 Next year take my talents to the NBA for the Iluwara Hawks. Excellent, over in Australia. What is next for the Melo Ball? We all know that he's now joined the Iluwara Hawks in Australia in the NBA League. He's paired up with RJ Hampton, not in the same team but in the same league. And this is the type of thing that we're now going to see more of where players don't really go and join the NCAA and instead go to an international team. A lot of them will go to Australia in the NBA League because obviously it's an English speaking country. It's still very high competitive basketball. But other countries like China, they will get a few players. They only a few years ago got Emmanuel Mudio who went top 10 in the NBA draft. So obviously there's a lot more international teams that are willing to take on college prospects but rather not play in college and play overseas. Now before I get started, I really want to know what you guys think the Melo Ball's future will look like and if you enjoy this type of video, let's see if we can reach 1000 likes for the next video and get into it. In Australia, the NBA has become a new destination for players looking for a year of competitive play before they're eligible for the NBA draft and a perfect alternative for those who are trying to physically prepare for the NBA. The NBA is still an NBA ready league. We get guys from the NBA who are veteran players and they need to go overseas and prepare because the NBA is a ready made league. These guys play professionally. They are grown men who actually rely on the NBA to make a living. This isn't just some easy league for any teenager to join, this is still a professional league. As the Melo Ball stated himself, the NBA has a great strength and conditioning program. I heard they got great strength and conditioning over there, so off the court that would be good and then on the court, you know, pros have been through there, stuff like that, so I think it's all going to help. It's just best for me, I think. So overall, what does he need to achieve in the NBA and we're going to break it down exactly as how he can make it to the NBA through what he does in the NBA. We're going to look at previous plays in the NBA and look at a few comparisons. Obviously, the NBA has a long history of developing great young players. Many of them have gone to do great things in Australia, Europe and of course in the NBA and the signing of the Melo Ball is just a testimony to that. Terence Ferguson, a current starter for the Oklahoma City Thunder, only average 4.6 points, 0.6 assists, 1.1 rebounds, shooting 38% from the field and only shooting 60% from the free throw line and he was still selected 21st overall and that is actually insane considering that those are very bad numbers and he's still got a top 20 pick, basically. Now let's look at a guy who's not in the NBA and he actually got drafted this season. Secur Dumboya, he played in France this year, he went top 15 this NBA draft. He owned the average 7.8 points per game, 3.3 rebounds, 0.7 assists, shooting 48% from the field while shooting 34.3% from 3. Once again, those stats are not insane but it was still good enough to be a top 15 pick in this year's NBA draft simply because he played against men at a professional level. Let's look at another guy, Brian Bowen who entered the 2019 NBA draft. He put up similar stats in the NBA at 6.3 points per game, 3.2 rebounds, 0.6 assists, shooting 45% and was a former McDonald's All-American, five-star recruit coming out of high school and whilst he was not selected this season in the NBA draft, he immediately signed a two-way contract with the Indiana Pacers once the draft ended which therefore tells me that if Lamello Ball can average close to 10 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, which doesn't seem like a lot but in the NBA against bigger bodies and a different style of play isn't easy but at the same time it's not ridiculously hard while still maintaining an efficient shooting percentage, 10 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, there is no doubt in my mind that Lamello Ball will be his top 5 draft pick in next year's NBA draft but then again it's much easier said than done. Now, maybe not a top 5 pick but he will definitely get drafted if he can even average 6 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds, in my opinion and I think he's definitely going to do that. Lamello Ball will now experience a more professional route in order to exceed greater expectations at the next level and while he has done this in Lithuania this is what he has to do from now on to make it to the NBA from the MBL. I'm trying to be the number one pick for the 2020 drafts. His situation is a little bit different to RJ Hampton considering that RJ Hampton actually had the choice to play college whereas Lamello Ball didn't considering he was already a professional player and that means he can't make an NCAA team. He said and I quote I'm really looking forward to playing professionally this season so I can focus all of my time and energy on basketball. Lamello is purely fueled up on taking his game to the next level and Illawarra seems like the perfect fit as it's a hard working blue collar city. In the past though critics have been labelling Lamello Ball as lazy, careless, at times arrogant and this has been since he was only 14 to 15 years old where he played with his brothers in high school. Now he's part of a blue collar city he will actually have to work and he can't just play arrogant in the MBL or he will get punished. But in my opinion I think a lot of people hate on the old Lamello Ball the young Lamello Ball the kid Lamello Ball I feel like this guy has grown up a little bit he's now 6 foot 8 he is still a teenager but he seems like a guy that's taken that next step into being more of a mature player and a more of a mature person. Along with that he also has his head coach Jermaine Jackson from Spire Academy which will help guide him in the right direction as he's a former NBA player himself and I quote having JJ with me has been incredible his experience, guidance and mentor Shev has been a huge benefit to me and having him there in Australia will only continue to help me develop on and off the court. So why would Lamello Ball choose the MBL? Well, the competition. Lamello Ball isn't the perfect situation in my opinion considering he cannot play college as not only is he grasping Scouts attention through playing in an arguably more superior and dominant level all around compared to collegiate level considering that the MBL is still a professional league whilst I would say that the top level Division 1 colleges are really good and obviously Scouts go there to watch these guys play playing in a league like the MBL which