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  1. #16
    NBA rookie of the year
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Didn't play school ball, we don't have school ball in Sweden. We have clubs and then we have regional teams for teens and then youth national teams.

    Wasn't that tall when being a kid, grew one year from 12-13 or 13-14, and suddenly I became the tallest kid around. Was really serious about basketball and practiced 5 times a week from the age of 12.

    Played in our regional team and played fairly well, grew even more and we had a really good coach so our team became one of the top 3 teams in Scandinavia. We won Scania Cup which is the unoffical club tournament for the best teams in Scandinavia.

    3 kids from my team played for the youth national team and I was one of them, played from u-15 til' u-17 and it was the best basketball memory for me. My knee problems started at age 15, being 6'7 and practicing that hard really took it's toll on me.

    At age 16 I got the opportunity to play DIV 1 basketball in Sweden which is the second highest league, played well for 1 year and I had the teams 2nd highest ppg average and then at age 17, almost 18, I got a contract to play in the Swedish basketball league.

    Played for 3.5 seasons before I quit, couldn't handle practicing and playing that much while studying. And the pay was shit, could only pay rent basically with that money and sometimes not even that. Went down to DIV 1 basketball and then I studied at Texas A&M for a semester and while moving I basically ended my basketball "career". Now I play in the 2nd division and the competition is pretty bad but it was a long time ago basketball was this much fun.

  2. #17
    NBA rookie of the year
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    And for the kids in this thread, don't waste so much time on playing basketball. I regret all the hours I spent in the gym, sure, through basketball I got friends for life and I had a blast playing at high competition level but in the end I wish I spent more time being a kid.

    Becoming a pro is basically impossible, if you're not crazy good, then spend your time more wisely.

  3. #18
    Very good NBA starter
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    6ft tall and averaged 11 rebs per game...

    you live in asia or something?

  4. #19
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    playing D1 next year

  5. #20
    Sunshine State
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Quote Originally Posted by dubeta
    playing D1 next year

  6. #21
    Local High School Star
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Quote Originally Posted by millwad
    Didn't play school ball, we don't have school ball in Sweden. We have clubs and then we have regional teams for teens and then youth national teams.

    Wasn't that tall when being a kid, grew one year from 12-13 or 13-14, and suddenly I became the tallest kid around. Was really serious about basketball and practiced 5 times a week from the age of 12.

    Played in our regional team and played fairly well, grew even more and we had a really good coach so our team became one of the top 3 teams in Scandinavia. We won Scania Cup which is the unoffical club tournament for the best teams in Scandinavia.

    3 kids from my team played for the youth national team and I was one of them, played from u-15 til' u-17 and it was the best basketball memory for me. My knee problems started at age 15, being 6'7 and practicing that hard really took it's toll on me.

    At age 16 I got the opportunity to play DIV 1 basketball in Sweden which is the second highest league, played well for 1 year and I had the teams 2nd highest ppg average and then at age 17, almost 18, I got a contract to play in the Swedish basketball league.

    Played for 3.5 seasons before I quit, couldn't handle practicing and playing that much while studying. And the pay was shit, could only pay rent basically with that money and sometimes not even that. Went down to DIV 1 basketball and then I studied at Texas A&M for a semester and while moving I basically ended my basketball "career". Now I play in the 2nd division and the competition is pretty bad but it was a long time ago basketball was this much fun.
    Maybe you should try playing in some Asian league if you're good (and really want to go pro). I think they pay higher over there.

  7. #22
    2nd Greatest Player Lebron23's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Played in our intramurals during Hs to college, But regularly played in a basketball tournament during the summer. I played against some former PBA players and current PBA D-league players.

  8. #23
    The Special One k0kakw0rld's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Played in middle school and high school as a guard.

    At that time soccer was my first love. i played for my city and represented it at the state championships Then i played wide receiver for my high school football team. I am very athletic and versatile.

  9. #24
    College superstar Cold soul's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    I played in both middle school and high school ball. I averaged about 12 points a game which ain't that good I rebounded well and was a team player. I only played my freshman and sophomore years though wasn't a big fan of my coach.
    Last edited by Cold soul; 09-22-2014 at 04:27 PM.

  10. #25
    NBA sixth man of the year Thorpesaurous's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    I was a good to very good HS player. Varsity Lettered three seasons, which doesn't really mean anything anymore, but getting that letter as a sophomore back then was a merit. And then I managed as a freshmen in college before walking on for three seasons.

  11. #26
    Squirtle Squad PerfectCell's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Quote Originally Posted by Thorpesaurous
    I was a good to very good HS player. Varsity Lettered three seasons, which doesn't really mean anything anymore, but getting that letter as a sophomore back then was a merit. And then I managed as a freshmen in college before walking on for three seasons.
    Could you give a brief rundown on how walking on for a lower tier D1 team works as a freshman straight out of highschool? Obviously every situation is different.

    Thanks

  12. #27
    NBA sixth man of the year Thorpesaurous's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Quote Originally Posted by PerfectCell
    Could you give a brief rundown on how walking on for a lower tier D1 team works as a freshman straight out of highschool? Obviously every situation is different.

    Thanks

    For me, I walked into the coach's office probably the second week of classes, introduced myself, and said I would like to try to walk on. We talked and I gave him a brief rundown of my resume. Then I was invited to start working out with the team at weight training and the like.

    That first season there were six of us trying to walk on (at least for real, there were a couple other guys who were technically walk ins during my time there, but had academic scholarships, and had been given roster spots ahead of time). We would go to practice early, where we'd be worked out super hard for an hour to an hour and a half by a couple assistants. A shitload of running. And a ton of skills drills, usually also involving running. Almost no direct competition with each other.

