I don’t know how many people here watched the first season of “Street Ball,” the ESPN show about the And1 tour, but it’s a pretty fascinating show (this was before it became a competition to get on the tour and it turned into the Professor and Escalade Show). As the season goes along, the players start talking more and more about the NBA and how they think they still have a shot to make it. Most of them think they have the skills and work ethic to make it, but then at the end we find out that only two or three tried out for the D-League, with the rest “working on their game.” Even during the season, Rafer Alston joins the tour for a few weeks (this was a while ago), and at that point he’d been with the Bucks for a few years and talked about how most of the guys on the tour had no idea what it took to play in the NBA.

That’s what comes to mind when I read the story, especially when the guy says stuff like “Why would I go watch people do what I already can do?” Well…being named MVP of a high school tournament is a far cry from “doing what NBA players do.” Then he gets to the Kings minicamp and finds out how hard it is.

Reading the story, it seems to me like the girlfriend is into this more than the player. She’s the one saying that “if you perservere, good things will happen” (and she’s the one saying the Heat were interested, not anyone from Miami). The angle on the story is mostly how hard she’s working to get him in the NBA (to the point where I’m not sure this appeared in the sports section). A different, more accurate angle on this story might be just how difficult it is to make the NBA (or any professional league). How even the guys who sit at the end of the bench or are considered “lazy” still work hard enough that you can’t just walk in off the street or just because you were recruited by Jerry Tarkanian.

Like Scott says, if I was running a D-League team I might give this guy a call, but even then making a professional-style Youtube video isn’t enough.