JJ Redick appeared on Carmelo Anthony's podcast and dropped a sobering take on the reality of hoop dreams. Redick made it clear that all talented prospects aren't guaranteed a position in the NBA because out of the millions of people with that dream, only 450 spots are available on rosters every season.
"There are millions, potentially billions of people with that same dream. There are 450 guys and there are about 60 jobs every year. You should never assume you're going to be in the NBA."
Redick then opened up on how the youth basketball system encourages young talents to take the game for granted, not realizing that the NBA is a cutthroat business.
"I think one of the issues we're having in America right now, in youth basketball, we are anointing kids too soon. Not everybody is LeBron James, not everybody can handle that level of pressure and attention and not let it affect them. If you tell a 14 or 15-year-old that they can be an NBA star one day, they think they're already an NBA star. That's a problem. You have to have a level of perspective for what it takes. The NBA is as cutthroat as any f------ business in the world."
Redick's take might be explosive but it is 100% accurate. There are so many talented players who come up through the youth ranks that slowly disappear at every level up until college. Even at college, only the elite few manage to get their name called at the NBA Draft, with some getting two-way contracts or training camp deals on rosters.
It takes a lot of hard work to earn your first guaranteed senior NBA contract, and a player like Redick with 15 years of experience knows exactly what it is to not only make it to the league but be productive enough to stay in it for 15 years and make over $100 million in contracts.
LeBron James Told JJ Redick About Sacrifice Being Key Behind Greatness
JJ Redick recently started a new podcast alongside LeBron James called 'Mind The Game,' where the pair break down basketball instead of focusing on TV talk points. In the first episode of the show, LeBron discussed how sacrifice is the No. 1 thing that leads to success in the NBA.
"When it comes to discipline, you have to sacrifice loved ones. You have to sacrifice loved ones for a long period of time if you want to be great. It's very unfortunate and you feel it at times, you know the saying, if it's too hot, get the hell out of the kitchen. Sometimes you have to get out of the kitchen because it's too hot but you have to have the discipline to sacrifice loved ones in order to be great because they don't understand. That's okay."
All NBA players have made these sacrifices just to get to the position they're in. Now that they've made the NBA, they can't rest on their laurels and need to push themselves to ascend higher, even to the level LeBron has. If not that far, they need to continue working every season in the NBA just to keep their spot.
Being an NBA player comes with millions of fans and dollars, which makes a lot of people want it. But the ones who earn it will always be the ones who put in countless hours of sweat equity to get that far.
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