On quite a few occasions now, I have watched NBA stars’ documentaries and seen pictures titled things such as ‘Dwight Howard’s note from when he was 10 years old saying that “I will play in the NBA” on ‘what you will be when you are grown up’ day at school.

Does such a day even exist in the UK?

I’m sure at the time many people laughed at kid D12 writing that, thinking that it was an unrealistic goal. The fact that we know who Dwight Howard is, shows that he had the final laugh!

Approximately 1% of NCAA men’s basketball players are drafted by an NBA team

-NCAA article, (click here)

These odds don’t faze the baller with the tenacious mentality of wanting to achieve the supposedly impossible. In fact, if anything, it would motivate them even more! I’m a big believer of ‘anything is possible’. Whatever your goal, I do encourage that you give it your all and put yourself in the best position possible to achieve it!

Being Realistic and Playing it Safe

For the most part, people who normally say ‘be realistic’ are those who generally play things safe and are aware of the probabilities of success, now where there is a place for that, a lot of the time this can be discouraging to aspiring players – and remember TBV is all about empowerment!

Almost none of the goals set by today’s ballers follow the ‘playing it safe’ method. I don’t want aspiring players to tone down their dreams, to something more manageable per-say. What I’d rather do is encourage effective preparation for likely outcomes – and to know their situation.

KNOWING YOUR SITUATION

Step 1: Know Your Constraints

Constraints can come in different forms, they can include:-

1. BIOMETRICS – Height, weight, age etc.

2. SKILL-SET – Can you defend a point guard? Can you read and react effectively?

Some of these can be improved, some cannot. For example, you can develop a skill-set to a degree that it will no longer be a constraint – the same cannot be said for height.

In my first post, I mentioned that technically you don’t need a certain level of experience to be the best player on any team. In the same article I wrote about the Safety Net Concept employed by those signing players and why a player may be overlooked.

Are you short for the position you play? Does your skill-set match the coach’s style of play?

To be truly realistic with your goals, you will need to critically analyse yourself, know your game, your role, as well as jotting down all of your constraints.

An effective way of doing this can be to ask yourself…

‘Why wouldn’t I be successful in reaching ABC situation at XYZ level’

This can help as it can give an unbiased insight to what a coach signing players may be thinking. From here you can now effectively see what needs to be done break down that constraint.

Once you have done this, it’s time to find a way to work with/around these constraints.

 ‘Due to my constraint(s) DEF In order to put myself in the best position to achieve to be successful in XYZ. I will do 123 ’

If you are a terrible shooter from 3pt range, and your position requires that you are an excellent shooter, you may want to consider adding extra shooting to your summer workouts. An undersized big whose skillset best suits the 4/5 spot, may want to work on their post defense; so ‘true bigs’ don’t target them as a ‘weak link’ and post-up for an easy bucket.

Whatever it is, the main idea is to put yourself in the best light possible!

Find out your game, your role and how to incorporate your weaknesses into an off season HERE!

Step 2: Know Your Pathway

I cannot stress enough the importance of this point. This key part of preparation is often the determining factor of whether a player rises or falls.

In its simplest form it looks something like this.

Pathway to NBA

HIGH SCHOOL > COLLEGE > NBA

Like constraints, recruiters also look at the elements of a player’s pathway as a means to filter out the unsuitable, players should also consider these elements in their goal setting– let’s call them Entry Requirements.

Entry Requirements 

These can include:-

1. LEVEL PLAYED, EXPERIENCE (Basketball Resume)

2. ATTAINMENT AT THAT LEVEL (Stats, role, results)

NB: Potential is also an entry requirement featuring in this category. I’ll talk more about this in an upcoming post specifically on the topic.

The problem with the above pathway is that not every player who plays high school plays college and not every college player makes it to the league, so to explore the pathway further:-

A More In Depth Pathway

TOP RANKED HS > COLLEGE (D1 Major) > NBA

Even this doesn’t justify a legitimate pathway to the NBA as many players who have taken this pathway don’t go on to play in the NBA.

Realistic Pathway

MCDONALD’s  ALL AMERICAN at HS level > NCAA D1 FRANCHISE PLAYER (major, with stats requirement) > NBA DRAFTEE

It almost looks as if much more has been added to my simplistic pathway, whereas in reality nothing has, the pathway has been explored in more detail. The majority of players that follow this pathway do make it to the Promised Land.

I call upon all ballers to discover their unique pathway to whatever goal they have.

For me ‘realistic’ is such a dirty word due to the negativity which often looms with it. I am going call a sub!

HOW TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS  – Know Your Realistic Educated Pathway!

*Special constraints – These are things which are beyond anybody’s control eg. Economic crisis and it’s impact on the basketball job market. Changes to compliance rules etc.

IN CLOSING

Gone are the days where players just need to work hard. Working hard and smart in career planning are decisions that no baller will ever regret, whilst doing the contrary, can bring about a lack of direction and result in the demise of a player’s career.

Remember failing to prepare is preparing to fail! 

All the best!

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