The Ball Brothers’ patriarch, LaVar Ball, recently accepted an interview with Vlad TV. The lengthy conversation resulted in a range of major revelations about the Ball dynasty. Among a plethora of questions, LaVar was also asked about Dennis Rodman’s recent comments about his son LiAngelo. Rodman had claimed that he gave LiAngelo a 10% chance to succeed, something LaVar was quick to hit back at.
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Ball then went on to talk about Rodman’s comments about Larry Bird. The Chicago Bulls legend had claimed that Bird would have been playing in Europe if he was currently part of the NBA, an opinion that brought forth a range of criticism. Ball suggested that the comment was simply made by Rodman because Larry Bird is caucasian.
LaVar Ball claims Larry Bird comments were due to his skin color
Rodman had claimed that while Larry Bird’s game was suitable for the way Boston Celtics played in the 80s, he would have struggled in the present day. According to him, the Celtics legend would only find a place in a European team today, something that has since been met with ridicule.
LaVar Ball continued the trend, although his initial chagrin was due to Rodman’s take on LiAngelo Ball. Regardless, LaVar talked about how Larry Bird had played against “brothers” his entire life, and was also one of the hardest trash-talkers in the league:
“Yeah, come on man. That guy was a bad m*****f***er. Let me see his story. He was out there playing with the brothers behind the things and he talked tough. You can’t rattle his cage. He been around there that’s why he liked that. He been talking to the brothers and doing his thing. I know how to play against y’ll. I have been doing it all my life. Now on the stage you can put me in the booth and say I am the great white hope. But he talked crazy when playing against the Lakers. Just because he white, a lot of people look at his kids and just coz the skin is light they don’t think they play hard.”
Calling him a “bad m*****f****r, LaVar called Bird the “Great White Hope,” claiming that any criticism about his game was down to his skin color. Talking about how people of African descent often tend to believe caucasian men cannot be as good as them at basketball, Ball said that the criticism aimed at Bird was simply a result of him being white.
LaVar Ball defends criticism against his sons
LaVar went on to compare the criticism Rodman levied at Larry Bird and LiAngelo. He claimed that despite being ‘light-skinned’, the Ball brothers played like “a bunch of brothers”:
“I am showing him like that because my boys are like camouflage. They play so fast that when we were beating teams, they were pressing the whole time, playing like teams in the Ghetto play. Fast-paced, strong, a bunch of brothers gone. When you see my kids, they got the mentality of a dude from South Central.”
Hence, instead of it being about skin color, LaVar claimed that it was the mentality and talent of his kids that made them capable of dominating the NBA. He compared the Ball brothers to camouflage, claiming that they had the mentality that was required to succeed everywhere.
