The only way to get good at basketball is to play. The only way to get good at anythinh is to do it. Team sports teach valuable lessons about team work; the benefits of (and necessity of) applying effort toward a goal;, the joys of success and victory; the reality of failure and coping with defeat; sportsmanship; interpersonal skills, making friends and learning to deal and work with others he might not like or who dont like him…
In other words: it prepares him for the real world.
Let him play. I wanted to play sports when I was a kid, and wasn’t allowed, and I’ll tell you, that sort of stuff sucks for the kid, no matter how bad they are at whatever the game is, to not be allowed.
Also my sympathies on last years teacher, there is nothing worse than a “teacher” that tries to force a child into a preformed can of expectations.
When I was that age, we just played. No need to discuss it or get permission from our parents, we were too busy doing. 
Absolutely do not let him play. In fact, keep him far away from anything in life that he may not initially excel at.
Just kidding. I know you know how ridiculous and wrong this would be. Send him out there. Support him. Help him improve. Even if he is the worst player in the county, you can make this a valuable learning experience that will benefit him in the future.
Good luck,
mmm
A slightly on-topic quote by Ira Glass, one of the most discouraging and encouraging things I’ve ever read:
I was like your son. Except it wasn’t sports, but folk dancing. All my siblings took dancing lessons from the same teacher. Despite being totally cheesy, it was so much fun.
But I wasn’t good at it. I didn’t know at the time, but I know now. Like, I have tons of memories of watching my twin sister perform at different events, but I only have two memories of performing. Most of the time, I was forced to sit in the audience or hang out back stage. I remember being so crushed when this happened that I would cry. But I always thought the issue was not having a partner to dance with, not that the teacher thought I sucked too bad.
However, I still wouldn’t trade those folk dancing classes for anything in the world. Although I was teased for being a klutz, I was never teased by the kids in my folk dancing class. They never let me know that I sucked, unlike the kids in PE class. I also think folk dancing made me appreciate physical activity. Like your son, I was a late-bloomer on the bike, and I wasn’t one of those kids who liked to rip around on the playground. So folk dancing gave me an outlet for exercise. It was a terrific work-out.
Your son is probably going to get teased. If it doesn’t happen next year, it’s bound to happen in middle school. But having friends helps. Especially cool friends. Sounds like your son may be making friends on this basketball team. Taking him out may deprive him of this safety net.
If I had to criticize my parents about one thing, it was that they took the “point and laugh” approach to my physical problems. My dyspraxia was well-known even when I was a baby. It is clearly evident in the awkward posturing I exhibited in my baby pictures. But my parents didn’t seem to think I would benefit from interventions. Instead, they just pointed and laughed and encouraged everyone else to do the same, while allowing me to think I could keep up with the other kids as long as I worked hard enough. I can forgive them for being so cavalier because parents of the 70s and 80s were kind of stupid about lots of things. But still. Makes me wonder how my childhood would have unfolded if they had taken me to an occupational therapist or some other professional who could have worked with me one-on-one. If your son isn’t just a little clumsy, maybe get him checked him out? At the very least, having a medical label may help his self-esteem if the bullies start giving him a hard time.)
It is much easier to be the kid who isn’t any good at 8 years old than at 13. Better he gets in there now and get some experience so he’s not traumatized in junior high hum class when they make him play. (If you can’t tell, I was the 13 year old who had no idea how to play basketball)
Hush, woman. Men are talking. Except Monstro, who has a strange fetish with Morris Dancing. 
If you could stop pretending it’s funny to threadshit w/ sexism, that’d be great.
I know you’ve already decided to encourage your ex to let him play - but let me tell you about my boy and the hazards of the modern method of picking athletes when they are young.
He was a pretty bad basketball player, from about age 8 to age 12 or so. But he was friends with group that had a decent team, and the dad/coach of the team kept him on it. He went to practices, worked (some) at it at home, and got some playing (some because the leagues at young ages mandated it, some because blowouts, some because the coach believed everyone should play at least some.
By eighth grade, he made the B-team at his middle school, even being small for his age. He made the B-team freshman team (thank god they had a b-team then). He made the sophomore team (it helped that he finally started growing), the JV as a junior and varsity as a senior. Never a lot of minutes, but he played. If he had been judged for life as an 8-year old, he never would have played.
I’m going to have to agree with NC on this one. The only reason why you aren’t getting a warning is because I believe you are attempting a joke. It didn’t work. Stop it.
But Nawth Chucka please just rely on the report function and not address the issue directly with the poster.
I’d suggest spending time with the child. Shooting baskets for fun. Teach him to dribble the ball.
