Aussie NBA players have been rocking headbands recently
Lebron James has started wearing a headband again this season for whatever reason and it’s sent some fans mental, so the biggest pranksters of all, Aussie NBA players, have gotten in on the action and started donning some headbands themselves to create a couple of the most hideous sights that we’ve seen this season.
Aron Baynes
Surely this can only have been for a dare or a joke because this look is absolutely grim. I know NBA players generally suffer from being too tall to use many household items (and doorways) that us mere mortals use but I feel like Aron could have made the effort to bend down slightly and have a glance at himself in the mirror before setting foot on the court.
Good lord that is ugly. Maybe he was thinking along the lines that nobody on the opposing team would come near him because he was so repulsive. Who knows? To be honest, defenders are usually quite busy dealing with the likes of Hayward, Irving, Horford and Tatum to really be going near Baynes. His defender is nearly always the one that is going to come and help off on the weak side.
But how did the look affect his performance? Well Baynes played 15 mins in this game against the Jazz (10th November 2018). He scored 5 points on 2 of 3 shooting from the field and 1 of 1 from the free throw line. He also grabbed 2 rebounds and got an assist. He had a net rating of +3. So overall not a bad night at all for Baynes. Maybe this is a look he could try more often.
Joe Ingles
Literally 3 days later on the 13th November, another Aussie adopted the headband look despite never having really done it before. Jinglin’ Joe Ingles is one of the most important players on the Jazz in my opinion. He just has a great combination of length, craftiness and intelligence that make him very difficult to guard, particularly in pick and roll situations that coach Quinn Snyder implements so well into the offense.
Anyway, with 3:54 left on the clock in the fourth quarter in Memphis, Marshon Brooks inadvertently struck Ingles on the side of the head causing a fair amount of blood to come gushing out. Ingles was of course subbed out of the game to receive treatment. Before this incident the Jazz had a sizeable lead but while Ingles was off they managed to cut the lead to just 5 points with 2:11 remaining. Ingles got the ball out top and as the pick from Gobert came he snake dribbled using the pick and then faked a mid-range and pulled off the craftiest lefty lob pass I’ve ever seen to Gobert who finished the play expertly. Absolute magic.
Then with under a minute left to play after several misses from both teams and with the game still in the balance, Donovan Mitchell drove into the paint and kicked the ball out to Ingles at the 3 point line where he nailed an absolutely cold blooded 3 pointer to ice the game (hopefully after he would ice his head wound too). After this nail in the coffin was delivered Ingles paid homage to the source of his new superpowers by pointing at his headband, which was a move much loved by NBA twitter as it sent people crazy.
After all this, I don’t think we’ll actually see much of either of these terrible looks again to be honest, but there’s no doubt that this was a fun week and we have the 2 Aussies, Ingles and Baynes, for that.
