Youth Basketball: How to Make the Team

I have given advice on how to make select teams from my experience as a coach / evaluator and as a parent watching three kids tryout for various teams over the years. I have given advice on how to make a travel or select baseball team and  how to make a select or travel soccer team. Most of the advice I gave assumed that your kid had the skills in each sport to standout.


I found some great advice on how to make a basketball team from the Back Court Academy website called The 5 Reasons You Got Cut From the Basketball Team


Here are the 5 reasons - with my commentary underneath. 

1) Moving Without The Ball

You see this all the time. Great players who do not move well without the ball. This tells the evaluator that they are lazy or not confident enough to want the ball.

2) Non-Dominate Hand

You have to be able to play with both feet in soccer and both hands in basketball. Link to the post to get some advice and drills on increasing dexterity in both hands.

3) Suspect Passing Skills

Passing is a skill that does not get enough attention from fans. To me there is nothing sweeter than a smart pass. I used to love to watch Bird, Johnson, Stockton and Kidd work their magic. Even though fans and ESPN SportsCenter do not appreciate the pass, coaches do.

4) Lack of Leadership

Coaches want leaders. Leaders are confident.

5) Matador Defense

Defense is another skill that does not get enough attention. Probably because there are few stats that measure defensive prowess. Coaches love defense.


The Main Point


Did you notice that the Back Court Academy did not mention shooting? Good passing and great movement without the ball will create easy scoring chances. Great defense will create some fast breaks for easy scoring too. The sharp shooters will catch the attention of the coach, but basketball is a team game and 4 of the 5 reasons listed above are all team related. 


The only thing that I thought was missing from the Back Court Academy list was hustle and heart. My son is not the greatest dribbler or shooter. He made the his top school team because of his scrappy play. He is always the first one on the floor going after a loose ball. Coaches notice this. You cannot teach hustle and heart, but you can teach a kid to dribble and shoot. My daughter watched my son's scrappy play and plays the same way.