How long to get good at basketball?

[hotstreek704]

I suck at basketball right now. If I practice 2-3 hours a day, 6 days a week, how long will it take me to get good? I would practice more, but I have schoolwork to do. I just want to be on par with other players and up with the game. I'm not terrible right now, I can dribble and shoot OK, but during the game I'm not good or as aggressive as I should be. I also tire easily.

[SDOptimist]

lol think about this one. If there was a set amount of hours/days/months/years that one has to practice to become a good basketball player, the ncaa and nba would be overflowing with players, and it would be easy to make it.

To answer your question, it is impossible to determine that. There is no set timeline to this kind of stuff. Some can pick up things really fast, for some it takes a while, and for others, regardless how much time you put into it, they will never exceed a certain level.

These guys in the ncaa and nba have had a basketball in their hands since child birth. I Know you aren't trying to become like them. You are probably just trying to reach a skill level where you can be solid at pick up games in the neighborhood. All you can do is just keep working at it until you get it. That could take weeks, months or even years...who knows. You have to learn how to evaluate yourself. Understand what you are doing wrong and how to tweak things to get better.

And if you tire easily, workout more lol.

[ByronKelly]

lol think about this one. If there was a set amount of hours/days/months/years that one has to practice to become a good basketball player, the ncaa and nba would be overflowing with players, and it would be easy to make it.

To answer your question, it is impossible to determine that. There is no set timeline to this kind of stuff. Some can pick up things really fast, for some it takes a while, and for others, regardless how much time you put into it, they will never exceed a certain level.

These guys in the ncaa and nba have had a basketball in their hands since child birth. I Know you aren't trying to become like them. You are probably just trying to reach a skill level where you can be solid at pick up games in the neighborhood. All you can do is just keep working at it until you get it. That could take weeks, months or even years...who knows. You have to learn how to evaluate yourself. Understand what you are doing wrong and how to tweak things to get better.

And if you tire easily, workout more lol.

It takes approx 10,000 hours of experience to be a professional at something (eg professional designation for your employement). So, if you worked a full time job, 40hrs a week, 52 weeks a year its about 4-5years.
LEts apply this to a sport. If you pratice 2 hours a day, 6 days a week, it would take you 16 years to become a pro. Think about it, most pro's begin at the age of 6.

Heres an interesting articel taking about the concept.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...you-an-expert/

Food for thought

[allancadenhead]

bump

[LuckSide]

Honestly it is going to vary based on the person. Some people have the ability to get better at things faster than other people. Just work hard and put whatever time in that you need to and never settle for where you're at.

[jmartin1013]

I suck at basketball right now. If I practice 2-3 hours a day, 6 days a week, how long will it take me to get good? I would practice more, but I have schoolwork to do. I just want to be on par with other players and up with the game. I'm not terrible right now, I can dribble and shoot OK, but during the game I'm not good or as aggressive as I should be. I also tire easily.

the best way to get good is have the drive to be successful. i never played in high school but i pushed myself and really had the determination to play college ball. and so i did. so things are possible with hard work. i went from playing for fun and playing for the love of the game, the challenge, the moments, im 5'9 and i play like drose, explosive and fast, attacking the rim. own your skills first develop them, then start seeing the same mentally. your practice will pay off, just have confidence.

[jorgemontenegro]

with your height and weight, you should try to add lean mass, while working on boxing out, power layup drills, hook shot drills, box jumps, squats, jump rope, plyometrics. also, being aggressive is more a state of mind. listen to some music before you play that pumps you up and maybe take some caffeine. but the biggest thing for you would be boxing out, rebounding and defense. if you can do those, pass, cut and make layups, you'll dominate with your height.

[ThatBrah]

OP, just want to point out that I played bball all four years of HS, so as far as fundamentals I know the game, if you saw me playing around on the court you might assume I'm good. But for real, I suck, even though I trained/practiced/played all 4 years, the most I ever scored in a single game was 10 points.

[kickz7]

OP, just want to point out that I played bball all four years of HS, so as far as fundamentals I know the game, if you saw me playing around on the court you might assume I'm good. But for real, I suck, even though I trained/practiced/played all 4 years, the most I ever scored in a single game was 10 points.

