I Play Pro Basketball. Ask me anything

[ProBa11er]

I play professional basketball for a club in Europe. I grew up in the US, I played high school ball, then played prep ball, then d1 college, now finally reached my goal of playing professional. I would like to help anyone who has any questions about the process/lifestyle or anything else to help you reach your goals.

[BballerfromLT]

how much time do you train pre/in season and how your workouts look like.

[ribcage6foot6]

I'm looking to make a college team in the fall. I'm a wing player with a very strong jumpshot but needing to round out my game to make it in college. I'd be interested in what skill-training drills you do. Would you suggest I specialize and absolutely perfect my jumpshot like Kyle Korver or focus on my weaknesses to become an all-around player with a strong jumper. Thanks in advance.

[Swoosh639]

What's your name and where do you play?

[StongEverything]

Where at in Europe? Do the bishes flock?

[ProBa11er]

how much time do you train pre/in season and how your workouts look like.

Well sadly right now I don't work on my game as much as I would like to. Being in season playing a high amount of minutes a game takes a toll on the body so I try to get in the gym once two to three times a week on my own, and just keep my fundamentals, such as form, ball handling and at the same time experiment a little working on new moves.

However, in the off season I train non stop. This past summer I was training between 6-9 hours a day. I would go about an hour and a half hard trying to keep conditioned and make my body used to making shots when exhausted, then agility, then 4 or more hours of shooting.

[ProBa11er]

I'm looking to make a college team in the fall. I'm a wing player with a very strong jumpshot but needing to round out my game to make it in college. I'd be interested in what skill-training drills you do. Would you suggest I specialize and absolutely perfect my jumpshot like Kyle Korver or focus on my weaknesses to become an all-around player with a strong jumper. Thanks in advance.

I hate to tell you this but shooters are a dime a dozen in college. Throughout my years of playing I've seen just pure shooters make it to the college level, but they don't thrive unless they expand their game. It's not always easy in college to get your shot off, so you have to be able to create your own. So I would advise becoming an all around player. But one thing in particular, work on your defense. There's of course going to be games where you miss shots, it happens to guys in the NBA. But if you can lock up, and your the best defender on the floor then the coach can't take you out of the game.

[ProBa11er]

And just for the people who asked, I play for a club in Denmark. Sadly, basketball is just growing here in popularity, they have high competition but fav focus primarily handball and some weird sport they call futbol. But being American that sport makes no sense to me.

[BballerfromLT]

any advice how to improve defence.?i mean positioning ,helping etc.

[ProBa11er]

any advice how to improve defence.?i mean positioning ,helping etc.

Well first things first you obviously need to be pretty strong, and at the same time you have to have a quick first step. Those are things that are easy to work on, go lift, and jump rope and use agility ladders. As for positioning you usually gain that from coaches.

But the best advice I can give for becoming the best defender you can be is to take pride in it. Whenever you play 1on1 or pick up. Take pride in your defense, don't let people score on you, and if they do that's like a slap in the face. They're saying their offense is better than your defense. And eventually get to the point where you constantly have pressure on the ball and no one can get by you.

Obviously that's not the most fun way to do it but it's one of the best. One of my buddies and I would play fill court one on one for hours just trying to blow by each other and working on keeping him in front of you when your on defense.

[ribcage6foot6]

I hate to tell you this but shooters are a dime a dozen in college. Throughout my years of playing I've seen just pure shooters make it to the college level, but they don't thrive unless they expand their game. It's not always easy in college to get your shot off, so you have to be able to create your own. So I would advise becoming an all around player. But one thing in particular, work on your defense. There's of course going to be games where you miss shots, it happens to guys in the NBA. But if you can lock up, and your the best defender on the floor then the coach can't take you out of the game.

I truly appreciate the honesty. I plan on modelling myself after Danny Green; jump-shots and defence. I have good basketball IQ and a strong feel for the game so the only thing holding me back from being a strong defender is my average athleticism and lacking physical stature. I'll be working on foot speed and strengthening my legs, back and core. Thanks a lot man.

