CAREERS IN PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL doc

CAREERS IN
PROFESSIONAL
BASKETBALL
In sti tute Re search Num ber 29
ISBN 1-58511-029-9
O*Net SOC Code 27-2021.00
CAREERS IN
PROFESSIONAL
BASKETBALL
YOUR DREAM CAN COME TRUE
2
PRO FES SIONAL BAS KET BALL IS THE KIND OF CA REER THAT YOU DREAM ABOUT
hav ing when you are a child. For years and years, boys and girls have
imag ined be ing the one drib bling the ball down the court, stop ping at
the three-point line and launch ing the win ning shot. Children have
of ten pre tended to leap into the air and pull off an amaz ing
360-de gree wind mill dunk, all the time won der ing what it re ally would
feel like to ac com plish such a feat. Young sters yearn to some day be
the one mak ing the im pos si ble, no-look bounce pass to set-up an easy
lay-up. It is truly the stuff that child hood dreams are made of.
Yet, for most peo ple, pro fes sional bas ket ball ca reers re main
dreams. All too of ten, tal ented in di vid u als give up their quest for
bas ket ball glory be cause the odds seem in sur mount able. They may
be lieve that there are too many other play ers with more tal ent. They
may feel that they just aren’t good enough. They may feel that there
sim ply aren’t enough job open ings for them to have a prayer of
land ing one. Or they may sim ply be afraid of putt ing in the hard work
re quired and tak ing such a mon u men tal risk.
True, it is hard to be come a pro fes sional ath lete. How ever, it is
pos si ble, pro vided a per son knows how to go about it, has the de sire,
and is will ing to put forth the ef fort re quired to find suc cess.

Do you think you have what it takes to find em ploy ment in this
com pet i tive ca reer field? Are you will ing to work hard and make
sac ri fices in or der to make your hoop dreams a re al ity? If so, then this
re port can help you. It con tains tips from the ex perts, as well as
per sonal com ments from cur rent and for mer bas ket ball stars. It
cer tainly won’t guar an tee you a long and lu cra tive ca reer as a
bas ket ball player. It won’t even guar an tee you a short stint as a
bench-warmer in the semi-pro fes sional leagues. How ever, it will give
you a glimpse at the prep a ra tion, ef fort, ded i ca tion, per sis tence, and
psy cho log i cal for ti tude needed to step onto the court in the big
leagues.
3
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
THE EAS I EST AND MOST HELP FUL THING YOU CAN DO TO HELP YOUR SELF OUT ON
the road to a ca reer in bas ket ball is quite sim ply to play the game. Play
as part of a high school or lo cal com mu nity team. Play with the
Am a teur Ath letic Un ion, which is an or ga ni za tion that spon sors teams
for both boys (Web site at aauboysbasketball.org) and girls
(aaugirlsbasketball.org). Play with friends, in churches, in parks, on the
streets, or else where. The more you can play, the better.
How ever, don’t just play. Learn while you are play ing. Get a feel
for the team dy namic, and get used to be ing a team player. Prac tice
var i ous shots on your own, like the free-throw, the three-pointer, and
the lay-up. Do pass ing and drib bling drills. Doing these things will give
you the op por tu nity to hone your skills, both alone and in game
con di tions, as well as to help you gain new abil i ties. It will con trib ute
the most to im prov ing your game and thus your chances some day to
play in the pros.
How ever, play ing is far from the only thing you can do. You can
read books by and about for mer play ers and coaches, as they have a

lot to share about the road to the pros as well as what the life of a
pro fes sional player is like. You can also read how-to books and watch
skill-build ing vid eos to learn new things that might help you mas ter
tech niques for use on the court.
You should cer tainly look into at tend ing a skill-build ing clinic or
camp. These ac tiv i ties may help teach you se crets and add new as pects
to your play. More in for ma tion on these clin ics, as well as a list of Web
sites that list clinic dates and lo ca tions, is avail able in the Getting
Started sec tion of this re port.
4
HISTORY OF THE CAREER
DR. JAMES NAISMITH CRE ATED BAS ket ball, OR “BAS KET BALL” AS IT WAS AC TU ALLY
called at first, in 1891.
Naismith, a na tive of Almonte, On tario, Can ada, was teach ing
phys i cal ed u ca tion at a Chris tian school in the win ter of that year
when he was asked to de velop an in door game to help keep
ath letic-minded young men en ter tained. He ini tially tried to adapt
out door games like la crosse or soc cer for in door use, but these ef forts
failed. He even tu ally de vel oped a game where play ers take a ball
sim i lar to a soc cer ball and throw it through an el e vated goal, which
hap pened to be an old peach bas ket.
The last step was for Naismith to de velop a set of rules for his new
game. As the doc tor wanted a game that was fairly non vi o lent and did
not al low rough hous ing, the first seven rules es tab lished guide lines
for game play. Among those rules: “A player can not run with the ball,
as he must throw it from the spot on which he catches it…” and “No
shoul der ing, hold ing, push ing, trip ping, or strik ing in any way the
per son of an op po nent shall be al lowed.” The eighth rule dealt with
scor ing, the ninth with out-of-bounds pol i cies, the tenth and elev enth
with ref er ees, the twelfth with game length, and the fi nal rule with

de clar ing a win ner.
Naismith’s game debuted, ac cord ing to sources, on De cem ber 21,
1891 and caught on quickly with schools and col leges through out the
United States. Pressed for a name for this hot new sport, the doc tor
passed on the mon i ker Naismith ball and opted to dub the game
bas ket ball. Thus was the phe nom ena born.
Ac cord ing to the As so ci a tion for Pro fes sional Bas ket ball Re search,
bas ket ball leagues date back to 1898 and the Na tional Bas ket Ball
League, which ran un til 1904. Look at this in ter est ing Web site at:
home town.aol.com/bradleyrd
/apbr.html
Also around this time there was the In ter state League, which ran
for one sea son in 1899-00. Sev eral other leagues also started play in
the early 1900s. Among them: the Amer i can Bas ket Ball As so ci a tion
(1900), the Amer i can Bas ket ball League (1901-02), the Cen tral
Mas sa chu setts Bas ket ball League (1901-02), the Mas sa chu setts
Bas ket ball League (1900-01), the New Eng land Bas ket ball As so ci a tion
(1904-05), the New Eng land Bas ket ball League (1903-04), the
Phil a del phia Bas ket Ball League (1902-03), the West ern Mas sa chu setts
Bas ket ball League (1903-04), and the West ern Penn syl va nia Bas ket ball
League (1903-04).
5
The Birth of the NBA
By the late 1940s, the pop u lar ity of pro fes sional bas ket ball reached
such a level that the op er a tors of the na tion’s big gest sports ven ues
de cided to join to gether and cre ate a new cross-coun try league. Their
vi sion be came a re al ity in the sum mer of 1946 with the ad vent of the
Bas ket ball As so ci a tion of Amer ica (BAA), which even tu ally be came the
Na tional Bas ket ball As so ci a tion (NBA) that we know to day.
The league fea tured teams lo cated in Boston, Chi cago, Cleve land,