    After that we'd go through the regular practice too, which since it was early in the season, also had a lot of running. I was in rediculously good shape by that point, so that helped. The other thing that helped was that I did, and still do really, have a knack, or gift, for seeing basketball plays. I was a PG in HS, but played all five positions. I'm not huge, 6', 190-200 lbs at the time, and a good athlete, I could occasionally dunk, but the reason I got time at all five spots was mostly because I could run all of our action at every spot. I had two coaches in HS too. My first was an old school guy. He was super creative defensively. We ran all types of interesting stuff on that end. Run and jumps type bait traps. We had a good center and we ran a match up 1-3-1 which was like a man to man where he didn't guard anybody. It was all really high minded stuff. Offensively he did a lot of read and react stuff. There were a lot of cuts and movements that depended on where the ball was on the court vs. a particular defensive alignment. A lot of continuity.
    My senior year I got a new coach. He had played at George Washington, played professionally in France and Isreal. He's among the best guys I've ever played with. A 6-6 left PG who was strong as an ox and could shoot it from seemingly anywhere. But he brought an entirely different approach. We were running pro style sets. We had maybe a half dozen continuity offenses, then probably a half dozen set plays out of each look (actually they were all pretty much the same, a PnR, a cross screen, but they each came out of the different base set). Another probably 15 set out of bounds. Probably ten defenses. It was a lot. But I excelled because I could run everything from anywhere.

    Anyway ... I was digressing there ... during tryouts, after the initial workout, the team would get into game action stuff. Us 6 walk ons were rarely used. I think it was a test of our focus. But one of the things I could do was follow the actions we were running, and whenever I was put in, I may have been overmatched at times, but I was always in the right spot at the right time.

    I didn't make the team that year. They kept one walk on. A kid who was much bigger than me. About 6-6, and he played down low and was physical. He was a senior and it was his second year trying out. They did ask if I'd be interested in managing, and I spent the season tracking what we ran, who ran it, and how it worked. I remember walking into the coach's office before practice one day with my chart and suggesting we run a particularly play to a particular guy backwards, because he was left handed and he did much better from the other side when ran other stuff. They made fun of me, but they installed the flipped version the next day.

    The following season I tried out again. They asked if I wouldn't just want to manage again. I told them no. I went through the ringer again. I wasn't in quite as good a shape as the year before, as college will do that to you. But I made it through, and was just more comfortable physically even though I wasn't in as good a shape. The extra strength just from aging had made me a better shooter than I was in HS too. I made it that year. And the third year they didn't even put me through the walk on tryouts. We did get a new manager, and I helped her track stuff through both of those seasons.

  13. #28
    Squirtle Squad PerfectCell's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    That was a great read. There's a lot guys in hs now who say shit like "ballislife" and that they would do anything to make a D1 roster but really ain't about that life like you.

    Like to practice your ass off in 5 am summer workouts just for an outside chance of making a roster would break most of these guys. Than they realize that a lot of the smaller D1 schools have smaller crowds than many high school games and as a bench player they have almost no prospect of playing pro even in some obscure country it's really easy to be broken.

    I feel like guys like you who had to make it by having next level bball iq and working your tail off rather than being 6'8 and blessed with ridiculous gifts make the best coaches which is evidenced everywhere from hs to nba from what ive seen. i remember you had a small coaching endeavour with a youth catholic league in your area, you still coaching?

    cheers

  14. #29
    NBA sixth man of the year Thorpesaurous's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Quote Originally Posted by PerfectCell
    That was a great read. There's a lot guys in hs now who say shit like "ballislife" and that they would do anything to make a D1 roster but really ain't about that life like you.

    Like to practice your ass off in 5 am summer workouts just for an outside chance of making a roster would break most of these guys. Than they realize that a lot of the smaller D1 schools have smaller crowds than many high school games and as a bench player they have almost no prospect of playing pro even in some obscure country it's really easy to be broken.

    I feel like guys like you who had to make it by having next level bball iq and working your tail off rather than being 6'8 and blessed with ridiculous gifts make the best coaches which is evidenced everywhere from hs to nba from what ive seen. i remember you had a small coaching endeavour with a youth catholic league in your area, you still coaching?

    cheers

    My friend's kids are now 6 and 9, and for the last couple years I've been coaching with him in our local youth league. It is really not much. A couple games a week, and two practices, an hour each, on half a gym, each week. It can be a little frustrating. But we've been really good. My friend is 6-6, and in HS was probably 225. And his kids have some of those genes. They're both really good. Frankly they've been good at most of the sports they've tried so far. The 6 year old plays with us in the older division and legitimately starts. Even in our limited time, we're running some decent stuff. We run a Man, a 2/3, and 1/3/1 defensively, that we switch on the fly. And we legitimately fast break, and run through some secondary stuff. But getting any semblence of offense has been really tough. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link, and we've got a few. So we're teaching basic movement and positioning concepts. "One player needs to be behind the ball". "If you're away from the ball come towards it. If you're on the same side of the court as the ball go screen on someone coming toward it."

    We've already started talking about trying to find a travel program, a catholic program, something where we can get them more time in the gym. Better competition, and better teammates (which is underrated in my view). But of late, that's as much as I've done. I had sort of made up for it by getting back into a men's league the last few years, where I have been horrible, but both years have yielded a torn achilles.

  15. #30
    Saw a basketball once kingsleymore's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    I played on my eighth grade team, but was cut from the team in ninth grade. From tenth grade onwards, I played on my volleyball team. I didn't play much basketball until I played for my rec. team in university.

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