Ethan Khoza tells undersized high-school forwards to develop ball-handling and shooting skills now, in case they don't grow tall enough for college big roles. He breaks down height expectations by college tier and uses NBA players like Montrezl Harrell and Paul Millsap as proof that athleticism and versatility can beat size.
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He was asking me essentially about, you know, he sent me his highlights. Basically he was saying, hey, coach, like, should I send this out to coaches? I believe he's a freshman or sophomore. And he was saying, like, hey, you know, I just send this out to coaches and what do you think I should, I should add to it? I gave him some, some, you know, I gave him some feedback on that, Tim specifically, but, you know, that's not necessarily when I get into. But basically I gave him some advice at the end. So this is kind of going to be geared towards guys who play big man or forward in, in high school. Because, you know, this guy I was talking to, he's. He's 6 2, right? He's playing forward in high school, probably not the varsity level yet, I'm assuming. But, you know, you're 6 foot 2, so maybe, you know, you hit 6, 4, 6, 5. Maybe you can get bigger than that. Maybe you hit six, six. But if you're, if you aren't there, like, you don't hit 6, 5, 6, 6 at the college level at any level. I mean, especially Obviously at the D1 level, if you're not 610, 6, 9, 6, 8, at the minimum, you're not, you're not a big guy. You're not, you're. You're. You're a guard, right? But even at, you know, at the D2, D3 level, if you're not at least 6, 5, 6, 6, you probably aren't a big. And even. Still a lot of those big guys have perimeter skills too. So, you know, kind of what I, what I, what I told him is like, listen, man, you know, if you want to. So if you don't, if you don't grow that much more and you end up being 6, 3, 6, 4, that's good size for, for a guard, for a wing player. You're. You're your next step to the college level. Even at, you know, the D3 or, or juco level. Like, even at like those, like the low D. Obviously I've talked about D3 low before. A lot of good D3 schools are better than D2 schools, and some of them are better than D1 school. So that's, that's. Let's get that out of the way. But if you go to like a low level D3 or a low level juco, even those schools are going to have big guys who are six, five, six, six, right? Even those six, maybe six, four, maybe, if he's really good, right? So if you're that size, evaluate Yourself, you're six two, six three. You're not a forward, you're a guard at the college level. So if you are contemplating that, you got to ask yourself, do I have the skills to actually translate to college right now? Okay? If you're a big and you're that size and you can't handle the ball, you can't shoot, you can't, you can't play on the outside, you know, you don't. Now the thing is you might, you might understand how to play inside. So maybe when you get to the college level, you're able to post guys up. If you've got a guard on you is a little smaller than you, your coach will say, okay, we're going to get you in the post a little bit of this game. Because you played post in high school, like you know what you're doing, cool. But when you go against a guy who's the same size as you, who's a guard, you got to be able to guard him, right? If you are going to play big and all the bigs you're playing are six seven and six eight, that's a problem, right? You got a four or five inch difference right there. That's a problem for you. So you got to evaluate that and be honest with yourself. So, you know, that was kind of what I told him is like, you know, you have some time to do that. I believe he's a freshman. But you know, before you start sending out that film, the code is you start inquiring, make sure that they can see you actually fitting in at that level. Right. What are they going to do with a six? Too big. Not anything again, Maybe you'll get a little taller. Maybe you will. But, but ask yourself that question. So if you're six four, you know, there's, there's this. You have to understand that you need to have guard skills as well. Okay. I'm not saying you can't play forward, but I'm saying you need to also have the ability to handle the ball, the ability to shoot the basketball and then you can add that into your, your abilities as a bit. Okay, Because I think there's, you know, basketball is a very perimeter oriented game now, but there still is a spot for guys who can play like that. You know, there's you, There are guys in the NBA who still play in the post right now. A lot of those guys also have other skills. You look at Harrell in the Clippers, for example, right? He's still a post up guy. You know, he's got Some great post moves, but also he can put the ball on the floor. He's got nice touch around the rim and he's, he's big and very athletic. Right. He's 6, 8, 6 9, great athlete. So he's able to be a little bit undersized. But his athleticism and his touch, his skill allows him to overcome that. So do you have the athleticism and the skill to overcome maybe your lack of size? So, and obviously I broke down Paul millsap on my YouTube channel a couple weeks ago. Last week I believe. So go ahead and check out that breakdown for if you're an undersized forward where he essentially is that guy. He's about 6 foot 7 which is not a forward size. I mean if you're 6 7, you're a point guard basically in the NBA at this point. You know, point guard, you know, guard if you're 6 foot 7 and, but, but Paul Millstop is able to thrive as a forward because he has so many, he's such a well rounded player. He can post up guys and he can bully people. He's very strong. But also he can shoot the mid range. He can shoot from three. If you leave him open he can, he can put the ball on the floor. He has a lot of skills that allow him to be an undersized player and still, you know, be, be, be great. I mean he's a four time all star so you have to understand that. But that's kind of my message. I want to have to, to guys who are like that and obviously like you have to develop those perimeter skills. Okay. And obviously like I always do, I'm going to push to you guys the perimeter score system which is my program that you know, I put together year round training and obviously you want to develop your perimeter skills. In my opinion, my humble opinion, that's the best way to do it, you know, not the only way to do it, but I think it's, I think it's very helpful and obviously I've had a lot of guys who give me some really good feedback so far. So you know, I really, I'm really excited to see where those guys are going to be at. Time will tell with those guys but obviously they're, they're getting after it, you know, with their whole year round stuff. That also comes with, I had alluded to earlier, the 20 points per game blueprint that comes with it. The mental toughest masterclass also comes with it. I have a lot of NBA film breakdowns where I break down different players and their moves and different ways that they play, they're gonna really help you out. So, you know, if you're interested in that, send me a DM on Instagram, leave a comment and I'll help you. Because it's not something I'm promoting publicly right now. But if you want into that, then we can make that work. So let me know about that. But you know, again, as a forward, really, even if you're not undersized, you've got to have some sort of perimeter skills. You got to be able to shoot the basketball, put the ball on the floor a little bit to get where you need to get to. You can't just be a post up guy unless you're really, really big. Okay? That's kind of how the kind of how basketball works at this point. I want you guys to right now go to the top link in my description and get my free elite perimeter score workout. We're going to work on a bunch of different skills that you need to have if you want to be an elite player in the perimeter. Make sure you guys check it out completely free. Click the link, I'll send it right to you.
