'd go top five I'm going to stick with that I think he'll be a top five pick but I wouldn't be surprised if he falls out just a little bit maybe go six or seventh I think he's got a lot to work on and I think he's got the potential so I'm really excited to see what he will bring to the NBA but with that said let me know what you think in the comment section down below if you're new around here be sure to hit that subscribe button for more NBA content every single week hit the notification button so you never miss an upload and please hit that like button if you enjoy the video it's been your morning Smith I'm out peace.