is obviously professional in my opinion is still as good as playing at collegiate level because he will go up against well established point guards shooting guards and small forward to have proven their talents through playing in the NBA the likes of Casper Ware Bryce Cotton Mellow Trimble believe me these guys are all trying to send a message to these Scouts they are still NBA worthy and the only reason they're playing in the MBL is because they want to get back to the NBA Lamello Ball will be a young teenager playing against former NBA players so if you think that these guys aren't going to take it to him then you're completely wrong they're going to show him that Lamello isn't the only star in this league and just because he has the hype does he have the talent and he better be prepared because these guys will try and make him look foolish on the court now not only is Lamello Ball competing with these former NBA point guards he's also going to be up against the ESPN number five ranked prospect in RJ Hampton another guy that signed with the MBL but he's playing for the New Zealand Breakers RJ just like Mellow is also a highly anticipated point guard prodigy who was the top five pick projected and therefore Lamello will be competing against RJ Hampton on the draft board and as he stated my goal is to be the top pick in this year's NBA draft and I feel like they can help me reach that goal so with RJ Hampton and Lamello Ball facing off against each other it gives these NBA scouts a bit of an indication as to where these two players are up against each other and at a professional level another thing is his teammates along with Lamello Ball's competition his teammates are not a joke either as the Illawarra Hawks also want to make a name for themselves and they have players on the roster that want to play well because they also want to advance their future as an NBA prospect do you guys remember the former Houston Rockers point guard Aaron Brooks he joined the Illawarra Hawks not long after Lamello Ball joined the Illawarra Hawks make no mistake this man is not a joke in his prime he was putting up borderline 20 points per game with the Houston Rockers and with Illawarra having him on the team not only will he be a great mentor but he's also going to be a great competitor on the exact same team because just like Lamello he probably wants to get back into the NBA too along with that the Illawarra Hawks also have another established point guard in the former Cleveland Cavalier Cedric Jackson and a former New Jersey net power forward in Josh Boone so there's a lot of NBA talent on this team not only will all these guys be able to mentor Lamello but they'll also be competing against him in practice and showing him the ropes in the NBA giving him advice but also these guys don't want to finish off in the NBA trust me on this they want to go even further and they want to prove why they're still able to make it to the NBA too the media will also have a big effect on Lamello Ball and even on RJ Hampton there seems to be a wide number of opinions on how Lamello Ball's draft stock will be in 2020 but some are incredibly high on him some are quite low on him with that said ESPN have him ranked as number 33 in next year's NBA draft whilst the latest from the NBADraft.net came out one day ago and they have ball drastically higher at pick number 3 so with that being said Lamello's draft stock is very unknown and being in the NBA it will create a lot of media hype and that means his ranking will fluctuate quite a bit if he plays well he could go way up then 30 and 22 as ESPN ranks him or if he plays bad it could go way below that and we just don't know so the media is going to have a huge effect on how Lamello Ball's ranking will be and plus we have to remember Lamello Ball is arguably better than a lot of the guys and a lot of the prospects in the NBA draft order at the moment we have to remember that Lamello Ball was ranked at pick number 7 by ESPN before LeVar withdrew him out of his team at Chino Hills so Lamello Ball has a lot of hype but how good is he really? at this point right now at 17 years old he's 6 foot 7 which is a lot taller than his brother that's arguably a shooting guard small forward height in the league today but he plays as a point guard and he even has the potential to grow taller Lamello Ball is a unique talent for the modern day NBA with his size, creativity, ball handling, passing ability and a deep shooting range unless his shot form is a little bit weird just like his brother Lonzo but that can change once again he is still so young Lamello's frame has changed drastically as he seems to be a little bit stronger and put on more muscle from the start of his senior season to now and that is something that will definitely develop even further in the NBA because Australia definitely puts a lot of emphasis on making their players bigger and stronger that's something that is actually fact in Australia we tend to make our guys quite big and strong you can just look at us against any team in the Olympics we tend to be a little bit stronger and bigger than a lot of those guys but we don't have the height but Lamello does the one knock on Lamello like I said before is his unorthodox shot mechanics but that will be obviously evaluated by scouts and if Lonzo got drafted then obviously I don't see that being a problem for Lamello Ball especially it doesn't seem to be a huge issue when we actually watch him considering he can basically get his shot off from anywhere he wants while he can also take his man off the dribble Lamello's free casual style of play and inconsistent effort defensively may be his only lacking point through the NBL though he'll be forced to play defense because if he doesn't he will be made a laughing stock although Lamello Ball is 6'7 and he may be a little bit slower than some of the quicker guys in the NBL I don't see anyone lining him up the NBL is known for its physical play and it will pose a significant challenge for Lamello Ball who is only 17 and RJ Hampton but in the end these guys will learn very quickly so don't put too much pressure when they first play the start of the year with that said if you guys enjoyed this video let me know where you think Lamello Ball will end up next season let me know what you think Lamello Ball's future looks like if you enjoyed this video leave a like subscribe if you're new follow me on Instagram that would be greatly appreciated I'm going to be watching a lot of Lamello Ball and RJ Hampton's games so if you guys want to stay up to date with what I do and see some insight looks follow me on Instagram because I'm going to be posting a lot on there and with that said it's been your boy Nick Smith hope you guys enjoy the video I am out peace