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It’s a fit for all but a handful of NBA players: they were the best player and the best guy at the heart of their team’s offense in middle school, high school, AAU, and when they got to it. college and were consistently the best (or one of the top couple) players on this team. They have always been the star with the ball in their hands. Then they come to the NBA and are asked to play a much smaller role.
This inability to accept a role is something that Alex Caruso of the Lakers and JJ Redick of the Pelicans – two guys who have adapted and tweaked their games to fit an NBA role – discussed on The Old Man and the Three podcast ( NBA Reddit hat tip). Caruso said Oklahoma City executive Sam Presti had helped him understand what was expected, that if his calling card was defense, he had to be better and able to hold multiple positions.
“One of the main reasons guys get stuck in the G-League is because they don’t realize the position they’re looking for. It’s like going to a job interview thinking you’re going to be the company’s CFO and they’re looking for someone to clean the bathrooms.
It’s not just an NBA business, it happens in other sports. How many quality college half-halfs or half-halfs don’t make an NFL player roster because they’re not ready to play and do their best on special teams?
There aren’t many players who have the keys to running an NBA offense, and we all know their names. These guys, and the # 2 options on the right teams (maybe a # 3 guy on an elite team), all make maximum money, or almost. After that, everyone is an actor. Everyone. Have elite skill, work hard, fulfill that role on the team, and a player can have a long and lucrative career in the NBA. Every 7 feet is not Giannis Antetokounmpo or Kevin Durant. Not every guard is Stephen Curry.
Alex Caruso came out undrafted from Texas A&M and signed to go to training camp with the Thunder in 2016. He has shown he can defend and play a role in the G-League, worked on his game, has impressed the Lakers enough that they signed him to a two-way contract in 2017. Caruso kept working, continued to show he could fit in where the Lakers needed him (bringing energy and defense from the bench), and by 2020, he will play key minutes of the NBA Finals.
Redick is perhaps the ultimate story of a big college star who had to work on her body and her game – and make the mental adjustment – to play a role in the NBA. He became highly regarded because he did and what he brought to the table.
It’s a lesson a lot of guys in the upcoming NBA Draft need to learn. Some will, some won’t, and this last group will be playing in China – saying “look at the numbers I put in here” – in a few years.
Alex Caruso: Guys get stuck in the G-League because they can’t accept the role that originally appeared on NBCSports.com
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