De troit, New York, Phil a del phia, Pitts burgh, Prov i dence, St. Louis,
To ronto, and Wash ing ton. The BAA still faced com pe ti tion from the
Na tional Bas ket ball League, which de spite play ing in smaller ven ues is
gen er ally con sid ered to have fea tured su pe rior tal ent. None the less, the
up start new league man aged to ac quire a mix of for mer Amer i can
Bas ket ball League stars and col le giate play ers and took the court for
the first time in No vem ber of 1946.
The league’s first game oc curred on No vem ber 1 of that year, as
the To ronto Hus kies played host to the New York Knick er bock ers. Ozzie
Schectman of the Knick er bock ers scored the first bas ket of the game.
New York led 16-12 at the end of the first quar ter and held onto a
37-29 ad van tage at the half. To ronto ral lied and took their first lead of
the game in the third quar ter. Trailing 48-44 at the start of the fi nal
pe riod, New York ral lied, even tu ally win ning 68-66 thanks to scores by
Dick Murphy and Tommy Byrnes in the fi nal 2 1/2-min utes of the
game. Sadowski led the Hus kies with 18 points, while Leo Gottlieb
topped all New York play ers by scor ing 14.
How ever, the league’s ini tial 60-game reg u lar sea son be longed to
the Wash ing ton Cap i tals and their coach, the leg end ary Red Au er bach.
Wash ing ton rolled to a 49-11 re cord and only lost one of their 30
home games, win ning the Eastern Di vi sion Cham pi on ship by a
14-game mar gin. How ever, it was the sec ond-place War riors of
Phil a del phia who claimed the BAA’s first ever ti tle by downing the
West Di vi sion Cham pion Chi cago Stags 4-1 in the best-of-seven fi nals.
The War riors also boasted the league’s lead ing scorer dur ing the
1946-47 sea son – a 6’ 5” for ward from Ken tucky by the name of Joe
Fulks, who av er aged 23.2 points per game dur ing the reg u lar sea son.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the NBA be gan to fal ter.
Scoring was way down, ac cord ing to an ar ti cle by Alex Sachare of the
Web site www.NBA.com, high lighted by a 19-18 night mare be tween

the Min ne ap o lis Lakers and the Fort Wayne Pis tons on No vem ber 22,
1950. In or der to in crease of fense and make the game more ex cit ing,
6
the league took dras tic mea sures and in 1954, de cided to first
im ple ment the 24-sec ond shot clock. The im pact was im mense and
im me di ate. Ac cord ing to Sachare, NBA teams av er aged 93.1 points
per game that sea son – an in crease of nearly 14 points per game over
the pre vi ous year! In 1994-95, the Boston Celtics be came the first
team in NBA his tory to av er age 100 points per game for an en tire
sea son.
Of course, the NBA has an ex tremely rich his tory. From great
play ers like Wilt Cham ber lain and Bill Rus sell to leg end ary dy nas ties
like the Boston Celtics and, more re cently, the Chi cago Bulls, the
Na tional Bas ket ball As so ci a tion has be come syn on y mous with
pro fes sional bas ket ball.
In 1999, the league fur ther en trench ed it self as the top pro hoops
league in the world with the for ma tion of the Na tional Bas ket ball
De vel op men tal League, or NBDL. The NBDL, which started play in
2001, is a semi-pro league formed to de velop po ten tial NBA play ers
and fu ture pro fes sional bas ket ball stars. Both the NBA and the NBDL
con tinue to play to day, and both con tinue to be the pri mary
em ploy ers of male pro fes sional bas ket ball play ers in the United States.
History of Women’s Basketball One of the ear li est suc cess
sto ries in all of bas ket ball his tory was that of a Ca na dian women’s
team called the Ed mon ton Com mer cial Grad u ates, or “Grads.” The
Grads were a six-player team that toured are nas around the world
from 1915 to 1940. Dur ing their barn storm ing years, they won 502
out of the 522 games they played and held onto the ti tle North
Amer i can Cham pions from 1923 to 1940. They also par tic i pated in the
Olym pics four times, never los ing a game in any of those ap pear ances.

Naismith him self has been quoted as call ing the Grads “the fin est
team that ever stepped out on a floor.”
Even if Naismith felt they were the best, the Grads were far from
the only barn storm ing fe male team that gained pop u lar ity in the first
half of the 20th cen tury. In 1936, Mis souri-na tive C.M. Olsen formed a
women’s team called the All-Amer i can Red Heads. What sep a rated the
Red Heads from most teams was the fact that they had a gim mick –
each mem ber of the team dyed her hair red, thus liv ing up to the
mon i ker. The gim mick worked won ders, as the Red Heads drew
im pres sive crowds of fans wher ever they went. The team toured the
coun try, play ing against men’s teams and re main ing in ex is tence for
more than 50 years.
7
The la dies took their first crack at an es tab lished pro fes sional
league in 1978, with the for ma tion of the Women’s Pro fes sional
Bas ket ball League, or WBL. The first WBL game pit ted the Chi cago
Hus tle against the Mil wau kee Does. The first bas ket came just sec onds
into the game, as Joanie Smith of the Does sank a jump shot to give
her team the lead. Chi cago led by three at the half and took a
com mand ing 13-point lead mid way through the fi nal pe riod.
Mil wau kee ral lied, but in the end the Hus tle came away with a 92-87
win.
The first sea son saw many ups and downs for the rookie league. In
Jan u ary of 1979, the league an nounced ex pan sion. How ever, there
was im mense tur moil on many of the ex ist ing fran chises, and me dia
cov er age was ei ther sparse or scath ing. Sev eral teams were crit i cized
for their busi ness prac tices, and in Feb ru ary of 1979, the league went
so far as to as sume con trol of one team (the Dayton Rockettes).
Ul ti mately, though, the sea son forged on ward, and the Hous ton
An gels downed the Iowa Cor nets to win the in au gu ral WBL

