Posts Tagged ‘basketball training’

Training Versus Working Out, by Alan Stein

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

It’s been exactly one month since my last blog post.  I am refreshed, re-energized, and completely refocused on my commitment to offer quality insight on basketball strength & conditioning, coaching and motivation.

In addition to spending quality time with my wonderful wife Rebecca and my twin sons Luke and Jack (23 weeks old), I read a dozen books on leadership and watched numerous DVDs and YouTube clips on performance enhancement. I combed through notebooks of my own notes and took time to reflect and evaluate my entire program.  Most importantly, I developed my plan for this coming pre-season.

And I have never been so excited!

During my reflection period, I decided to make a fundamental change to my blog. My posts are going to be much more concise.  I realized that some folks had a take a day off from work to read some of my lengthy blogs!  I will make each post helpful, insightful, and impactful… just with fewer words.

Enough said.

A couple of weeks ago a colleague of mine, Nick Tumminelo (a brilliant trainer in Baltimore and owner of Performance University), posted this on his Facebook page:

“Do you know the difference between training and workout out? Training is when you have a progressive plan with measurable goals and continual challenges. Working out is anything that makes you sweaty and tired but not necessarily better because it lacks consistency, direction and specificity.”

I couldn’t agree more.  This concept is so applicable to your pre-season training program because it lays the foundation for your success this season. Picture a pyramid. A wide base (foundation) yields a higher peak. Your strength & conditioning foundation gives you the ability to perform your basketball skills at a higher level, perform them with more efficiency, and perform them for the entire game (without letting fatigue play a factor).

That is why the best players and the best teams are in the best shape!

I am certainly a staunch believer in working hard. Intensity and consistency are the keys to success in anything… especially training.  But you have to be working towards something to make it effective. You have to have a plan. You have to have goals. You have to make progress towards those goals every workout.

Working out just to workout, with no direction, will give you mediocre results at best. Puddles of sweat and aching muscles are only valuable if they are taking you closer to where you are trying to go.

Don’t just work hard. Work smart.

On that note, getting stronger and more explosive is important for basketball.  But nothing is more essential than moving efficiently on the court.  Here are a variety of drills I use with my players on a daily basis to promote proper footwork, jumping/landing mechanics, as well as strengthen and increase the functional mobility of the ankles and feet:

Movement Training for Basketball: http://TinyUrl.com/MovementTraining

Please let me know if I can ever be a resource to you for your program. You can email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com.

Train hard. Train smart.

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

www.Twitter.com/AlanStein

PS: I just released an 8 Week Pre-Season Strength & Conditioning Program download at http://Shop.StrongerTeam.com. It includes everything you need to get stronger, more explosive, and in sick basketball shape. This program is the difference between training and working out!

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Off-Season Skills Training Part II, by Mike Lee

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

Below is a compilation of 3 previous blogs that are relevant to off-season training.  If you haven’t read Part I of off-season skills training, please check it out here.  In order to know where you are going you need to figure out where you are at right now.  Watch some game film and do an honest evaluation of yourself or ask your coach to do one of you.  This will help you build your off-season skills workouts.

The Notebook

When you are working out it is crucial that you are organized before you get to the gym.  It’s not about how much time you put in the gym, it’s what you put into the time. What I mean by organization is this.  Get a notebook and write down your workouts before you get to the gym.  All great coaches make practice plans so why wouldn’t you do it with your individual workouts?

1.  This is a way to making a commitment to what is in writing, almost like a contract with yourself.

2.  You can use your notebook as a reference point to see what you have been working on.  This will give you the ability to vary your workouts and drills so that you are staying motivated.

3. You can look back on your notebook to see how much work you have been putting in.  Maybe you are in a shooting slump, but you can look back to your notebook and see that you have gotten up 10,000 shots in the last month.  That should give you confidence to keep shooting the basketball.

4.  Motivational Quotes:  Somewhere in your notebook mix in some motivational quotes.  It can be as simple as “Dream” or “I am passionate, I have a purpose, and I am unstoppable”.  Use something that empowers yourself.  Maybe you want to have a theme or quote for each week.  Be creative and make your notebook unique!

Example:

10 Minutes:  2 Ball Stationary or Tennis Ball

10 Minutes:  1 Ball Moving

10 Minutes:  Half Court Drives:  Dribble Attack Moves

10 Minutes:  Shooting off the Dribble

40 Minutes:  Shooting off the Catch

Challenge Yourself! But How?

