Sam Cassell - The Art of the Mid-Range

The mid-range game in a lot of ways is a lost art. With players abilities increasing in both three point shooting and getting to the rim, there aren't many players who specialize in mid-range jumpers anymore.

And although it may be a dying shot in the modern game of basketball, I felt this video from Cassell is still relevant.

He offers up a lot of great suggestions of ways to create space - and creating space can be applied anywhere on the basketball court. Take a look:



Living proof you don't need extroadinary quickness to thrive in the game of basketball.

If you've ever heard the term "wily veteran" or "cagey veteran", I'd have to believe that Cassell in this video is definition of those terms.

John Calipari - New Father of Point Guard U.

Here's a link to this article in which it explains Coach John Calipari's incredible success to bring in top point guards year after year.

It's certainly true and it leads the author to at the end of the writing claim Coach Calipari as the new "father to Point Guard U." assumingly taking over for the former, Lute Olsen at Arizona.

Arizona was formerly the place for premier points that went on to thrive in the NBA - Damon Stoudamire, Mike Bibby, Jason Terry are some of the points that played at Arizona.

Now Coach Calipari has had a string of some great point guards, first at Memphis and now ones that are following him to his new home the University of Kentucky.

His point guards over the past two years have been drafted first overall (Derrick Rose) and fourth overall(Tyreke Evans).

Which leads me to wonder, is it the system that is producing these great point guards or is it the talent? Or is the system simply a great vehicle for these explosive talents to showcase their skills?

First of all this system in question here is the Dribble Drive Motion Offense, which I have written about in earlier posts here. Obviously if you are a strong guard, with great quickness and the ability to penetrate, playing in this offense is going to showcase those skills to the utmost.

This I believe is the case with Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans. Rose you could argue is taylor made to have the ball in this kind of offense. The question is though, had Rose elected to go to say, Wisconsin and play for Bo Ryan's swing offense and slowdown approach. Rose's skill set would be the same, yet his full range of capabilities may or not have been as exposed.

Since Calipari's has taken the job at Kentucky he has signed major recruit and point guard, John Wall. Wall is generally considered the top player of his class and has already been projected as a top 3 pick. Here's some of his highlights to get a better idea of what Kentucky's getting.

Again a perfect marriage of player and system. Wall is going to thrive and Coach Calipari's third straight lottery selected point guard. Pretty unbelievable and definitely the new Point Guard University.

My take: Calipari is a great recruiter and is bringing in players who fit perfectly into his system. Look out for Wall.

Carlos Boozer - Post Clinic

As promised, continuing with the NBA fundamental series. Today's is Carlos Boozer giving instruction on post play.



Some of what I like from Boozer: First of all, love the fact that he is pointing out the work he does before he establishes position. The V-Cut to get down to the block, or the fake screen and then rolling to the block. Establishing position is half your battle. I once read somewhere: You "own" the paint with deep post ups. "Rent" the paint with simply posting up on the block. "Lease" the paint by posting up off the block.

Also Boozer talks about having the ability to mix it up and give the defenders different looks. A post player can be very easy to defend if they are predictable especially with a double team.

Final thing I'll say about post play is the term "having a plan". Guys in the post should have a general idea of what they're going to do, based off the defense. Ex. If he's playing me to the high side, I'm going to do this...

You're not scripting your moves, its just knowing your strengths and what will work. It's knowing what counter to use off your initial move.

Ray Allen Teaching Shooting

I came across these videos of NBA players offering some insight on different aspects of the game on youtube yesterday and I will be posting one a day for as many as there are. Here's some basic shooting instruction given by one of the best shooters ever to play, Ray Allen.



Ray offers some good tips for those looking to either learn to shoot or add to their shot. I'm a big believer in consistency over technique. While its import to have proper shooting form, I think its more important to keep a consistent form and allow for muscle memory that way and Ray highlights this point when he says, "You want to shoot your jumpshot the same way everytime."

