He has the highest ceiling of any player we have drafted since 2004. I’m just over the moon and back that we somehow got a player with this type of skillset/ceiling in a draft that was weak at the top. He has a ton to work on but I truly think he can and will be special.
Agreed on all fronts! Our future is brighter because of him
Just read this. Pretty unique peek into LaMelo’s time with the Hawks of the NBL in Australia. All either teammate, league reps, coach, or opposing player perspectives.
Really insightful and shows that he truly bought into the team there. Also it brings up a point I have been thinking about recently. The only time Melo has had true, consistent structure on a team was in Australia. He improved quite a bit in his short time there. I really believe in the development ability of this coaching staff, and I feel like he will continue to improve, and possibly improve drastically pretty quickly.
Article talks about the positives and negatives, and finishes up with what his teammates/competitors think about how he will do in the NBA. Pretty amazing insight honestly and makes me even more excited than I already am that we got him
He now owns the team he played for while here in Aus which I think is pretty great too. There’s not a lot of money in basketball here so teams can struggle to stay afloat.
Supposedly he doesn’t own the team. The above article states it was bought by Colangelo. Maybe Ball is a minority owner?
Oops my bad. I think he wanted to buy it but the team was sold to a different buyer
“He was always going in the top three. He preferred to go to Charlotte over Minnesota. That’s a fact.” - Givony on LaMelo
The Hornets held a Zoom call today after the press conference for Swarm-365 folks and team partners hosted by Rochinski to meet with LaMelo. He’s rolling with #2 b/c all the others he wants are taken. He wants to try get #1, no mention of trying to haggle with Monk so might have been more in jest. He talked about his want to improve on defense, notes it needs improvement. Later spoke he wants to improve all aspects of his game, Matt made mention that this wasn’t the first time he’s said that and liked hearing it. A lot of questions about Lonzo and I did wonder if he’s going to get more sick of those than dad questions (there were no e to my memory).
All in all, comes off like a fun young guy. Said he’s very invested in becoming part of where he lives, re: community involvement /engagement.
None of this is meant as quotes and there were some fan q’s that I omitted from my notes but that was the gist. If any others were in attendance, interested if you heard it differently.
My main take away is that he’s excited to be here, he’s already got a good rapport with JB (coach was giving him friendly grief out of frame) and Matt, and he seems real interestedin self improvement.
LFG is all I have to say 
To my comment about #1, #2
This is the funniest shit I have seen this month
Melo already putting in work at the team facility just days after getting drafted? This certainly doesn’t fit the narrative!
LOL, not sure what narrative you have read but him working his ass off totally fits the one I have been made familiar.
Oh I know. But I remember specifically seeing people on Real GM freaking out about how he was dropping his own clothing line or something. There are DEFINITELY people that think LaMelo is in it more for his brand as an influencer or whatever than for the game itself. But you’re right - ask any teammate he’s ever had. Melo is a gym rat that will work as hard as possible to be the best player he can be.
LaMelo is gonna be Cam 2.0 in this city
A section of the fans will always despise him
I started to have the same feelings too, but I think theres enough differences that it won’t be the same.
Cam kinda had detractors baked in from the start because of the Florida laptop and Auburn scandals. Nobody likes Lavar, but people know its not really anything to do with Melo, so I think they’d give him a chance, and no cheating/rules breaking cloud is hanging over him.
As for the clothing line, I think its the dumbest “controversy” with people complaining about Cam’s clothes - its followed him to New England apparently. Who cares what anybody wears. But NBA fans are used to seeing guys dress crazy, from Westbrook and Harden, to basically every young player.
Then of course, a QB is the most scrutinized position in all sports, where with Melo, while he may have more fame than the average rookie, he’s one of many in a league of identifiable stars.
And last of course, there are more of the strapped-sunglassed F150 fans who are die hard football fans but don’t really care about the NBA as much, so we probably won’t hear as much noise.
The problem I have is with his dad, family and the appearance of being entitled. I am also completely aware this is completely unfair to him.
I hope he proves to be a hard worker and humble person.