Amazing post, agree w. pretty much everything on here.
You should make a thread in here and start basketball-blogging every once in a while man, seen nothing but good info coming from you.
Thanks
seriously you should have your own blog or thread
Thanks guys. I love this game and have a fair amount of experience at most levels of it. I don't get to coach enough do to work/school so this is one of my only outlets to fulfill that itch.
I actually have a domain/blog semi-ready to go that I was working on. I was going to combine both basketball training/teaching and my love for the NBA/somecollege ball. It's not really in working order yet but the domain is
http://callyourownfouls.com. I would like to get it set up by summertime to a working website. I also am developing another one based off a chat system for the NBA called
http://NBAChat.co. That one will feature chat rooms specific to each NBA team plus some general basketball rooms as well as blog-rolls/articles from some of the more popular basketball blogs.
I used to be -very- good at developing websites and made quite a bit of money off it them but that took too much time. If I can just develop these enough to be self-sufficient and a fun little hobby then that would really be a great release to take time off of my schedule for work/school.
Anyways, back on topic.
I went to the park today.
I shot around a little and then I:
played 1 game of 21 with three other players
played 3 games of 2 on 2
played 1 game of 4 on 4
Ok I was driving a lot and attacking during 21 and the first game of 1 on 1. I was finishing pretty well. For finishing I need to remember to look at the basket throughout the whole shot. I probably shouldn't have played the other games because I started settling for jumpers and wasn't hustling.
I NEED to make my floater automatic.
I NEED to remember that no one remembers pickup games. Play without a conscious and test shit out.
I NEED to attack the basket and play defense.
I NEED to stop playing once I start get tired for recovery and to not develop bad habits.*
*Focus write now is skills and strength.
Good job with the right mentality for 21. 21 is a one-on-everybody game. It's the perfect time to work on attacking the basket and what I call half-court-transition. Obviously, 21 is a half-court game, but it's you-versus-everybody so it's almost as if every time you take the ball back you're trying to finish a 1-on-__ fast break. It's pefect to work on change of direction/speed and practice getting the ball to your favorite spots under pressure of multiple defenders.
Also, don't worry about settling for jumpers. Some days, getting to the basket will be tough. If you can transition your game to mid-range or short-shot-game w/ floaters and elbow jumpers or 10-foot baseline jumpers then you'll be ahead of the game. Take it from someone who has played too much basketball, if you have multiple facets of your game to offer, then you'll almost always have something to fall back on if your go-to skillset just isn't working that day. I'm 6'5" and have been blessed with some decent basketball skills through a bit of hard work. However, despite being that height I'm am naturally a guard, but there are days where my shot just isn't falling from outside. Now, my height allows me to also have developed a good post game to fall back on. And usually those 2 parts of my game are all I need. Sometimes though, both aren't working. That's when my ability to play at the high-post as well as the mid-range baseline have come in real handy. The perks that my height allowed me to develop a strong inside-outside game are great but not necessary. You can learn other parts of the game (post-up, mid-range, perimeter) without natural inclinations such as height/speed/etc. One of the best post players I know is 5'9". He just knows his body and how to get space where space doesn't seem available. Basically all I am saying is be multi-faceted. Don't focus on one thing all the time. Don't be single-minded/limited on the court. That's what ballhogs, dumb players, and people that don't care do.
One note about floaters though: They're a great tool to have at the higher levels of basketball (aau, college, etc). If you can develop one that's great. But I would not focus on the floater before I mastered/learned the jump-stop and short-pull-up shot. The problem with younger players focusing on the floater is that it is a shot that is generally taken while your momentum is still carrying you towards the basket. If that is your only shot that you are capable of making when you get to higher-levels, you're going to commit a -lot- of charges. I don't know if you've ever run the 3on2-2on1 drill in a basketball practice. But basically it's a drill where you have 2 defenders on one end, and you attack with 3 players (1 in the middle w/ ball, 2 on outside.) The point is to cause the defense to commit to the ball and make a jump-stop and pass to the open player because once you're picked up, there is only 1 defender for 2 players. If you can learn that in a half-court setting to stop your momentum and make the jump-shot or correct pass you will go -way- farther in your game that with the floater. Coaches notice these things. They see a player that makes the right move and will not draw silly fouls and end up sitting next to them on the bench. So sure, floaters are nice, but they're not going to get you through a try-out with a traveling team or help you make varsity in the end.
Last thing, on defense in pick-up games. This might be the toughest thing of all to focus on in pick-up. It's a relaxed setting overall and 90% of people don't take pick-up seriously. So it's obvious that you may lose focus during it. Here's what I tell my players to do if they play. I won't get mad at them if they are playing the passing lanes, or staying in perfect on-ball defensive stance during the entire pick-up game. But, what I will not accept, (and I watch my players play pick-up a lot when I can, and I will take them out of pick-up games if they don't do the following things). 1. Stay between their player and the basket. (It's the easiest thing to do and it promotes always being in position to guard your man.) 2. Attack for rebounds. (Just a regular box out or following the ball. My teams win off rebounds so this is important to me.) 3. Close-out correctly. (If they help-down into the post and the post man kicks the ball out to the perimeter, all I ask is that they close out quickly and low to the ground so as to contest outside shots but not let their man just blow by them towards the basket.) If my players will follow just those 3 rules I do not mind them not playing the ultimate defense in pick-up. Those 3 things allow them to be good defenders and they are the basics to teaching team-defense. (Of course, once they come to practice they have about 15 other defensive rules to follow that if they do not do they will be running suicides. I'm strict on defense.) I have to say though, many if not most of my players follow all my defensive rules even in pick-up. It's a good habit to get into. If your coach likes you to play a certain way, study that and play that way as often as possible.
Okay, that's all.
If you have any more question I'd be more than happy to help. As always, if you have any questions about what I've said or need some more clarifications, just let me know.