As a trainer I am always looking for ways to challenge players during workouts to get them to understand that there is always another level that you can take your game to.  I meet a lot of players that are satisfied with where they are at because they don’t have someone pushing them, giving them goals to strive for or know what type of goals they should be setting for themselves.

So how do you get to that next level besides just “going hard”?  Like Alan Stein says, “Train Hard.  Train Smart!”.  One part of training that I see players get bored with easily is their ball handling.  Here is a great way to challenge yourself.  Let’s say you are working on the stationary 2 ball drill “2 Dribble Cross”.  In this drill you are taking 2 pound dribbles and then crossing one ball tight to your body and one ball out in front.  Have your partner or coach time you and see how many crossovers you can get in 30 seconds.  Let’s say you get 20.  This is now your record.  Perform this drill 2 times a week during your ball handling drills and try to beat your record each time.  If you practice this consistently you should see your record go up about every week.  If your record is going up I bet your crossover is getting better too!

You can do this with many different drills, especially your shooting workouts:

Goals for Shooting Workouts

  1. Certain # of Total Shots
  2. # of total makes
  3. # of total makes in a time period:  ie-10 makes in 1 minute
  4. Set a Record-Beat the Record
    1. Perform the drill 1 time and set a record of makes.  Let’s say the player makes 10.  They now repeat the drill and have to tie or beat 10.  If they don’t tie or beat their record they either have to repeat drill or do pushups, abs, etc.

5.  # of Makes before you miss 2 shots in a row.  10 Makes before you miss 2 in a row

1 on 1…Detrimental or Productive.  YOU CHOOSE!

The summer is a GREAT time to work on your 1 on 1 game, however, be careful how you play the games.  Make them realistic.  99% of the time I see players going 1 on 1 they are playing the game “incorrect”.

Incorrect:  Check the ball up at the top of the key, make a double between the legs, behind the back, double cross, repeat all that and then back your defender down into the paint, etc, etc…THAT IS NOT REALISTIC

Correct:  Check the ball up at the top of the key and you have 4 seconds and 3 dribbles to get a shot off.  You need to be able to quickly make correct and consistent reads to attack the defense.

Click here for a drill I picked up from Coach Frank Martin at Kansas State.  We are actually filming a 1 on 1 Drill DVD this weekend, which should be released in the Spring of 2010.

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Off Season Training – Part II, by Alan Stein

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

One of my favorite lines from the movie Christmas Vacation was when Cousin Eddie asked Clark W. Griswold if he was surprised by his unexpected visit, to which Clark replied, “Eddie, if I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet I wouldn’t be as surprised as I am right now.”

That is exactly how I felt when I got the news that we (Montrose Christian) got an invite to play in the 2nd Annual ESPN RISE National High School Invitational.  A week ago I figured our bubble had burst after we suffered our first home loss in 8 years and an uncharacteristic 5th loss of the season.  I honestly didn’t think we had a shot and I truly believed our season was over. But then a few schools declined invitations because of their opposition to playing on Good Friday… and next thing you know… we were in!

The folks at ESPN RISE do a tremendous job and everything they do is first class. Their goal, over time, is to create a legitimate high school national championship, a high school version of March Madness. And they are well on their way. I support their efforts 100%.

For background info and details on this year’s tournament, please visit http://tinyurl.com/ESPNNHSI.

As you will see, we drew the 8th seed and will play the tournament’s #1 seed, Montverde Academy (ranked 9th in the nation by ESPN) at Coppin State (Baltimore) on ESPN U at 2:00pm on Thursday, April 1st.  For those of you who have been keeping up with my blog, you’ll remember that Montverde beat us in late January by 2 points… which in retrospect was the exact moment our season began to unravel (considering we lost our next two games).  So we are excited to have the opportunity to play them again!  National powers Oak Hill (VA), Findlay Prep (NV), Winter Park (FL), and Christ School (NC) are also playing, making this the nation’s top post-season high school tournament.

Now before any heckling begins, let me say that I am well aware we are not one of the top 8 teams in the country (this year). I know our performance this season didn’t warrant an invite.  I will happily admit we got the nod over a few other schools based on our national reputation and program history.  Regardless of the reasoning… we are in!  So now it is time for our program to refocus, put all of our recent trials and tribulations behind us, and start fresh.  We have been given a second chance and we need to do our best to make the most of it.