Learning to practice or study is a good life skill that applies to everything in our lives.
Improve his basic skills so he does better on a team.
There are free YouTube vids that can help.
Here’s one to get started. Doesn’t matter if Dad can do this stuff. 
You can still help your son learn.
A coach had his hands full with the team. Kids don’t get much individual instruction. That’s what a dad can provide.
Btw, that guys channel has some great tips on the basics.
It really doesn’t take that much one on one instruction to teach a kid the technique he needs to be an asset to a team.
It’s pointless for a kid to spend the afternoon shooting baskets unless somebody shows him the basic technique. Then he’ll actually get better with practice.
I wouldn’t go overboard. Just teach him enough to do well and get some playing time.
Most of the good advice has been given already, but let me just add one thing: think about working with your son to have a “plan b” athletic activity he can explore if the basketball doesn’t work out.
My son was (and remains) totally uncoordinated and crappy at athletics. The difference is, he never even enjoyed or saw the value in anything sporty and despite his mom and dad’s best efforts we could never get him to do anything that involved exercise. Now he’s 19, gets no exercise, and is narrowly on the right side of pudgy (he is fulfilling his college PE requirements by repeatedly taking a gardening class that he loves - yeah, it’s adorable that he loves plants and gets excited about watching them grow, but c’mon!!!). His sedentary lifestyle worries me to no end.
Be glad your kid is open-minded enough to like exercise even if he is klutzy, and make sure he continues to find some way to move around (if he get teased at basketball, maybe an individual sport would work - whatever, just channel that enthusiasm into SOMETHING that involves exercise).
I found a really good video on the basic fundamentals. For kids that have never had any instruction.
It’s always bothered me when kids get labeled as clumsy, uncoordinated or not athletic. I’ve volunteered to coach kid’s teams. I’ve always seen improvement after someone worked with the kid one on one.
Any volunteer coach would be thrilled to get a kid that has practiced these simple drills.
Youth Basketball Drills for Beginners: How To Build Your Fundamentals - YouTube
Basketball offers a good opportunity for you to spend quality time with your son. Not only can you encourage him and practice with him, but you can explain the game to him and maybe even see some games together.
When I was in college, my department (computer sciences) fielded a coed intramural softball team. We weren’t very good, but we made it to the intramural semi-finals because we played smart. We spent as much time practicing algorithms as we did practicing the actual physical sport.
Your son may not be the greatest athlete, but I bet he’s a smart kid. Knowing the right moves can make one appear to be a much better athlete than they are. And it will give him confidence.
My daughter played soccer, basketball and softball. My son played soccer, baseball and hockey. They both made life-long friends and learned many life-lessons along with being active. My husband and I also made many good friends and had some really good times. We look back at that time in our lives with great fondness.
I played Little League baseball and then moved on to HS football (1 year JV and 2 years V). Was I good? No. But everyone, both coaches and team-mates, were very supportive. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Encourage him and let it go. What’s the downside?
So, Mr. BomTek, how much are you projecting yourself onto your kid? Something to think about.
The list of benefits of participation in sports at this age is extensive, and greatly outweighs the potential negatives of not being excellent at it immediately.
[ul]
[li]Physical activity[/li][li]Structure[/li][li]Team participation[/li][li]Socialization[/li][li]Accomplishment[/li][li]Practice - getting better[/li][li]and on and on[/li][/ul]
I also concur with those saying that this is an opportunity to engage with your kid by helping practice and whatever small amount of coaching you can handle. Even if it’s just going to the gym and tossing the ball back to him while he tries to make free-throws for an hour. You should really try to make that happen.
This is pretty much what I was going to say. 8 is still very young, and a good time to try all kinds of sports and activities to see what a child is interested in and can become proficient at. Maybe basketball isn’t it, and I certainly am not a basketball fan in any aspect. In fact, I think it’s a terrible sport in many respects for bad or casual players because there are only five players on the court on each team. Getting any playing time on a high school team is very difficult because of the limited number of slots. But that doesn’t really matter at age 8. So long as he’s not getting ridiculed, or sitting on the bench, or being miserable, let him try it.
My eldest son was never very coordinated, and really didn’t take to stick and ball sports like baseball, basketball, football, etc. But he started competitive swimming at 9, liked it and became pretty good at it, making it to the state championships in 11th and 12th grades. So, his lack of “athleticism” didn’t prevent him from having a rewarding school athletic experience. And the great thing about swimming is that there are so many events. There were no “bench sitters” on the team, or any of the teams they swam against. They all got to compete. It’s similar with track and field.