improvement

^^^ Where witnessing a lengend in the making, well you came to the right place kid… I too once had that same dream, just by reading your post I can see the determination in your bold letters. If, I had one I would give it too you but, I know theres currently hundreds of users on this site whos willing to give proper guidance. Goodluck young grasshopper 😉

My only advice, the more you play the better you’ll get.

 no matter how great youre doing in basketball never let it get into your head..good luck

I’m glad to see that there is a fellow 14 year old with dreams as far fetched as I do. Just remember, no matter how good you are, the critics will never shut up, so just keep working on your game, and you will reach your true potential, whether its being a great high school player, being a nice college player or even becoming a pro, you must continue to work on your game, and ALWAYS have a positive attitude.

Work on your left, conditioning, lift weights, maintain confidence, and play against the best competition you can find

My advice…

Stay off this site, and comeback if you dreams don’t come true.  Plenty of time to chat with us, but while u typed that post, someone else was putting up jumpshots, doing some sets, or working on their handles.  If you really have a chance and want to make the most of it, then don’t get caught up in stupid stuff like this. 

But here are what I would suggest…

• Work on becoming ambidexterous (atleast in Bball).  Not jumpshots, but everything else u want to be excellent with either hand.
• Keep a solid diet.  Personally, I swear by egg whites and have grown to love them.  Egg whites, broccoli, chicken, fish, fruit, milk..etc.
• Build your body.  Pushups, situps, and curlups.  You don’t need to be lifting weights just yet.  Use your own body weight. 
• Long Distance Running
• Put up shots.  Lots and lots.  Repitition is the most important thing when it comes to improving your J.
• Defense.  Practice it with your friends.  Work on 1 on 2 fastbreak, try to stop it.  Read the hips and make them make the first move. 
• Stay out of all the bull shi-t.  IDK where u live, but regardless some people are going to be doing some stupid stuff.  Don’t become one of those guys.  And IDK where u stand with the ladies at this point in time as you still are young, but if its going down always toss on a jimmy.  U don’t need a kid before u are ready, especially if u are trying to reach the NBA.  I’ve seen premature kids destroy hoop dreams plenty of times before.  

 Ask Dalen Qualls.

other then working in the gym, work on your intelligence – watch a lot of basketball tapes and try to learn every little thing about the game, positioning, movement without the ball, defensive’s tricks etc. and also mental stuff…

Dymes nailed it…although if I could emphasize his last point it is very important to as he said "stay out of the BS". Your going to see alot of your "peers" pretending to have fun caught up in their social web of BS. Get away from that web, and pity them for being trapped within it. FOCUS on your goals, write them down, sign and date them, create a personal commitment to each goal, short term, and long term.

ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS OR FAIL WORKING HARD TO ACHIEVE THEM.

Success is not easy, but the hard road pays off. There are basic steps to success.

1-PREPERATION- You cant have a successful training session, practice, or game if you did not prepare for that game before hand. You have to be well rested, eating healthy, and ready for every challenge. People use the expression "winging it" stating that they did not prepare for a certain commitment, challenge, opportunity or responsibility. Never wing it because then you’ll end up like Eddy Curry.

2-DEVOTION- If you want to succeed at ANYTHING you really have to devote your life to it. In and out everyday of your life has to be devoted to your goals and how you will overcome those challenges. There are plenty of people in EVERY PROFESSION looking to be at the top that are willing to devote their lives, if your not willing to you have no chance in succeeding.

3-EXECUTE-Take action, don’t procrastinate (in other words don’t just say "maybe Ill do it later"). If you want to wake up at 7-am don’t hit the snooze button 4 times and wake up at 8-am set the clock for 6:30 and wake up at 6:45. This is why every goal has to be a personal commitment, written on paper, dated, and signed. Being too tired, lazy, uninterested, or just thinking you’ve already accomplished enough to finish off each personal commitment means you have not been PREPARING or you are not DEVOTED. Take action to initiate success.

4-MAINTAIN- Alot of people have short periods of success but don’t last long. They get cocky, slow down, and fade away. To be truly successful you have to consistently PREPARE, DEVOTE, and EXECUTE on a daily basis. Even if you accomplish every goal you can fathom don’t forget that your commitment towards accomplishing those goals is what got you there. Success is very hard, so don’t stop working hard.

5-STAY POSITIVE AND BELIEVE- If you don’t do all this with a positive attitude once again you wont succeed. The mental battle of believing in yourself, and keeping everything positive will always haunt you, but just keep in mind ALL YOUR WILDEST DREAMS ARE OBTAINABLE! 95 percent of the people don’t understand that anything you can believe you can achieve. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Once again DONT LET ANYONE TELL YOU OTHERWISE!

All that equals success…its very hard. Most people rather just avoid it and live like sheep, are you willing to pay the price to succeed?

there’s a saying where I’m from…’dive on glass’. Lke the guys said work hard at the game, but every time you stepon the floor make sure you make the extra effort to dive on that loose ball, box out your man, chase down that long rebound and make that extra rotation on D. Coaches LOVE a guy who will hustle for the team.