While obviously we want to win… our primary concern is getting our guys to play as well as they are capable of playing.  They haven’t done that since the beginning of the season.  So the next 15 days will be interesting to say the least.  One of my favorite quotes comes to mind when thinking of how we will approach this:

“If you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you will keep getting what you’ve been getting.  If you don’t like what you’ve been getting, then change what you’ve been doing.”

Seems pretty simple, huh? We need to shake things up the next two weeks and have an entirely different approach.  We need to make things fun, make things competitive, but make sure our players enjoy and value this experience.  We need to get back to the basics and leave the past behind us.  We need to get back to playing hard, playing smart, and playing together.

To initiate this “new beginning”, we decided to have the team come over to my training facility for a team workout, instead of having a normal practice.  We wanted to get their competitive juices flowing. So I put them through an intense circuit training workout… very similar to how we began our pre-season workouts in late August.  I filmed the workout and will be posting it in three separate segments at www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom:

Team Warm-up

Team Circuit

Team Competition

You have to see these videos!

I already posted the first segment (Team Warm-up) and will post the remaining two videos next Monday (3/22) and Friday (3/26). I will also post a blog on that Friday describing the workout in great detail in case you want to implement something similar with your program this off-season.

In addition, I will post periodic updates with insight to our preparation for the NHSI tournament at www.Twitter.com/AlanStein and will most certainly recap our entire experience in my first blog of April.

Even though we aren’t in our off-season just yet, I know many programs are.  So let me get back on track and discuss some of my key off-season thoughts.

I am well aware that most basketball players don’t really have an off-season anymore, they simply go from the high school season to the AAU season to the summer camp circuit.  This makes the approach to training even more important!

An off-season strength & conditioning program is the foundation of championship programs and elite level players.  A solid strength & conditioning base gives you the potential to take your basketball skills to another level. You obviously aren’t going to be a very good player or team if you can’t shoot, pass, defend, rebound, or handle the ball.  That is a given.  But what if you can shoot, pass, defend, rebound, handle the ball… and you are quick, explosive, and in great shape?!

About a year ago I adopted the tag line, “the best players are in the best shape.” The same can be said for teams, “the best teams are in the best shape.” Think about it.  Who are currently the two best players on the planet? Kobe and LeBron.  Have you noticed what kind of shape they are in?! Do you think those guys work hard in the off-season? You better believe they do.

If you need help in planning your off-season, or you are interested in my thoughts on AAU, testing and evaluating, and the most common mistakes players/coaches make, I highly recommend you read the two-part series I wrote last year as my thoughts haven’t changed a lick:

http://blog.strongerteam.com/post/2009/03/16/Planning-Your-Off-Season3b-Part-I.aspx

http://blog.strongerteam.com/post/2009/04/03/Planning-Your-Off-Season3b-Part-II.aspx

If you need additional help or guidance with your off-season program, I am currently finalizing a 12 Week Off-Season Basketball Strength & Conditioning Program. This program will outline exactly what needs to be done this off-season – exercise by exercise, day by day, and week by week.  It will include dozens of digital pictures and exercise descriptions, all of which utilize standard equipment (DBs, free weights, bodyweight, etc.) to make sure the program is easily adaptable to everyone’s respective situation.  There will be a strength/power component as well as a quickness/agility component (each sold separately).  The program will be available online as a downloadable PDF; so you will be able to save it to your computer as well as print copies.  I am projecting the sales price to be around $39.99 for each component.  Believe me; it will be worth every penny! It will be sold at http://Shop.StrongerTeam.com.

Also a reminder I am also launching a YouTube series called “Can He Dunk,” where I will select a handful of high school age players who are close, but can’t currently dunk.  I will document their training for 12 week and post video highlights from their workouts as well as 3 weekly dunk attempts (to monitor their progress).  HoopsKing, Ganon Baker Basketball, Hoop Connection, and SLAM Online have all partnered with me on this project. You won’t want to miss this!  Make sure you subscribe to www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom.

I know you will be glued to the TV for the next three weeks watching the NCAA tournament… but if you get a chance to switch channels in between games, I highly recommend you watch ESPN’s 30 for 30 “Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks” as well as HBO’s “Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals.” Both were very well done and really brought back some amazing childhood memories for me (I am 34 years old).  I recommend younger players watch both of these as well… so they can get an appreciation for the game’s recent history.  I think some kids today think the NBA started with Kobe and LeBron!

