TOP 10 TRY-OUT MISTAKES BY BASKETBALL ROOKIES:
The editorial team at The Pinch Post explain the most common showcase snafus and how coaches can better prepare their graduates for the next level.
The common misconception is that rookie professional basketball players have just recently graduated. Similarly, that the only time a team searches for untapped talent is following March Madness, in combines and around the summer draft.
If that were to be the case, as they would have you believe, then it’s purely to fit news cycles and up turn the sport’s downtime in that tiny window after the superbowl and before the attention springs south to baseball’s preseason training.
If that were to be the case, as we would have you believe, then it’s exactly why a ragtag bunch of 25 undrafted and unaccounted wannabes wound up in a basement gym on a snowy night in the lower east side of Manhattan.
Misfits is too strong of a word, but the definition of uncomfortably conspicuous might well surmise their environment for the three hour tryout. A dusty public school gym was accessible only through a steel door slightly ajar to the icy wind bellowing along Houston Street towards the East River. Somehow the players still looked at home despite their shared oddities. Tall enough for consideration at 6’10’’ but powerlessly rail thin. Others strong enough at a muscular 240lbs but undersized at a tweener-like 6’2’’, despite their protestations to being a legit 6’5’’ in their apparent cuban heels. Unstoppable going right but a turnover in the other direction. Shooters who cannot score and scorers who cannot shoot. Overweight and undervalued. Rehabbed and ready to return. You name it and the story was there to read.
Like a fashionably clandestine warehouse party of the 1980’s, entrance was only confirmed to the uninitiated guest via a series of text messages from the local organiser. A lone security guard in the corridor offered a surprisingly welcoming greeting to this particular huddled mass of coat, gloves, hat and scarf that trundled towards him. Unathletic, undersized and altogether ill-fitting for such an event, with no other events booked on the premises that evening, the guard had no choice but to offer up the same directions as to everybody else. Hoping for my sake that I wasn’t there to compete.
A series of identically grey painted stairwells, hallways and unmarked doors led to the labyrinth's basement which, by most standards was well appointed if not a little dated. For high school basketball that is. Crooked side hoops, broken bleachers, tattered championship banners, archaic scoreboards and that familiar public building winter temperature that resembles a greenhouse.It’s that same familiarity that likely offered a scant measure of comfort to the players in attendance who had doubtless their own experiences of similar gymnasia from years past. But, as the coach asked them in a sarcastically rhetorical manner, “They don’t pay you to play in high school in America now, do they?”
As quickly as the comfort of familiarity washed over them, it was swept away by the demands of the professional game. The wider lane. A deeper three point arc. The ball with twelve panels not eight. A shorter shot clock. All obstacles in their path to finally realise their dream as a pro. Everywhere they looked, what was once well known to them was now foreign. As foreign as their latest ambition. A spot on a touring team south of the border the following month. A trip beyond today’s imaginary border wall to the relative unknown world of the Ciba Copa League.
Just five spots remain on a ten man team that was set to play eight games in ten nights across four cities in the traditional curtain raiser to the season in Mexico’s second tier. Rarely before had such an opportunity befell players from the east coast. The norm was for those in Southern California or across the border states to benefit from opportunities of this kind. Yet the NYC based organiser of this team had seen something in Gotham that he believed could succeed in the neighbouring leagues. So much so, that hard fought sponsorship had lowered the cost of the tour by half for anyone young man willing and able to go west. Who wouldn’t back their talent to the tune of $400 to find out. $390 if you deduct the price of admission tonight. Sold! It’s February after all. Beyond the signing deadline of most European leagues and too early for the traditional FIBA winter 2017/18 season’s recruitment. The basketball limbo for those who missed the September cut or the ones injured mid season and released.
And so here they stood. A jumble of former junior college graduates and division two transfers side by side with undersized power players and shooting guards who lacked the title skill of their position. The classic ‘scoring point guard’ side by side with the guy who gives the impossible ‘110%’. Resumes so overflowing with bullet points of outstanding talents that, were it not for the phenomenon of cliches, they might not have bounced around between colleges and semi-pro teams quite so much. With another tryout to follow in seven days, what lay ahead was a mini-marathon that would require players to show something of an X-Factor and convince the team of four coaches, that this particular American’s got talent.
What transpired in spite of the uncommon nature of the setting, the grouping and the ending was similar in many ways to any tryout at any level in any country. So too were the mistakes. The errors of habitual judgement that any high school player will stumble over on their way to college. The very same blunders that graduate student athletes will pratfall through every April when everything they’ve known for the past four years is turned on its head.
