Basketball: Specifics of Being a Great Teammate, Plus Skill Sets and NIL Policy for Local High Schools

"My ego depends on the success of my team." - Bill Russell 

Choose to be a great teammate. Great teammates understand the power of words, actions, and feelings. 

What do you say? 

• Choose words carefully. 
• Words elevate and they cut. Your peers don't 'get' sarcasm. 
• A kind word goes a long way. "You were great today, Susie." 
• Remind ourselves "that was excellent BUT" differs from "that was excellent AND." 
• Communicate on the court to promote efficiency and teamwork. 
• When communicating with the media, make it about the team and your teammates not just about you. 
• Upperclassmen, do not "bigfoot" up and coming teammates. 

What do you do? 

Support teammates verbally and non-verbally. Study together. Work out together. Be a friend, a shoulder to lean on. Be unselfish on and off the court. 

• Share the basketball.
• Be fully engaged. Don't cheat the drill.
• Bring and spread energy to teammates. 
• Give up your body setting and fighting through screens, taking charges, and first to the floor.
• Touch. Touchy-feely teams win more, possibly through higher levels of trust. 

How do teammates feel about you? 

We had one award, voted on by the players, "Best Teammate." That didn't mean MVP or most popular. The award reflected leadership, sharing, communication, effort. The players always got it right. 

Prioritize feelings. Link players, don’t rank them. Legend Thierry Henry says of Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe, "Arsenal Football Player is written on their foreheads." 

Their fans embrace that loyalty.

Amidst the mass of numbers, skill videos, and social media prints, don't forget that athletes are people with needs, needs that we can fulfill. 

Lagniappe. An underrated aspect of defense is handling yours to avoid overhelping. Verbal communication can intimidate offenses from penetrating, avoiding "draw 2" situations that allow layups and open threes. 

Burn the Gap Help

Aggressive gap help is everywhere. What are teams implementing to counter?

The most common is cutting behind gap help from the nail

Can score off this cut, but primarily used to remove the gap defender from the nail. Giving the ball handler space to breathe pic.twitter.com/RUmLcOZTQ2

— Josiah Meppelink (@jomeppelink) August 18, 2022

Lagniappe 2. Same hand, same foot extended finishes. 

Same hand/same foot finish

A mandatory finish in today’s game.. especially if you are undersized pic.twitter.com/50ESA3zjOm

— Anthony Pugh (@Anthony_Pugh2) August 18, 2022

Lagniappe 3. Massachusetts (MIAA) policy on NIL for high school students. "The MIAA Board of Directors voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to allow student-athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness (NIL) as long as the self promotion does not include a school name, logo, or the MIAA logo. Student-athletes cannot promote themselves using certain products, including alcohol, tobacco, and adult entertainment."