cham pi on ship. Shortly there af ter, the league an nounced that it was
los ing money. By the end of 1981, the WBL ceased opertations.
Even though the WBL was short lived, it helped lay the
ground work for women’s leagues to come. Dur ing its last sea son, it
saw com pe ti tion in the form of the La dies Pro fes sional Bas ket ball
As so ci a tion, which played one sea son in 1980-81. In 1984 came the
Women’s Amer i can Bas ket ball As so ci a tion, which also played just one
sea son be fore call ing it quits. Two years later came the Na tional
Women’s Bas ket ball As so ci a tion. It never saw the court, dis band ing
prior to its first sea son.
There have been many other women’s leagues that have come
and gone since the WBL, but none en joyed the suc cess of the
Women’s Na tional Bas ket ball As so ci a tion (WNBA). The WNBA was
es tab lished by the Na tional Bas ket ball As so ci a tion Board of Gov er nors
in April of 1996. The first player signings came that Oc to ber, as the
league made deals with stars Sheryl Swoops and Rebecca Lobo. Eight
teams were es tab lished for the first sea son – the Char lotte Sting, the
Cleve land Rockers, the Hous ton Comets and the New York Lib erty in
the East ern Con fer ence and the Los An geles Sparks, the Phoe nix
Mer cury, the Sac ra mento Mon archs and the Utah Starzz in the
West ern Con fer ence.
The first WNBA game pit ted New York against Los An geles and
came on June 21, 1997. Sparks guard Penny Toler was the first player
8
to score a bas ket, but the Lib erty went on to claim a 67-57 vic tory.
Cynthia Coo per went on to be come the league’s first Most Valu able
Player, and the Comets laid claim to the first ever WNBA
Cham pi on ship.
The league’s first All-Star Game would n’t be held un til 1999. The
game was held at Mad i son Square Gar den, and Lisa Leslie took home

MVP hon ors as she led the West ern Con fer ence to a 79-61 win over
the East ern Con fer ence.
De spite re ports that the league has fi nan cial trou bles, the WNBA is
still the top pro fes sional women’s bas ket ball league in the world.
Games are tele vised on net work TV, as well as ESPN ca ble out lets. Also,
for the first time, the league’s player draft is cov ered live on an ESPN
chan nel. Ac cord ing to the league’s of fi cial Web site, WNBA games are
broad cast to nearly 60 mil lion fans ev ery sea son.
WHERE BASKETBALL PLAYERS WORK
THOSE LOOK ING TO PLAY PRO FES SIONAL BAS KET BALL WILL BE WORK ING AS PART OF
one of a hand ful of or ga nized leagues or some times as a mem ber of a
trav el ing or barn storm ing club, al though such teams are some what
rare these days. Cur rent pro fes sional leagues in clude the fol low ing:
National Basketball Association (NBA)
Continental Basketball Association (CBA)
National Basketball Developmental League (NBDL)
National Basketball League (NBL)
Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Women’s American Basketball Association (WABA), and the
United States Basketball League (USBL)
Teams are tra di tion ally cen tered in large cit ies such as Boston,
Chi cago, De troit, Los An geles, Mi ami, and New York, but travel from
city to city on a reg u lar ba sis for road games.
9
Of course, pro vided you are se ri ously pur su ing a ca reer in
pro fes sional bas ket ball, you prob a bly al ready knew all of that. You
should also al ready be in ti mately fa mil iar with the var i ous workplaces
that are com monly uti lized by bas ket ball play ers, pro fes sional or
oth er wise. The rea son, of course, is be cause you are most likely al ready
putt ing in hours upon hours of work at these lo ca tions, ei ther on your

own or as part of an or ga nized school or com mu nity club (or both).
You prac tice and play on a bas ket ball court. You pre pare in a
locker room. You use a gym or weight-room to help train and build a
better phy sique. These ac tiv i ties may get more time-con sum ing and
more elab o rate as you move from high-school hoops through col lege
and into the pro ranks, but they will al ways be an es sen tial part of
your work du ties.
How ever, there are still some changes that you should be aware
of. Pro fes sional courts, while ex tremely sim i lar to col le giate or high
school courts, do dif fer some what from their NCAA and prep level
coun ter parts, and since pro fes sional bas ket ball play ers spend much of
their time prac tic ing or play ing in these are nas, you should be aware
of the in con gru i ties and pre pare for them ac cord ingly.
Ac cord ing to in for ma tion pro vided by The Spalding Book of Rules,
men’s and women’s prep courts are 84ft long and 50ft wide. NBA,
WNBA, and NCAA courts are all 10ft lon ger (mea sur ing 94ft long and
50ft wide). The book goes on to point out other dif fer ences. In col lege
hoops as well as in the WNBA, the free-throw lane is 12 x 19, as
com pared to the NBA’s 16 x 19 lane. All forms of bas ket ball place the
free-throw line 15ft from the bas ket while the three-point line var ies,
mea sur ing 19ft 9in from the cen ter of the bas ket in the NCAA and
WNBA and 23ft 9in in the men’s pro fes sional league.
In all forms of bas ket ball, how ever, the field of play will also
con tain the fol low ing: an 18in bas ket, lo cated 10ft above the foor; a
back board that mea sures 6 x 4; a pair of side lines and a pair of end
lines; a di vi sion line at cen ter court; two cen ter cir cles, one with a 2ft
ra dius sur rounded by one with a 6ft ra dius; and a pair of 28ft long
coach ing boxes, one lo cated be hind each side line.
10
PLAYING THE GAME

