PRIENAI, Lithuania — Prienai Arena sits on the outskirts of this small town among the forests and mineral springs of central Lithuania. Go past a crude, brick, Communist-era storage shelter and you’ll find the current home of the Balls, 19-year-old LiAngelo and 16-year-old LaMelo, the new sensations of this basketball-crazed nation.
The smell of stale sweat hangs in the gym, despite it being barely six years old. Three rows of seats are behind the team benches; eight rows are on the other side. Staples Center this is not. It’s barely Chino Hills High. But this is the 1,500-seat home of a pro team, Birstonas-Prienai Vytautas, thrust into the international limelight as the Balls’ launch pad for their pro careers.
LiAngelo Ball left UCLA after getting suspended and arrested for shoplifting during the Bruins’ season-opening trip to China in November. LaMelo Ball was removed from Chino Hills High in San Bernardino County so he could join the Lithuanian club.
The orchestrations of their father, LaVar Ball, have thrown them into a basketball cauldron, beginning with the first game on Tuesday. Lithuania has only 2.9 million people and it may stump 95 percent of Americans on a geography quiz (hint: find Poland, then go up), but its basketball is world class.
“For them it’s not going to be easy,” said Dainius Adomaitis, the Lithuanian national coach. “The first thing is it’s completely different basketball. It’s not high school basketball; it’s not NCAA basketball.”
The Balls’ Lithuanian detour is the result of NBA rules requiring that drafted players be at least 19 years old and one year removed from high school — rules that were enacted in 2006 after a steady stream of high school stars turning pro. Twenty-year-old Lonzo Ball played one season for UCLA before jumping to the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I look at a 16-year-old playing pro basketball, what comes to mind are players like Kobe and LeBron James out of high school,” said Jerry Johnson, a former star for New Jersey’s Rider University who is now playing for Neptunas Klaipeda, his second stint in Lithuania. “I know what level those guys were. These guys aren’t close to that level.”
The Balls’ adjustments will be big enough off the court. The Lithuanian winter is cold, and its latitude means less than eight hours of daylight a day in January. Few people over 40 speak English.
But Lithuanian basketball may seem even more foreign to them.
“It’s very physical,” said Rashaun Broadus, formerly of Brigham Young, who played for five teams in Lithuania. “It’s the old school game of the NBA: Bad Boy Pistons and Bulls.”
Added Adomaitis: “The most important thing about Lithuanian basketball is team basketball. We like to share the ball. The second thing is we are not very athletic players so we have to play with our heads. Lots of tactics and special situations, special offenses.
“In Lithuania you need to think.”
The Balls also won’t be playing in a vacuum. Besides the reality TV show “Ball in the Family” and ESPN following their every move and LaVar’s every word, Lithuanian basketball fans won’t hesitate to weigh in with criticism. Lithuanians can all shoot. Fans won’t tolerate 25-foot airballs.
“I’ve seen players leave college, lead Division I in scoring, and come over here and not make it,” Johnson said. “It happens all the time. NBA players come over and can’t deal with it.”
A word about Lithuanian basketball: It’s the only country in Europe where basketball is the No. 1 sport. The Soviet Union team that won the 1988 Olympic gold medal featured four Lithuanian starters. Lithuania has won three Olympic bronzes and three EuroBasket titles.
So no wonder mayor Alvydas Vaicekauskas smiled broadly while discussing the Balls. When the Balls landed Thursday, the media mob made it look like they were the 2010 Lakers. Suddenly, everyone can pronounce Prienai (PREE-ah-nay).
“All Lithuania is interested in basketball so Prienai is not an exception,” said Vaicekauskas. “People here also follow the current events related to basketball. The Ball family coming to Prienai is great excitement to all of us because it’s news which affects basketball in Lithuania.”
Even the mayor admits Prienai doesn’t have a proper restaurant. Its choice of fine dining may be Tango Pizza where it displayed an electronic crawl board reading “PRIENAI GOT BALLS!!!!”
“We are a small town,” owner Jaunius Malisauskas said. “Not so many things are going on. At first, nobody knew what’s going to happen. But when everybody saw the media attention from all over the world, they got it.”
The Balls won’t be slumming. They’re in Birstonas (BEER-shtone-as), five miles from Prienai. Birstonas (pop. 2,600) is a resort town featuring three of Lithuania’s top mineral spas. Their Vytautas Mineral Spa is a sprawling white building set back from a manmade lake.
The relaxation ends Tuesday when Vytautas hosts Kauno Zalgiris-2. It’s one of five developmental LKL teams made up mostly of prospects the Balls’ age and who replace the older Baltic League competition. The Big Baller Brand Challenge is an ode to the Balls’ inexperience. They may make their LKL debut for last-place Vytautas Saturday.
For at least one night, much of the basketball world will focus on tiny Prienai and two brothers from Chino Hills High.
Said Artiom Trettjak, a bartender at Bir. Bur. Bar in Birstonas. “They are like a phoenix. No one knew them before. Everyone knows them now.”