How did Junior make the basketball team? In what ways was this related to his conversation with his dad earlier?

Junior made the team because he made the shot when he was doing a one on one drill against the best player on the team- Rodger. The first time Junior did this drill against Rodger he was on offense, he had the ball and was dribbling down the court when Rodger stuck out his and and took it from him. The second time Junior was on defense and Rodger ran right over him and made it to the basket while Junior was still on the ground. By this point the coach had approached Junior and asked him if he wanted to take a break or give it another shot. Junior knew from experience that taking a break meant not making the team so he gave it another shot. This time he noticed a bad move Rodger had made and used it to his advantage, rolling around Rodger, Junior stopped at the three point mark and shot. Sure enough he made it in! After that Junior knew he had made the team.

I think that one of the reasons Junior decided to give the drill another try as opposed to taking a break was due to some advice his dad gave him on page 136, he said "You have to dream big to get big." Arnold knew that the chances of him making it around Rodger and let alone making the shot were slim. Though I think that during the drill his fathers words were ringing in his head saying "You have to dream big to get big." "You have to dream big to get big." I think that Sherman Alexie added this passage into the book as an inspiration to the reader. Even though Arnold was the runt of the players he knew that he was not going to make the team if he did not even try so he did and look where that left him.