The Uncomfortable Truth for Young Basketball Players

The Uncomfortable Truth for Young Basketball Players

Recently I came across this tweet that sparked my thoughts on aggressiveness versus efficiency in basketball while I was reflecting on my own high school basketball career I began to wonder is it better to shoot more with a lower percentage or less with a higher percentage my goal with these videos has

Always been to help younger basketball players I’ve been really fortunate in my basketball Journey from playing highlevel college basketball to now playing professionally in Finland and because of that I rarely talk about my own regrets but there are some lessons that I think are still worth sharing especially for those aiming to play

Basketball at the next level so one thing that I wish I had done differently and I think players who have goals of playing at the next level should do is to be more selfish and before you go to the comments to call me out and please

Do if you want to it helps the YouTube algorithm let me explain what I mean by selfish in high school I was the kind of basketball player who always made the right play I would try to run the plays perfectly pass to my open teammates try and find mismatches and get my teammates

The ball however I attended a public high school where few of my teammates aspired to play college basketball this coupled with my own intense passion for the game game often left me really frustrated I remember my mom one time asking me after a game why do you keep

Passing to the pitcher and the quarterback you should be taking those shots however I was always worried about being seen as a selfish player so I’d often pass up shots for myself and instead give the ball to my teammates who didn’t care as much or work as hard

At basketball but here’s what I’ve learned over the years if you actually put in the work and have a chance of playing at the next level you need to be more selfish there are two main reasons for this first I should have been more aggressive and selfish in my games

Because I had dreams of playing college basketball and to play college basketball you need to stand out not fit in I should have been taking more shots tougher shots because I was training for hours every day while my teammates weren’t that is nothing against them obviously we just had different goals in

The long run and secondly my aggressiveness or selfishness would have increased our chances of winning like Shay gilders Alexander for the Thunder or Steph Curry for the Warriors I needed to be that guy for my team and I would actually argue it would be more selfish

For a guy like Shay to not be aggressive his team needs him in attack mode to have the best chance to win games my trainer Carrie always wanted me to embrace this attack mentality on the court when I was in high school but for some reason I pushed back on it now in

Retrospect I know it would have helped my own development and probably my team success as well now let’s be really clear about something this aggressive mentality has to be earned if you aren’t putting the work in being really aggressive in games could hurt your team

Not help it and the other thing I want to clarify is that being aggressive doesn’t always mean you have to shoot the ball when you’re in attack mode you’re also going to get your teammate easy opportunities let’s look at this idea of aggressiveness from a tactical basketball strategy sense my

Professional team over here in Finland has been having a really good year we’re actually in second place in the standings right now and we have one of the best offenses in the league and a large part of that is because at almost all times we have a bunch of guys on the

Court who can put pressure on the defense we have guys that can shoot or drive to the basket two of the main ways that you put pressure on the defense in basketball this makes us really hard to guard because we don’t just swing the ball around and wait for an open shot no

We attack the defense and make them react to us I recently saw this random clip where a reporter asked Kyle kozma what makes Julius Randall so hard to guard after Randall had 39 points and five assists against the Wizards this was Cruz’s response does a great job of

Just using his body um understands how to get to the line and fouls and um he attacks every every possession so that’s right Randall is hard to guard because he attacks I use the NBA here as an example because most of you know the players but it applies

To all levels of basketball so let’s get back to my original question is it better to shoot more with a lower percentage or less with a higher percentage when you are constantly in attack mode the opposing defense has to worry about you they have to adjust to you they don’t necessarily have to

Adjust to the guy that just waits in the corner for an open shot and clearly those guys are important especially in the NBA but on the average high school basketball team those guys are simply not going to stand out the player who is out there making things happen for their

Team they are the one who’s going to stand out and even if you aren’t your team star player maybe you’re the third or fourth option on a really high level high school BK basketball team being aggressive in your role is still vital not just by scoring but by making the

Opposing team have to respect and worry about you and high school I played on one of those really high Lev teams guys like Javon qule and Nas re were on my aou team I came off the bench and really my only role on that team was to be a

Shooter and make hustle plays and yet being aggressive in that role was still really important if I didn’t take advantage of my opportunities to shoot the defense would be able to worry more about those other guys and our offense would be less Dynamic also playing alongside a guy like Javon corn who was

A five-star recruit at the time should have been a lesson for what I could bring to my high school team his constant attack mode and fearlessness and big moments was always really impressive to me he also had this really important trait where he didn’t dwell on

Mistakes if he missed a shot it never deterred him from confidently taking the next one however during my high school games if I missed a shot I sometimes found myself preoccupied with the idea that I might miss the next one instead of just worrying about continuing to be

Aggressive so if you want to stand out and help your team have more success don’t make make the same mistake that I did in high school don’t pass up on opportunities where you could be more aggressive be honest with yourself and the work you put in it’s not just about

Becoming a better player it’s about embracing this mentality that will take you to the next level I know this is a really interesting topic and I’m sure a lot of you have your own thoughts on it so let me know how you feel about this debate in the comments and if you’re a

Younger Hooper check out this video on the number one mistake that young basketball players made as always thanks for watching keep working and I’ll see you soon

Recently, I came across this tweet that sparked my thoughts on aggressiveness versus efficiency in basketball. Reflecting on my own high school career, I began to wonder: Is it better to shoot more with a lower percentage, or less with a higher percentage?

My goal with these videos has been helping younger basketball players. I’ve been fortunate in my basketball journey, from playing high level college basketball to now playing professionally in Finland. Because of that, I rarely talk about my own regrets, but there are some lessons worth sharing, especially for those aiming to play basketball at the next level.

So, one thing that I wish I had done differently, and I think younger players who have goals of playing at the next level should do, is to be more selfish. And before you go to the comments to call me out, which, please do if you feel like it (it helps the Youtube algorithm), let me explain what I mean.

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