And if you need a good book, I am reading an old classic by Steve Alford called, Playing for Knight (1989).  It is fascinating.  Coach Knight has always been one of my favorite coaches and I have so much respect for him.  Say what you will, but the man is authentic! I am going to get a chance to finally meet him in person in April and May as we are both scheduled to speak at the same Nike Championship Basketball Clinics in Wisconsin and New York.

As mentioned before, I will post a blog next Friday (3/26) which will be a full description of the Montrose Team Workout I took our players through as well as provide links to all three videos.

On a personal note, our latest doctor’s appointment leads us to believe that my wife will be delivering our twin boys sometime next week…

If you need anything else, or if I can be of service in any way, don’t hesitate to email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com. I will respond as quickly as possible.

Play hard. Have fun.

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

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Off Season Skills Training-Part I: Where do You Stand? by Mike Lee

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

This series is a combination of posts that I have used in the past, but they are time relevant with the season ending for most programs. Even though they have been posted before they are updated with new thoughts and quotes.

The first part deals with year-end evaluations and how to handle them.  Later in the week I’ll talk about how to build your own workouts and address areas from your evaluation.

With the end of the season right around the corner for many high school teams I thought I should touch on the subject of player evaluations.  When I was coaching we used to do them at the beginning and end of each season with individual player meetings throughout the year.  If your coach doesn’t provide you with an evaluation, ask him or her for one.*

When I played one thing I always looked forward to was being evaluated at the end of the season or at a camp.  I think the reason why can be summed up in two sentences I picked up from a book, Winning, by Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE – I haven’t asked him why yet, but for some reason Alan was not too thrilled about this book J – I thought it was great!

“Maybe some information is hard to swallow at first and yes, “bad” news often hurts, but soon enough, like all knowledge-it’s power-in fact, it’s liberating.  When you know where you stand you can control your own destiny, and what is more fair than that?”

So the question is, “What are you going to do now?”  Are you going to sit around and feel sorry for yourself because the coach said you needed to work on your jumper or get in the weight room? Or are you going to form your organized plan of attack and get to work?

In order for you reach your goals you need to define your VISION.  You need learn and in order to learn you need to seek wisdom of those who came before you.  Search for the truth.  Great players want the TRUTH.  Kobe wants the truth – Kevin Garnett wants the truth.  Michael Jordan wanted the truth.

Without the truth you really don’t know where you stand or where you can improve.  Bill Parcells said the first thing you need to do in order to start winning is to figure out why you are losing.  Figure out what is wrong with your game in order to improve it.

*click here to view a sample evaluation form that I have used in the past.  Be sure that your players know what you are basing their evaluation on.  We used a scale of 1-5.  “1” being a low skill level and “5” being close to, or at the level of, the best in country for their age level.  That’s what our kids strived for so that’s what we compared them to.

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Elite Skills Membership Testimonial

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

“I have found Mike Lee’s Elite Skills Membership program to be very helpful in finding new and challenging drills to better develop ball handling and finishing skills in my players.  My players enjoy the unique drills that Mike offers in his videos.  As a coach, I appreciate the fact that his videos are direct and to the point and offer a logical progression to challenge players at any level.   The member’s portion of the website also offers useful sets to add to your playbook.  I also appreciate the fact that whenever I ask Mike a basketball related question he is quick to respond with an answer.”
-Greg Myroth, Peoria, IL

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Skill Development is Skill Specific, by Mike Lee

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

I spent last Wednesday working out a player in Eau Claire, WI.  We worked on freeze dribbles into pull-ups, creating space off the dribble, a bounce off move series, and separating into pull-ups. Normally this is a description of a workout I would do with a high level high school player who is trying to play in college or has even received scholarship offers.

She is in 5th grade.  She is a girl.  And she has PASSION.  I can see love in her eyes.

My point is this. Skill Development is not gender specific or even age specific; It’s SKILL specific. What a player works on should be determined by how skilled they are, not how old or whether or not they are a boy or a girl.  I have seen several middle school/high school girls that can handle the basketball better than men’s college basketball players, which is not any exaggeration at all!

I really wish I would have had someone film the workout so you can see what can be done with love, passion and a purpose.  It’s unbelievable what some people could accomplish if they would just believe and work.

If you haven’t seen this already, check out the video of Lexi Hanley getting 46 2 Ball Skips in 30 Seconds.  I got 63 and I hope she beats me some day.

