LiAngelo Ball participated in the Professional Basketball Combine this week in Florida. This Combine is a secondary pre-draft event following the NBA’s Combine.
While there is no guarantee that LiAngelo will actually get drafted, he did show some flashes of greatness in Lithuania, averaging 12.6 and shooting 41.5 percent from the three.
LiAngelo is 6’5” and down to 214 pounds. He actually left high school at 240, so the hardwork is evident:
I’ve been training since I was little, and I’ve seen how Zo has got it done preparing himself…So I felt if we did the same things, I should get there the same way. I’ve always wanted to play professionally, and I take it seriously. I don’t base how I play based off people hating or doubting. I try to show what I can do. Going in, I know I can produce. I train for this sport, so I knew I wanted to produce and be one of the highest scorers on the team this year, and that’s what happened.
LiAngelo says he has tunnel vision on the negativity:
I know how much I have to work to get to where I want to be. I just let people talk. People don’t really have an effect on me, because anybody can say anything. It doesn’t affect my preparation. I just want to stay focused and grinding.
It also sounds like LiAngelo finally closed the book on his China experience for good and believes that he developed much more in Lithuania than he could have at UCLA:
I gained a lot of experience playing, because there aren’t outside things going on…It’s strictly basketball. We have practice twice a day, I’d work out after practices, and then we get ready to play games. Going up against grown men who really care about their livelihoods … if they’re not producing, they can get fired. It’s serious.
Flip the page to see the video of LiAngelo Ball working out for some NBA teams at the Professional Basketball Combine.