So these top ten topics of emphasis should be read and remembered by anyone brave enough to tread that same journey to the next level. Different in many parts to those 60 stars who will hear their name called by Adam Silver. Yet familiar in so many ways. Familiar to those who battle through combines, tryouts, scrimmages and expansion invitationals over the summer. This evening was about those who had fallen at every hurdle prior. Yet had something about them to get back on the ride and hurtle forward once more. Heading to a league they’d never heard of in a country they have no ambition to visit. Here’s hoping they read this before the call back.
1. Remember Your Lines, Guards
American basketball players are so often hindered by the juvenile rules designed to help them in their youth. The progressive nature of their three point arc’s growth through the years comes to an alarming halt in college. Ironically still some way short of its international counterpart. The FIBA line has become the downfall of many a rookie player fortunate enough to sign a deal abroad. Pity then, the poor players who continue to spend their time shooting from the arc provided in the vast majority of gyms across the US for high school or college. What offers the warmth of a comforting blanket will only serve to coddle the ambitions of a prospective rookie. Any coach, scout or manager worth their salt, will recognise those who continue to toe the childlike lines of academia and look the other way. Shoot as well as you can from your school line downtown at 20’9’’ from the hoop. It matters not. The rest of the world has already backed up to the relative suburbs of 22’2’’. And most have been since their childhood. Adapt or die America.
2. Remember Your Lines, Bigs
As if to offer some painful similarity, the US educational rules hamper inside players as much as those on the perimeter. With the international game adapting the US straight lane line and finally ditching the trapezoid in 2010, the new FIBA lane width now comes in at a shade over 16 feet. Compared to that of the collegiate width of a mere 12 feet and the low post feels more like a wide post. Good luck with that step through, up ‘n under dunk now kids. There’s an extra point on offer for those reading this and already thinking that their short corner jump shot now has to move back a similar distance as well. Congratulations man-child, you’re already thinking like a pro. Now you just have to play like one. The evolution of the graduate pro faces the same challenge: Cling to what’s comfortable and you’ll be firing up long range two point jump shots in your rookie year or posting up in the lane and tempting officials into three second violations, all while having your short corner jumpers blocked into the fifth row.
3. Get Defensive
Skipping merrily past the obvious need for import rookies to play passable defense without fouling, the aforementioned dimensional differences offer up defensive struggles that go way beyond sound spacing on the offensive end. An overlooked aspect of the FIBA game is defending said spacing. With perimeter close outs and rotations stretched way beyond what has been common to the stateside student athlete. The deeper arc means adding over a foot to your close outs in order not to come up short and find your eye being dotted by another international sniper. Likewise in reverse, rotating down to help inside against penetration means another foot to cover to avoid being dunked on after a defensive breakdown. Many a collegiate player’s lateral quickness has disappeared instantly upon graduation in just this very way. Fight the temptation player, and never return to the lines of your youth. The pro game really does separate the men from the boys.
4. Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner
To mention floor spacing twice in succession may seem a touch foreign to players habitually advised to dominate possession and with it, the eye of the tryout scout. But when it comes time to scrimmage, kudos goes to those brave souls who are man enough to utilise the corners. The initially bracing fear of being ignored for entire possessions is as real as the winter’s bracing wind outside. But showing an understanding of spacing is something not lost on those in the know. Add to that the pressure applied to your defender on having to do exactly the same thing, may come across as lazy on his part. But such patience offers up a final overwhelming benefit based on the corporate knowledge learned just moments ago. An understanding of the FIBA arc and its shorter corners, shows decision makers you know where the analytically accurate attempts come from. Now all you have to do is knock it down when the defense collapses on the inevitable high screen roll that the dribble happy guard has just demanded. He’ll thank you later, it’s an assist for him too.
5. Jack Of All Trades
“Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach” or so the saying goes. It applies to the classroom you have just left and the contract you now need. If what you’re selling is strictly a reassuring catch ‘n shoot marksman who plays passable defense all while being a team first kind of guy, then play on player. If that’s what you do and more importantly all you do, the stick to the script. But for those dreaded ‘combo guards’ and ‘versatile forwards’ without pure positions and the comfort that comes with them, then you must avoid the notion to stick to what you’re good at. Once you’ve proven that your go to move works once or twice, move on. Show something a little different. Focus on defensive rebounding there Mr. Combo Guard and go get every single one. The positionless forward should spend a possession or two in an open scrimmage, setting off the ball screens. It’s the little things that get noticed. Given that most uninitiated players will be putting zero effort into these areas, your marginal skill set will seem much higher than it actually is. You can be a jack of all trades and an apparent master of some.
