Sorry it’s taken me a little bit to get back to you guys, but I had busy week. I got a chance to go home for Easter, and had a great time I also found a great travel website with cheap tickets to the states, and for traveling in Europe. Anyway, what does the Easter Bunny, deodarant, and PRACTICE have in common? Ok, you asked for it… While on the plane, I sat next to a guy from Spain, and I guess you could say we got pretty close, besides the fact that I could smell his deodorant, or shall I say, lack thereof, and his repeated attempts to use my shoulder as his headrest, we had a great time. We talked about life, women, and of course basketball. He brought a great topic that I always hear European coaches talk about… And that’s how American basketball players don’t like to practice! Practice… Not a game… but practice! Ahh the infamous words of Allen Iverson. So I’ve decided to write a letter to all European coaches out there,
Dear European Coaches,
I just want to speak for most American players when I say we do like to practice… Not just 134 times in ONE WEEK!!!! Obviously I’m being facetious when I say 134 times in a week, but hopefully you get the point! Ok, Ok, we know that in order to be good at something you have to work at it. We get that point, but you have to understand where we’re coming from in this argument.
Listen, the two a day practices are little… how do you say…REDUNDANT!! We have come from college, where during the preseason and Christmas break we have 2 a day practices, and to us it has always been looked upon as punishment! During the Christmas break in college, coaches use 2 a days as a way to get back in shape from the break. Or during the preseason, when the games haven’t started yet, they also use it as a form of conditioning. Now as players all we see is more practice means more sprints, more yelling, and dead tired afterwards. And the synonym of all of this P-U-N-I-S-H-M-E-N-T! No, we don’t look at it as developing our game, no we don’t look at it as a time of bonding with our teammates, and we definitely don’t see it as a way to help our shooting!! Because at the end of the day your not going to allow us to take 20 shots a game anyway, so why have us shoot 2,000 shots in 2 hours. Again, let me be the first one to say that we do love our craft and working on your craft is important, but going twice a day from August till June is a bit… What’s the word here, let’s see… REDUNDANT!! Maybe in the preseason, I can understand going twice a day, but not past New Years, sheesh! IF we don’t have it by now, then we’re not gonna get it!!
And unlike European Juniors, we didn’t practice 2 or 3 times a day from the age of 12 on up. We only practiced once, and then we played games. So please excuse us if we feel a little upset that we’re getting treated like junior players. Another coach, we grew watching the NBA and hearing about the lifestyle of a NBA player, and out of all the things we remember, practicing a lot isn’t one of em!!
To sum it up, we always thought when we considered a professional that we wouldn’t have to practice so much and for so long. We thought that it would be just like the NBA, where would practice and have light shoot-a- rounds, and then go back to our mansions. So, we apologize for being lazy, uninspired, ungrateful, and any of the other words you said in your native tongue about us! We will try to do better and support of all of your decisions! As long as at the end of the month our money is deposited into our bank accounts.
Sincerely,
American Basketball Player
The letter and corresponding thoughts do not reflect the feelings of ballineurope.com, or Marcus Sloan. This letter was written in anonymity, and Marcu… err… whoever wrote this was acting on his own behalf. – Ballineurope.com management
To read more entertaining posts of Marcus Sloan just click here.
