LaVar Ball Wants LaMelo To End Up On Either The Knicks Or The Pistons

As we inch closer and closer to the NBA draft, you knew someone was going to hit up LaVar and get his thoughts as to where he wants his son to play, as if it matters at all. Unless he's going to hold LaMelo out if he were to go somewhere else, he wants him to end up with either the Knicks or the Pistons. That would mean unless those teams trade up, LaMelo would fall to 7 or 8. That feels unlikely, especially in this draft. If things stay the way they are now, I don't see him sliding past the Bulls at 4, but let's play along here for a second.

Obviously, the appeal of the Knicks is easy. Huge market, they need a big name, they need a point guard, seems like a no brainer to add this to what they are trying to build with this youth movement

Here's the thing though, if LaVar is so concerned about who the coach is for LaMelo, does he know Thibs is now calling the shots in New York? This is a man who is notorious for not playing rookies. He'd rather play some scrub veteran 48 straight minutes than play a rookie. It's been that way in both Chicago and Minnesota. Something tells me LaVar would lose his shit if Thibs brought LaMelo off the bench to start the season, something he tends to do with first year players.

The Pistons, now they are interesting in terms of fit. Definitely should be in the point guard market if LaMelo falls to them. All they have now is an older Derrick Rose and the corpse of Brandon Knight. I'm not sure LaMelo starts over DRose to begin the season, but there is an opportunity there. Dwane Casey is a good coach. An offense with LaMelo and Blake could be exciting if Blake stays healthy. 

I was a little confused as to why they were even talking about the Lakers in that video considering they aren't going to have a top pick and LaMelo isn't going to fall all the way to 28, but man do you think LaVar is maybe a little salty about Lonzo getting traded and the Lakers winning a title without him? Nice little shot at Luke Walton too. Forget the fact that Lonzo shot just 38/31% as a Laker in 99 games. How'd his shot look in the bubble too by the way? Oh, a disaster? I guess that's just the Pelicans coaching too.

So while it doesn't exactly matter what LaVar wants for LaMelo, you can't completely ignore this. The man somehow does have the ability to speak things into existence. Even I can admit LaMelo on the Knicks would be a ton of fun no matter what happened. If he proved to be legit, well one of the marquee franchises in the league has a stud. If he proves to be terrible, well that wouldn't be too much different from what's going on now with the Knicks, but it would be endless content coming from LaVar. I can already see the LaVar vs Tibs and LaVar vs Dolan fights in the media. As a blogger, there is no downside to LaMelo ending up in NY. 

If I could pick an ideal place for LaMelo? I'd want the Suns to find a way to trade up somehow. They have a good coach, good young talent, and I think him next to Booker/Ayton would be a ton of fun. I think being able to learn under Ricky Rubio would be great for LaMelo, and their guard depth isn't all that crazy to where LaMelo wouldn't play. I'm not sure how the Suns go from 10 to into the top 5, but that'd be my ideal team.