The Little Things - 1st Edition

Here is the first of what I hope to be many editions of the "little things" of basketball. Feel free to pass this along to other coaches or if you ever have anything to add to this list, you can email me at justindif@gmail.com or simply comment below. This list is comprising of my twitter following as well as a few emails. What I plan to do is reach out to college coaches - one geographical section at a time and updating as I see fit. Enjoy.

• Make the extra pass.
  
• Make all lay ups in warmups. (Amazing how sometimes a player can just coast through warm ups when in actuality they should be sweating and getting ready. Just never understood that.)
  
• Blocking out your man before finding the ball when rebounding. Reversing the ball. (Such a simple act and requires little skill, yet amazing how a basic fundamental of the game has to be stressed on certain players.)
  
• Finishing your cuts. (This is something I've been stressing lately. Not only finishing cuts, making strong, violent cuts.)
  
• Sprinting in transition.
  
• Ensure your shot fake mimics your shot form. (A good detail to have, will require practice and repetition.)
  
• Sprint into ball screens. (This is a detail for all ball screeners to do. Also a great way to tell if a team is well coached or not.)
  
• Dive for loose balls.
  
• Setting solid screens. (Make 'em count!)
  
• Making the right cut.
  
• Play with energy, enthusiasm, and bounce in your step.
  
• Embrace the game.
  
• Share the ball. (Everyone loves to play with willing passers!)
  
• Communicate.
  
• Hold your teammates accountable. (Love this one. Apply this to off court the issues as well. Make sure your teammates are doing the right thing off the court, taking care of themselves physically and doing what they should be doing in the classroom.)
  Passing - palms out, thumbs down.

This group submitted by basketball trainer, Alan Stein. They are explained in further detail here at his blog: Stronger Team Blog

• Be on top of your schoolwork.
  
• Are you getting 8-10 hours of sleep a night.
  
• Are eating breakfast everyday?
  
• Are you drinking enough water?
  
• Are you tending to any nagging injuries/soreness?
  
• Are you getting 300-500 shots a day? (game shots)
  
• Are you sticking to your workout program?

These next three were submitted to me by Head Women's Basketball Coach at Ramapo College, Mike Eineker, with his thoughts after them:

• Triple threat position with the ball over their knee - It amazes me how many ballplayers immediatley put the ball over their head when they catch it.
  
• Low post players release their shot with eyes on rim - Watch some tape and you'll be shocked how common this is.
  
• Defensively have hands low, not up - I think it is easier to start with your hands low and reach up to deflect a pass than to start with your hands up and stay in front of a driver.

This final set was contributed to me by Coach Ray Lokar. Again, I am just taking out the idea, however, if you click on this link here you can read additional info on each one.

• Play with your knees bent (Basketball is played down. As well as bending your knees, your hips should be lowered too.."sit down")
  
• Get a hand up on every shooter
  
• Gain possessions with two hands.
  
• Pass to the first person open.
  
• Establish a pivot foot.
  
• Face the basket.
  
• Jump to the pass.
  
• Stop the basketball.

Coaches that contributed were: Sam Scholl, Sebastian Pruiti, Steve Finamore, Chris Richardson, Clarence Gaines, Alan Stein, Ray Lokar, and Mike Eineker.

Don Meyer

Legendary college coach Don Meyer got honored at the 2009 ESPY's receiving the Jimmy V coaching award.

Here is video of his acceptance speech:


Meyer is inspirational to all coaches and offers a ton of wisdom. Spend just 10 minutes on his site - coachmeyer.com and you will pick up a ton of insights for both coaches and players. A must read really.

The Little Things

One of the most commonly used phrases throughout all of sports is "the little things." Coaches, players, announcers, fans and basically anyone who regulary calls themselves a sports fan has probably heard this phrase and in all likelihood even used it themselves.

But what does it actually mean? More times than not, it used in this framework - "Player X is a great player because he does all the little things." Or, "Gentlemen, its about details...its about doing the little things."