OF COURSE, YOUR PRI MARY RE SPON SI BIL ITY IN THIS CA REER IS TO PLAY
bas ket ball. Ev ery thing you do, from weight train ing and car dio vas cu lar
ex er cise to study ing game tapes and prac tic ing scor ing drills, is done
with the goal of mak ing you a better bas ket ball player. How ever, what
many as pir ing pro fes sional play ers fail to re al ize is that bas ket ball it self
con tains many in di vid ual tasks that need to be com pleted dur ing the
course of a game. Each of these fun da men tals is part of be ing a
bas ket ball player, and you should prac tice and be come highly skilled at
them all.
Shooting It should go with out say ing that shoot ing the ball and
mak ing bas kets is the sin gle most es sen tial part of the sport. As Dr.
Ralph L. Pim writes in his book Winning Bas ket ball, “Shoot ing is the
most im por tant fun da men tal in the game of bas ket ball. Re gard less of
how well a team does ev ery thing else, if it can not score points it will
not be suc cess ful.” Thus, it is es sen tial that bas ket ball play ers hone
their skills in a va ri ety of shots, in clud ing jump shots, free throws,
lay-ups, and three-point ers.
A suc cess ful shot is a me chan i cally sound one. When shoot ing,
your feet should be ap prox i mately shoul der-width apart and pointed
to ward the bas ket. Cen ter the hand you shoot with (your strong hand)
on the bas ket ball and place your weak hand on the side to help
bal ance and guide the shot. Cock your wrist back slightly, but not all
the way. It should be slanted, not flat. Keep the el bow of your
shoot ing arm pointed to ward the bas ket. Con cen trate, fo cus on the
bas ket and avoid dis trac tions. Thrust your wrist and fin gers for ward as
though they were a cat a pult, and make sure that you fully ex tend your
el bow on the fol low-through. This tech nique works well for nearly
ev ery type of shot.
Passing Of course, you won’t be the only one scor ing all of the time.
That’s where pass ing co mes in. It is es sen tial that a good bas ket ball

player has the abil ity to find open re ceiv ers, an tic i pate the move ment
of team mates, and then de ter mine whether or not they are ready to
take pos ses sion of the ball. You should also be able to quickly an a lyze
whether or not they have a clear and makable shot.
Once you find a re ceiver who is open and in po si tion to score, you
need to give the player a good pass. Not only does that mean mak ing
sure the pass is not in ter cepted by a de fender, but mak ing sure that it
reaches your team mate while still open, and that the ball is de liv ered
11
so that lit tle time elapses be tween the re cep tion and the shot at tempt.
The re ceiver needs to be able to take the pass and shoot quickly, and
there is lit tle room for er ror.
Ball-Handling There is an old bas ket ball ad age that says you must
never put the ball on the floor un less you have a good rea son to
drib ble. That said, you will of ten need to drib ble in or der to cre ate a
pass ing lane or shoot ing op por tu nity, so you should be able to han dle
the ball well. The first rule of ball-han dling is to keep your head up.
You should never have to look at the ball; it should feel like part of
your body. To cre ate space and avoid turn overs, al ways use the hand
far thest from the de fender guard ing you. Never halt a drib ble un less
you can do some thing with the ball, like take a shot or pass it to a
team mate. Also, use your fin gers to con trol the ball when drib bling,
not the palm of your hand. This will give you more con trol over the
ball and will make er rant drib bles less likely.
Rebounding Not ev ery shot will go in, so you need to be able to get
in po si tion to col lect the misses for your team. Re bounding re quires
both ef fort and proper tech nique. Of ten times, the player who tries
hard est is the one who gets the ball, so al ways make sure to at tack the
boards with your best ef fort. You should al ways as sume that ev ery
shot will be missed and re act ac cord ingly. Move to ward the bas ket

im me di ately af ter the shot is taken. Get your hands up and pre pare to
leap for the ball. Use your body like a road block, and place your self
be tween the bas ket and your op po nent (this is called “box ing-out”).
Once you are in po si tion, jump with ev ery thing you have, fight for the
ball, and make sure you pro tect it once you land.
Defense Some ex perts feel that the most im por tant part of the sport
of bas ket ball is the de fen sive side, and it is hard to ar gue that point. In
pro fes sional bas ket ball, just about ev ery player has world-class
shoot ing abil ity. Of ten times, the dif fer ence be tween vic tory and
de feat is keep ing these play makers from hav ing a chance to take or
make the shot. There is no magic drill that helps a player be come
stron ger on de fense. Playing good de fense re quires hard work,
per sis tence, ded i ca tion, prep a ra tion and in tel li gence.
You have to know your op po nent’s strengths, weak nesses, and
ten den cies, and you need to make a su per hu man ef fort to pre vent
them from play ing their game. Te nac ity is a de fen sive player’s best
friend. How ever, you also need to take care not to be come too
ag gres sive, lest you com mit too many fouls and be dis qual i fied from
12
the game. Play hard, play quick, but play smart too, be cause you
can not help your team if you’re left sit ting on the bench dur ing crunch
time.
PLAYING YOUR POSITION
IDEALLY, A PRO FES SIONAL BAS KET BALL PLAYER IS PRO FI CIENT IN ALL AS PECTS OF
the game. How ever, they need to be mas ters of each task. Bas ket ball
play ers as sume a va ri ety of po si tions on the court, and their in-game
du ties vary de pend ing upon which po si tion or po si tions they are
as signed to play dur ing the con test. If you can’t mas ter ev ery pos si ble
job of a bas ket ball player, at least mas ter those re quired in the
po si tion you plan to play. Af ter all, even for mer NBA Most Valu able

Player and all-world cen ter Shaquille O’Neill has weak nesses – his
free-throw shoot ing is far from stel lar.
Guards Guards are charged with bring ing the ball from the
op po nent’s end of the court to their team’s end, and will be ex pected
to do a lot of drib bling and con trol ling the ball to suc cess fully
com plete this task. They are also con sid ered to be the leader, or
‘quar ter back” in foot ball terms, of the of fense. As such, they must
re lay in for ma tions and plays from the coaches on the side lines and
com mu ni cate them to their team mates, usu ally through hand sig nals.
They must also find open play ers and de liver the ball to them.
De fen sively, they cover the other team’s best shoot ers and be cause of
their quick ness and hand-eye co or di na tion, are of ten asked to steal, or
slap the ball away, from the play ers they cover. Lastly, guards are of ten
asked to score from a great dis tance, and thus should be skilled at the
jump shot and the three-pointer.
Centers Cen ters are the big men and women in the mid dle. They are
ex pected to be a dom i nat ing force in the low post, and should be tall
and strong in or der to be most ef fec tive. Cen ters are the play ers who
use their size to get close to the bas ket and score from the in side. They
are ex pected to re bound ev ery missed shot and get it to an other
mem ber of their team (usu ally a guard) so that the team can set up for
a scor ing at tempt.
An other key duty of the cen ter is to pre vent the other team’s
play ers from get ting close to the bas ket for a shot. Fail ing that, cen ters
are asked to block shots, which re quires them to plot the ball’s
tra jec tory, tim ing their jump, and hit ting the ball be fore it reaches the
13
bas ket and be fore it be gins its de cent to ward the hoop (which would
re sult in a goal tend ing rules vi o la tion).
Forwards For wards have a lit tle bit of both guards and cen ters in

