Wherever the Ball family goes, controversy seems to follow.
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Whether it be father LaVar's run in with US President Donald Trump or middle brother LiAngelo's arrest while on a UCLA basketball tour of China, some sort of controversy is never far away.
Now with youngest member LaMelo Ball announcing he is heading to Wollongong to play for the Hawks in the NBL, concerns immediately rose that the team's season will very quickly descend into a circus once Ball arrives.
On Tuesday, however, Illawarra Hawks general manager Mat Campbell downplayed those concerns. Campbell acknowledged Ball's presence will bring extra scrutiny to his team but he's confident it's a spotlight the Hawks will thrive under.
"There's obviously going to be some distraction from a team point of view," Campbell said.
"But I think that's the good thing about coming to Australia for LaMelo, he's going to have the opportunity to come to a country where he probably won't get as much attention as he did back in the States and we will welcome LaVar into the Hawks family.
"We've traditionally been very good with our players and the fact is LaMelo can come out here, get away from the distractions of the US and focus on becoming the best basketballer that he can be and focus on going high in the draft next year."
LaVar has attracted his fair share of critics in recent years, with the outspoken 51-year-old most recently declaring the Los Angeles Lakers will never win an NBA title after they traded oldest son Lonzo to the New Orleans Pelicans.
In contrast, Campbell, who did not speak directly with LaVar throughout the negotiations, was full of praise for the family patriarch and said LaVar will be welcomed by all at the club.
"He's a father, that's his job as a father to protect his kids. I think he's done a fantastic job of getting his kids ready for what the world's going to have. It now will be up to the coaching group to be able to put in the bits and pieces that will make him a pro.
"LaVar's always supported that from bits and pieces, he's obviously outspoken in other areas. We'll welcome him when he gets here and we'll support in the process of trying to get LaMelo to be a number one draft pick."
LaMelo Ball will arrive in Wollongong courtesy of the NBL's Next Stars program, with the 17-year-old set to spend a season in Australia before declaring for the 2020 NBA draft. While it's the NBL who are funding the contract, it was Ball himself who chose to sign with the Hawks.
Campbell labelled the signing the biggest in Illawarra Hawks history and said the club has all the resources to develop Ball into a high first round draft pick.
"A big push for us at the Hawks is to make sure he was choosing Illawarra for all the right reasons and all the bits and pieces that have come from our talks have been focused in on him trying to get to that goal. There are less distractions here in the Illawarra and he's focused in on what it takes to be a professional athlete.
"We believe we've got the best strength and conditioning coaches in the league and we've been able to develop our younger guys into good processional players in a short amount of time.
"We believe we've got the tools here to get him ready for the NBA draft next year and he'll get every opportunity to develop."
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