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JO: I’m part of a big organization in Dallas called Drive Nation, and we’ve had just immense amounts of talent coming out from my organization, including Tyrese Maxey, RJ Hampton, and Ron Holland, who’s at the [G League] Ignite. He’s been amazing and successful. So, we’ve seen the process of the evolution of the kids.
What has changed? Again, I do believe 1,000 percent that social media is changing how things are being approached. It’s like everybody needs it now. Everybody wants it now without going through any sense of a process. And so, from my perspective, when I look at today’s talent, I don’t know if they are as prepared as they are because I don’t know if they’re going through that process. Like, I watch kids now, and they say they don’t watch full games. They just watch YouTube clips for a week. So, you want to be a basketball player, but you don’t want to watch a full basketball game. Watching a full basketball game will tell you what to do in your games. If somebody is denying you, how that guy pivoted or whatever it may be, how to get open, that type of stuff.
And those days, I think, are far gone. So, you’re starting to see a little bit of that unpreparedness where a McDonald’s All-American can’t go to a college campus and lead a college team. Which is rare. Those guys typically come in, and they are showstoppers. You know, lottery picks have to go to the G League now and spend significant amounts of time in the G League because they aren’t as prepared.
Physically, they’re probably prepared. These kids are bigger, stronger, faster than we’ve ever seen. But mentally and emotionally, understanding of the game is the one that is slowed down now because, like in my other business, they’re not going through their process. They’re skipping it. And when they’re physically more talented than the next person, those kids are probably 1-to-2-percent of the kids that are going to go off and do good things.
Everybody else is probably going to as soon as high school basketball is over, they’re going to go off and work a regular job. So, that’s how they’re getting through because their elite-level talent isn’t. It eclipsed at high school, but it won’t be in college, and it won’t be at a pro level. So, that’s the biggest thing that I see.
I have a son who is playing the game, and I’m always in his ear. I’m telling him, “Look, bro, you’ve got to be a student. If you’re not a student, then you can’t expect to be any different.”