Everyone who hears this phrase, generally understands it, yet it is often left undescribed and left at just that - "little things." So it morphs into this sort of unstated, undescribed intangible. Well, that day is going to end today.

Without a specific time frame or ending, I am going to reach out to lots and lots of fellow coaches and ask them that question - What are the little things that coaches mean when they say..well..the little things? (in context of hoops). Then I will take what these coaches give me and continue to update this list until it becomes this super extensive list of all little things players should be doing to help them improve as a player or coach for that matter.

Of course, Being an east coast guy, I'm going to start there and work my way down, updating the list as often as I see fit.

The list is going to be started with some notes passed on to me by Sam Scholl who is an assistant coach at Santa Clara University. I will try and not have repeat additions and my thoughts are in the ( ).

• Make the extra pass.
• Make all lay ups in warmups. (Amazing how sometimes a player can just coast through warm ups when in actuality they should be sweating and getting ready. Never understand that.)

Well for now that is the list. I've already posed the question out to the twitter folk and will send out my first batch of emails probably this weekend. If you have anything you'd like to add you can either comment with it, or email me at justindif@gmail.com.

Enjoy.

Magic and Larry

Was doing a little reading of Chuck Klosterman (Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs) today and he had a chapter about the Celtics/Lakers rivalry and within that was something interesting that I believe David Halberstam came up with about Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

This is taken out of context and is in no way, shape or form intended to be a commentary on race, just something I found interesting. It is in fact discussing race but Halberstam points out that Magic and Larry sort of lived a paradox of pathologies according to Klosterman.

Magic who is African-American had a middle class upbringing, that of which a was a more traditional "white" experience while Larry who is white, lived an impoverished, screwed up childhood which was more stereotypically black.

Once again, not a commentary on race at all in the slightest, yet something that I found interesting and just wanted to throw into my blog.

Grow Your Game

Something that I have always found interesting about basketball is the diversity contained inside the offensive side of the game. Think about it.

When you first learn the game or if you’re lucky enough, taught the game you’re inevitably going to learn either shooting or dribbling first. Arguably these are the two most basic offensive skills of basketball and some never grow from here.

As you grow with the game you’ll learn and develop new skills. Maybe a lay-up is taught, using both hands when dribbling, bounce passes, chest passes. These are skills a player is going to learn to ‘grow his or her game’.

The trend continues. You may learn dribbling moves such as a cross over or hesitation, there are a whole series of jabs and up fakes that you can learn. Perimeter players are going to be taught how to penetrate, shoot from the outside, cut effectively and so on. Post players get to learn a whole different set of skills: various post moves, hook shots, up and unders, passing out of double teams, the correct way to pivot etc.

The important thing is that you are in fact expanding your game and growing your offensive repertoire. Guards should be able to execute all their moves equally as effective with their right and their left. Post players the same way should have the ability to execute their moves going right or left. These are all parts of basketball and developing what you do is part of it.

I’m speaking on adding on to ‘what you do’. Now I had a pretty limited basketball career. I was a better than average, if not good high school player, for a small high school in North Jersey. I had probably just enough talent to make a small Division III school, but not really break into a rotation. Which was fine by me, I had a great time playing basketball and don’t regret anything. It’s now been four years since I’ve last played “competitive” basketball.

Yet I’m still fired up from something I saw on youtube recently. I’ve come across the twitter feed of Mike Lee. He’s a professional basketball trainer who puts up videos on youtube of how NBA players execute some of their patented moves (By the way, Mike does a great job. The videos are concise yet informative. Check out his blog right here) . One of his latest editions is the Allen Iverson fade away. Now I’m only 5-7, so one of my setbacks every time I step on a court is finding ways to get my shot off against taller players. So naturally this shot, perfected by one of the best “little” players in basketball history is a great way to do just that. Now I’m all fired up to get home from trip to work on that shot.

