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about Diamond in the rough.
My name is Marquel Honeycutt, founder and CEO of Diamond in the rough Sports agency. Here we will strive to put players overlooked back on the platform to get the exposure their skillset really deserves.
Here at Diamonds In the Rough represent the interest of athletes, particularly in contract negotiations. They also handle sponsorships, public relations, and financial planning. Professional athletes often are signing their first professional contracts, and scholarship offers in their late teens or early 20s and rarely have the experience or education to fully understand the legal complexities involved.
In the case of high-profile athletes, those contracts and scholarships often are for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, and athletes need guidance handling those finances. That is where we come into play. Over the years multimedia has made it convenient for college coaches and student athletes to connect in ways that are highly efficient in regards to recruiting. Coaches are able to determine from afar if a player via highlight video has the potential to fit their respective programs.
This site is created for the high school student/athlete that demonstrates next level playing potential but for whatever reason has been overlooked or under exposed to the hundreds of colleges and universities across the nation. In some cases, a student/athlete may just want extra exposure. Thankfully the world wide web has opened doors for the overlooked athlete allowing through video highlights/recruiting videos exposure to hundreds of colleges and universities that will almost certainly seek prospects initially through video.
Through video highlights athletes overlooked knows what college coaches are looking for in watching a video of a potential recruit and will make the highlight accordingly for coaches to decide if they wish to pursue you further. Just as the location, location, location business principle is pivotal to initially establishing a strong business foundation, then so is exposure, exposure, exposure for the student/athlete in generating interest from colleges via highlight video(s).
Blog Post
March 1, 2021
The dimensions of North American men’s and women’s basketball courts are also different than international basketball courts. The North American courts are 50 feet wide by 94 feet long, while the international courts are 49 feet by 92 feet. A three-pointer for men in North America is 22 feet in the corners and 23.75 feet above the break, while the three-point line is 21.65 feet in the corners and 22.15 feet above the break for international men and North American women.
There are 12 minutes per quarter for a total game length of 48 minutes for North American men, while international men’s games and North American women’s games are played with 10-minute quarters for a total game time of 40 minutes. In international men’s games, players foul out on five fouls personal and technical – while in North American men’s games, players foul out on six personal fouls or two technical fouls.
The ball that men in North America play with is 29.5 inches in circumference. The one that women in North America and international play with has a maximum circumference of 29 inches and is called a size 6. International basketballs for men’s play have a circumference of 30.7 inches and are referred to as a size 7. Both men’s and women’s basketballs should be inflated between 7.5 and 8.5 lbs. per square inch.
March 11, 2021
Playing a sport that you love and being paid to do it, getting the opportunity to explore places that you might not have visited otherwise, and having your housing and round-trip plane ticket covered by your team are some of the benefits of playing professional sports overseas, While there are many good reasons to play professional sports abroad, there are also some negatives. The contracts that you sign might not be as legally binding as they would be in America, you might be homesick after your first few months, and you’ll miss out on major life moments, holidays and events with your family and friends back home.
March 14, 2021
Basketball has become so big in Europe that they have started up a competition called Euro-league. Twenty-four teams from all around Europe play through a season until one team is named Euro-league champion. It is the second largest competition in the world (second to the NBA) which draws players from all over the globe.Although not on the level of soccer, basketball is certainly making in-roads on soccer as possibly the second most popular team sport in Europe.Europe has always posed the most dangerous threat to the vice grip that the Americans have on the Olympic Gold medal. The Soviet Union won Gold at the Munich games in 1972 and in 1980 when the USA boycotted the Olympics, European teams took the entire medal collection with gold going to Yugoslavia, silver to Italy, and bronze to the Soviet Union. Most recently the Spanish team defeated the Americans at the 2002 World Championships (FIBA Europe).
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March 17. 2021
Basketball is is a very nomadic business. You have to be prepared to pack up and move at any time. It can be for a variety of reasons: for a better contract offer, a team’s financial issues, whatever. Lastly, after the first few months in a country, it begins to be a grind off the court.
Personally, I think America is paradise and I could not live in another country permanently. Over the course of a season, which usually lasts seven to eight months, basketball is the easy part. The hard part is after those two to four hours of practice or games, you have the rest of the day to get through away from your friends and family. I’ve missed countless Thanksgivings, birthdays and family events. I tell players all the time, if you don’t love basketball, playing overseas will be difficult, and no amount of money will give you peace.
Outside of games and practices, and occasional school visits or community events, professional basketball players overseas are afforded an abundance of free time. Within the last year, I have found more productive activities than watching every TV show. One major activity is the creation of my business, Vindicated Sports, a consulting firm that educates prospective basketball players on what to expect when playing overseas and how to succeed.
Lastly, having a good agent is important. Players playing overseas won’t have to pay an agent for their services. In international basketball, agents are paid by the team 100 percent of the time.
March 19, 2021
There are many advantages of playing basketball in Europe and Asia. You get paid well to do what you love for a living, so since I love playing basketball, every day is the weekend or a holiday for me. Except for a handful of teams, your team is viewed as the NBA team for that city. You are very visible, and fans will routinely approach you for pictures and autographs while you’re doing normal things like shopping or eating.
Another advantage of playing ball overseas is the ability to travel to cities that many people save up their entire lives to visit. You are usually no more than a cheap two- to three-hour plane or train ride from a neighboring city or country. This past season I played in Manchester, United Kingdom, and was able to travel to Paris for 44 pounds or $58 U.S. round trip.
March 25, 2021
Most people hear pro basketball and automatically assume that players are pampered and famous. As I said, there are many perks that accompany a pro basketball career internationally. But there are also issues that people outside of the business aren’t aware of. For example, contracts are not as legally binding as with professional sports leagues in America. Despite guarantee clauses in contracts, teams routinely will cut a player, or withhold his salary, if they perceive he is not playing at the level they think he should be. It is totally subjective, and the team has full discretion.
There is a governing body for pro basketball overseas, the International Basketball Federation. It has provisions for when teams and players can go to arbitration to resolve contractual issues, but that is not a deterrent because teams routinely breach contracts. It also might seem fun when you see an international player’s social media feeds and you see all the places he’s lived in or visited, but that usually comes at the expense of stability.
