Two people from my small town made it to division 1 college basketball and one to the NBA. But they both had dads that were really good so they just trained them at an early age. I just don't see how you would get enough reps playing pickup games after school past the year like 89 or some shyt
So that's what eliminates the random super athlete hooper that can't dribble with his left hand and had a weird form. But so many of them turned into people we clowned for being busts or players that you say "if he ever develops a jumper" WHY ISN'T HE ALREADY WORKING ON HIS JUMPER???? How do you show up at even 16 years old with no jumper? If you have a bad jumper it's poor work ethic and that's how they should be judged, because it's literally only one way to get better and you ignored it
*end of rant of why I hate nikkas with no jumper*
The first thing the trainer did to my son was break down the jumper to build it up with a solid foundation. Like for my son's games last week, a lot of kids have broke jumpshots. His son's is textbook now. Most missed shots are either too long or too short but almost always straight. I didn't have the wherewithal to fix my broke shot growing up. It took on so many forms and nothing really stuck. Most importantly, the thing these kids should be working on is their dribbling ability. That should be priority #1. If you can't dribble then you are a liability on the court. Before I handed my son to a trainer, coach or whatever, that was something that I did. You can get the mechanics of the jump shot fixed over time. Dribbling came before shooting with my son.
What this journey has taught me with my son is making sure that you put your kids in the hands of people that knows what they are doing. So often, I see parent drop their kids off at training and/or at practice and then dip till its time to get them. Whereas, I'm there for every shot, every pass and every dribble to make sure my son is getting a benefit to his skillset. It took a while but I think he's in a great place. This is the anatomy of my son's development currently.
The trainer is where he gets the most back to the basics, building foundational work. As in, if he sees something is off, he'll correct it. He's most responsible for my son's jumpshot looking like it does. I took a sampling of videos of training and uploaded it below. It's shows floaters, jab steps, how to get your feet set when coming off of a pick, getting and staying low when driving to the hoop. My son is the only elementary aged kid that the trainer currently allows to train with the older kids during their sessions because outside of height and things that need jumping ability like certain finishes at the rim, he legit does the majority of these drills better than most of the older kids.
Now, this is with his travel team. They do some drill stuff but mostly, it's about plays and spacing. Don't get me wrong, they do learn things and concepts but its geared towards the team. Whatever skills you come with, that's what the coaches are going to utilize. Not a lot of building upon the foundation here. In these clips though, just showcasing the jumpshot, he's a lefty and the shot is more or less a textbook jumpshot. Toes pointed down, guide hand in the right position, follow through held and proper balance when getting into the shooting motion.
With his school team, we have more high end talent but the bottom is far below. His travel team on average is a better player with the exception of one kid. That said, these are just dribbling things the coach did the first practice, to see where everyone is. After a while, he called my son up to demonstrate one of the dribbling drills to his teammates. These are just simple drills that most kids should be able to do but most can't do them well. My son is the best dribbler with either hand on his team so it should come as no surprise that he runs point.
All in all, a lot of people throw money at this and don't really get real return on investment. My ultimate rationale behind all of this is that is that now, I do see a scholarship in his future. I've thrown my son into many things that he almost always shines. We go to these tournaments, camps, etc. and so often, many are like, who is the kid with all the bushy hair on his head, lol. More importantly, my eyes don't lie to me. Can score with the best of them, typically dribbles better than the best of them but the gift is his vision and passing. In no way, shape or form am I saying I have the next Kyrie or Trae Young chilling here at the crib with me. What I am saying is that I don't know of too many 5th graders than has both the past and current varsity basketball coach of his future high school liking all of his basketball clips that I post on Facebook nor do I know too many 5th graders where the coach is calling plays for iso clearouts for you. He really didn't even do anything crazy, but they got buckets both times. The isos got called on two straight trips down the court. Hell, I'll show them below.
He's got people waiting for him and he knows it. However, he doesn't run from it so that's a large part of why I ride shotgun on his journey. He's long set a goal, 4 year starter on varsity. Come hell or high water, I'll open up every door and avenue to get him to his goal.
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