Point is, I’m 24 years old with my best basketball playing days way behind me, yet I’m still interested in adding things to my game. The summer is a great time to do that. Think about it if you’re a freshman entering high school right now. If you add a move to your game each summer, by time your through with college you’ll have seven new moves to your game. Seven offensive moves is a pretty diverse offensive player.

One of the best ways to learn hoop is by simply watching. It’s not always a bad thing to emulate what the greats of the game do (on the court.) Learn a turn-around fall away by watching Kobe Bryant. Learn an inside pivot from Tim Duncan. Heck, learn a skyhook from watching Kareem.

The key though is to expand your game. Don’t be satisfied with where you’re at and its never too late to learn something new.

Basketball Coaches Clinic On Twitter

Ok, so heres the idea. There are a ton of coaches currently on Twitter. And everyday these coaches are offering up amazingly insightful nuggets of information. Twitter truly is a great forum to write a quote or to add a piece of information on a particular subject and many coaches are spreading their knowledge this way which is a great thing. Heres the problem though.

Lets say a jr. college coach in New Jersey writes something thoughtful, creative or insightful about pick and roll defense that no one has ever heard of...that tweet only gets read by his followers and then if re-tweeted, by the followers of that person. But why not have his insightful words available to all coaches by using a common hashtag? For example #hoopsclinic - defense wins championships.

The other thing right now is that unless someone is tweeting a live game, the topics of conversation are of a random mix and come at random times. The randomness is great and all, however, I think it would be pretty amazing if a set date and time was being used on twitter, by as many coaches as can be reached, and all of them talking and discussing the same set topic or topics.

If anyone follows David Thorpe on twitter, he did something like this when he was tweeting from the Orlando Pro Summer League. He spent one afternoon tweeting soley on defense. It was so compelling and also was great because you knew that day what you were getting. And the wisdom was extrordinary.

I don't think something like this would be very hard to organize. It could be a five day thing, with a few hours blocked off on each day, or even the entire day of a week, with each day devoted to a new topic - defense, offense, rebounding, pick and roll, recruiting etc whatever was decided on.

It's going to do two things: It's going to take all this amazing information and pearls of wisdom that is being dished out daily on twitter and organize it somewhat into a nice and neat place where all coaches can see.

Secondly, it would harbor and open up the lines of communication even more than they already are. I picture it to be an open discussion and philosophy sharing experience.

If this takes off, it could be one of the biggest clinics around and the best part is it would be done from your home and be absolutely free.

I think this is a pretty neat idea and I think twitter is the perfect forum for this. The clinic would need a name. I imagine the name of the clinic to also be the hashtag, so the name would have to be Twitter proof and be low in characters yet clever and descriptive. That I would say is step one with spreading the word being step two.

Drop me a line either in email, justindif@gmail.com or on twitter @justindefeo if you'd like to be involved or have suggestions.

For Your Reading Pleasure

I'm going away to Key West, Florida for the week starting tomorrow and while I'll have full internet access, I'm not exactly sure how many original posts are going to be going up from now till that point. But, in the meantime I just want to two more good blogs that should stem the tide.

First is Basketball trainer and consultant Alan Stein's blog. His latest entry is a recap of his week spent at the Lebron James Nike Skills Academy Camp. In there he discusses the now infamous Jordan Crawford dunk on Lebron James.

Beside that though it is a really good read and gives insight into the type of worker Lebron is and what it takes to make the NBA.

Secondly, the guys over at IMG Academy, mainly David Thorpe and Anthony Macri have not only given us the pleasure of launching twitter accounts (@coachthorpe, @coachmacri) but have now also launched a blog called Make Two Plays.

I have to say I am personally pretty fired up for the Make Two Plays launching. Both Thorpe and Macri are so insightful and there is a ton of knowledge to be gained from just checking that blog everyday (when its getting updated regulary).

Thats all for now, enjoy your reading. Both of these blogs can also be found in my links.

