Tips To Make You A Better Player

Jerome Green

To be a better player you don’t have to be the most athletic, the quickest or the tallest. You do have to have basketball IQ and what I call basketball V.E.R.V.E (Vision, Energy, Resiliency, Velocity of learning and Encouragement). All the great players like Jordan, Lisa Leslie, Kobe, and Lebron have it. Without V.E.R.V.E you will always have limitations to your game.

Vision

When you are on the court what do you do? Do you see a play ahead, see the next pass or communicate with your teammates? When you are on the bench what do you do? Do you just sit on the bench sort of day dreaming or do you pay attention to the game by watching the flow of the game, looking for weaknesses in the other team and specifically watching to see what the strengths and weaknesses are of the player(s) you might be guarding. Some of things you should be looking for are:

Are the players left handed or right handed? Can they dribble or shoot with their off hand?

What habits do the players on the other team have? Do they get back quickly on defense or walk back?

What do they like to do the most? Attack the basket or shoot the jumper?

Energy

When you are in the game or on the bench do you supply energy to your team? Are you vocal and encouraging? Can your teammates hear you on the floor or from the bench? Does your coach know you are on the team or are you real quite on and off the floor?

Resiliency

What do you do after a bad play or bad game? Do you sulk, go home and blame someone else, including yourself, or do you actually go back to the drawing board and work on your game? I can recall when Magic Johnson had a horrible NBA final against Boston in 1983. He had a ton of turnovers and just a sub-par playoff series. The fans where also a little down on him because they felt he got Paul Westhead fired. What Magic did was go back to Michigan that summer and work on his game. When he came back the next season, he had a better outside shot, and was a stronger all around player. If a player of Magic’s caliber can do back to the drawing board and do his homework what do you need to do?

Velocity

You have to have powerful spirit to play the game of basketball. It’s not a game for the meek. What you lack in foot speed needs to be made up in learning speed and skill development. The more proficient you can become at managing the ball, the more valuable you become to your team, no matter what your size or athletic ability. Do you play defense and get after it? There is always room for players who play hard and smart.

Encouragement

Encouragement may be one of the most overused words in the English language. Many players are always looking for external encouragement, but very few rarely look inside. Courage is a component to the word encouragement. Life itself requires a great deal of courage and focus to achieve anything you want. Without courage, it’s hard to encourage. You have to have the courage to make mistakes, learn from them and start over again. Luvv is another ingredient to en-courage-ment, without luvv it is very difficult to have the courage to face your next obstacle and you will find yourself becoming discouraged.

“Short memories lead to good defense after mistakes”-.

Mark Adams, an ESPN basketball color man, commenting on a Hawaii player who made an offense turnover and then got in the proper deny defense, got the steal and went down and scored.

To play any game, you have to have a short memory and great bounce back abilities.

Developing the Whole Athlete

John Wall Top national recruit

Jerome Green

I am speaking to more and more college coaches these days that are more concerned about GPAs and players’ character than how athletic or gifted a player is.  While the top players in the country will still get the speculative nod when it comes to choosing their athletic abilities over other factors, others won’t.  The other 7 players on that roster better bring more to the table than their basketball game. One of the rising stars in this whole-person approach to basketball is Coach Craig Robinson of Oregon State University men’s basketball. I know that he and the university have received major press as a result of his speech at the Democratic National Convention, and the fact that his sister is now the First Lady-Elect, but if you go to the OSU website and read his resume, you’ll see how Coach Robinson and his staff stand on their own merit.

More parents are now realizing that with tougher NCAA standards and higher required test scores and GPAs choosing a high school for its ability to develop the whole-person is more crucial than how many state championship teams they have. Finding the balance between athletic and academic excellence has become increasingly important.

If your son or daughter is being recruited by a university at any level (D1, D2, D3, NAIA) you need to become an educated buyer. Don’t get caught up in the fact that someone wants to offer you a scholarship; really take a look at what else they offer. Look at the staff: what are their backgrounds and how effective will they be in developing the whole person, not just the athlete? What else has the coaching staff done with their lives?

The NCAA has a commercial they run on television during all of their events called “going pro in something other than.” Players and parents need to pay very close attention to this commercial because the simple fact is that most college athletes will be going pro in something other than sports. I sometimes have the opportunity to speak with a General Manager of a major sports franchise, and one of the things that he mentions first is the perspective draft pick’s character. Millions of dollars are invested in athletes; just ask the Knicks about Stephon Marbury. The person that was cheated was Stephon: a long time ago his prodigious talent was placed ahead of his development as a person. Stephon is a good man; he never was held accountable early in his career. In discussing his current situation with the Knicks, he is quoted as saying:

“Looking back at the last two years, I kind of liked Larry Brown. I kind of liked Larry Brown. I’m like, ‘Man, I wish this guy was here to drill me now.”

Most young players today might resist the direction and correction, but so what? I would rather do what I felt was best for that player’s overall life than worry about winning a few AAU games. I have always been far more interested in the whole person than the athlete.

