Sixers: Lonzo Ball selection has the potential to disrupt growing core

By George Kondoleon | May 26, 2017

Mar 4, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Lavar Ball embraces his son UCLA Bruins guard Lonzo Ball (2) after the game against the Washington State Cougars at Pauley Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports /

The Sixers are interested in negotiating a pre-draft workout with touted prospect Lonzo Ball, but a workout is the furthest they should go.

Lonzo Ball is polarizing figure. Or is he? It’s hard to tell anymore with the cloud his father has put over his head leading up to this year’s draft. Ball’s camp has decided to isolate pre-draft workouts to just the Los Angeles Lakers, but it is now considering a workout with the Sixers.

And the Sixers are interested.

As they should be. Ball’s talent is unquestioned in most aspects. A tall guard with the ability to become one of the league’s top passers on day one, Ball could very well be on his way to stardom. Even with his troubling shot form that has many questioning his shooting success at the next level, Ball is being considered as a surefire top three pick.

With the Sixers set to draft right after Ball’s hometown Los Angeles Lakers, there is a question of what the team will do if LA passes on him. The only right answer is to pass up on him. The Sixers are a team of young, exuberant personalities that have formed a seemingly unbreakable chemistry.

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The personalities of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are loud ones, but in a way that speaks to reasonable confidence. The pair is expected to take the league by storm if they can stay healthy, and Lonzo Ball seems soft-spoken enough to fit in. The problem is you aren’t just drafting him, you’re drafting LaVar Ball as well.

It may seem silly, and almost redundant at this point. Passing up on a talented player merely because of his outspoken father seems silly and childish. But LaVar Ball has made himself an outlier (which may have been his goal for various other reasons). He has had multiple appearances on television, promoting his clothing brand and what seems like himself more than his son. His latest spat with Fox Sports’ Kristine Leahy is the most recent event in a list of worries.

The Sixers are trying to grow within, so why bring in an entity that has the potential to disrupt it? Negotiating for a workout is harmless, and if Ball shows them something special during that workout, all of this may be meaningless. But in a more likely scenario, I’d expect Philadelphia to weigh the pros and cons (Friends-style).

Sixers have built themselves a culture. Debate whether you like the culture or not, but every young player seems happy with the direction the team is heading. That, and the front office has already put Brett Brown through years of trying times. Adding in LaVar Ball adds headaches to Brown’s post-game pressers, and going from answering spontaneous medical questions to playing PR for someone’s father is less than ideal for a coach trying to push a team from rebuild to contender.

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All this, and add-in the fact that Ball’s game isn’t a perfect fit next to the high usage play of both Simmons and Embiid, and it makes it easier to pass up on the talented guard. Let the Ball family build their brand elsewhere. Philadelphia will be hoping to find a complementary star, but culture matters. And the Sixers shouldn’t give someone’s father the opportunity to ruin theirs.