You’re going to eventually lose your athleticism, so that’s why you need to develop an old man basketball game. It’s something you can rely on later.
Basketball is an unforgiving game.
You’re constantly pounding your joints as run up and down the court, and as you jump tens to hundreds of times per game.
This is why you can’t rely on your athleticism.
If you get injured or are injury-prone, your reliance on how high you can jump or how explosive you can get to the basket will hinder your development and longevity.
Tracy McGrady’s Game
Take, for example, Tracy McGrady.
He was a beast on the court in his 10 or so seasons in the NBA. McGrady was blowing past all his defenders and dunking on everyone.
He also jumped really high, so he would constantly explode up and shoot over defenders, too. But as he got older (and injured more often), he started to lose his explosiveness, which caused him to be less effective.
Though he was a talented player, he just didn’t have the old man basketball moves to consistently provide for his teams in the latter stages of his career.
McGrady’s game relied too much on his athleticism.
He went from averaging at least 21 points per game to approximately 8 points per game in his final years.
Vince Carter’s Old Man Game
Now, let’s look at a guy like Vince Carter.
Carter was one of the most explosive players to play in the NBA. He was a dunk champion and is considered to be the best in-game dunker.
But as he got older, he started to lose some of his hops (though he didn’t lose that much because he was still dunking at age 42 but he was sore from it).
So he had to adapt his game to his body.
Carter, unlike McGrady, started playing a less explosive game and started playing a more efficient game.
He relied more on the fundamentals of basketball.
(Vince Carter was 42 years old in this game)
If you watch some of his highlights from his last few years in the NBA, you’ll see that he started to use more off-ball screens to get open and took more 3-pointers.
He also posted up more too.
And because he made this switch, he was able to play professionally up until his early 40s (at 40 years old, Carter played 73 games and averaged 25 minutes a game).
Final Thoughts
Looking at these two players, you should want to play more like the latter -you should want to develop an old man’s basketball game.
Or at the very least, you should master some old man moves that you can rely on when your athleticism starts to deteriorate.
You should look to be as efficient as possible rather than as explosive and entertaining as possible. You should be training in a way that’ll allow you to continue playing 10 years from now.
As I said, your game doesn’t have to be a completely old man. You can still do flashy moves and plays.
But you should master 2-3 old man moves and incorporate them into your skillset.
If this is something that you’re interested in, then click here to learn the best workouts for developing basketball skills.