Quality teams combine both athletic talent and human talent. If you really look at most of the champions of sport, Bill Russell being one, their character was impeccable, and someone like Russell also had to demonstrate a strong conscience and courage while he was winning championships.

Today’s young athlete needs to learn not just the fundamental skills that go along with being a great or good athlete in their sport. They also need to learn how to become a whole person and how to develop an ability to listen and follow their conscience.

Slowing Down To Speed Up

Slowing down to speed up is one of the most important steps in getting better at anything. The principle of learning is the fuel to the process. To get better at anything you have to be willing to fall down, learn while you are down there, and then get up and try it again. You don’t learn how to make the big foul shot to win the game, until you actually missed the big shot a few times.

Many players today don’t have the patience to undergo the process of learning how to get better. Instant coffee to instant game is what a lot of players are looking for. The players that are more gifted physically can circumvent this process for a while, but even they, in the end, end up fully achieving their full potential.

On a very practical side it looks something like this. You need to learn to keep the ball lower, while also learning how to attack the basket. So what do you do when you play? Do you revert back to your old way, the safe way, or take a chance and start learning how to do it the new way. Players don’t realize that they look bad doing it the old way and look a lot better embracing the new and failing. When you embrace the new, you are demonstrating your ability to learn and grow.

My true luvv with sport has a little to do with the actual activity. My luvv for sport is tied into the process of learning and growth. How many players are really going to the top on the court or field?  How many players can go to the top of their chosen profession or pursuit of their ideas?

I watch players in the gym from age 6-18 and each one of them have some part of their game that they hold on to. No matter how many people tell them that it won’t hold up over time, they continue to do it.  It becomes far more critical as you enter High School. The Changes are so rapid for year to year, that if you are not working on your game, and getting better, someone you were better than a year ago can fly by you.

Slowing down to speed up is about being willing to learn. Learning is a key principle in life. I am currently watching a young player in the Hoop Masters program who came to us a few months ago. He was shy, quiet, and I hardly audible.  For 2-3 weeks, he would hang with me were ever I went in the gym. I didn’t know if he was going to make it. I gave him my traditional 2-3 weeks that allow new players to acclimate and then I compassionately laid it out for him. I gave him “if you really want this speech”. The speech usually ends up one or two ways. I never see the player again or he comes back more committed and more willing to work. This player chose the latter. Since our talk he has engaged at a higher level. His shyness has decreased and he is in the process of learning. Seeing principle in action always brings a tear to my heart.

There is no better time than now for all of us to learn how to slow Down to Speed UP.

Fantasy Basketball

by Jerome Green

It’s in the game at every turn. We see it, we feel it and we express it. The luvv of the game is stored in our DNA. It is so present and revealing that we don’t need a C.S.I crew to examine it or find out how it got there. It’s in the exchange between competitors that we get to explore who we are and why we are. What are we here to do? What are our lives about? Basketball, while not the Gandhi of wisdom, is a perfect place to discover a few things about us. No matter if it’s between the lines or on the sidelines. Every exchange, every possibility brings us closure to the courage that is needed to conquer our fears, overcome obstacles and learn.

Basketball is a fantasy game. A game that allows us to dream and venture beyond the realities of the realness of everyday life and into the playfulness of the world. Basketball is a game. A game made up of spirit, skill and athleticism. To play the game to it’s fullest requires work, not drudgery. If you find yourself laboring with the game, step away, but don’t run away.  Each player and coach who comes to the game comes with a set of expectations and a bucket full of potential. Sometimes players choke on their potential.  Potential requires work.

There is no better place for me to watch basketball right now than on a Sunday at the Hangar in Hawthorne, California. There you get to see 8-year-old 3rd grader and 18-year-old twelfth graders playing with their hearts, mindless to the outside pressures of the day. Economic recession? Not in their thoughts. What is in their thoughts is getting the ball up the court, making the pass, playing defense and having fun. I see some kids having fun, I see others worrying about not being good enough, but in each of them I see hope, passion and luvv.

Today’s player has to navigate in waters that I never had to. Everyone is looking for their ESPN moment, the top 10 play of the day. Being rated, being scouted, being chosen as the one is something that many of today’s players play for.  They have to manage their fantasy lives with the reality of being compared. One college coach told me-“ players have to pass the eye ball test, and look the part of a D1 player.”

As I look around the Hangar, I see parents with dreams and wishes, desiring their son to be the one that gets that D1 scholarship. Many parents want their child to be the one that everyone talks about being the horse or go to guy on his team. Yet, others parents just want their son or daughter to play the game to learn lessons about dedication, discipline, teamwork and achievement and develop life-long companions.

Imagine if each player had to carry the burden of the game only having value if you are the best-the game would die. What makes the game great is the process of the game itself. The process of getting better, understanding what it takes for you to make the winning shot. How many shots you took to be able to realize that one moment of victory and how many losses you’ve had and the learning that took place because of those loses.

