The NBA Dream - Are you ready for it?

NBA Rookies 2019-20.

Article by SG Basketball Coach Victor Tan

It all starts with a dream.

Playing basketball in the best league in the world, surrounded by the game’s premier players, it is the highest honour of every basketball player to play in the NBA or WNBA.
So what are the requirements and conditions?

In the last two decades, using NBA as the focus, only two Asians have “cracked the rotation” for any team. It means that a player is playing meaningful minutes in the NBA team’s quest for excellence. They are Hall of Famer Yao Ming of China (Houston Rockets) and 2019 NBA champion Jeremy Lin of Taiwan (Toronto Raptors, Linsanity fame).

Along the way, some Asian players did get a chance to be bench players for different NBA teams but their on court contributions are limited. Examples that come to mind would be Yi Jianlian and Zhou Qi of China.

To succeed, possessing a strong desire and unwavering discipline to put in the long hours to hone your skills to perfection is a good start. Whether it is ball handling or shooting, there are many different levels for a player to work on. The concepts of professional gameplay, understanding tactics and improving game intelligence are just some of the higher order skills a player must equip to be even considered a prospect by the NBA teams. Did I miss out the “routine” physical attributes; your height, wingspan, athleticism, explosiveness etc.

To emulate Yao Ming and Jeremy Lin, which represents success in the NBA, you have to be basically among the top 250 active players of the world. To make the roster of an NBA team, you have to be among the top 350 active players on Earth. Every kid playing basketball dreams of becoming the next Michael Jordan or LeBron James.

Our elite training program at SG Basketball is designed to help our players achieve their NBA/WNBA dream. Check out our very own Ariel Loiter’s journey so far, as she pursues her dream of playing in the WNBA, and Caden Toh, in their respective interviews in our talkshow “In the Zone”.

Dare to dream. Fulfil it with us.

Jeremy Lin with his Raptors championship trophy. If only he had more playing time...