Somewhere in America, at a barely lit YMCA basketball court, sneakers are heard squeaking and whistles blowing. Mixed into the squeaks and shrieks are occasional grunts of grown men, as their bodies crash into each other. Every town and every city has a men’s basketball league. A place for over the hill, and out-of-shape guys to get together and try to relive the glory days they never had in the first place. The final score of the game tonight is 48-42, the leading scorer, an assistant manager at the local supermarket. He’s out of breath, but not from torching his opposition on 6 of 22 shooting. It’s hard for these guys to bend over and untie their shoes. How would they do against NBA talent? They might give up 81 points. Or maybe even 92.
What is a Pro-Am?
Pro-Am events are advertised all the time in every sport. Golf and tennis mostly, yet most people don’t really know what the term means. It’s two shortened words combined with a hyphen. Professional-Amateur.
Pro-Am events are those where the average, everyday Joe can play side by side in a professional from a given sport. In golf, it’s usually celebrities (movie stars or musicians, athletes from other sports) that play the game with guys like Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, and Rickie Fowler. This is usually because the PGA has amateurs bid on spots in a foursome, and then hold a legitimate tournament. Some amateurs pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to play in these events.
Just because someone can afford to play against professionals, doesn’t mean they are qualified to play against those professionals. The top athletes in the world are so much better than the average Joe, that it’s practically unquantifiable by what factor. These are men and women who stay in peak condition the average person will never get to, and also have been practicing their craft every day decades without a break. There are stories of Tim Hardaway sleeping with his basketball under his pillow. There is no way that somebody who exercises three days a week and practices twice a week should ever get the chance to be on the same playing field/court in their lives.
Pros Vs Joes
Years ago, SpikeTV had a television show that pitted average amateur athletes against former professionals. It was like American Gladiators, but with actual sports involved. That show was called Pros Vs Joes. Really, it was Joes vs Joes since your score was based on how you did against your pro vs the other competitors. For example, if it takes 45 seconds to get a rebound against Dennis Rodman, but the other competitors take over a minute, you win that event. Even though The Worm just outrebounded the three competitors 68-3 over nearly three minutes.
I watched Roy Jones Jr knock out a guy wearing headgear. These are retired athletes, and the amateurs, many in great shape, still are out of their league. It was a great reminder to armchair quarterbacks around the world, just what the food chain of sports really looks like. We’ve all heard that one guy (you may even be that guy) who says, “I hate these guys complaining about the millions they make. I’d do their job less than a million.” Except, that guy isn’t even good enough to earn a nickel playing any sport.
Isaiah Thomas Pro-Am
Enter the topic du jour for from last week, former Boston Celtics (among many teams) point guard Isaiah Thomas. In a Crawsover Pro-Am game in Seattle, the 5’9″ former pro dropped 81 points.
The ensuing media (mostly social media) storm was out of control. Overtime, a basketball Twitter account with nearly a million followers, posted a clip from the game and quoted “Isaiah Thomas just dropped 81 points” with the open-mouthed emoji. NBA Central, an account with half a million followers posted about it. It was a headline for a few hours on ESPN and CBS Sports.
The funny thing is, Isaiah Thomas scoring 81 against amateurs is as newsworthy as “Man Picks Up Milk At Grocery Store”. It’s boring. That’s how it’s supposed to happen. Is the NBA offseason really so slow, that the top story is a result from essentially a SpikeTV show? It’s not rocket science. Pros are better than Joes. Pros are supposed to dominate Joes. So it shouldn’t be newsworthy when they do just that.
Payton Pritchard Pro-Am
Not to be outdone, or more to the point, further driving home the point that should be common knowledge for all, Celtics super sophomore Payton Pritchard played in his own Pro-Am, dropping 92 points. I was equally as unimpressed, but it did get some of the lower IQ Boston fans talking about how they have a superstar in the wings with Pritchard.
Look. He’s a nice player. Pritchard plays hard and has a nice jumper. I know he was averaging 20 a game in the Summer League, but his competition in that league was just a couple steps ahead of the guys he was schooling in that Pro-Am.
He’s a solid guy off the bench, and probably averages around 10 points per game this coming season. And what he has proven here, is what I have been saying for eons, having played against NBA talent myself. A 10 PPG player in the NBA is a 100 PPG scorer in a men’s league. I once witnessed University of New Hampshire star, and European pro, Matt Alosa drop over 100 points in a men’s summer league game, and he never even made a summer league team. NBA players aren’t just on another planet, they are in a galaxy so far away the stars can’t even be seen from our planet.
Nick Young Wasn’t Impressed Either
Former Los Angeles Lakers sixth man, Nick Young, went to Twitter after and tweeted about it. “I mean no disrespect, but Seattle and Portland gotta have the worst pro am hoops. They letting people score 92. 81. 70….”
The 70 points he was referencing, was the scoring outburst by former Miami Heat guard Mike James in the same game as Pritchard. It’s just not a surprise to anyone other than people who don’t actually understand the game of basketball. During the 1999 NBA lockout, Antoine Walker played in a top-level Chicago men’s basketball league. He averaged almost 60 points per game for that season. He even admitted he wasn’t going full speed in those games.
Don’t buy into the hype being shoved down my throat. You shouldn’t be impressed with Isaiah Thomas, Payton Pritchard, or Mike James. They did what they were supposed to do, and there was nothing even remotely interesting about it.
Where to Find More from Infinity Sports
For more news, info, and takes from Wayne G, host of Infinity Sports, you can follow him on Twitter, @SportsInfinity5. You can also find more of his blogs on BellyUpSports.com.
