Amaze-balls!! — UCLA Recruit Lonzo Ball dazzles McDonaldland and the whole Country with his spectacular Special Sauce passes, amassing a record-tying 13 Assists as his West team cruises to victory in the prestigious McDonald’s All-American Game
Lonzo knows winning. Coming off his 35-0 Championship Season, Lonzo Ball notched another W, this time in the McDonald’s All-American Game. His West squad was up by about 20 in the second half, and coasted to a 114-107 triumph. Two of Ball’s teammates shared the MVP Award, but it was Ball that led the team, repeatedly setting up his fellow stars with eye-popping passes for easy scores. Ball ended with 13 Assists, which tied Jacque Vaughn’s all-time record. In the final minute, a blown slam dunk ended up costing Ball the outright record.
In these unstructured, playground contests, sometimes it’s hard to assess the relative talents of the players, and how those talents will translate to REAL games. But just like 4 years ago, when you could tell that Tony Parker was not as athletic as his Duke/Kentucky/UNC-bound counterparts, this year you can plainly see that Ball is an outstanding passer, and an immediate difference-maker. He will start from Day 1, and he will make the team 100% better than they are now, by creating an off-the-charts increase in Offensive Efficiency. He will find open men by the basket, and lead them to the hoop with the ball. And not only will he transform and improve the set Offense, he will also create (from scratch) a transition game. He is one of the two best outlet passers you will ever see, even after a made basket — along with Kevin Love.
I don’t know if Lonzo will stay at UCLA more than a year, because his passing is already NBA-level, but he does have some reasons to stay longer — He may want to work on his outside jumper skills (he went 0-fer in the game), and, he may want to hang around Westwood so he can play with his UCLA-bound younger brothers. I predict that if he stays for a few years, he will break every Assist record in UCLA history. Not only is he as good (if not better) a passer than Kyle Anderson, Larry Drew II, Tyler Honeycutt, Tyus Edney, Pooh Richardson, Ralph Jackson, and Greg Lee (those are the best ever Bruin passers in my mind), but he could rival a YOUNG Magic Johnson, with the ability to see the WHOLE court (both halves of the court), his ability to anticipate his teammates’ moves, and his dexterity to hit a moving target.
I know it sounds like I am over-selling this young man who has yet to don a college uniform, but keep in mind I have only raved about two previous high school players before, and they were Football Quarterbacks named Brett Hundley and Josh Rosen, both of whom lived up to all my hype.
Lonzo was not the only future Bruin playing in this McD game — There was also T.J. Leaf. This style of contest does not really allow a player like T.J. to showcase his skills. He is not the uber-athletic high-flyer that excels in this chaotic, unstructured environment, but Leaf still had his moments, fighting to pull down 9 Rebounds. He also scored 6 points. His play did not give Bruin fans any cause for alarm. He is a big man who can run the floor, so with Lonzo on the court with him, he will have ample opportunity to shine. I have NO DOUBT that UCLA will benefit greatly from their incoming class, and will fare much better than they did this year… unless Coach Alford starts Bryce at Point Guard over Ball. In that case, all bets are off.
By the way, there were NO u$c-bound players on the McDonald’s All-American team. But u$c Basketball was still in the news, sort of. Former trojan baller Nick Young, who is still reeling from the accusations of his lewd behavior and sexual harassment of a woman and her mother at a traffic light, is already embroiled in yet another SCandal. Young’s teammate secretly recorded Young, who was — despite his recent engagement to Iggy Azalea — talking about his interactions with OTHER WOMEN. And then this recording got leaked to the public!
The engaged Young seems to be admitting to possibly CHEATING on his fiancé, and in one case, NOT cheating with a particular woman, but only because she knows Iggy personally, so he might not be able to get away with it! Lewd sexual misconduct, and CHEATING? IF this is all true, Nick Young is certainly a true trojan for life. We certainly know where he learned the mantra that “if you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying.”