Most important advice I can give you, work harder than everyone else.  Weights, conditioning, practice, work ethic, devote your life completely to basketball.  Don’t ever take a day off, even when you’re physically or mentally exhausted.  Yes, NBA players are extremely gifted, but I promise you the ones who have made it worked harder than the ones who didn’t.

Stay out of trouble. Let your coaches help you. Give it 110 %. Work harder than everybody else.

Commit yourself to being the best you can be. The drive to do something is stronger than the action itself!

if you want some specific tips you should post your, position, size, weight, and the good aspects of your game and the bad aspects of your game, and a little bit of your personality as a player too. 

do like Kanye said reach for the starts cuz if you fall you land on a cloud.
and who knows maybe you can reach a star.

 WOW arivers thats just like me i am 5 foot 10 freshmen and mainly a shooter and im the starting 2 guard for jv

 But  a very IMPORTANT tip i have learned is you also is try your hardest in school because im guessing you have met alot of very good basketball players who dont get good grades but what they dont know is you need to get good grades to make it to a divison 1 college and while they might be better then you ,you actually have the better chance to get recruited by a school to play basketball because they rather have a player that will be elligible to play games 

I’m also 14 years old and a high school freshman. My only goal in life is to earn a division 1 basketball scholarship from any school. I’ve given easily thousands of hours of my life to the game. From all the advice I have ever received concerning basketball, I would tell you that you need to maintain good grades, stay humble, play as hard as you can whenever you touch a basketball, and get the most exposure possible. Whether that is going to high profile camps, tournaments, playing on a good AAU team, etc. Just a little quote I go by,"Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great."

*(Schoff)Freshman*

I am a 14 year old sophmore, and dang! You’re 5’11 135 and a point. Iam 6’1, 170, and people tell me I’m skinny. Just surprised to see so many fellow 14 year olds.

I’ll give you a few tips:

1. Confidence/Mental Strength – Without belief and mental strength, you’re nothing. Believe in yourself no matter what. Practice confidence by thinking positive. Don’t think it, know it. Don’t try it, do it. Have the toughness it takes to get through things when they aren’t going exactly how you thought they’d go. Know how to motivate yourself. Have the mentality then even in losses, you win… Because you learned something that’ll make you stronger.

2. Coaching – LISTEN. Stay humble. Accept coaching. Don’t be hard headed and think you know everything. You can always learn something new. Always have an open mind. Ask questions. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.

3. Training – Find a trainer or get into some type of basketball camp/academy. There are plenty of them around. Some of them can be expensive though. This can really take your game to another level.

4. Have an eye for the game – Watch the game. Watch other players. Have an understanding about the game.You can learn a lot of positive and negative just from watching other players and games. You can never watch too much basketball.

5. Practice – You get better at practice, not games. There’s practice with your team and practice by yourself. Practice and confidence go hand in hand. The more your practice, the more confident you are. When you practice, practice game type shots and game type moves. Work on your jumpshot. Work on your left and right hand. Work on your shot off of the dribble going to the right or left. Work on catching and shooting going to the right or left. Work on second and third moves… Fouth moves if you can! Find a really good workout buddy who’s as hungry as you are. That way you can push each other and have a friendly competition.

6. Go hard – Go hard at all times. Go hard during drills. Go hard at practice. Go hard when you’re practicing by yourself. Always go hard. Have fun playing the game, but when it’s time to go hard… GO HARD.

7. Stay hungry – Don’t get caught up in the fame or the attention the game may bring. Stay hungry. Use the game, don’t let it use you. Don’t get caught up in the girls or the attention. This has ruined so many players that I grew up with.

 youre a 5 11 at 14 years old you should at least grow up to 6 2, 6 3 and you good even grow more but I belive you should play the point, beeing a tall point guard will be great cuz you can post up smaller players but if you get to slow the go to the shooting guard, but if you are dedicated as i believe you are you practice and become quick..

Shooting, handles, passing and perimeter defense are 4 things that every point guard must have. if a point guard can do any of this he should not be playing so practice dont make silly passes and loose you handle at mid court, and knock down the open shots, I advise you to always pressure you oponents in practice so you can become a better defender.

Now the difference maker for me is for point guards getting to the paint off the drible and finishing on the rim or finding the open man. Look at Wall, Rose and Westbrook. they do all the simples things but what makes them different from other players is that they can go by you and finish. Thats the difference between the luke ridnours(who is a good point guard) to the steve nash, the difference between kirk hinrich and CP3. When a guy can attack you off the drible you start to respect him more and he can relax more and run his team easily. So right now if i had something to focus would be attacking of the drible. Also as a point guard you should be a coach in the floor, be vocal, talk to your teammates. Not  only during games, but at practices and time outs. Be a leader and floor general, feel the game and what you have to do to make your teammates better.

In regards to a weight room workout. There are four types of lifts.

