He runs. He jumps. He passes the ball with pinpoint precision. He scores at will. Defense? He plays that pretty well too.
Yes he probably leaps tall buildings in a single bound.
He’s Chino Hills junior guard Lonzo Ball. If you haven’t seen him play do yourself a favor and make a it a point to do so next season, his senior campaign.
He’s one of those players that come around every 10, maybe 20 years or so. He’s a lean 6-foot-6 but he plays much bigger than that. His game is so well rounded it’s scarey.
Most think he’ll be one and done at UCLA, then go on to the NBA. That’s a lot of expectations for a guy not out of high school but he passes that eye test. Everywhere I go basketball fans and true experts are talking about him, even when his team isn’t necessarily playing.
He single-handedly propelled Chino Hills to a 62-51 win over Corona Centennial in the Division 1 Southern California Regional at The Pyramid In Long Beach. His line for the night – 26 points, 15 rebounds, 8 steals, 5 assists, 3 blocked shots. That’s pretty insane when you think about it.
Despite how good he is, he is still pretty grounded and has a good temperment on the court. He stole the ball right out of the hands of Centennial’s Ike Anigbpgu in the closing seconds of the third quarter with Chino Hills up 45-34. The Centennial player, perhaps a little embarrassed and frustrated had a few choice words and it looked like there might be minor skirmish. Ball just shook his head, grinned and walked away.
Here’s what Centennial coach Josh Giles had to say about him:
