Rebound: A 2nd Chance

After hearing Jason say that all of the boys began to relax as the mood in the gym became lighter. David was looking at Jason as though he were looking at his favorite celebrity.

Jason clapped his hands together "Now that we have that out of the way let's move on to the last part.

You've all passed tryouts but here is where we will determine whether or not you'll be on the varsity team or the junior varsity team.

All of you will be split in to teams of four as we hold some four on four scrimmages. Based on your performances we will decide on what team you'll be on."

All of the boys became serious after hearing Jason say that. Although they had just been congratulating each other earlier no signs of friendliness could be seen in any of their eyes at this moment.

The tension was palpable as Jason and the rest of the boys began to pass some practice jerseys to all of the new guys.

David nodded his head as he thought to himself 'We might all be friends but this is a serious thing that could have a huge impact on our futures.

For now we have to treat each other like enemies and take this serious. Even if me and Sam end up on different teams I'll have to give it everything I have.'

Jason once again walked around with a box in his hands as he had all of the new guys pull a number from it.

Sam was excited to see that he had actually hit the jackpot as he managed to get paired up with both of the Silva twins.

However his excitement was just as quickly extinguished when he saw that David was on a different team.

He sighed 'I knew that the odds weren't in our favor but I was still hoping that a miracle would happen.'

Danilo laughed "Damn, even at scrimmage I can't get rid of you. You must have been a leach or a tic in your past life bro."

Alex jokingly replied "You took the words right out of my mouth Dlo. I thought that I would be free from you for once."

The two brothers walked to their two other teammates. Danilo smiled as he stuck his hand out "Let's play a good game."

Sam smiled as he nodded his head before shaking Danilo's hand "Same man. Let's really show out on the court."

- - -

Because of the large number of boys only two games could be played at a time as each game was played on one half of the court. The games were set to first to 21.

On the side Jason was sitting with the other boys and Coach Swendel on the bleachers as they watched the scrimmages begin.

Jason pulled out a protein bar from his bag and opened it up as he started to snack on it. DJ licked his lips "Ay yo Jaya, hand me one."

With the protein bar held in his mouth Jason reached back into his backpack as he pulled out another bar.

Jason tossed the bar over his shoulder without even taking a look at DJ who easily caught the bar. After taking a bite he looked at the guys "So who do guys think will make the varsity team?"

Vince laughed "I got Danilo and Alex making varsity for sure." Matt turned around and grinned at him "No shit Sherlock.

My blind grandma could have told you that. DJ probably meant outside of those two. I got number 43 on court one.

He was part of the group that ran in front and in that one drill he nailed his three even though he was running full speed."

Coach Swendel thought about it for a moment before answering "I think number 34 has a pretty good chance of making it.

He looks like he's around 5'11 (1.8m) but he's pretty mobile for his height. He was in the middle of the pack during the run."

After finishing his protein bar Jason laughed "You guys seem pretty relaxed. If you start cruising and taking it easy you might lose your spots and playing time to the new guys."

All of the guys began to argue back as they all made their case as to why it was impossible for them to be beat by the new players.

Despite having made the joke Jason himself didn't find it all to likely that any of the guys from last years team would lose out to any of the new players excluding the Silva twins.

Jason smiled as he looked at the fruit of all of the guys hard work over the summer.

Kyle's skills.

[Skills

Free throw: C

Lay Up: C

Dunking: B-

Close Shot: C

Mid Range Shooting: D-

Three Point Shooting: E+

Dribbling: E+

Passing: D-

Ball Handling: E+

Play Making: D-

Post Scoring: C+

Rebounding: A

Post Control: B-

Perimeter Defense: B-

Post Defense: A-

Steals: C-

Blocks: A

Athleticism: A ]

Matt's skills.

[Skills

Free-throw: A-

Lay Up: C+

Dunking: F+

Close Shot: C+

Mid Range Shooting: A-

Three Point Shooting: A-

Dribbling: B-

Passing: C+

Ball Handling: B-

Play Making: C+

Post Scoring: C

Rebounding: C

Post Control: D+

Perimeter Defense: B

Post Defense: D

Steals: B

Blocks: E+

Athleticism: B ]

Nick's skills.

[Skills

Free-throw: B+

Lay Up: B-

Dunking: F+

Close Shot: B-

Mid Range Shooting: B

Three Point Shooting: A-

Dribbling: C+

Passing: C

Ball Handling: C+

Play Making: C+

Post Scoring: D

Rebounding: D+

Post Control: D

Perimeter Defense: B-

Post Defense: D

Steals: C+

Blocks: E+

Athleticism: B ]

DJ's skills.

[Skills

Free-throw: B

Lay Up: B+

Dunking: D

Close Shot: B

Mid Range Shooting: B

Three Point Shooting: B-

Dribbling: B+

Passing: B+

Ball Handling: B+

Play Making: B

Post Scoring: D-

Rebounding: C+

Post Control: C+

Perimeter Defense: B

Post Defense: C+

Steals: B-

Blocks: D-

Athleticism: B ]

Vince's skills.

[Skills

Free-throw: B-

Lay Up: B-

Dunking: D+

Close Shot: B

Mid Range Shooting: C+

Three Point Shooting: C+

Dribbling: C

Passing: C

Ball Handling: C

Play Making: C

Post Scoring: B-

Rebounding: B+

Post Control: B+

Perimeter Defense: C

Post Defense: B

Steals: C

Blocks: B

Athleticism: B ]

Kyle was the one who grew the most over the summer in terms of skill. His free throws were a huge weakness for him last year.

But now he was good enough to be respectable from the line. Jason also worked with him to improve his rebounding fundamentals.

He improved his ability to boxout while also improving his sense for rebounding as he became more accustomed to using swim moves and moving his center of balance.

And after having a whole summer to practice his defensive fundamentals he was even more of a terror as a perimeter defender than he already was.

He didn't really improve all that much as a post scorer but that was okay. With Jason as the main weapon on offense Kyle's main responsibility was to help anchor their defense in the paint.

And while Kyle was the one who showed the most improvement over the summer the one who worked the hardest during that time was Matt.

And all the sweat and effort that he poured in to practice didn't betray him as he showed major improvements all across his game.

Not only did his shooting ability drastically increase compared to when Jason had first met him. His ball handling and dribbling was now good enough to where he could be a reliable secondary playmaker.

And after spending a season and a summer working with Jason his perimeter defense had increased by an incredible amount.

Overall all of the guys improved by leaps and bounds when compared to how they were when their season had first started last year.

A huge part of that was their effort and hard work but the biggest factor was Jason's supervision and involvement in their training.

As someone that had made it all the way to the highest levels of collegiate basketball the training methods and knowledge that he had was incomparable to what most middle school coaches could provide to their players.

Not only was Jason's presence on the court both as a player and on the floor coach a huge advantage.

His presence off the court could be obviously seen through the improvements that all of his teammates had made during their offseason.

Jason couldn't help but grin 'Not only have the guys made huge improvements over the summer. We no longer have to worry about tiring ourselves out by playing too many minutes.

We actually have a full roster full of guys with potential. Haha I hope you media jerk offs are ready to watch us dominate this season.'