them. Like cen ters, they are ex pected to be able to get po si tion in the
low post, score from the in side, and re bound the ball. Like guards,
they need to be able to hit jump shots on a reg u lar ba sis and should
be able to sink the oc ca sional three-point bas ket. De fen sively, they are
usu ally asked to cover other for wards. Like cen ters, they are ex pected
to pre vent the play ers they guard from get ting close to the bas ket.
How ever, they also need to be able to guard against the long shot as
well. For wards need to be ver sa tile, as sum ing many dif fer ent roles
de pend ing on a given sit u a tion. Players who are nor mally for wards are
some times asked to shift to cen ter in a three-guard for ma tion, or if
the nor mal cen ter is for some rea son un able to par tic i pate. In short, a
for ward is ex pected to be a very ver sa tile player.
OFF THE COURT
IT SHOULD ALSO BE NOTED THAT THE PRO FES SIONAL BAS KET BALL PLAYER’S
work-re lated re spon si bil i ties do not end once they leave the floor.
There are many other im por tant du ties they must per form.
They must keep in top phys i cal con di tion through weight train ing
and car dio vas cu lar ex er cise.
They must meet with and give in ter views to mem bers of the
me dia, even if they have an off night or lose. They are ex pected to
spend at least some time meet ing, speak ing with, and sign ing
au to graphs for fans.
They are ex pected to be on their best be hav ior at all times. Pro
ath letes are thought of as role mod els. They are re spected and adored
by young sters ev ery where and they are ex pected to con duct
them selves in a man ner wor thy of such re spect and ad o ra tion.
14
PLAYERS TELL THEIR OWN STORIES
I Was Voted One of the Top 50
Players in NBA His tory “I played pro fes sional

bas ket ball from 1960 to 1974 as a mem ber of both the Cincinnati
Royals and the Mil wau kee Bucks. In 1961, I was voted the Rookie
of the Year, and three sea sons later, I be came the first guard ever
voted the NBA’s Most Valu able Player. I was also named to the
NBA All-Star Team in 12 con sec u tive sea sons (1960-61 to
1971-72), and was the first player in league his tory to av er age a
tri ple-dou ble in 1961-62 (30.8 points per game, 11.4 as sists, 12.5
re bounds).
What does it take to be come a pro bas ket ball player? In
gen eral, my an swer is that you have to take the game se ri ously
and com mit to de vel op ing the nec es sary skills through prac tice on
your own – prac tice that is con ducted ac cord ing to a plan and
pro vides met rics for mea sur ing im prove ment. As you can imag ine,
pro fes sional bas ket ball is not a ca reer where you just de cide you’ll
do it, so the usual rules for prep a ra tion and job search do not
nec es sar ily ap ply.
I talk about these things in my book, The Art of Bas ket ball,
which I co-wrote with Mi chael O’Daniel and is avail able at my Web
site www.thebigo.com.
I was for tu nate enough to grow up in In di a nap o lis, an
en vi ron ment where peo ple took bas ket ball se ri ously. At an early
age, I saw that if I wanted to play with older, more ex pe ri enced
play ers, I’d have to prac tice on my own to bring my skills up to
their level. They were n’t run ning a clinic, and they were n’t about
to let any body on the court who would slow them down.
That was my first les son: The best way to im prove is to play
with peo ple who are better than you are. I played against some
great play ers, and de vel oped my game in re sponse to what they
were do ing. For ex am ple, I got tired of get ting my jump shot
blocked and had to fig ure out a way to get the shot off against

taller and stron ger play ers. I never thought I was that spe cial; the
min ute you got the idea you were the best in your class, some one
else would come along and ‘take you to school.’
15
Les son num ber two was that you had home work in bas ket ball
just as you did in school. I gave my self a daily as sign ment: lay-ups
and tip-ins with ei ther hand, free throws, cross over drib bles,
re verse piv ots, drib bling with my left hand. I worked on shoot ing
from spots where I had dif fi culty: bank shots from ev ery
con ceiv able an gle, side shots, hook shots, shots mov ing to the
bas ket. Then I could n’t wait to get into a game and try them out.
If some thing did n’t work, it was back to the wood shed. When
some thing did work, how could I use it to better ad van tage? This
was fun!
Sup pose you’re part of a team and you al ready prac tice two
hours a day. Why is it nec es sary for you to prac tice on your own?
Here’s why. Your coach is con cerned with (1) what ever it takes for
your team to win, and (2) your in di vid ual de vel op ment as a player
to the ex tent that it af fects the team. The coach may or may not
have the time or the in cli na tion to work with you in di vid u ally.
You’re re spon si ble for fill ing in the gaps in your game. That’s
re al ity.
Les son num ber three was the im por tance of your men tal
ap proach to the game, some thing I came to ap pre ci ate more the
lon ger I played. For ex am ple, the sin gle big gest fac tor in
im prov ing your game is your de ter mi na tion to im prove. That’s
men tal. Sticking to a reg u lar prac tice sched ule is men tal. Learning
from your mis takes, de vel op ing your con cen tra tion, play ing with
in ten sity, us ing com mon sense, build ing your con fi dence – all
these are part of your men tal ap proach to the game.