Greatness Breeding Greatness

This is most definitely a basketball blog. Nearly all of my posts are basketball related and this will be one of the few that strays slightly off the path of hoops, though not much. Its just that if something comes up worth talking about, I feel this is my outlet to get my thoughts down. The fact that a major story, which is so gripping that you can't help but get sucked in, has sucked me in. Obviously the biggest news sweeping the country has been the loss of the King of Pop Michael Jackson. The loss and subsequent tributes and coverage of Michael has been everywhere, and you just can't help but be consumed by it. I like everyone else has been swept up in it, so naturally I watched his public funeral at the Staples Center which was a very touching event.

What really struck me though and got me thinking was when Magic Johnson said his eulogy and words about Michael Jackson. Magic always is thoughtful and always speaks well so I wasn't surprised the way Magic came off. What got me thinking was when Magic talked about going on tour with Michael (can be found at 2:00 mark of youtube video).

Magic went on to say how Michael always had command of what was going on around him. The crew, his bandmembers, just everything...Michael was in command of it. He said that watching Michael out there performing and the genius of what he was doing, that he truly believed it made him a better point guard.

After he said this, my girlfriends mother who I was watching the funeral along with remarked how she thought that it was silly, that Michael made Magic a better point guard, based on the logic of - one is music and one is basketball.

And while this makes sense, certainly Michael Jackson is not going to make Magic Johnson a better dribbler or passer, I do believe that you can become a better point guard from watching him. Let me exlain.

It is obvious that when you watch Michael Jackson perform that you are watching genius. Genius. A simple Youtube search and you have endless footage of video where you can see that. It is a lot like my last post, the cream rises to the top, sometimes the talent is just so immense that it just comes through the screen. It becomes real. That was Michael Jackson performing.

Now, lets say you're Magic Johnson. An emerging point guard, blessed with all the full toolbox of skill set that would allow to become the best point guard he would like to be. You're there, up close and personal with Michael, watching him, studying him. You are seeing a true master of what he is doing, up on stage, executing to perfection, and you are seeing him reap the benefits in fan approval. As a competitor, wouldn't this be inspiring? Would you not get to a gym immediately to try and perfect your craft the way Michael had his? These are the kind of effects I believe Magic was talking about when spoke about Michael making him a better point guard.

Greatness really does breed greatness. One great of music (Michael) was inspiring another emerging great of basketball, Magic. Inspiration can come from anywhere, be it song, written word, spoken word, video. Basketball players can be inspired by teammates, coaches, competition. Michael Jackson's music and performances can do a lot of different things, but for me its been an inspiring thing. Its sad that he has passed for sure, but his music will live on forever and will inspire future greats at whatever they do forever. RIP Michael Jackson.

Cream Rises to the Top

Hello all. Finally back to the blog after a long July 4th weekend spent in the Jersey Shore. Some great hoops being played down there over the long hot weekend. Lots of good fun but now its back to hoops talk.

Before I went down the shore on Thursday night I attended a mens league game played at a basketball complex nearby me. I was going to watch the team I coach with, so we brought our 10 or so Division III players.

The team we were playing had a mix of older men and younger men. The one young man was an outstanding player. A guard about 6-2, could handle, could shoot. He had one of the quickest releases I had seen and had deep range.

We threw a bunch of different players on him, but really couldn't do much to slow him down. After the game I found the player I'm talking about is headed to Columbia University next season. A Division I player.

Skip ahead to today. I had the opportunity to watch the entire game one of the Orlando Pro Summer League between the New Jersey Nets/Philadelphia 76ers team and Indiana Pacers.

Summer league rosters in the NBA if you don't know are mixed with unsigned rookies and free agents as well as bonafide NBA players. During the game the bonafide NBA guys, and in this game it was Chris Douglas-Roberts, Marreese Speights, Brandon Rush and Roy Hibbert, the bonafide guys really showed why they are legit NBA players.

The talent they have to get into the league and last and the skill and development they've achieved while in the league really show. The lesson here, is that the cream will rise to the top.

