The incoming group of NBA rookies attended the Rookie Transition Program this week. It’s a chance for the league to prepare these young men for the new lifestyle they’ll have to deal with as professional basketball players. A reporter was at training school yesterday, and provided us with a sneak peek into some of the more hysterical nuggets of advice the rookies were told about.
New York Times writer Sarah Lyall was at training school yesterday, and provided the details in a series of tweets:
If people live in your house and use your credit cards and drive your car, you should know their last names.
— Sarah Lyall (@sarahlyall) August 7, 2014
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Networking is important to help you build your brand, because your network is your net worth.
— Sarah Lyall (@sarahlyall) August 7, 2014
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Now, all of this advice probably requires some context, but the first point is very important because these rookies are suddenly making millions of dollars and managing that money is important. This goes beyond just making sure you’re not spending every paycheck, it’s also about saying no to other people’s requests — something that can become more difficult especially if it’s a family member.
Which brings us to the second tweet about networking. Presumably, this is more about brand building, and having the rookies connect with people and build new relationships, which is good. But they should also be careful about the type of people they take advice from. Some may have ulterior motives when dealing with a rookie NBA player who now controls a lot of money. We’ve seen players make a lot of bad investment decisions in the past, which is what the Rookie Transition Program is all about trying to avoid.
At one point, the rookies were also given lessons on tableware etiquette:
Tell your friends how to eat properly, so they don't embarrass you at dinner.
— Sarah Lyall (@sarahlyall) August 7, 2014
If your soup is too hot, do not blow. Stir.
— Sarah Lyall (@sarahlyall) August 7, 2014
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The round spoon is the soup spoon.
— Sarah Lyall (@sarahlyall) August 7, 2014
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But perhaps the best piece of advice that Lyall shared with us was this:
Her name is probably not really Sparkle Smith.
— Sarah Lyall (@sarahlyall) August 7, 2014
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Given the social media landscape today, and how everything eventually ends up online, this might be the best advice the rookies will take away from training school.
At the very least, these rookies now know which spoon to use for soup.
(H/T Michael Katz of SB Nation)
What do you think?
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