If you’ve got both the phys i cal and the men tal skills, you’ve
put the com plete pack age to gether. Right? Wrong. You’re still just
one per son. You have to sur round your self with oth ers who take
the game as se ri ously as you do, who know how to win, who will
do what it takes to win.
In my book, I list the traits for ‘The Ideal All-Around Player’.
When a busi ness com pany has job open ings to fill, its
per son nel de part ment of ten cre ates ‘ideal can di date pro files’
de scrib ing the qual i fi ca tions it ex pects of the ap pli cants who hope
to fill those po si tions. The ma jor phys i cal and men tal at trib utes I’d
look for in a pro bas ket ball player in clude: Quick ness, strength,
16
flex i bil ity, en dur ance, pe riph eral vi sion, pride, con cen tra tion,
in ten sity, com mon sense, con fi dence, cour age, re li abil ity, will
power, con trol, com mit ment, aware ness, adapt abil ity, strong work
ethic. Height and speed are de sir able, of course, but pref er a bly in
com bi na tion with these other qual i ties.
I’d like to leave you with one last quote, from the ded i ca tion
page of The Art of Bas ket ball: ‘I hope you get the same en joy ment
out of be com ing a better bas ket ball player that I did. I firmly
be lieve that the harder you work to im prove your skills, the more
you’ll en joy the pro cess. Even if you never play in or ga nized
com pe ti tion, take pride in the fact that you took up the chal lenge
to make a better player of your self. It will serve you well in life."
I Am A Two-Time WNBA All-Star “I started play ing
bas ket ball when I was in ju nior high. I was about a head taller
than ev ery one else, so ev ery one thought I should play bas ket ball. I
con tin u ally im proved from there.
I was a four-year let ter-win ner in both bas ket ball and
vol ley ball at UCLA. In fact, I was the first woman to earn

All-Amer i can hon ors in both sports in the same year. Fol low ing my
col lege ca reer, I played three sea sons with the Port land Power of
the ABL, where I was se lected to the All-ABL First team in 1997
and 1998.
Af ter a pretty suc cess ful ca reer in the ABL, I was se lected by
the Utah Starzz as the third over all pick in the 1999 WNBA Draft.
When I was drafted by the Starzz and first joined the WNBA, I was
ex cited and very happy to be a part of it. I came from an other
league, so I felt very com fort able. A lot of other play ers made the
move over to the WNBA with me. I love play ing bas ket ball at the
pro fes sional level. The thing I love the most about the WNBA is the
fan sup port.
My fa vor ite game of all time was the gold medal game in
Syd ney.
One of the re spon si bil i ties of be ing a bas ket ball player is
be ing a role model. We are def i nitely role mod els be cause we are
17
in the pub lic eye. Es pe cially as women in a new sport, we have a
lot of young girls who look up to us. Hope fully, we will set a good
ex am ple, and those girls will want to go to col lege, play
bas ket ball, set high goals and achieve them. My role mod els in
bas ket ball were Karl Malone, Cheryl Miller, and Mi chael Jor dan.
My daily work out rou tine con sists of lift ing weights and do ing
cardio [car dio vas cu lar ex er cise]. Some times I play an hour of
bas ket ball with the guys or do an in di vid ual work out. I also do
pool con di tioning work outs. Re cently I re turned from trav el ing
with the USA team so that was a work out.
When I’m not play ing bas ket ball, I love to watch mov ies, go
to mov ies es pe cially for the pop corn. I love to read and hang out
with my fam ily.

My ad vice to young play ers? Never give up on your self or your
dreams. Be lieve in your self and any thing is pos si ble. Re mem ber
the peo ple who help you along the way.”
I Was the Leading Scorer Dur ing the
In au gu ral Sea son of the NBDL “I am a guard who
went to Wash ing ton State Uni ver sity be fore join ing Mo bile
Rev elers of the Na tional Bas ket ball De vel op men tal League. I was
the league’s lead ing scorer for the in au gu ral sea son (2001-2002)
of the NBDL, and was named to the All-NBDL first team as well. I
av er aged 17.4 points per game, 3.1 re bounds per game, 2.1
as sists per game, and over 29.7 min utes per game in 52 games for
the Rev elers that sea son. I have also been called-up by the
Mem phis Griz zlies for a 10-day con tract, where I played in six
games and av er aged 1.5 points per game and over 12.5 min utes
per game.
I de cided to pur sue a ca reer in pro fes sional bas ket ball when I
was in col lege. I was hav ing rel a tively good suc cess on my col lege
team, so I thought that I would be able to par lay bas ket ball into a
ca reer.
18
I first got started play ing bas ket ball when I was in the fifth
grade. I was taller than ev ery one else so I was en cour aged to play.
My fa ther was a good player also so he helped my game out
tre men dously so I started from there.
A typ i cal prac tice day is the fol low ing: Get up at 9AM,
prac tice at 10AM to 12AM. Go lift weights from 2PM to 3PM. The
rest of the day is for read ing, re lax ing, and re leas ing.
A typ i cal game day is as fol lows: Get up at 10AM, shoot
around 11am, pre-game meal at any where from 1PM to 3PM, go
to the gym at 5:30PM and game at 7:30PM.

Ed u ca tional back ground that I would sug gest would be
Money Man age ment, Busi ness Man age ment, and/of Fi nance.
These courses will not help in play ing bas ket ball but they will help
with life af ter bas ket ball and tak ing care of your off the court
busi ness dur ing bas ket ball.
I en joy play ing the game of bas ket ball, first and fore most.
Sec ondly, I like the trav el ing. Thirdly, I en joy the ca ma ra de rie with
other play ers. The neg a tive fac tors in volved in my cho sen ca reer
field are not be ing able to spend time with those you care about. I
can’t be with my girl friend, fam ily and friends as much as I would
like. This is the only neg a tive fac tor that I can think of as so ci ated
with my ca reer field.
What other ad vice do I have for oth ers that may read this?
The ad vice I would give any one is the fol low ing: work hard, play
hard, and have fun!”
19
PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS
OB VI OUSLY, BE ING HIGHLY SKILLED IN THE ART OF BAS KET BALL IS A PRE REQ UI SITE
for those look ing to be come pro fes sional bas ket ball play ers. They need
to be skilled shoot ers, good de fen sive play ers, te na cious rebounders
and ex cel lent ball han dlers, de pend ing upon the po si tion they play
and their goals in the world of pro hoops. Skill and tal ent alone do not
make a bas ket ball player, how ever. It also takes a cer tain type of
per son with great men tal and psy cho log i cal char ac ter to earn one of
the rare job open ings in this highly se lec tive ca reer.
Bas ket ball play ers must have a lot of con fi dence in them selves and
their abil i ties. They must be able to en vi sion them selves as a great
player. Hav ing a pos i tive im age of your self will help you make that
im age a re al ity. You must be con fi dent of your abil i ties, both now and
in the fu ture. You must be able to vi su al ize pos i tive out comes at all

