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The LaVar & Sons traveling circus has been cut short after three months playing for the Lithuanian pro team Vytautas. While LaVar said he was “happy” with Lithuania, his gripe with head coach Virginijus Šeškus limiting 16-year-old LaMelo’s minutes was a driving factor in leaving the Baltic country.
When you dig into Melo’s numbers, it’s once again clear that LaVar is being delusional. Although LaMelo averaged just 12.4 minutes per game, he shot a dismal 26.8% shooting, scoring 6.5 points per contest.
ESPN’s Jeff Goodman joined Outside The Lines on Tuesday and spoke on conversations he had with LaMelo’s Vytautas teammates. Lets just say they aren’t wiping tears away following their young teammate’s return to the States.
“For LiAngelo, actually, it was a pretty good experiences, he averaged about 12.5 points in Lithuanian league action. He played better than a lot of people thought he would going over there. For LaMelo, it wasn’t very good. He barely played in the Lithuanian League games. One former teammate described him to me earlier today as ‘lazy’ and ‘arrogant.’ Wasn’t really engaged in the whole process. Played undisciplined, which we’ve seen in AAU ball. But didn’t really get better, and that’s the goal over there for a 16-year-old is to improve and get better. And multiple people I talked to on that team, on Vytautas, said LaMelo really never bought in.”
LaMelo returned to the United States this week and is still two years away from professional eligibility (he can’t play college ball because he was deemed ineligible after playing professionally overseas.)
[h/t For the Win]