–

The founder of Mike Lee Basketball Services (formerly Playmakers Basketball), Mike is known throughout the country for individual player skill development.  He has been a speaker at several events and has also recently authored several instructional workout DVDs, which will be released over the next year.  Titles out right now include, 25 Killer Scoring Moves, Secrets of Unstoppable Guard Play and Secrets of Unstoppable Shooting.  Since 2006 Mike Lee Basketball has trained over 3,600 boys and girls through their skill development programs. Dozens of  players that Mike has worked with have gone on to play collegiate basketball, some at the NCAA DI level.  In addition to his own basketball services, Mike is a Nike Girls Skills Trainer and a member of the Nike sponsored, Ganon Baker Basketball.

From 2001-2006, Mike participated as a player and assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. During the fall of 2006 he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Coach K and Duke University Leadership Conference in Durham, NC.  In December of 2006 he graduated from the University of Wiconsin-Stout with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a self-planned concentration in Basketball Entrepreneurship.

mike@mikeleebasketball.com

Check Out More Videos, Add me as a friend on Facebook or Get Updates on Twitter!

www.mikeleebasketball.com

http://www.youtube.com/mikeleebasketball

http://www.facebook.com/mikeleebasketball

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Illinois Select Workout, by Mike Lee

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Last night I had the pleasure of working out the 14U Illinois Select boys team in Rolling Meadows, IL.  We had a great 1.5 hour workout. The kids worked extremely hard and I could see in their eyes the passion that some of them had for the game.  Ray Glassman, the director of Illinois Select, is doing things the right way.  He would jump in some of the drills and offer teaching points, which were right on point.  Simple teaching points like “Play the Ball.  See Your Man”  Simple and short.  The Coach Eastman way!  If you get a chance to play for him and do not take advantage of it you will be missing out on a great opportunity!

Ray is also running the President’s Day Hoop Prospects showcase at the Lake Barrington Fieldhouse.  For more information check out the website here.  I will be running the skills sessions along with 3 Time NBA World Champion, Dickey Simpkings.  Where do you rank?  Come find out!

–

The founder of Mike Lee Basketball Services (formerly Playmakers Basketball), Mike is known throughout the country for individual player skill development.  He has been a speaker at several events and has also recently authored several instructional workout DVDs, which will be released over the next year.  Titles out right now include, 25 Killer Scoring Moves, Secrets of Unstoppable Guard Play and Secrets of Unstoppable Shooting.  Since 2006 Mike Lee Basketball has trained over 5,000 boys and girls through their skill development programs. Dozens of  players that Mike has worked with have gone on to play collegiate basketball, some at the NCAA DI level.  In addition to his own basketball services, Mike is a Nike Girls Skills Trainer and a member of the Nike sponsored, Ganon Baker Basketball.

From 2001-2006, Mike participated as a player and assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. During the fall of 2006 he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Coach K and Duke University Leadership Conference in Durham, NC.  In December of 2006 he graduated from the University of Wiconsin-Stout with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a self-planned concentration in Basketball Entrepreneurship.

mike@mikeleebasketball.com

Check Out More Videos, Add me as a friend on Facebook or Get Updates on Twitter!

www.mikeleebasketball.com

http://www.youtube.com/mikeleebasketball

http://www.facebook.com/mikeleebasketball

http://www.twitter.com/mikeleehoops

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Elite Skills Membership Program

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Over the past year I have started to receive emails from players and coaches across the world asking for advice on skill development and other basketball related questions.  With our blog we have been able to address a lot of these questions through our free videos, blog posts and our guest, Alan Stein, however I wanted to be able to provide more.

Individual instruction has always been a passion of mine. As a player I was always looking for ways to get better and nothing fulfilled me more on the floor than learning a new concept or skill.  I don’t think I ever enjoyed any part of the game more, except for when I was younger and was engulfed by the kicks, gear, SLAM, the Fab Five and hip-hop dynamic of the game.

Even though I was always looking for ways to improve my skills I don’t think I truly understood how to work on my game until after my senior year in high school.  I didn’t understand how to organize workouts and efficiently work on my game.  This is the reason for our Elite Skills Membership Program.  I hope it not only influences you to work on your game, but shows you how to build your own individual workouts by recognizing your weaknesses and being able to effectively address them in your skills sessions.

With that being said, some drills have been tweaked, but it is mainly a collaboration of drills and teaching points I have picked up over the past 16 years of playing and teaching.  In addition to skill development we’ll be releasing thoughts on mental toughness, motivation, leadership and other mental aspects that are proven skills for success in life and basketball.  If you have the commitment to apply these life skills our Elite Skills Membership Program will assist you in achieving your basketball dreams.

For Coaches: Developing your players is essential to reach your potential as a team.  The more skilled your players are the easier it is going to be to get them to run your offense.  The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter offense you run if your players can’t handle the basketball, pass under pressure, and make plays you won’t be successful.

For Parents: If you are looking for someone to train your kids, but can’t afford one, are looking for new drills or don’t have any qualified trainers in your area this is a solution for you. Our Elite Skills Membership can provide you with all the resources they need to improve their game and get to the next level.  Whether that’s making the freshman team or learning what it takes to play in college, we have you covered.  GUARANTEED!

For Players: Want to know how the elite players in the game train?  We’ll show you how NBA players workout, innovative drills to keep your workouts fresh, and be there to provide advice when you have questions about your skills training.

Free Consultation: We will provide free consultation on skill development training for all of our Elite Skills Members.  Having a problem understanding a certain drill or move?  No problem.  We’ll make sure you are on the right track to improving your game.

Click here to subscribe!

–

The founder of Mike Lee Basketball Services (formerly Playmakers Basketball), Mike is known throughout the country for individual player skill development.  He has been a speaker at several events and has also recently authored several instructional workout DVDs, which will be released over the next year.  Titles out right now include, 25 Killer Scoring Moves, Secrets of Unstoppable Guard Play and Secrets of Unstoppable Shooting.  Since 2006 Mike Lee Basketball has trained over 3,600 boys and girls through their skill development programs. Dozens of  players that Mike has worked with have gone on to play collegiate basketball, some at the NCAA DI level.  In addition to his own basketball services, Mike is a Nike Girls Skills Trainer and a member of the Nike sponsored, Ganon Baker Basketball.

From 2001-2006, Mike participated as a player and assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. During the fall of 2006 he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Coach K and Duke University Leadership Conference in Durham, NC.  In December of 2006 he graduated from the University of Wiconsin-Stout with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a self-planned concentration in Basketball Entrepreneurship.

mike@mikeleebasketball.com

Check Out More Videos, Add me as a friend on Facebook or Get Updates on Twitter!

www.mikeleebasketball.com

http://www.youtube.com/mikeleebasketball

http://www.facebook.com/mikeleebasketball

http://www.twitter.com/mikeleehoops

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Billy D and the Three, by Luke Meier

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Last year I got a chance to hear University of Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan speak at a clinic in Chicago. The focus of his talk was using the 3 point shot.  Here are some of the key points from his talk.

  • Each game Florida has the goal of making more 3’s than their opponent
  • They want to get their 3 point shoots three different ways, which Coach Donovan terms “The 3 Concepts of the 3”
    • In transition
    • Post feeds
    • Dribble penetration and kick
  • Passers should make passes to the shooters inside shoulder, leading them into the shoot
    • Have players pass to shooters in drills to develop timing and skill
  • Shooters should get 1 to 1½ ft behind the 3 point line and step into their shots

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Self Made Players, by Luke Meier

Monday, January 11th, 2010

You often hear Coaches or T.V. announcers refer to players as “self made.”  How else are players made?  Coaches and trainers can provide all the tools for players to improve, but it is up to the player to put in the time and effort.

The book “When the Game was Ours” by Jackie MacMullen tells about the lives of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and their relationship with one another. Here are two of the many stories about the legendary work ethics of two of the greatest players ever.

During his summers with the Celtics Larry Bird would get up at 7am and run 5 miles uphill.  Then he would ride his bike through the Indiana country for 20 miles.  This was followed by 500 jump shots and 500 free throws.  It was only the start of his workout and it was all done before noon.

When Magic Johnson was in high school, Dick Vitale, who was coaching in Detroit at the time, showed up at the Johnson household one winter morning shortly after 6am.  When Vitale asked for Magic, his mother told Vitale that he had already left for the day.  He was at the park shooting jumpers before school in the blistering cold of a Lansing winter morning.

You can make excuses about how you don’t have time or you don’t have a gym or whatever else you can think of.  The truth is that is that’s all garbage.  If you really want to be great you find the time, you find the space, and you make it happen.

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