times. Also, you must be able to con cen trate, re main fo cused, and
work hard to im prove.
Con fi dence, ded i ca tion, and con cen tra tion are the three traits that
pro fes sional ath letes def i nitely must pos sess in or der to suc ceed. Yet,
they must also be able to stay calm, and know when they are
over do ing it. Working hard and keep ing fo cused are im por tant, but so
are re main ing com posed, be ing smart, and not over work ing.
Pes si mism is one of the most dan ger ous en e mies of the
pro fes sional bas ket ball player. Ath letes must have a pos i tive out look
on things, as well as a short mem ory when some thing goes wrong. In
ad di tion, bas ket ball play ers must al ways want to do the best they can
and be the best they are able to. Their de sire should be un par al leled,
and they con stantly are seek ing im prove ment. To that end, they must
also be able to eval u ate their per for mance with out bias, and they
must be will ing to ac cept crit i cism and ad vice with out ra tio nal iz ing or
blam ing oth ers. This men tal tough ness must also be ap plied to other
as pects of their per for mance – namely, deal ing with in ju ries or
on-the-job set backs.
Players must also be un self ish. They need to re mem ber that this is
a team game, and that the suc cess of their team is far more im por tant
than their per ceived per sonal suc cess.
They must pos sess en thu si asm. Bas ket ball play ers must love the
game they play. Their pas sion for the sport must con stantly burn deep
within them. They should gen u inely en joy the game. If you strive to
be come a pro fes sional ath lete, and are for tu nate enough to be
20
se lected, you will be asked to make sac ri fices in nearly ev ery as pect of
your life. Ask your self, do you love the game enough to make these
sac ri fices? Truly, all of these per sonal qual i fi ca tions are im por tant, but
if you don’t have this kind of de vo tion to the game, then you won’t

make it. With out that de sire and pas sion, you quite sim ply are not cut
out to be a pro fes sional bas ket ball player.
ATTRACTIVE FEATURES
PLAYING PRO FES SIONAL BAS KET BALL IS A DREAM COME TRUE FOR THE MA JOR ITY
of the peo ple who do it, and in many ways it is its own re ward. Even
at a very early age, many boys and girls dream about be com ing
pro fes sional ath letes and play ing bas ket ball for a liv ing. They dream of
tak ing the ball down the court, find ing the open seam and mak ing a
daz zling lay-up. They dream of do ing a 360-de gree wind mill slam
dunk, as ton ish ing the crowd with their ath letic abil ity. They dream of
sink ing the long three-pointer with time run ning out, win ning the
game for their club.
Pro fes sional bas ket ball is one of those ca reers that dreams are
made of, and ac tu ally be ing able to step onto the floor and make a
liv ing play ing the game you love is ar gu ably its most at trac tive fea ture.
Of course, there are other good things about land ing a ca reer in
pro bas ket ball, as well. For one, the earn ing po ten tial is very high.
There is mil lion-dol lar po ten tial for se lected play ers. Also, there are
more fi nan cial and em ploy ment op por tu ni ties to be had, namely in
the world of en dorse ments.
Bas ket ball play ers also gain a fairly high level of ac claim, which
means that you may be come fa mous in this ca reer. Fame can be a
good thing, de pend ing upon per sonal pref er ences.
Seeing the world through travel, which you will most cer tainly do
a lot of as a pro fes sional bas ket ball player, will also ap peal to some.
21
UNATTRACTIVE FEATURES
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT – PRO FES SIONAL BAS KET BALL IS A VERY PHYS I CALLY
de mand ing pro fes sion. First, you are ex pected to un dergo a gru el ing
pre-sea son train ing camp. Then, you may play nearly ev ery day for

months on end. The ef fort re quired will not only ex haust you, but it
will take its toll on your body as well. Your knees and an kles will wear
down from shoot ing jump shots and pull ing down re bounds. Cen ters
and for wards will get banged up from phys i cal play in the lanes. Be
pre pared to ex pe ri ence fa tigue and pain reg u larly.
Playing the game is not the only thing that will tire you out
work ing as a pro bas ket ball player. The travel sched ule is also very
de mand ing, men tally as well as phys i cally. In a sin gle week, a player
whose team is based in Boston may have to go from there to De troit,
down to Or lando, then back to Boston be fore jet ting off to New York.
Travel sick ness will un doubt edly set in at some point dur ing the
sea son. In ad di tion, the travel will re quire you to be away from your
fam ily and friends for ex tended pe riod of times, oc ca sion ally even on
hol i days, add ing to the emo tional de mands of the game. Be pre pared
to en dure many such sac ri fices in your per sonal life.
An other dark side of be com ing a pro ath lete is that it re quires an
ex cep tion ally strong moral char ac ter in or der to keep out of trou ble.
The world of pro fes sional sports can be a dan ger ous one. Temp ta tions
will con sis tently pres ent them selves to the bas ket ball player. There’s no
way to sug ar coat it – ath letes will be faced with a con stant bar rage of
vices. There will be drugs. There will be al co hol. There will be mem bers
of the op po site sex seek ing af fairs. There will be pred a tors pos ing as
friends. As a pro bas ket ball player, you need to be smart enough and
tough enough to with stand these temp ta tions, or at the very least to
sur round your self with trusted friends and ad vi sors to help you pro tect
your self, your health and your earn ings.
You will have to deal with all of these things if you are one of the
lucky few se lected to be come a pro fes sional bas ket ball player. That
leads to an other un at trac tive fea ture of ca reers in pro hoops – the fact
that only a hand ful of the thou sands of thou sands of as pir ing

bas ket ball stars will ever be for tu nate enough to se cure a job in this
ca reer. It is some thing that any one seek ing to en ter the field should be
aware of. Pre pare your self as well as pos si ble and give it your all, but
be re al is tic about your chances. Few will ever make it into the pros, so
it is wise to have a backup plan just in case.
22
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
TRUTH BE TOLD, AC QUIR ING A FOR MAL ED U CA TION IS NOT REL E VANT TO THIS
ca reer. In some cases, teams and scouts like to see that a player has
ob tained a high school di ploma and a col lege de gree, but the course
of study is rarely if ever an is sue. Pop u lar ma jors among col lege
ath letes in clude so ci ol ogy, psy chol ogy, busi ness ad min is tra tion,
mar ket ing, ac count ing, phys i cal ed u ca tion, com mu ni ca tions, and
kinesiology. Any of these would be fine choices should you de cide to
pur sue a de gree. The im por tant thing to think about in plan ning your
ed u ca tion is what you would like to do with your life af ter your
play ing days are over. Choose a ma jor that fits your post-bas ket ball
ca reer plans.
Of greater im me di ate im por tance is train ing in the skills re quired
of a bas ket ball player, such as shoot ing, drib bling, and re bound ing.
Training camps are ex cel lent places to hone these skills. Al ter na tively,
you can also train your self through use of in struc tional vid eos and
books, or through one-on-one feed back with a coach or scout. There
are many ex er cises out there to im prove your game. To be come a
better shooter, try games like 21, H.O.R.S.E. or Around the World. For
ball-han dling skills, you can prac tice by drib bling the ball in a
fig ure-eight pat tern through your legs. You can prac tice pass ing by
aim ing for a tar get on a wall. There are many such ex er cises avail able
for all dif fer ent as pects of the sport. Track them down and train with
them. You will be come a better player by do ing so.

