Just read that the youngest of the Ball kids HS coach didn't have his contract renewed to coach BBall next year. The parent who shall remain nameless is denying he had any responsibility in the coach's firing.

For Lonzo, I kinda feel bad. For pops, I won't hold my breath, but hopefully it's a piece of humble pie he learns from.

British Knights, or BKs (that I wore as a kid!) has agreed to terms with Lonzo and will be doing a rebrand as BK-Ball's Kicks!

Seriously though I kind of feel bad for Lonzo as he really does not have control over his dad and what he says and does. Has anyone ever watched/read if Lonzo has ever shared frustration or anything about his LaVar?

Problem is you have a pretty symbiotic situation there. Nike probably wants to keep LaVar as far away from Beaverton as possible.

Would anyone else love to see LaVar take BBB to Shark Tank? That would be some must-see TV.

This is pretty good:

http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2017/05/04/things-... /

Holy crap, the flip-flops are $220!

The value of a brand is defined by the market/user not the provider/manufacturer. To be of value people need to relate to the brand - want to connect and be connected to the brand. "Be like Mike" ring a bell. Its why folks like cars with hood ornaments.

For the BBB brand to be attractive Lonzo can't just be a star (how are those John Wall shoes doing?) but must be transcendent/generational AND have a persona folks can connect with - ala Michael, Kobe, Shaq, and now perhaps Steph (though I understand his shoes are struggling.

There is no basketball indication that he is such a player (being the next Jason Kidd doesn't cut it) and brother #2 is not nearly the player he is and #3 is already being ridiculed for his play.

And of course complicating it all is his father being a jackass that few consumers want to connect with.

On a side note I wonder if any of his boys will go "Marinovich" at some point?

Welllll.....Under Armour did it with great products and good research....I remember missing Tommy's Official Visit because I had to give a lecture at Auburn but met a guy named Dr David Pascoe who was doing research into heat characteristics and thermodynamics and fabrics affecting the thermoregulatory . mechanisms in the human body. He took me over to the bookstore and showed me the new UA stuff Auburn had just got in.... I came back and was telling guys in our department about it but Russel was our move. UA was developing a whole new approach that nike, adidas and others finally relented and brought into with fabrics. I am not sure BBB is not selling the name way more than the actual science and design.

Presently we are working on designing specific shoes for a specific athletic activity that has an unfilled niche we are presently using cross trainers and trail shoes to fill the void. There is a lot more to designing a shoe and the science involved than stealing a Kobe design, dressing it up rebranding it with a new and different label. Look for some lawsuits over both the design and the Logo.

UA and BBB are 2 totally different models for business...LaVar would have been smart to use Cluster to trouble shoot his approach....

High-end shoes like this will sell if he's a transcendent star. And not if he isn't.

There are enough people out there who'll come up with the $495 plus tax if they think Ball is the beans to make this economically viable. But not if they don't.

I hear that the shoes prob cost somewhere between $5 and $100 to manufacture. I'm guessing toward the lower end of that.

Don't need to sell many shoes at that kind of mark-up to be a success.



Gotta admire the audacity. It's Kardashian-ian. It's new, different, garish. But if it hits, it'll make 'em quite wealthy.

And maybe it will even if it doesn't hit (via oher, less costly marketing/publicity stuff).





In most cases "brand" is the word used by people who want to lend silly, unnecessary mystique to what is simply cold cash slam jam.

True--But give Ball this: He's probably investing little into this. That is, probably having a very limited number of shoes made (until demand is proven).

He is, however, creating buzz, creating what could be a base for a big cash pay day.

If the shoes don't hit, the father looks like an idiot..which more than a few think he does already.


So, there's little down side risk here (reputationally or in terms of cash) and a big potential upside which he's creating.


So, like it or not, in this day and age, it's good marketing.


He's taking advantage of a platform available to very few.

Still think that there's little downside. One or more of the kids will make a fair amount of money from their pay for playing.

As far as endorsements/gear and such, if the father's plan hits, it will hit big. It will be the first to go this way, first to take advantage of a new thing--and, so, will hit big.


If the father's plan fails, the sons could still have success via traditional off-court opps.

Little downside here.


Heck, if none of it works, 10 years from now they could cash in Kardashian style as a cautionary tale.

As I think another has mentioned on here, the whole Ball family circus has future 30 for 30 special oozing all over it.