How Hard is it to Actually Make it to the NBA?

He shouldn't be worrying about the NBA at the age of 14 anyway.

Tell him to work as hard as he can, and get better everyday. If he is a good player, he will get noticed, the scouts will take care of themselves.

Just make sure he doesn't put all of his eggs in one basket. Make sure he gets an education and has a backup plan.

 

that is a stupid question, you don't even know how to get him noticed? don't even talk about going to nba, first of all, he needs to immediately play on a VERY VERY VERY GOOOOOOOOD AAU TEAM THAT CAN GO TO STATE/NATIONAL CHAMPIOSHIPS, there are so many hs/college scouts watching good aau teams, if he won't play aau, then forget nba just focus on studying, or transfer to top 20 best hs teams in the nation

 

^ Also, try to keep your son away from kids like that.

 

Do not get injured. Bottom line. If you get a Bad injury and it keeps coming up, college teams will be very wary of scouting you.

If your son is 14 and is still wanting to play big time Basketball he is either very good and confident, or very stupid and unaware. If he wants lots of money tell him to be a lawyer.

 

Yeah, I've seen too many people with your question. The best way to approach your son's desire is to get him recruited to a college, have him study hard while playing ball. As for getting scouts, he has to do that himself, with his basketball talent.

 

Well I wouldnt say making the NBA is impossible, especially if **** hacks like Ben Handlogten and Daniel Santiago can manage to do it.

 

i remember vince carter told me some like one outta 6 million make it

 

He should not aim for the NBA as a high schooler, but rather aim to play at a Divison 1 school where he will get recognition. Then from there he can look at the NBA. The thing about the NBA is it is a forest of athletes taller than 6'6. To be at any height around 6 feet, give or take, you have to be extremely talented. Examples of small men in the NBA are Earl Boykins (5'5 , Nate Robinson 5'9. Allen Iverson 6' , and Steve Nash at 6'3. I like to use Steve Nash as an example because he looks short on tv compared to the likes of Dirk Nowitki (7 feet tall), but I remind people that Nash is 6'3 tall and taller than the average person. The NBA is a forest. As stated already numerous times, chances are slim and grim, but there is hope as long as there is love for the game and balance in life. School is probably the best tool to get to the NBA if you are not 6'8 or taller.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Char:</div><div class="quote_post">He should not aim for the NBA as a high schooler, but rather aim to play at a Divison 1 school where he will get recognition. Then from there he can look at the NBA. The thing about the NBA is it is a forest of athletes taller than 6'6. To be at any height around 6 feet, give or take, you have to be extremely talented. Examples of small men in the NBA are Earl Boykins (5'5 , Nate Robinson 5'9. Allen Iverson 6' , and Steve Nash at 6'3. I like to use Steve Nash as an example because he looks short on tv compared to the likes of Dirk Nowitki (7 feet tall), but I remind people that Nash is 6'3 tall and taller than the average person. The NBA is a forest. As stated already numerous times, chances are slim and grim, but there is hope as long as there is love for the game and balance in life. School is probably the best tool to get to the NBA if you are not 6'8 or taller.</div>

Height means nothing, if the kid can ball, the kid can ball, his game is what will get him recognition, not how big he is. But yeah the general consensus is to tell your son to aim for other things first, before he even thinks about the NBA, its nice to have a dream though, and if he works hard enough and is really serious about it, he could make the NBA some day.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MainMan:</div><div class="quote_post">i remember vince carter told me some like one outta 6 million make it</div>
vince must have flunked math. one out of 6 million means 2.1 billion want to play in the league!!! I doubt there's 2.1 billion worldwide that have even heard of the NBA.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting NTC187:</div><div class="quote_post">Height means nothing, if the kid can ball, the kid can ball, his game is what will get him recognition, not how big he is. But yeah the general consensus is to tell your son to aim for other things first, before he even thinks about the NBA, its nice to have a dream though, and if he works hard enough and is really serious about it, he could make the NBA some day.</div>
I've seen countless players get into the NBA, hang around a few years, a few games, just because they were seven feet or taller. I don't know if I implied this enough in my previous post, that generally in the NBA, the shorter you are, you will need to compenstate for with tremendous amounts of skill(see my reference to Allen Iverson).