6 It Pays To Plays (Every Possession)
We made it all the way to this point without a coaching cliche. Just like the vast majority of the 25 players, we came so very close. Traditionally, trialists have hit the wall after a long college season by the time tryouts come along in the spring. For those planning a trip to Mexico, their fitness levels were dependant on their own discipline or ABA and Rec League schedule. Neither usually classifies as fine preparation for a gut busting three hour trial. The temptation is, especially defensively to take the odd possession off. No one will notice. Fewer will care. Right? Wrong. Your coach was correct, this notion is dire for your prospects as it shows a poor motor and even worse. Now you’ll lose a contract rather than just playing time that weekend. The easiest of solutions has already been provided and double cash back for those who guessed it. Remember those corners we talked about? If you need a blow then go stand in the corner for 24 seconds and act like you understand spacing. Never take a possession off defensively or in transition. Being a pro is about being smarter than you look. It’s infinitely better than looking smarter than you are. You’re meant to be an intellectual graduate, so start acting like one.
7 - Stretch It Out
Here’s another you’ve heard a thousand times before from coaches and trainers but never in this context of job creation and retention. Take the stretch seriously both before and after the workout. It shows an appreciation of the finer points of professional life, body improvement and muscle maintenance. Fortune or a lack thereof plays its part in when and who the injury bug bites, both of which are beyond your control. But flexibility goes a long way in rehabilitation of many injuries, something not lost on the owner’s insurance bill and the coach’s rotation. It’s not uncommon for import players to be cut rather than face a long rehab. It’s just another check in the column of a successful player that isn’t there for the guy next to them who has already taken off his shoes.
8 - Don’t Be Antisocial
For those fortunate few players on the short list who made it to the recall, this is where their past comes back to haunt them. A simple online search of a name along with the word basketball will reveal an awful lot that even most players forgot about themselves. Be proactive and clean up your social media profiles before the tryout date. If a five year old fan and their mother can’t read your posts without blushing, take it down. Profanity, nudity, political commentary and religious views all speak to a lack of professionalism. Rookies are paid to play, represent the club and their sport. Don’t try and save the world in year one with good deeds and soundbites. Just make it to the second season for starters. Somewhere better paid too, if at all possible. Searches for the players at the New York City tryout offered up invisible college careers, tabloid headlines and all manner of tweets that would make even the POTUS look away.
9 - Do Your Homework Kids
Learn about the leagues around the world with a suitable level of competition that matches your ability and aspirations. It helps to be realistic. A junior college division three transfer is unlikely to surface in Spain’s ACB, their first year out. Find out how many teams they have, average salaries, the brand of ball they use, the number of import roster spots available, the list is almost endless. The trial’s pre-session huddle returned nothing but blank faces to the coach when he questioned the rookies about some of the simplest facts about the world these players before him confessed to be desperate to play in. This isn’t your parent’s world with CNN and the Cartoon Network as the only available TV channels outside of the continental United States. The knowledge is out there. Plug in. Power up.
10- Passport Please
The single biggest oversight in the US athlete’s mindset correctly validates the mistaken international preconception of American Exceptionalism. While a US passport offers a preconceived notion of basketball excellence to the outside world, that premise loses value with every passing year. The world kicks and bounces balls now in almost equal measure making more domestic players better able to compete in their own leagues as standards spike. Thus lowering the chances for imported players. So players are advised to join the revolution and search their family history for that valuable international heritage. Seek out that second generation passport from the country of your grandparents birth and embrace it. It’s a ticket to ten open roster spots instead of just two in many cases. Of the players who made the call back for the Ciba Copa tour, not a single one had considered a second passport. Despite living in a self confessed melting pot of a city with 117 diplomatic missions, all headquartered within reach of public transport. Granted, it’s of limited use for Mexico, but European and African passports are worth their weight in relative gold across the Atlantic for prospecting professionals.
This article is an excerpt from the next edition of The Pinch Post Magazine and will continue to chart the journey of the final five potential professional rookies on their 2,500 mile journey from New York City to the Ciba Copa preseason tour and beyond into their career as pro-ballers.
The Pinch Post Magazine covers global basketball like never before and the inaugural issue is available to download for free at THE PINCH POST Covering the game from the Caribbean to Columbia and Spain to Slovenia. With insights into starting out as a collegiate coach, the career of a basketballing trailblazer and a study of sports cosmetics. Monthly items include the SUBscribeR article, selected from submissions by our readers, Vegas sportsbook tips from our resident professional gambler and the sporting secrets that basketball can learn from the soccer world. Follow along for the ride @ThePinchPost and download your copy for free now.
