LaVar’s antics
LaVar knows he’s operating from a position of advantage, and he isn’t afraid to test the limits of those bargaining with him. He understands that for all his inappropriate words and deeds, he will be tolerated and accommodated because he has something — and will always have something — his suitors want at any cost.
IQ: How do you deal with your dad having so much attention? A: I just be me. And he be him. That’s it. t sounds like everything you think it does. LaMelo’s short answer, given in a short six-question interview by two scribes over the weekend, summed up the way the Ball brothers deal with their father LaVar’s antics. They try to dissociate themselves from him as much as possible, and not just because it’s how they can best deal with the inevitable fallouts from his actions. Even as he insists — and, perhaps, even believes — that his methods emanate from a desire to serve their interests, they understand that he’s a double-edged sword, and they’re shielding themselves accordingly. The problem, of course, is that LaVar has become unreasonably empowered to further his agenda. At last week’s adidas Summer Championships, for example, he alternated between being a coach and a fool. He went through the motions expected of a bench tactician while “guiding” the Big Baller Brand, pacing the sidelines and shouting instructions to his charges as if he cared a hoot about the outcomes of the matches they played. Unfortunately, he couldn’t help himself and likewise acted the clown most thought him to be coming in, luring eyeballs with ridiculous antics like doing pushups and squatting on the floor during dead-ball situations and, more egregiously, berating the zebras no end. You see his Hyde side, and you wonder if he really has the most noble of intentions in mind.
Most Amateur Athletic Union mentors would want Ws on their resumes, validating the hard work required to steer players through their formative phase in the sport. Not LaVar. Beyond allowing LaMelo to make like a Bizarro version of Allen Iverson, chucking without conscience and padding stats with nary a care for the score, he appeared more inclined to grab headlines. In his third game of the tournament, he threatened to walk out if organizers didn’t immediately replace a referee who had just teed him up, and instead of being put in his place, he was indulged; for the record, he eventually got a second technical that merited an automatic ejection, but he refused to leave the court, and so BBB lost by forfeiture. It’s the same stunt he pulled in a playoff game at the Double Pump Best of Summer Tournament the week before; he didn’t like a T he got and thus pulled his players out of the floor, leading to the set-to being called.
And there lies the rub. LaVar knows he’s operating from a position of advantage, and he isn’t afraid to test the limits of those bargaining with him. He understands that for all his inappropriate words and deeds, he will be tolerated and accommodated because he has something — and will always have something — his suitors want at any cost. In the case of adidas, which agreed to make an officiating change, it’s the opportunity to sign Lonzo to a shoe deal. In the case of Chino Hills High School, which agreed to make a coaching change, it’s the opportunity to keep LaMelo in the program.
Is it any wonder, then, that LaVar continues to act the way he does? You look at the Lakers, and they’re beside themselves with glee at having nabbed Lonzo with the second overall pick in the 2017 draft. Guess who’s smiling and counting the zeros.