[gymratbum]

I play professional basketball for a club in Europe. I grew up in the US, I played high school ball, then played prep ball, then d1 college, now finally reached my goal of playing professional. I would like to help anyone who has any questions about the process/lifestyle or anything else to help you reach your goals.

I need info on your diet. Do you do plyometrics for jumping? And just some overall tips to dribble and drive better. My shot is on point and form is perfect. And what do you do to get your stamina up? After like 1 hour of playing I am burned out and it never used to be like that. Thanks!

[ProBa11er]

I need info on your diet. Do you do plyometrics for jumping? And just some overall tips to dribble and drive better. My shot is on point and form is perfect. And what do you do to get your stamina up? After like 1 hour of playing I am burned out and it never used to be like that. Thanks!

Ha, sadly I'm not the best one to give diet advice. I wish my diet was better, it would truly transform my game to another level, but it kills me when I eat clean two months and hardly see any results on the outside. But I would just say to follow some of the stuff you find on here. I have seen professional sports nutritionists though, and just sort of learned what foods are good for you, and what to avoid, so now I sort of have a happy medium. But in Denmark a lot of the healthy food I'm used to is hard to find. So I sort of rely on some of the other foods. But it's funny because the food here doesnt have all that extra stuff they have in the states. So I lost 15 pounds when I first got here. Now I've gained 10 pounds from my original weight.

I do some plyometrics in the off season, but personally I have always found the best way to improve my jumping is by jumping in drills. I want to rebound better. I jump as high as i can in every rebound drill. I want to dunk better, I dunk over and over.

As for the dribble drive, take the advice I just gave. You wanna learn to dribble better practice ball handling, stationary and on the move. Growing up the camp I went to and now work at in the summer always did (V-dribbles, in and outs, cross overs, one dribble cross over, one dribble between the legs, straight between the legs, behind the back one dribble behind the back, then combo, If you can add all those and just get real comfortable with the ball then you will be good for the dribbling part of the drive.


theres a youtube video of one of my fellow coaches at the camp, going through the stationary series I can't post links yet but just Youtube ForeverIBall: Stationary Ball-Handling Drills And it should pop up.

As for the driving part, You really have to focus on getting low. I have always done this drill we call wide recievers. It's where you run 3 long strides low to the ground, diving your head and shoulders. Then come up for 2 or 3 steps and then dive your head and shoulders. It helps working on your change of speed as well as your ability to stay low to the ground while driving pass your defender. Also keeping your shoulders very low knocks the defender off balance.

As for the stamina, you just have to push your body to the limit. T (Obviously don't take this to a point where you're putting yourself in harms way, if you need water get water, if you need a rest take a rest) I see you're 27, go workout for an hour hard, then rest a little then go hard again, before you know it you will begin to work your stamina up again. But like I said, keep in mind what your body is telling you don't push yourself if your body isnt ready.

I hope that helped.

[eli26]

I play professional basketball for a club in Europe. I grew up in the US, I played high school ball, then played prep ball, then d1 college, now finally reached my goal of playing professional. I would like to help anyone who has any questions about the process/lifestyle or anything else to help you reach your goals.

Opinion on lebron

[gymratbum]

Ha, sadly I'm not the best one to give diet advice. I wish my diet was better, it would truly transform my game to another level, but it kills me when I eat clean two months and hardly see any results on the outside. But I would just say to follow some of the stuff you find on here. I have seen professional sports nutritionists though, and just sort of learned what foods are good for you, and what to avoid, so now I sort of have a happy medium. But in Denmark a lot of the healthy food I'm used to is hard to find. So I sort of rely on some of the other foods. But it's funny because the food here doesnt have all that extra stuff they have in the states. So I lost 15 pounds when I first got here. Now I've gained 10 pounds from my original weight.

I do some plyometrics in the off season, but personally I have always found the best way to improve my jumping is by jumping in drills. I want to rebound better. I jump as high as i can in every rebound drill. I want to dunk better, I dunk over and over.

