When exasperation leads to Lithuania
The mention of Lithuanian basketball always recalls memories of Sarunas Marciulionis, who served the Warriors with such distinction in the early 1990s. It makes for pleasant reminiscence, all about toughness, humility and bravery in the face of formidable opposition. It’s unlikely that LaVar
Ball’s family will be remembered in such a way — if at all.
We’re the first to credit LaVar for the raising of his oldest son,
Lonzo, currently finding his way through the maze of NBA obstacles and gaining admirers by the day. What the father is doing with LiAngelo and LaMelo, his two younger sons, defies rationalization.
The man’s publicly stated dream was for all three boys to attend UCLA, turn pro after their freshman years and become top-flight stars. LiAngelo was probably doomed on the Bruins’ campus after being busted for shoplifting on a team trip to China and drawing an indefinite suspension; such a damning stigma is difficult to erase. Then LaVar pulled LaMelo out of high school, in the middle of his junior year, after a series of disputes with the kid’s coach.
If there’s a concrete fallback plan in place, one struggles to understand. LaVar reached an agreement for both sons to sign with Prienu Vytautas, a lowlevel club based in southern Lithuania, for a half-season beginning next month.
Will they even last a month? Imagine for a moment that they summon the patience, willpower and compassion to emerge from this experience as legitimate candidates for a future NBA draft. Then consider the reality:
In a village of some 10,000 people, they’ll find that few people speak English, including their coach and most everyone on the court. Once enamored with the thought of playing before vibrant crowds at Pauley Pavilion, they’ll find themselves in a bleak, 1,700seat arena. Their flashy, shootfrom-anywhere style is unlikely to mesh with teammates conditioned by discipline and nononsense coaching. They’ll be playing against grown men who love to throw their weight around. It’s a franchise beset by ongoing financial issues. The weather won’t remind anyone of Playa Del Rey. Dietary options could be a drag. Then there’s LaVar, whose preposterous bluster is the very antithesis of the stoic, reserved Lithuanian demeanor.
Although hardly intended, this idea sounds more like punishment than anything else. Perhaps the Balls should look up Marciulionis, a man Chris
Mullin once said “almost single-handedly reversed the impression of the soft, easily intimidated European player,” and who led a near-bankrupt Lithuania to glory — including a bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics. There is much to be learned, but the Balls’ path tends to stray far from advice.
No big loss
We’ll always wonder whether the Giants would have beaten the Cubs in Game 4 of the 2016 Division Series if Bruce Bochy had left Matt Moore in the game. He was cruising into that ninth inning, and there wasn’t one good reason to take him out. What went down last season, though, stripped away any confidence the Giants or their fans had in Moore. He was expendable, leading to Friday’s trade. As for the deal that sent
Matt Duffy to Tampa Bay for Moore, yes, it was a lousy exchange — but Duffy missed all of last season with an Achilles issue and may never be the same ... Hard to believe there was a school of thought recommending the 49ers hold out
Jimmy Garoppolo from any game action this season. “My only question to my friend
John Lynch,” said ex-NFL coach/NBC analyst Tony
Dungy, “is what took you so long?” ... It didn’t take long for the bailouts to begin. Royce
Freeman, Oregon’s elite running back, will sit out Saturday’s Las Vegas bowl because he doesn’t want to risk injury ahead of the NFL draft ... Happiest man in America: It’s either
Sonny Gray, who left the A’s to join a Yankees team now featuring Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton ,or Aaron Boone, who becomes the first manager since Danny Ozark in 1975 to inherit the leading home-run hitters from both leagues (the ’75 Phillies had Dick Allen and
Mike Schmidt) ... In jeopardy: The record 115 combined home runs by teammates Roger
Maris and Mickey Mantle on the 1961 Yankees. Who ranks second among teammates? Surprisingly, and a bit uncomfortably, that would be Barry
Bonds and Rich Aurilia at 110 (73 and 37) for the 2001 Giants.
Shohei Ohtani’s elbow injury (small ligament tear) may prove to be inconsequential, but the Angels are leaning toward a six-man rotation if he fits the bill. That’s very modernday baseball, but not a good idea if you’ve got someone like Clayton Kershaw, Madison Bumgarner or Max Scherzer, whose determination and value demand an appearance every fifth day ... In the aftermath of
Jose Canseco losing his job as an A’s analyst for NBC Sports California: What moved anyone to hire him in the first place? ... The wrath of Arte Moreno, the Angels’ owner, is about to be indirectly experienced by the large contingent of Japanese press that will cover Ohtani all season. Several years ago, in an arrogant and pathetic reaction to negative press, Moreno ordered the Anaheim Stadium press box moved way down the right-field line, near the foul pole. Severe backlash forced the Angels to install a makeshift press box behind the plate, but “it only holds 8-10 people and you’re sitting on stools, instead of chairs,” said longtime beat writer Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. “The right-field box holds about 20-25 people, and that won’t be nearly enough.” ... Hope remains for pro tour-level tennis in the Bay Area. Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim reports that the Bank of the West tournament, recently abandoned by Stanford, may move under new sponsorship to the new complex at San Jose State, with definitive word to arrive before the Australian circuit begins in January ... And finally, a toast to the great Bruce Brown, who died at 80 this week. There was a time when beach-town dwellers flocked to auditoriums to watch surf movies, and Brown’s “Endless Summer” (1966) was a masterpiece, still fun and relevant today. With his globalwide footage, tasty soundtracks and clever narration, Brown set standards yet to be matched.