RE: two more going pro

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

And that's just in terms of development.  I can't imagine how
any sane person could tell someone to turn down sure millions.
I mean, I liked hanging out in dorm rooms and eating chicken 
wings too, but I wouldn't have had to think long if I knew I could
be guaranteed millions to be a writer if I left.

Josh Ozersky	
Marketing Communications Specialist 
Corning Museum of Glass

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Hironaka [SMTP:j.hironaka@unesco.org]
> Sent:	Tuesday, April 10, 2001 1:22 PM
> To:	OzerskyJA; celtics@igtc.com
> Subject:	Re: two more going pro
> 
> OzerskyJA wrote:
> 
> > I'm always amazed when guys don't come out.  How can you
> > forego certain riches, and take the chance of breaking your leg
> > or whatever?  And that's not even taking into account the way
> > guys stock tends to drop when they stay on (Shea Seals, John
> > Wallace, etc. etc.).  Brown should come out; he's a top five pick
> > if he does.  He's probably being intimidated by his mom or somebody.
> > Marcus is also some kind of nut, going on about how he wants his
> > degree.  Is he afraid of being denied tenure or something?
> 
>     To tell you the truth, I've always thought that basketball was a bit
> more
> akin to baseball and boxing....where career paths are orchestrated
> carefully by
> trainers/managers on the belief that an athlete's development rate can be
> ruined
> if they get rushed too fast to a level above their heads. It's not quite
> the
> same, but there are real similarities IMO.
> 
>     In basketball, confidence is everything in a player's decision to
> drive to
> the rim or create and take their own tough shot. I think any prospect
> actually
> needs and requires a lot of experience dominating the ball (including in a
> play-making role) at amateur levels, not least for the creative
> trial-and-error
> you would never dare experiment with if you go straight to playing against
> the
> world's best and in a hierarchy where there are established stars who are
> supposed to get the ball.
> 
>     Unless you have extreme, unshakeable confidence, a lot of years riding
> the
> pine or turning down scoring opportunities in the NBA can turn you into a
> stiffer, less aggressive player just as getting your fastball clobbered or
> getting decked by a veteran boxer can permanently mess with your
> mechanics,
> confidence and joy for the game. Look at how baseball handles minor league
> assignments. It makes so much sense in my opinion because it really is a
> mental
> game.
> 
>     Now it goes without saying that I'm crap as a baller, but I do know
> from
> experience that a moment's hestitation or flash of self-doubt makes all
> the
> difference in whether you can execute a cross-over, or take and make a
> shot
> against an equal ballplayer. I think you need a lot of actual experience
> dominating in order to later play as well as you are capable of against
> superior or equal players. The NBA has a lot of early entries who you look
> at
> years down the road and think "how did he get so tentative?" or "since
> when did
> he become so inept on offense?". It's not just talent, it's confidence.
> 
>     Every year in the NBA draft you get a Zach Randolph type case.
> Basically
> he's equivalent to a "phenom" in Double-A baseball, like say a Tony Blanco
> or
> Juan Diaz in the Red Sox system. Randolph was the dominant player bar none
> of
> the McDonald's All Star game. Last year was a transition year, and he
> surprisingly failed to win a starting job on a great college team or make
> any
> kind of statistical impact on the Big Ten. No big deal...he's still a
> great
> prospect. But the thing is next year he should definitely start at MSU and
> he'll
> likely dominate and hold the key in big, pressure games one after another.
> With
> that added experience, he might be ready to immediately step into an NBA
> starting lineup and deliver whupass, rather than risk riding the pine with
> nothing but millions of dollars to spend on corrupting himself and
> doubting
> himself. Maybe I'm just wacked out, but I'll bet years from now (or even
> today)
> a guy like Jerome Moiso or Donnell Harvey would gladly give back a year of
> NBA
> salary to have had a chance to help lead UCLA or Florida to a Final Four
> and
> develop their confidence and games further. College is so once in a
> lifetime....I imagine that's true especially if you get to participate in
> big
> sports tournaments etc. A guy like Jerome with his slick French accent
> must have
> met all the UCLA chicks for one thing, and these are not quite the skanky,
> money
> vultures you'll find hanging around NBA arenas and Made Men posses. (Back
> in
> college, my friends often kiddingly referred to UCLA as the "University of
> Caucasians Living among Asians"...I don't know if you've heard that
> particular
> one.)
> 
>     If you are severely retarded or something, then I can see how college
> life
> can be a trying experience and why there may be no point in staying. I
> also
> would understand if a player had parents and siblings who barely had
> enough
> income to survive even another year, or lived in housing conditions so
> dangerous
> and drug-addled that you would do anything to help them get them out of
> there
> immediately. If that's the case with Zach Randolph or Tyson Chandler, then
> go
> for it I say. To me it sounds like a classic quality-of-life sacrifice in
> exchange for financial security type of thing.
> 
> ****
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