As for the dribble drive, take the advice I just gave. You wanna learn to dribble better practice ball handling, stationary and on the move. Growing up the camp I went to and now work at in the summer always did (V-dribbles, in and outs, cross overs, one dribble cross over, one dribble between the legs, straight between the legs, behind the back one dribble behind the back, then combo, If you can add all those and just get real comfortable with the ball then you will be good for the dribbling part of the drive.


theres a youtube video of one of my fellow coaches at the camp, going through the stationary series I can't post links yet but just Youtube ForeverIBall: Stationary Ball-Handling Drills And it should pop up.

As for the driving part, You really have to focus on getting low. I have always done this drill we call wide recievers. It's where you run 3 long strides low to the ground, diving your head and shoulders. Then come up for 2 or 3 steps and then dive your head and shoulders. It helps working on your change of speed as well as your ability to stay low to the ground while driving pass your defender. Also keeping your shoulders very low knocks the defender off balance.

As for the stamina, you just have to push your body to the limit. T (Obviously don't take this to a point where you're putting yourself in harms way, if you need water get water, if you need a rest take a rest) I see you're 27, go workout for an hour hard, then rest a little then go hard again, before you know it you will begin to work your stamina up again. But like I said, keep in mind what your body is telling you don't push yourself if your body isnt ready.

I hope that helped.

Thanks! Ya right now I am taking sport nutrition in college to help with my sports diet during seasons and I dribble with a plastic bag over my basketball. I got that tip from seeing Iverson and others do it in the nba to help hold on to the ball.

[ProBa11er]

Opinion on lebron

Lol well I loved him in Cleveland. But I can't stand him now. I don't agree with the whole process with choosing Miami. And I mean I've played for a while, and had opportunities to transfer to a team that would win more, but never did. Obviously, a completely diffetent level.

But anyways, at the same time I think he's the best player in the NBA. He keeps improving his game every off season. I definitely don't like the flopping though. I also don't think he's as exciting to watch as his Cleveland days. I know he's taking care of his body more, but he really used to do some amazing stuff.

[ProBa11er]

Thanks! Ya right now I am taking sport nutrition in college to help with my sports diet during seasons and I dribble with a plastic bag over my basketball. I got that tip from seeing Iverson and others do it in the nba to help hold on to the ball.

Can't say I've ever heard of that. But when I was younger I used to dribble with oven mitts on. Seems like the same premise. Just curious what are you hoping to get out of ball. Do you want to make your college team next year? Do you just want to be the best guy in rec league? Whats your goals?

[BasketballHQ]

Well sadly right now I don't work on my game as much as I would like to. Being in season playing a high amount of minutes a game takes a toll on the body so I try to get in the gym once two to three times a week on my own, and just keep my fundamentals, such as form, ball handling and at the same time experiment a little working on new moves.

However, in the off season I train non stop. This past summer I was training between 6-9 hours a day. I would go about an hour and a half hard trying to keep conditioned and make my body used to making shots when exhausted, then agility, then 4 or more hours of shooting.

6-9 hours a day? Kobe only works out 6 hours a day during the off season and he is known for having one of the hardest workout plans in the NBA. Pretty impressive that you workout more than Kobe.

[OregonLife]

what's your name and where do you play?

^^^^ this ^^^^

[ProBa11er]

6-9 hours a day? Kobe only works out 6 hours a day during the off season and he is known for having one of the hardest workout plans in the NBA. Pretty impressive that you workout more than Kobe.

Me and my best friend always talk about that. If you want to be the best you have to out work the best. If Kobe is putting in 6 hours a day, and you put in less, how can I ever catch Kobe. I mean probably not enough time left in my career to catch Kobe's greatness, but gotta try.

[ByronKelly]

Me and my best friend always talk about that. If you want to be the best you have to out work the best. If Kobe is putting in 6 hours a day, and you put in less, how can I ever catch Kobe. I mean probably not enough time left in my career to catch Kobe's greatness, but gotta try.

