Monday, April 11, 2022

Ten Basketball Thoughts for Players to Start the Week Right

"Repetitions make reputations." 

What offseason changes have you planned to improve your strength, conditioning, skill, and basketball knowledge? Be specific! 

1. Become your own coach. "Plan your trade; trade your plan." What strengths will you reinforce and limitations work to reduce? If you don't know, ask a coach and watch video of your play. 

  • What is your shot selection? 
  • Do you move without the ball? 
  • Are you making teammates better by talking, blocking out, setting screens, helping on defense? 
  • Do you understand your coach's intent offensively and defensively? 

2. Cut urgently. Because basketball is a game of cutting and passing, increase your chance of getting open and getting the ball by hard and timely cutting. "The ball is a camera." It has to see you to find you. 

3. Develop versatile finishes at the basket. Finish with your strong hand off either foot (or both) from either side and work to develop nondominant hand finishes.

 

Better layup lines...

4. Set up your cut. Learn the Jay Bilas Toughness mandates. Print them out and learn to live them. 

5. Excel at free throws. "Winners are trackers." Take a minimum of 100 a day and track them. Better yet, interrupt every 5 with a conditioning action like a sprint or some pushups. 

6. "Foul for profit." Kevin Sivils uses the expression, foul for profit. Don't foul jump shots, bail out shots, three pointers, or commit 'retaliation fouls' or 'frustration fouls'. When you commit a turnover, don't "double down" with a dumb foul. 

7. Extend your shooting range. Be like Dave (Hopla or Love). 

"We have good habits and bad habits...catch it on balance, shoot it on balance, land on balance." 

8. Shooting is a perishable skill. Practice with purpose (not random free shooting). Practice with a partner for competition and rebounding. 

9. "Warm up your shot." Watching kids run out and start taking threes without warmups bugs me. Great shooters warm up their shot. Don't cut corners or skip steps. Whether you use a Get 50 approach or Curry radians (below)...warm up. 

10. Impact winning. "Scoreboard not scorebook." That plays across sports. Make a difference. "There is no MY TURN." Players who impact the game have higher value. That's why quarterbacks and pass rushers historically have higher value than wide receivers with less than ten touches per game. 

Lagniappe. Simplify and hold yourself accountable. 

Lagniappe 2. Iverson Texas style


Lagniappe 3. Horns variant, with double pindown with iso opportunity. 








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