The game was meant to be fun and in the process a few players get the opportunity to take that fun all the way to the top. The rest of us get to play the game in adult league, or intramurals or until our bodies give way to age. In the meantime, no matter if it’s the NBA or the PBA, you can see that glimmer in every ones eyes once the ball goes up. The question being asked over and over, will today be the day that I find peace in the game?

Before he passed, Paul Newman said, “It’s been a privilege to be here.”  What a way to go out. Realizing that the life you lived was wonderful and that it was a pleasure to be here, to exchange, to luvv and be luvved. I’ve heard coaches say leave it all on the floor and some people like Hank Gathers and others have done just that. We remember them, not for how they died, but how they lived.

The game is just that. A game. A funny, silly game invented by Naismith and refined and defined by thousands of others. I am sure when Naismith invented the game, he never in his wildest dreams thought that it would be where it is today, but then again, maybe he did. It is all a fantasy after all.

Basketball Tradition vs. Training Efficacy

According to the Sacramento Bee, second-year Kings’ center Spencer Hawes refused the training camp sprint test:

“With me and my history, the running and the cutting and the continued sprinting like that is something where, when I did it last year, it put more pressure on my knees than just playing basketball and, I felt, more than any other drill we did or any other game scenario we did,” Hawes said…”Hopefully we can figure out something else, do something that’s not going to put so much stress on the knees.”

According to the article, Hawes hurt his knee during the conditioning test last season and required arthroscopic surgery. According to General Manager Geoff Petrie and Head Coach Reggie Theus, the test is mandatory and every player must pass.

The test, which Kings coach Reggie Theus said is conducted by “a lot of teams” in the NBA, lasts approximately 10 minutes and consists of extended sprints up and down the floor commonly known as suicides…”It’s almost tradition in the NBA,” Theus said of the test. “A lot of teams – not every team, but a lot of teams – do tests like this. And if everybody does it, then everybody’s got to do it. One guy can’t make his own rules.”

Is tradition the best determiner for doing such a test? Is the test anything more than punishment for those who did not work hard enough in the off-season? Does it make sense to jeopardize a player’s future when he has already had multiple knee surgeries, just because of “tradition?”

Petrie said about Hawes:

“It’s not a major issue at this point. He’s in the best shape I’ve ever seen him.”

If he’s in great shape, shouldn’t that be enough, especially for a player who missed time last season due to an injury in the same drill?

Many college programs do a timed mile test before players can officially practice. Why? The answer, as a strength coach who disagreed with the protocol, but had to follow it told me, is tradition. Everyone does it.

Tradition, in my eyes, is not a reason to do a test. There should be a training benefit or some correlation to the game; otherwise, it’s a waste of time. Too often, we do things because “that’s the way it’s always been done,” rather than searching for the best way to do things. If a team wants to test its athletes, the test should be meaningful and basketball-specific, not based on tradition. Training camp before an 82-game season should be a time for preparation, not punishment.

Basketball and Soccer

Last week, a friend and I were talking about the similarities between basketball and soccer. I often use soccer concepts when thinking about basketball and teach several skills based on the way soccer coaches teach a similar skill. Then, in this weekend’s NY Times, an article appeared titled “Soccer as NBA Building Block.”

Tex Winter is not a soccer guy, either, but he, too, knows plenty about fundamentals. Winter, an 86-year-old consultant for the Lakers who has served alongside Coach Phil Jackson for years, sees the congruency between his triangle offense and the triangular formations that are fundamental to soccer. Jackson’s teams have used the triangle strategy to win a combined nine N.B.A. titles in Chicago and Los Angeles.

“Soccer is a lot like basketball,” Winter said. “It’s a game of geometry. Spacing, distances, direct lines — they operate on these angles and reverse sides of the court with the ball, just as we would in the triangle. Not being a soccer coach, I can’t really address it with intelligence, but a lot of the concepts are similar.”

The article also mentions the transfer of skills between sports, an argument I make when I argue against early specialization, but one which often falls on deaf ears.

“When you grow up playing soccer, you obviously carry that over to other sports,” said Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, who lived in Italy from age 6 through 13. “I think it has helped me tremendously.”

Foot skills, naturally, apply well to basketball. Nash once said that when he began to play basketball after years of playing soccer, it almost felt unfair to be able to use his hands. Hakeem Olajuwon, who will go into the Basketball Hall of Fame this year, has credited soccer during his days growing up in Nigeria for his exemplary footwork in the post.

But there are other, more subtle applications. Mehmet Okur, the All-Star center for Utah, was a forward in a Turkish professional soccer club’s youth program before growing into a goalkeeper and eventually a basketball player. Using his body to seal off a defender, moving without the ball and rebounding are skills he said he first gleaned from soccer. Turiaf, a reserve forward, said his constant talking to teammates on the court stemmed from his days as a goalkeeper growing up in Martinique.

What really catches Winter’s eye are the occasions when Radmanovic and Vujacic will use a basketball to perform soccer tricks with their feet.

“I’m amazed what they’ll do just messing around,” Winter said. “It helps their footwork, their agility and their defense.”