For those that didn't come out and tryout, the tryouts were at Tim Grovers' A.T.T.A.C.K Athletics facility in Chicago. It's a wonderful piece of work. Chad Ford from ESPN may have summed it up well in his article about the workouts at the gym:
"I spent the day watching draft prospects in Tim Grover's new state-of-the-art training
facility -- the A.T.T.A.C.K. Athletics Center. Grover's new gym is so cutting-edge it
puts even the best NBA training facilities to shame. Four full NBA courts, spacious
locker rooms, incredible workout machines, including an underwater treadmill, plus a
players' lounge with an 85-inch plasma screen, pool tables, and private rooms for
sleeping and playing video games -- it's amazing." - Chad Ford ESPN.com
The tryouts themselves were great. Talent arrived early and often and it seemed as though SBA has the ability to get the word out, even in Chicago, to get the talent out for the show. The camera crews showed up and setup, the coaches got in early, and everything went pretty much scheduled as planned. Approximately 60 hungry guys showed up (about 4 women also) to try to be America's Next Sportstar. Each of them signing the necessary paperwork and then being provided with a number so that we could easily pick out the stars.
The day started out with stretching and warming up on one side of the gym. So imagine 60 people stretching, running, and finally doing layup lines. During the all of this the cameras were rolling so that they would get the footage that they were looking for. They wanted the scene of a basketball tryout and what it takes to even make the first cut. They interviewed some of the guys and some gave great performances on camera. During the layup lines you got a chance to see some of the 'talent' that these guys had. Let's just say that guys try to do things when the camera's are on. There were several highlights just from the layup lines, an off the board windmill dunk, a between the legs dunk, one alley oop dunk (not your average layup line, huh?), and the best one of the day: A between the legs, oop with a windmill finish. Let's just say that this guy would have won a dunk contest with this one. I'm still trying to understand how he did all of that AND still made the dunk. You had some shooters out there too. There was one guy who hit about 8 or 9 in a row at one point (you might say, wow, that's not so hard, but he was doing it in the layup line with different guys giving him the rock at different places and some people who maybe should have been on the sidelines with me. The guy had great rhythm with his jumper, very consistent).
The next part of the day was running the traditional basketball weave and then doing some 3-on-2/2-on-1 drills that really gave the coaches an idea of the basketball IQ of these guys. The cameras were setup over the court, at each basket, and in two separate corners. If you look real hard, you'll see yours truly as a coach in one corner (hint: I had the camera around my neck). We'll see what happens, hopefully I don't end up on the cutting room floor.
Finally each of the 60 were split up into teams and scrimmages were held. At the end of the day (I had to leave a little early to take care of the fam) the judges were there to make sure that all of the talent was evaluated fairly. Your next question is probably, who made the cut? Well, it wouldn't be interesting if I told you who did. I guess you'll have to watch the show and see who made the cuts in Chicago. Maybe one of these guys actually wins the contest. My lips are sealed.
No comments:
Post a Comment