[valentine]

Because I would argue its harder for a rich, priveledged kid to make it to the NBA. 

In virtually every aspect of life, being well-raised with both emotional and financial support is essential and drastically increases career prospects. 

Unless your career is playing basketball.

However if you look at the NBA, most of the league comes from rough, disadvantaged backgrounds. Which had me thinking….

Aside from players who had athlete dads (eg Curry, Grant Hill), its exponentially more difficult to make the NBA for rich kids with lots of career options. 

Therefore, when we hear commentators say things like…."player X overcame so much adversity to make it to the NBA"…it doesnt actually ring true.

Overcoming adversity en route to the NBA actually means bucking the odds. And odds are that a talented kid from the streets will get selected over a wealthy, white suburbanite who could easily become a Finance Major without a scholarship.

And the reasons are obvious. The poor kid has to fight, scrap and claw his way to the NBA while the rich kid has less risky options which distract him from basketball.

But however way you slice it, I think the basketball world needs to wake up and start respecting the even greater adversity that priveledged kids face en route to the league. 

Many people will find this damning revelation too much to handle. But I’d like to hear your thoughts nonetheless.

[BKGingerSnapParticipant]

The thing you forget is that a significant portion of NBA players had professional athletes as parents, off the top of my head besides, curry, hill

Andrew Wiggins – mom was a world class sprinter, dad was a good ballplayer

kobe – dad played pro ball for 76ers

kyrie irving – dad played pro ball in Italy

Marcin Gortat – Dad was a professional boxer

austin rivers – son of doc rivers

 

Javale McGee – Mom was a great female player

Jalen Rose – Dad was Jimmy Walker

Klay Thompson – Son of Michael Thompson

Jerami Grant, Jerian Grant – Horace Grant

mike dunleavy jr, tim hardaway jr, glenn robinson jr, 

 

etc. 

That’s what I came up with in 5 mins. I could go on.

To me, its a privilege to have a pro athelete as a parent in basketball because of:

1. % of being athletic 

2. Access to great coaching from a young age

3. There’s a good chance your parents are above average wealth and will pay for instruction and training

While its true, that there are many guys like Marcus Smart, Ben McLemore, Leon Power who come from really tough backgrounds, to say that guys from priviledge backgrounds in the sense that they were born to family that excelled in basketball and athletics 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hype Machine]

 I did specifically say…aside from kids who have pro athlete parents.

I think Jeremy Lin has overcome the most adversity to be a pro player. 

 

 

 

 

[Hype Machine 2.0]

 This post is so stupid. Hype 1.0, you’ve gone so far off the deep end that you’re more crazy than Miley Cyrus.

[Hype Machine]

 If you posted a bit more, I wouldn’t be relied upon to scrape the barrel for this low-grade draft content. 

[Arc12345Participant]

Stephen Curry wouldn’t have had half of the opportunities to succeed as he did if his father wasn’t Dell.

Get real, there is no disadvantage. It will forever be an advantage in all walks of life. 

[Hype Machine]

 Read the post. I specifically exclude sons of former players from my stance since they are clearly the most priveledged from a basketball development standpoint. 

[GronounoursParticipant]

It’s not a ‘damning revelation’, it’s a well-known fact. See Joshua Kjerulf Dubrow, Hoop inequalities: Race, class and family structure background and the odds of playing in the National Basketball Association.

I LOLed at ‘I think the basketball world needs to wake up and start respecting the even greater adversity that priveledged kids face en route to the league.’ There is no ‘greater adversity’, it’s just that kids from richer families go to good schools and universities, where they get a good education that allow them, in most cases, to get a decent job. They don’t have to rely on the 1/100,000 probability to end up a NBA player. You want us to respect ‘privileged kids’ because they have a hard time becoming the best in a poor people’s sport?

 

[Hype Machine]

I think your starting to see my point of view professor grizzly. 

 

 

 

 

[HitsterParticipant]

 Players from a wealthy background may have more career options and if their parents are in well paid professions, they could be encouraged to follow suit rather than play pro sports. Although if you are independently wealthy you may have more freedom to follow your dreams than having to settle down and get a job. 

Wealthy guys may possibly have less need to succeed than guys from poorer backgrounds for whom pro sport may be the only way to get away from their current surroundings.

Ironically a lot of the wealthier players may have come from families with pro sports backgrounds – Noah at the Knicks springs to mind. It was widely said he had the financial freedom to stay in college longer and win another championship when he was a lock to go very high in 2006 draft.

 

 

[holefillers1Participant]

 I think you have watched too many 80’s movies Hype.

[Hype Machine]

Lol cmon man…this thread is an all timer.

[Knicks44Participant]

If you come from a poor family and tough background you are most likely very motivated to get out of there and make something out of yourself therefore your motivation is at a really high level. Basketball is something you can do for free on an outside court and do it all day/night long working on your game that’s why many people that come from a rough neighborhood do it. Does it mean it’s easier for them to be in NBA? NO
It takes hard work/ motivation and relentlessness to become a professional athlete. Players that overcame adversity did not have it easy and did not have money to hire a professional trainer/nutritionist/strength and speed coach.
Players that come from rich families can afford that, therefore they have a better chance of becoming a better play and making to NBA. It’s just all about the motivation and the time and grind that you put into the game. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or not, if that’s your goal in life, you will do anything it takes to get to that level. It’s all up to the person and what they want to do with their life and who they want to be. Being rich or poor doesn’t affect that. If you want to be an NBA player you will be motivated and work your butt off no matter what but when you do have money you will be able to afford the professional help and that can lead you to becoming a better player than someone with no money and just a basketball and an outside court.

[JoeWolf1]

This was a great article I read a couple years ago regarding the issue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/opinion/sunday/in-the-nba-zip-code-matters.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&

It’s not about having a loaded Dad who played in the NBA when you were growing up, but it does have a lot to do with coming from at the very least a middle class household that can give you opportunity that those less fortunate may not have. There are absolutely guys who grew up dirt poor, and clawed their way to success, but the majority of NBA athletes (black or white) grew up in middle class homes judging by the data we have.

[Author]

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