Endurance: 12-20 reps, 40-60% of 1 rep max, breaks in between sets 30 seconds or less

Size: 8-12 reps, 70-80% of 1 rep max, breaks in between sets roughly 60 seconds

Strength: 2-6 reps, 85-90% of 1 rep max, break of roughly 90 seconds

Power (explosion): 2-3 reps, 90-100% 1 rep max, break of 90+ seconds

Build your workout around which type you want to do. Personally I think it’s best to mix in all of them though, make sure to do multiple sets and to switch up the lifts or you will hit a plateau.

Personally, I don’t recommend you lifting a whole lot yet.  You’re still very young and it could hinder your growth.  I say wait till at least 16-17 to seriously put in weight lifting sessions.  Focus on your skills, learning the game, your endurance, and your attitude. 

Yea, I agree.

I wouldn’t worry about weights. When I was that age all I did were sit-ups, pushups, pull ups, dips, calf raises and jump rope. That’s all you need at that young age.

I’ll tell you another tip… Get a small medicine ball and dribble/shoot with it.

Hey, I am also 14, but I have a lot of trouble boxing out, cuase guys just power through me. What are things I could do to improve my upper and lower body strength, considering I can’t do more than 9 pushups at a time.

Just b/c I’m saying I don’t recommend lifting weights doesn’t mean you can’t work on improving your strength.  Like Indiana and myself said before, use your own body weight as weights.  Do different types of pushups, curlups, situps, squat thrusts etc.  All these will make you stronger but do not have near the possible side effects of stunting your growth as lifting dead weights do. 

Trust me I fell victim to lifting at an early age.  I started at like 15 I believe and by the age of about 17 I stopped growing (height).  It severly affected my chances at ball.  I went from being in line for a scholarship my sophomore year, but I pretty much reached my peak height at that age and never made it to the 6 foot I was projected to be at.  I have amazing respect for guys like Nate Robinson, Spud, Muggsy…etc.  To compete with NBA talent is very very difficult when you are sub 6′ let alone 5’9".  Playing against Sam Young, DeJuan Blair, hell even DJ kennedy at 6’5" proved very very difficult for myself.  No way I could match them 1 on 1, and when I had to switch off ball to cover them, instantaneous post gamewhich requires help D and opens holes on the squad defensively.  Or they just shoot over you and all you can really do is play tight and get a hand up in their face.

 yo m-dymes how good r u man lol

playing against d-blair and young

did u play college bball?

 Lifting doesn’t stunt your growth at 15. I didn’t start lifting early and I’ve grown 2 inches since 7th grade. It’s just straight up unlucky.

Please contact me at

http://www.nbadraft.net/forum/mcdunkin-management-agency

you wont regret it

Like I said I was getting looked at during my sophomore year in HS as a PG.  But, after that season I swear my growth just shot.  IDK if you buy into the weights, coffee, unlucky, whatever the case may be.  But I ended up at best 5’8" right now.  

I had the option of playing ball at a few schools, but chose to attend PITT because I wanted to attend a school with a reputation for both sports and academics.  Plus the city setting is nice, and being a business student, PITT’s business school is amongst the tops in the nation. 

There I started playing pickup ball and intramurals. Got to play in some summer leagues and started playing against better and better competition.  Then during the summer I was up at one of the courts on campus and saw some dude walking around with his posse and comes in the next game, throws down a windmill dunk that was straight up nasty.  I take a better look, its fuckin Sam Young!  Dude is just built like a tank.

Well I end up getting to play against him, and held my own fairly well consider the talent Sam is.  Later on DeJuan and his brother were up there as well so I got to play them.  DJ kennedy also played up on this court.  Probably the best offensively out of all of them.  Sam’s shot was nearly as nice.  

But overall, playing with an against these guys here were my impressions as an amateur…

Sam Young is an amazing athlete with size who can throw it down over anyone when he gets enough space.

DeJuan…really couldn’t judge as much since he just was so much thicker than any of the competition.  Unless your an NBA size talent, good luck stopping him.

DJ…idk if he will be the best NBA talent, but he’s steaky and when he’s on, he will not miss. 

As for me, if I had to rate myself, I’d say I could play effectively at D2 ball right now.  But D1 my size would hold me back.  Think a D2 version of a younger J-Kidd with a driving mentality and reckless abandon when attacking the rim.   

When you play against guys like Sam Young, the whole playing field changes.  Your passing has to be much quicker and precise.  You can’t just attack the rim, for a guy my size you need to change nearly every shot b/c someone with size is gonna stuff u otherwise.  Ball movement becomes essential.  Unless you are an NBA talent, playing 1 on 1 with any of those guys is just asking for trouble.  Learned that real quick after becoming a poster for Sam my first game against him. 

Someone mentioned watch basketball tapes..Thats a great idea,becuz it teaches you the right way to play and you will not pick up those bad habits that drive coaches crazy..Having solid Fundamentals can help you out smart more talented players….

Always try to only play Against guys that you know are much better than you..Thats the only way you can get better…

Oh Yeah,if those things fail..Try finding 1 specialty and work constantly only on that…lol

Ha you got dunked on by Sam Young. Thats awesome.