“Growing up and (being) from Chicago, Michael Jordan is everything there,” Kaminsky said. “He still is. I had all of his posters on my wall, ‘Space Jam’ was my favorite movie. It’s just crazy to me that he thought highly enough of me to pick me with the ninth pick in the Draft, and I’m just so grateful for him and for the opportunity.” Frank Kaminsky
Playing professional basketball requires a certain kind of basketball mental toughness.
Mental game coaches speaks of the mental advantage needed to not only dominate opponents on the court but to also breed the inner confidence that can translate to much-needed athleticism and wins for teams as a whole unit.
The mental game of basketball originates in community gyms, high school courts, college stadiums and – eventually, for the lucky few – the bright lights of professional basketball arenas across the nation.
The hard work and dedication therefore shapes itself for the professional level on the night that lifelong dreams are achieved – draft night. It is on draft night where all of the hard work first pays off, and the components that make a strong basketball mental game are initially tested for the mental poise needed to take one’s game to the next level.
The mental game of basketball can be sensed by viewers at home or spectators in arena seats that bear witness to athletic superiority firsthand, but the mental toughness needed to hit the floor running can be measured by a player’s grit, moxy and charisma on draft night.
It is on this night that mental toughness is on full display, when a drafted player gets to lay claim to the team that has selected them as a vital new player on their professional basketball team. Making the steep ascent from collegiate basketball to the pros can be daunting, intimidating and stressful for those not prepared for the bright lights and big cities of the game’s many franchises and teams.
A superior basketball mind is prepared for this rapid introduction and the media highlights that come with such territory. The confidence earned through years of hard work, physical challenges, mental testing and determination solidify a player’s mental toughness and can be a great asset to them on draft night: when their name is called by the professional basketball league commissioner some of these young athletes have dreamed of this moment their entire lives.
Sports psychologists can suggest that outsized egos and super-sized personalities can be tailor-fit for the sport, but true confidence is crucial in how mental poise is refined for new professional basketball athletes.
A good mental game relies on quantifiable variables, performance metrics, and known psychological precedence in order to make plausible generalizations on the minds and mentalities of professional athletes.
Draft night is a special portal for the select few individuals over the years who have heard their name called out on live television as a drafted player, therefore vaulting them into the professional level of the sport that has shaped their whole lives up to that point.
Without acknowledging the proper mental game of basketball that helped them get there, these players may be entering the realm of a select few without using their greatest athletic asset – their mind.
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