Don't let the numbers get you. I mean score between 5 and 15 each game but i always work hard in defense. if you have that, the value of you in a team is better and just scoring. Work on rebounds, footwork, quickness in defense, being able to see how what happens next, get steals (don't gamble) Overall game knowledge and being able to put to work comes with understanding, executing and being able to adapt.

[captinaaa]

i have just started playing basketball this holiday
and i found that i sucks at basketball but i will keep trying

sorry for my bad english

[hotstreek704]

Thank you all for the positive feedback and help. Im going to keep practicing everyday and see where it goes.

the best way to get good is have the drive to be successful. i never played in high school but i pushed myself and really had the determination to play college ball. and so i did. so things are possible with hard work. i went from playing for fun and playing for the love of the game, the challenge, the moments, im 5'9 and i play like drose, explosive and fast, attacking the rim. own your skills first develop them, then start seeing the same mentally. your practice will pay off, just have confidence.

@jmartin Do you think you can explain a little more how you were able to make it to a college team? Like how long you had to try and how much experience you had before?
That's amazing that you were able to make it afterwards.

[asp143]

The more practice time you put it, the earlier you become good.And i think that through dunking you can't get better at, and it's over rated. Work on your other things, and let a dunk be the icing on the cake, but the talent to dunk doesn't mean anything if you can't get to the rim. So, learn how to beat your man off the trickle or make good post up moves if your a big man. Dunking on the 1 on 0 fast break alone won't take you far in basketball.

[hyperdunk1]

It depends on a lot of things:

-how much you enjoy and want to be good at this game
-intelligence
-discipline and hard work
-your nervous system... how good your reaction time is... some people no matter what could never play the 1 or 2 at elite level.
-genetics

[sgttom]

It depends man. Depends on how hard you are practicing not just how long. In the end two different people could try just as hard and one can get farther then the other simply because of natural talent. Don't worry about it, stay dedicated and you'll improve.

[Trey19]

Figure out your strength or what you're good at. Whether it be shooting, dribbling, defense, etc... and find out what your weakness is or what you don't do very well. Then focus most of your attention on your strength and your weakness. Of course you have to practice every aspect of the game but if you really work hard on your weaknesses and really improve on your strengths you will become a better basketball player. There isn't a set amount of time it will take but I've seen people I know make drastic improvement on their basketball skills in months. I mean literally I've seen someone who was barely able to dribble the basketball improve his ball handling to the point where could handle the point guard position within months. So it just depends on your work ethic and your self-belief.

[SSiyanwal]

I am in the same condition as you were. I am 19 years old in my First at college. Never did any kind of serious sports or athletics. I see that my college friends are way better at basketball than me since they were playing it since they were in school. I putting in a lot of effortlife you did everyday hoping that in one or two months my skills would improve but still I suck at playing basketball. I can't put in more effort than 3 hours a day since I also got my studies and summer project going on. I was thinking to quit it and just stick to doing exercise.

[CommitmentRulz]

PLAY as much as you can. Working out/practicing on your own will help a little. Get someone to workout WITH you for passing, rebounding, etc. But PLAY every pick-up, practice-type game you can.

[sowilson]

It's not about how much you practice it's about how well you practice. If you practice a bad shot you'll just perfect bad shooting. You're faced with the following;
1) skills you've learned that you're OK with
2) skills you haven't learned that you know you need to learn
3) skills you haven't learned that you don't know you need to learn
4) not knowing how to identify and correct poor mechanics

A couple of things can help
1) The Basketball Players Bible. Breaks down individual skills in basketball to its fundementals and has a bunch of drills to teach and perfect them. A bit light on dribbling but there are other sources for that
2) Coaching. There are small business that thrive on teaching the game of basketball, either individually or in small group lessons. Periodically hiring a coach can do great things for your game. It's very helpful to have an experienced person correct your mechanics. Although somewhat expensive ($50/hr or so) if you hire one every month or so it can be affordable and help make your practice efficient
3) Partner. Having someone to train with can be very beneficial to both of you. It's also a great way to work on passing (it's hard to do the weave by yourself) and defense.
4) Two, good, basketballs. Why two? To work on dribbling

[DCSpartan]

OP asked 5 and a half years ago. Hopefully he figured it out before now.