Excel in your role. You are not LeBron James or Elena Delle Donne. Grow your game to expand the possibilities.
In Basketball Methods, Pete Newell simplifies the possibilities for a post player as scorer, facilitator, or screener. Your role is what your current coach says it is.
Years ago I saw a player reject an open three. Her father was upset. "Why didn't she shoot?" I answered, "she's one for nineteen this year from three. She made the right play." Some parents have "coaches' eyes." Most do not. They have a different, highly valid investment to respect.
Coaches have a vision for the "actor." Fulfill that vision, get the part. Spike Lee was casting Do The Right Thing when Halle Berry auditioned for a role as a low-rent harlot. Lee sent her home four times saying that she didn't look the part, not bad enough.
Exceed the expected vision to multiply your time on screen, closeups, and lines.
Be off book. Know your lines, the sets, the options, and the "why" behind the what to do. Assert KNOW HOW over KNOW THAT.
You send a message when you don't know the terminology, the plays, and offensive and defensive techniques (e.g. pick-and-roll coverage, closeouts, forcing, etc.). You lack full engagement and it's inconsistent with wanting a bigger role. Control what you can control.
For the coach to ADD VALUE, players need to be ALL IN. You need to be ready when the coach asks, "what do you need to do your job better?"
Sam Jackson says "if you can't know your lines in an audition, why should the director believe you'll know the part?"
Lagniappe: "This is the great challenge: to maintain passion for the everyday routine and the endlessly repeated act, to derive deep gratification from the mundane." - Chef Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook (cross-discipline principles)
Lagniappe 2: via @PickAndPopNet
Why is rejecting P&Rs important? @RyanPannone with a great point that extends far beyond rejecting P&Rs...— PickandPop (@PickAndPopNet) June 15, 2020
How many defenses are built for failure?
If their coverage is predicated on getting you to the screen, what happens when you reject? How often do they practice it?
Drew Hanlen "dumbifies" the read. Pick-and-roll is more than the ball handler driving, hitting the roller, or shooting. It's more than the roller screening and rolling, popping, or rescreening. It's an explosive dance with a myriad of options.
Lagniappe 3: SPECTACULAR video clinic from Celtics' assistant Scott Morrison. Pro tip: Smart TV for Youtube, watch on the big screen.
sponsored by Basketball Immersion @BBallImmersion
- Cutting may create opportunity for you or move a defender that allows advantage for the ball handler.
- "Defenders are taught to see both but a lot of time they don't."
- "All these cuts are designed to get layups or corner 3s."
- They key is drawing help and both players recognizing it.
- "The corner...in the NBA is valuable real estate."
- "You always have to respect the guy at the basket."
Note: points/possession is highest in the NBA off cutting