EARNINGS
THE EARN ING PO TEN TIAL FOR MALES EN TER ING THE WORLD OF PRO FES SIONAL
bas ket ball is out stand ing. USA To day (www.usatoday.com) pub lished a
list of the high est-paid NBA play ers dur ing a re cent sea son. On the list
was Kevin Garnett of the Min ne sota Timberwolves, who earned an
amaz ing $22.4 mil lion in to tal com pen sa tion in one year. Another was
Los An geles Lakers cen ter Shaquille O’Neal with $21.43 mil lion,
followed by Alonzo Mourning of the Mi ami Heat ($18.76 mil lion),
Juwan Howard of the Dal las Mav er icks ($18.75 mil lion) and Scot tie
Pippen of the Port land Trail blazers ($18.1 mil lion). Ev ery player on the
news pa per’s list earned at least $12 mil lion in just one year.
23
How ever, those num bers are not truly in dic a tive of NBA sal a ries
and may be mis lead ing. True, the multi-mil lion dol lar sal a ries are
pos si ble, but not ev ery one who plays the game will bring in that kind
of money. In fact, the league min i mum for rook ies is about $335,000.
Players with one sea son of ex pe ri ence earn at least $465,000, with the
min i mum sal ary jump ing to $540,000 af ter two years of ser vice,
$565,000 af ter three years, $590,000 af ter four years, and so on.
Players who en joy ca reers of at least 10 sea sons in the league earn a
min i mum of $1 mil lion and as much as $15,000,000 in base sal ary
dur ing the sea son.
The av er age NBA sal ary has re cently been over $1 mil lion. The
av er age sal ary is ris ing rap idly and re al is ti cally could top $5 mil lion
very soon. How ever, a new NBA rule calls for 10-per cent of a player’s
sal ary to re vert back to the team owner should the sum of player
sal a ries ex ceed 55-per cent of the fran chise’s bas ket ball-re lated
in come. The re sult could be the first de crease in NBA player earn ings
in at least a de cade.
It’s also im por tant to keep in mind that the very high sal a ries last

for only a rel a tively short play ing ca reer – 10 years is a long time – not
a life time as in other fields.
The num bers aren’t as im pres sive for pro fes sional women’s league
play ers. The av er age sal ary of WNBA play ers is a small frac tion of the
av er age NBA player sal ary. Ac cord ing to in for ma tion from the league’s
un ion, the av er age WNBA player earns about $45,000 per sea son. If
you in clude ben e fits such as hous ing, ex penses, and 401(k), the
av er age com pen sa tion pack age in creases to $55,000 each year.
The rookie min i mum is $30,000 a year, and the high est WNBA
con tract re sults in $80,000 per sea son, or more than $250,000 less
than the NBA rookie min i mum sal ary.
Un ion of fi cials are at tempt ing to ne go ti ate a new deal that will
bring women’s sal a ries closer to their male coun ter parts. How ever,
the pros pect of rais ing sal a ries is alarm ing to team own ers, as the
women’s league has yet to earn a profit.
24
OPPORTUNITIES
STUDYING AND PRE PAR ING FOR A CA REER IN PRO FES SIONAL BAS KET BALL IS A
no ble goal, but when it co mes to ac tu ally land ing a job in a league like
the NBA or WNBA, the odds are about as good as one of those
sweep stakes you hear about on TV – thou sands will en ter, but only a
few will win. Re al is tically speak ing, se cur ing a job as a pro fes sional
bas ket ball player, or as any pro fes sional ath lete for that mat ter, is a
dif fi cult ven ture. Few jobs are as highly cov eted as those in
pro fes sional sports. Be com ing a pro fes sional ath lete is the dream
ca reer, so you can imag ine that the com pe ti tion will be un be liev ably
tough.
There are 29 teams in the Na tional Bas ket ball As so ci a tion, each of
which can em ploy be tween 12 and 15 play ers (var ies due to in ju ries).
The en tire NBA em ployed only 420 ath letes in one re cent sea son. In

the women’s league, there are 16 teams, each of which em ploys
around 12 play ers. The WNBA em ployed fewer than 200 ath letes in
that same re cent sea son.
There is also a lim ited num ber of op por tu ni ties avail able with
other leagues. Male bas ket ball play ers can seek op por tu ni ties with the
eight-team Na tional Bas ket ball De vel op men tal League, the
eight-fran chise Con ti nen tal Bas ket ball As so ci a tion, or the 10-team
United States Bas ket ball League.
Women play ers can also try for po si tions with the four-team
Women’s Amer i can Bas ket ball As so ci a tion or the six-club Na tional
Women’s Bas ket ball League. In all, there are more than 100
pro fes sional bas ket ball teams in ex is tence to day.
Tra di tionally speak ing, nearly all of the open ings in pro fes sional
bas ket ball went to col lege grad u ates who en joyed four-year ca reers in
the NCAA. That has been chang ing in re cent years, though. More
un der grad u ate play ers are de clar ing for the NBA Draft each year, and
more and more teams are snatch ing up these fresh men, soph o mores
and ju niors. More re cent trends have seen NBA teams se lect an
in creas ing num ber of in ter na tional play ers (such as China’s Yao Ming,
the first se lec tion in the 2002 NBA Draft) and high-school play ers
(three of the first four picks in 2001 were prep stars). On the whole, it
is still rec om mended that po ten tial pro fes sional bas ket ball play ers
ob tain a de gree and play in the NCAA. How ever, if you feel you might
have the tal ent to go pro straight from high school, con tact a scout or
at tend a clinic for a fair, im par tial eval u a tion of your abil i ties.
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