Have you ever heard that an NBA player “sucks” from someone you know, maybe at a sports bar while watching the game? Either way, someone somewhere has said or heard it before, I know I’m guilty. So here’s the deal; It is often frustrating to talk, but some people think these professionals suck. Personally, I have heard many players claim that they could “cook” an NBA player if given the opportunity, although bold, it is also unlikely. Do you know how many people play basketball in the United States? Do you know how many men are playing Division 1 basketball? Do you know how many men are playing on the streets of America? Again, it is unlikely.
Basketball is the third most played sport in the United States behind baseball and soccer; it is the sport that is played with the most indifference in the United States. There are a considerable number of basketball courts in almost every major city; you will find parks with basketball courts in small towns, and in the south, you will seem to find courts in the church. Pickup basketball is a beautiful thing for a downtown kid, or you know, someone from Hoosier land. Pickup is when a group of men / women gather at the local court or park and fight. Games can range from 2 to 2 to 5 to 5, and play between 7 and 21 points. Besides soccer, no other sport compares to casual basketball games in the United States. Soccer is the second most popular sport in the United States; Approximately 1,085,272 students played football in the US during 2015-16, only 414,048 played football during those years.
Going back to basketball, during 2015-16, approximately 26 million people in the US played basketball, of those 26 million, 4.1 million played organized basketball or men’s leagues, 5.8 million played for their school and university, and for the final; 15.5 million people played basketball in the United States. That seems to be a little higher than football.
The NBA has the best players in the world, not the country, but the world. I’m sure some of the people you might be playing with at local rec centers could be great, but let’s face it, they’re not good for the NBA. The NBA currently has limited employment with only 450 spots, out of those 450 spots, only 390 players are active, what do I mean by assets? Active players are players who play in the game. When a player does not have a good game or a good season, it is natural to say that that player is not good, so let’s put this in perspective. I told them 26 million Americans play basketball, 15.5 million who play pickup, so that guy who annoys people and gets an occasional dunk in the park might not be good enough to play the 5.8 million. of students playing college basketball. In that regards, the average basketball player has a 5 in 400,000 chance of playing D1, and a 3 in 10,000 chance of being drafted in the NBA, that’s the equivalent of getting a four of a kind in poker, in which is a 0.03% lucky. I’m not saying you can never make it to the NBA, but the odds are against the ordinary player, and that is why the NBA is the NBA.
If you still have doubts, or are just one of those people who hate numbers, let me explain it another way. Rafer Alston, aka Skip 2 My Lou, was a fantastic basketball player, almost godlike with his unnatural ball handling skills and arrogant demeanor. Skip was a living streetball legend during high school and to this day his name still reigns around the world as one of the greatest in streetball. However, when he entered the NBA, he was just old Rafer Alston from Queens. Like I said before, being in the NBA is tough, but it’s also tough to play Division 1 basketball, even for some great people. Skip was a star at Cardoza High School in Queens, and during his time there in the early ’90s, he was ranked as one of New York City’s top point guards alongside Stephon Marbury. People in every new Skip county, from Rucker Park to Jersey City parks. Skip dazzled and hurt the contestants as he leapt across the court before embarrassing you in front of the crowd, and with all of this, no scholarship was awarded to the AND 1 legend. Rafer attended two community colleges before getting a chance to play in Fresno State. During his community college days, he struggled to adjust from street gambling to organized play, but overall, he made sure there was an impression that would grab someone’s attention, and it was. After playing at Fresno State in his senior year, he chose to enter the NBA Draft. For all his success, with all his hard work and nationwide fame, Alston was still selected in the second round, 39th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks. It didn’t end there for Skip 2 My Lou. Skip found himself on the bench as the twelfth man on the list, and so he remained well beyond his rookie season. During his second season in the NBA, he only played 37 games out of 82 and averaged just 7.2 minutes. Rafer would continue to struggle to adapt from the street game to the professional game, and even with all his skill and ingenuity, he found himself turning the ball over. It wasn’t until he was traded to the Toronto Raptors that he had time on the court, and later found himself a starter for the watered-down Miami Heat. My point is that Rafer Alston was a household name, he was one of the best talents in one of the biggest basketball cities in the world and he struggled to get to the D1 level.
There’s a reason NBA players are NBA players, and there’s a reason D1 players play D1. These players are great! Whether you’re in the NBA, last man on the bench or not, chances are that during high school or college you were the best player in town, or maybe the state. I think the casual basketball player should understand that no NBA player “sucks,” and that’s because they are in the NBA. You should think of it like this, maybe the player you call a fool isn’t lacking in talent, maybe the player you’re comparing him to is on another level.