As for youngsters aspiring to one day play NBA basketball, get your grades straight. The better your grades, the better your chances of getting into a nice school like Duke where you get to play under Coach K's tutelage or countless other schools in Division 1. Jordan had to work hard in school to get into North Carolina.

 

I'm 14, 5'7 and I wanted to play in the NBA until I got older I found out how hard it is so now I am focusing on becoming a sports journilist.

 

Get your son to be tutored by Milt Palacio, then he'll make it for sure.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting vcwannabe15:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm 14, 5'7 and I wanted to play in the NBA until I got older I found out how hard it is so now I am focusing on becoming a sports journilist.</div>
start by learning how to spell

 

<font color=""Red"">Go hoc your book somewhere else! </font>

 

Your son's NBA possibilities

I do not personally know you or your son, but I must say that I applaud you for being willing to share some aspects of you family life with others on this forum.

I agree with you that your son should be just as dedicated, if not more in his academic career than in his athletic career, but unfortunately, many youth, especially in America do not look at life in a broader perspectice, but only a limited view of what they want out of life.

1. The NBA is an elite profession, and within an elite profession, there are only a certain amount of positions available per seasonal year(six month season). In the NBA, there are 30 teams with a possible 360-450 player position filled every season(12 active players, 3 reserve players). Eventually, your son may be good enough skillfully to make it the League, but he may not get a spot to the availability of roster openings.

2. The NBA is a professional entertainment venue, where the association is trying to market a product to various consumers all over the globe. In order to be successful, a player not only has to be to perform to win, but also to appeal to the consumer.

3. It is one thing to make it to the NBA, it is another thing to stay there. Contracts vary from player to player, with only a few players guaranteed to be well paid and well off for life. True, professional athletes on average make excessive amounts of money over common occupations, an athlete's career is limited to a certain amount of time(21-32 years old, some players can stretch that into their late 30's), before their body begins to break down due to age and physical detoriation due to the rigorous amount of stress on the body.

Your son is 14 years old and is 5'10 in height, correct? He has several factors against him aready, not that they cannot be overcome, but it will take time and patience. The NBA rewards size and athletic ability over anything else. True basketball should be about skill, which it still is, but athleticism appeals to the consumer more than traditional skill in many cases(Dunks, Alley Oops).

<u>What's In</u>
Leaping ability(Dunking, Blocking Shots)
One on One play(Ankle Breakin', crossover dribble, fadeaway jumpshot, floater, etc.)
Flashy Passing(Behind the Back, Alley Oop, Between the Legs, etc.)
3 Point Shooting

<u>What's Out</u>
Mid-Range jumpshooting(15-18 feet)
Off the Ball Movement(Scoring without the ball, pick and roll, pick and pop)
Post Up game

There are differences between High school, collegiate and NBA styles of play.

Obviously, the level of talent increases from level to level, with the NBA being the premier league in the world.

High school:
Competitive Amateur Youth activity
Learning process(The basics of individual and team play)
Execessive emotionalism
Enjoying the game as a youth(Glory days of one's high school career-Al Bundy syndrome)
Small portion get scholarships to prominent programs.

Collegiate(D-1, D-2, D-3, Junior College)
Extremely Organized, multi-million dollar Amateur competition
Small player portion have NBA talent
Team Play with tight offensive and defenisive structures set in place to compensate for lack of general dominate individual talent
Highest level of emotionalism expressed(March Madness)
Highest level of pure team basketball expressed

<u>Professional Level(NBA, Europe)</u>
Elite group of individual talent and coaching from all over the world
Athleticism, size, and individual talent emphasized greatly
Multi-billion dollar industry(NBA)
Best individual talent in the world(NBA)
Basketball as sole occupation, requiring enormous of amount of dedication in order to me successful
Contract varies from player to player upon talent, roster space and salary cap space
Highest level of performance expectation and evaluation

<u>Professional Level 2</u>
"Streetball Organizations"
And 1
Young Players Association
Dime
The Notic
Streetball Fanatics

Other organizations
Harlem Globetrotters
Harlem Wizards

Strictly entertainment
Very little team organization stressed
Individual creative expression most emphasized
Fundamentals lack excessively

Your son's dream is not necessarily impossible, but highly unlikely, not due to just a possible lack of athletic ability, but also occupational availability.