In both cases, the men's league game and the NBA summer league, in both cases the sheer talent was evident and shone through. When I've been out recruiting, often times I just wait and see if the talent will just show itself.

More times than not the talented players will stand out.

Impress Your Coaches - Come to Camp In Shape

I coach at a small Division III college in NJ and recently we had our players in the gym to work out. This is the first time the guys have been back up to campus since they departed for the summer in early May.

This also has been the first time they've all been together to play semi-organized games since the season broke in March.

There are a few things I'd like to say about this. First of all, all players were given workout sheets at the end of the season (by the way we were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, so no one should have been satisfied!) that were specified to what they needed to be working on.

From March till June the work being done was mostly on them. This was the time though where as coaches you can really see what guys are truly committed to getting better and to the team and which guys maybe lack such committment.

My memo to all players though is do yourself a favor and keep yourself in shape. There is a lot more to being a college basketball player than simply getting into the gym and shooting shots. While I'm not knocking shooting and believe shots should be taken as often as possible, there is much more to getting better than simply that.

Your workouts leading up to camps and to the season should be intense. They should be done at game speed. Faster than game speed actually. You should be physically exhausted at the end of workouts. This is the way that development is truly going to occur.

As coaches its obvious which guys have been going to work and which guys haven't. We had two different players show up to camp in vastly different shape than how we left them in March. The first was an incoming freshman we were recruiting all season. Since we last saw him in February, he not only looked two inches taller (pleasant surprise) but his arms also grew and gained definition. He also was the first person in the gym that day!

The other player was our third string point guard the previous season. His game lacks in skill and other areas but his body has always been at the collegiate level. He showed up to camp however looking in worse shapes, with less definition and it showed in his play which was lethargic and frankly not good.

In order to be at your peak performance you need to be in your peak physical condition and shape. Do yourself a favor and impress your coaches. Whatever the methods are (and there are probably 100+ of them) do what your coach is asking of you this off season and really attack your workouts. It will show up in your play on the court!

Twitter

You have to love twitter and if you're not on it, I seriously suggest you sign up. It has the unfortunate stigma as being a "self absorbing" medium or a way to find out what other people are "literally actually doing."

But if you are following good people who are actually provide value in a subject area that you care about, I promise you will be addicted.

Besides the plethora of other benefits - marketing, networking to name a few - twitter provides a value and a place for knowledgeable people to engage in discussion about things they care about.

Not sure why Twitter took off as it did, but it certainly has a place and value for people looking to stay engaged with what they care about!

Follow me @justindefeo!

Blogging About Coaching

The internet is an amazing place really. The thing I love most about the internet is the wealth of information available to someone in any particular area they'd like to discover. For me, through the interent, and Twitter I've been able to find a whole group of fellow coaches who love the game just as much as I do. One of those coaches is named Steve Finamore. He is the Head Basketball Coach at Jackson Community College. He runs his own blog about coaching. As a young coach just trying to learn the craft, his blog has been extremely helpful and informative.

One of his latest entries which I have enjoyed thoroughly has been a three part series on coaching. Take a look and enjoy.

Part 1 - Improvement

"We often ask our players/athletes to improve. Some coaches demand it on a daily basis. I tell my guys ‘do something every day to get better’. My thought tonight is, ‘am I as a coach working to improve my team and myself as much as I can’?"

Part 2 - Work Ethic

"Working hard is doing what has to be done regardless if it takes you 8 hours or 14. If you work your tail off, anything is possible. But you have to be willing to work. Give so much time to working hard; don’t leave any stone unturned. One of my favorite actors of all time Steve McQueen said, “Hard work is essential to any lasting success. Don’t let work bug you."

Part 3 - Why I Coach?

"Dean Smith once said not to chase the money when coaching. When it gets right down to it, money is a factor, but shouldn’t be the overall reason for coaching. Prestige and fame are two reasons why you shouldn’t coach."

Hope you enjoy and if your at any stage of the coaching game - just starting all the way through to established veteran those three parts are must reads!