LiAngelo Ball and his brother, LaMelo, have both officially signed to play one season with Prienu Vytautas, a Lithuanian basketball team. They are expected to report to the club in January.
Everything we know about LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball’s Lithuanian coach
Their new coach has some mixed reviews.
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
LiAngelo, a 19-year-old freshman, was suspended indefinitely from UCLA basketball after he was accused of shoplifting during the team’s trip to China. Weeks later, his father, LaVar, pulled him out of school. LiAngelo’s 16-year-old brother, LaMelo, put his college eligibility in question with the release of his own Big Baller Brand shoe, and instead signed with an agent to start this overseas movement. So now the pair are off to start their pro careers early overseas.
A mix of reports have the Balls in either the perfect spot or the worst spot by signing for a little-known team in Lithuania. The Ball brothers’ future coach, Virginijus Seskus, has been highlighted in particular, as he has a reputation of his own that strikes similarly to that of their father. That may pose some issues.
What reporters are saying about Coach Seskus
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reported that he’s heard the Lithuanian coach described as “the LaVar Ball of Lithuania.” That could make the two a perfect match, or a nightmare ready to unfold.
He’s also “high energy and loves to get technical fouls,” according to Givony.
What former players are saying about Coach Seskus
ESPN’s Jeff Goodman reported that a former player said Coach Seskus’ team doesn’t have a lot of structure. “The coach goes crazy, yells and screams all the time. ... He’s crazy,” the player told Goodman.
Goodman reported that the coach may be a perfect match for the Balls, though, because Seskus’ team plays guys out of position, shoots a ton of three-point shots and doesn’t defend. That’s a pretty accurate way of describing LaMelo’s play as we know it so far.
Just as LaVar Ball removed his team from the floor to forfeit before, so did Seskus as well:
The biggest obstacle with Seskus may be that he doesn’t speak English
Communication between a players and coaches is pretty difficult when they don’t speak the same language. One of Seskus’ former players, Billy Baron, spoke out about it.
Baron, a guard for Team USA’s FIBA team last summer, said on Twitter, “He had me my rookie year for a different club there, told me through our assistant during training camp that he wouldn’t play me much because he couldn’t speak to me.”
That’s troubling.
One of Baron’s friends and Big Ten Network analyst, Ben Brust, said on Twitter that he hated his year in Lithuania and that it was a “disaster waiting to happen with the Ball family.”
Time will tell if the Ball brothers’ move to Lithuania will all be worth it. In just a few weeks, it’s all set to begin.
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