6 hours is too much IMO. Kobe is an exception, he is gifted both genetically and from a talent/skills perspective AND he has a level of fitness that allows him to pratice that much.
ever read that story about Kobe shooting jumpers all noight once during the olympic team pratice a bunch of years back?

heres the link. im sure you have seen this before

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2013/3/6...workout-reddit

[ProBa11er]

[QUOTE=ByronKelly;1219036261]6 hours is too much IMO. Kobe is an exception, he is gifted both genetically and from a talent/skills perspective AND he has a level of fitness that allows him to pratice that much.
ever read that story about Kobe shooting jumpers all noight once during the olympic team pratice a bunch of years back?

heres the link. im sure you have seen this before


I've seen the story before. I'm just curious. How do you think he reached that level of fitness? Do you think it just happened one day where he was able to start working out a crazy amount of hours a day? Of course not. Your body gets used to it. And as I said, it's not a complete 6-9 hours of just tearing apart your body. I do a lot of shooting. Whether it be form shooting, shots from spots, or dribble moves into shots. It's not going full speed, but it gets your muscle memory right.

But then again you may be right, maybe 6 hours is to much. But if you only work just as much as someone who is better then you, how can you possibly catch them? And that is what I devote my success too. Even in high school, I used to suck compared to now. I was goofy, my coach used to say I couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time. But I would wake up before school everyday, run to the park with my buddy, one of us with a weight vest the other with jump soles, work out for 2 hours, then switch who runs with what and run home. Then after every game I would run to the park and get up shots, work on everything I needed to improve. While other people sleep, I was getting better. I even hid a shovel at the park for when it snowed. I would shovel a 15 foot area and work on my shot.

It's the only way I know how to get where you want to be in life, whether it be basketball, lifting, sports, business, you have to put in the work that you want to see out of it.

[Hermworm]

How do I practice outside school? Like stuff I can do on my own. How to work on vertical.

[NRM55]

What advice would you give to me as a 6'11" post playing Juco. I picked up the game 2 years ago and im continually developing. What should I focus working on at the court? Any post move advice? Thanks

[ProBa11er]

How do I practice outside school? Like stuff I can do on my own. How to work on vertical.

Well firstly there are plenty of camps, where you may have been or can go to, and take what you learn from there and bring it to your workouts.

But obviously thats not always an option. I'm gonna go off your stats, and assume your a guard. In which case I would work a lot on agility, getting your footspeed right. As well work on your ball handling. There are plenty of stationary ball handling you can do (I posted a description of a link you can go to from the camp I grew up and coach at. (I can't post links on here yet)).

Obviously you need to get your jump shot right, so you have to really work on that, anything from form shooting, to shots from various spots, to one dribble pull ups, anything you can think of that you would do in a game. Now a big key is really focusing on staying low throughout your moves. Also make moves to the basket finishing in different ways.

Being over here in Europe I'm starting to add more finishes to my game. I was never particularly good at a Euro Step, now I've developed it, I've also learned a move called a Sash che (I honestly have no idea how to spell it but it's sort of like a pro hop where you get an extra step out of it. Probably only legal in Europe)). I've also learned the half step and some other moves.

But these are just some things to start with. Mainly whatever you want to be able to do in a game, practice that. Wanna shoot 3's shoot 3's. Wanna drive, practice driving. Wanna work on defense practice defense, wanna jump higher, practice jumping.

But as for the jumping though, aside from jumping, I would search for the vertical jump bible. I followed that for a while this past summer, and I really developed my jumping ability, it caters to what you need, also I'm sure you can find it for free online. I needed to work on how quickly I jumped, and after a month, I was jumping so much faster, in turn jumping higher. Hope that helped, if you have any other questions feel free to ask.

[ProBa11er]

What advice would you give to me as a 6'11" post playing Juco. I picked up the game 2 years ago and im continually developing. What should I focus working on at the court? Any post move advice? Thanks

Well I haven't mentioned it on here yet but I'm a "Post player" I played the 5 in college but that's just because my coach didn't know my full potential. But now playing here, since I have worked on my post game so much I can kill guys in the post who are weaker then me, but at the same time step out and drive by stronger guys.

The reason I know a lot about guard work is when I was a junior in high school, I went to this camp I've discussed earlier and instead of constantly working on post moves like I always had I would stay at the camp all day through the girls session through the little kids session, and the coach let me have a basket and he made me work on ball handling, shooting, moves to the basket from the outside. So I know so many drills and when I get thrown into one with guards I shock people at how I move for being 6'8 and 250 pounds.