My suggestion to you is to be balanced in your approach towards him. As a parent, you should encourage you child to pursue his/her dreams in anything that they do, but also advise them to be wise enough to prepare for any unfortunate outcome that may prevent them from reaching thier lofty goal(s).

Suggestions

1. Get him to establish a daily practice regimen for him to work on his entire basketball game(Ball Handling, Rebounding, Shooting, Passing, Defense). In order to play successfully in the league, you need to be as versatile as possible. Playing in pickup games will not make you better. Individual practice does. Pickup games just bring the individual refinement into place.

The Better Basketball video series starring Mike Bibby and Jermaine O'Neal are an excellent way for your son to learn to play from the pros.

This is the website to purchase the series

http://www.betterbasketball.com/

Each video/DVD is $39.95

I also have a series of basketball workout routines that I could e-mail to you or post here on Justbball.com if you and/or your son would like to take a look at one of them.

2. Get an established healthy workout(weight lifting and roadwork), diet, and sleep regimen to keep him in the best possible condition for him to perform athletically. The diet may be somewhat difficult due to the nature of youth to eat junk food regulary. If you want to be a professional, you have to eat and train like one.

3. On getting recruiting opportunities, I do not know where you live, but recruiters, especially big name recruiters from schools like Duke and North Carolina look at kids who been exposed in prime time events, usually held in bigger markets(NYC, LA, Chicago, etc.). The key is to be able to get your son to play in an environment where he can be seen by scouts

City, Regional, and State tournaments
AAU program-main suggestion
Some schools have recruitment forms on their websites(University of New Orleans is one such school)

4. Do not just learn the game, know the game. Get him to understand the art of studying the game through videos(NBA, Instructional) and books if possible. Help him get into the habit of watching games live and taped, and observe different offenses, defenses, playing styles, and positional requirements(i.e. Point Guard responsibilities, Center Responsibilities, etc.) Help him to understand that basketball is a thinking man's game. If possible, study and play with him if you have the time and are interested, maybe some parental participation can help encourage him to go farther.

5. Remind him of the importance of being as balanced a human being as possible by maintaining the value of an education, both in and out of school, as well as possibly having other hobbies(creative writing, model builiding, reading, etc.)

6. The main thing is to tell him to enjoy what he is doing, after all basketball is a GAME. Even if he does not make it, he should not look on and live in discouragement, life is more than basketball. He should learn to enjoy every moment he has an amateur player before he hits the real world. Basketball is something to be enjoyed by all, to be appreciated for what it iniatially was created for, a form of recreation, not just an exalted as some professional status symbol.

 

Well, school comes first, before anything. Without good grades, no one would even accept him into any college. In his free time, he has to be a basketball fanatic. He has to practice shooting every chance he can, try out for city leagues and school teams, and be the best player he can be. Hopefully, this will be enough for him to get into the NBA

 

Its so hard to become an NBA player, I practiced night and day in the rain/snow. And Still didnt make it but hey I am fine with that because I learned alot about myself and about dedication and hard work. I use what I learned from basketball to be the best in other things. So even if he dosent make it him working his ass off will benefit him in one way or another...
If he wants to get noticed put him in a school with a good basketball program. FOr example a private school =) thats if urs are good.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MrJ:</div><div class="quote_post">Think about the millions of players who have NBA aspirations. Now think about the few hundred spots available. That's equal to a lot of broken dreams. I'm not trying to discourage his dream or anything, but realistically he doesn't have a chance to make the league.

Hope he has a back up plan in mind.</div>

If all the players in the NBA thought as you did then we wouldn't have an NBA would we? Have a back up plan yes but work your ass off at the same time