Now as for you I think it depends on how much time your willing to put into working on your game. If you wanna work your way up to d1 and play overseas some day it's gonna take a lot of work (but definitely very possible being 6'11 as long as you can move well) Can you?

But if your only willing to work on basketball 2 hours a day in the off season, I would work a lot on post play and developing a jump shot. Having a jump shot keeps the defense honest, and they have to be able to guard you up to 15 feet so you can suck out the other teams big man giving your teammates open lay ups. Also usually big men are slower so it takes them longer to close out and you have open shots. (Also the capability to drive by, but that comes with work, which I would suggest working some on, but if you are willing to put in the hours I would work on that as well.) I would suggest at least having a go to move and a counter. Mine is either a hook shot over either shoulder, or if they take that away I have developed the spin that Hakeem the dream mastered. I have countless moves and counters but that is by far my favorite. To learn some moves, I would definitely suggest watching Hakeem Olajuwon on youtube he was definitely the best post player (footwork wise). Also my other favorite move, which I don't have a great counter to is when the defense is playing you on the high side i.e. forcing you baseline. I take my high side foot, and whip it around towards the baseline, I blow by so many guys for lay ups with that move. You can see Hakeem do that as well.

Now if you are willing to put in more hours (which may not be best for you, I don't know how heavy you are, or the shape of your knees, I know sometimes heavier players with bad knees can't always push those crazy hours, but if you can do it, I would start working on guard work as well. I'll be honest I hated playing the post because no one ever throws the ball to the post. (I mean now they do because they brought me here to score) but usually they don't. So it's fun to be a guard and be able to do things that normally you couldn't do, or wouldnt be expected to do. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I've developed new moves, and I've gotten good at the euro step. I have done it in a few games now, and left guys trying to take a charge looking stupid. Also the other great advantage is it works on your feel for the ball, so when you dribble in the post you wont lose it, also it works on your foot work and foot speed.

Hope this helps, any more questions feel free to ask.

[WantToDunk]

Hey thanks for making this thread. Don't know if this will be your area of expertise but what would you recommend I do to increase my vertical jump? I'm just starting the gym tomorrow and was wondering if you could recommend me exercises that would help. I made a thread on this question with a video but never really got any replies.

[ProBa11er]

Hey thanks for making this thread. Don't know if this will be your area of expertise but what would you recommend I do to increase my vertical jump? I'm just starting the gym tomorrow and was wondering if you could recommend me exercises that would help. I made a thread on this question with a video but never really got any replies.

Like I said in an earlier post I would recommend looking into the Vertical Jump Bible. It really worked for me. And it's difficult for me to tell you exactly what you need just from the information you've given me. It could be a lot of different things you need to work on. Such as, for me in college we primarily worked our hamstrings and never worked our quads or glutes really. So recently I've discovered my quads and glutes are to weak and aren't even active. So I started bringing my feet closer together on my squats to really target my quads. It really helped and I never even really got to the point where I added a lot of weight.

But the vertical jump bible puts you through some tests to see what you need most and then will give you a workout in the weight room as well as plyo stuff to do.

One of the workouts from that I felt I got the most out of was depth jumps. Where you stand on a bench take a step off and jump as high as you can, working on the speed of how fast you jump.

But as for the weight room if you don't want to do much research, I would suggest squats, power cleans (as long as you know how to do them), RDL's, Leg extensions, Leg Curls, definitely hit your core, that brings everything together, with a weak core, you can have strong legs but it cant work with your upper body to explode. (This is what I've gathered from various coaches, this forum and experience.)

But the simplest way to increase your vertical is by jumping. One of my buddies who has a ridiculous vertical, wherever he would go he would just jump, he would be walking to the train, and see a branch and jump to grab it, the next day get higher, but constantly jumping whenever he got the opportunity.

And you're welcome for making this thread. You know I've gotten so much help along the way from people. And I know there is no chance I could have gotten where I am today without it. So if I can help some people reach their goals, or at least lead them in the right direction I'm more than happy too.

[iabs]

salary?

[Heimdalll]

interested in salary