Everyone has their own version of what it is to work hard. Some can go harder than others. Some, well let’s just say they can’t even spell w-o-r-k.
Kevin Eastman, assistant coach of the Boston Celtics tells a story of two very good shooters via Eastman’s blog.
-Coach Finamore
Hoops135@hotmail.com
PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!
It doesn’t matter if your team runs sets, motion or even the very popular ‘D-D-M’ on offense. What matters is you give the ball up. It sickens me to see players try and force the issue when nothing is there.
Why do most players only worry about scoring? How come more players don’t want to contribute to the team success in more ways than one? Scoring buckets is not the only way to help your team. Putting up the points is not even the most important aspect of the game.
The thing that bothers me is when players don’t even see open guys on the floor. They catch the pass and boom, they are off trying to drive it or they are catching and shooting. Some say, ‘they have blinders on’.
When and where does this start?
I always thought players who come off the bench and into the game should find their way first. Make a pass, defend hard, get a deflection, draw a charge, grab a rebound, run up and down the floor before they look to score.
Even at the start of the game. Why not move the ball a little bit around the perimeter. Throw it inside, let your post get a touch. It bothers the heck out of me when your ‘5′ man defends, rebounds, outlets and runs the floor only to see some ’shot’ happy perimeter player hoist up a jumper or make an ill-advised drive to the rim.
Kansas head coach Bill Self had a great quote when asked who his ‘go-to guy’ is; “The Open man is our go-to-guy”
Share the ball!
-Coach Finamore
hoops135@hotmail.com
PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!
ESPN.com on Stephon Marbury of the New York Knicks refusing to play last night against the Milwaukee Bucks. Hmmm…
According to D’Antoni, Marbury replied that he “wasn’t comfortable with the situation, and he did not want to play. So at that point, I go, ‘O.K., that’s your decision, and that’s fine.’ That’s it.”
Marbury had a different view of the events.
“The only thing I’m at liberty to say is that I was told that they were moving forward, and I’m not the person who chooses who plays or doesn’t,” Marbury said.
But wasn’t that at the beginning of the season?
“I was told that today, too,” Marbury said.
Marbury refused to answer additional questions.
“I thought it was an opportunity for him to play, and I was kind of hoping,” D’Antoni said. “But at the same time, there’s consideration of a lot of guys in that locker room that are giving their hearts out. And those are the guys that I’m going to go on with, and those are the guys that I’m going to love, and those are the guys that are going to compete every night.”
PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!
-Coach Finamore
hoops135@hotmail.com
This morning while watching NBA TV and listening to Eric Snow give his thoughts on last night’s action around the league, my wife was walking out the door to work and she said, ‘what’s a true point guard’?
You hear it all the time – “he’s a true point guard”. Or, “he’s a combo guard”.
“He thinks shot first”.
“He gets his teammates involved”.
So many terms describing arguably the most important position on the floor; Point guard.
The Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons made a deal two weeks ago involving Chauncey Billups and Allen Iverson two ’so-called point guards’.
NBA fans, analysts and bloggers are still talking about it. They analyze it and probably will be trying to make sense of it for years to come. Who got the better of the deal. Only time will tell. Both players are outstanding, there’s no debating that.
George Karl, head coach of the Denver Nuggets had some thoughts on coaching Iverson in Denver via the Detroit Free Press.
I don’t think there’s any question coaching a team for many minutes, without a passing and point guard mentality, is frustrating for a coach. Sometimes I saw something, but I couldn’t get it done on the court because I didn’t have a playmaker out there,” Karl said in the Denver Post.
Like everything in life; discipline, politics, religion, and sports you’ll have different opinions on how things should be; the point guard position in basketball is always up for debate. Some will look to score first, like Iverson and Marbury. Some will look to dish like John Stockton and Magic Johnson.
To me, it’s all in your attitude.
Are you coming down the floor looking to get the ball to your top guys or are you going to come down and look to score? Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls is a very good player. He’s playing point for the Chicago Bulls. He led the Memphis Tigers to the National championship game. What would you say he is? Is he a true point guard? What I do know is the cat can play!
I was watching the Portland Trailblazers last night and Steven Blake pushes the ball up for Portland and looks to get guys involved in the offense. Some guys have the ability to score at will from the point like a Rodney Stuckey of the Detroit Pistons.
A basketball purist will want his point guard to run the offense, hit the open man and be an extension of the coach on the court. Some will rather have their point guard look to take his man off the dribble and score.
It gets right down to what your philosophy is; and one thing we can agree on is everyone has a different one. The bottom line is to have the attitude that if someone is open or has a better shot than you, pass him the ball.
No one wants to watch a guy come down court and look to take his man one-on-one.
-Coach Finamore
Hoops135@hotmail.com
PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!
Every player on the floor should always be aware of the time and score. Even the players on the bench should be aware. I’m not going to throw the two Arizona players under the bus but what were they thinking last night against UAB?
I totally understand players make mistakes. Hopefully these two young men learn from this mishap.
After being down 11 points with 5:00 to play, the Wildcats charged back in front of their home fans to tie the game with 26 seconds remaining. But for some unknown reason a Wildcat player fouled in the backcourt. Clearly, he had no idea the game was tied. And this one player was the one who made the tying basket seconds earlier.
The UAB player missed the free-throw. Arizona came down and missed a shot to try and break the tie but when a UAB player grabbed the defensive rebound, another Wildcat player fouled a UAB player with 0.8 seconds remaining. He actually grabbed the UAB player thus being called for an intentional foul. ESPN analyst Len Elmore mentioned that there was a play on for Arizona! Lenny my man, there wasn’t a play on, the game was tied!
UAB made a free-throw and won the game.
It’s important to know what is going on on the floor. You have to be alert and aware of what is happening. Staying under control is vital. Ball protection is an area that needs to be worked on. Like my main man Riddick Bowe once said, ‘You have to stay cool, calm and collected.”
TIME AND SCORE, TIME AND SCORE! Always know it…
PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!
-Coach Finamore
hoops135@hotmail.com
My girl RuPaul (or was it my boy) once said, ‘you better work‘. Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News on New York Knickerbocker Wilson Chandler – former DePaul Blue Demon and Benton Harbor’s finest.
Chandler’s eagerness to put in extra work has impressed the new coaching regime.
“I did at DePaul, too,” he said. “But this is different. You see people getting paid millions of dollars, but they’re still out here working hard. So that’s motivation for me. With this system and the whole coaching staff putting a lot of trust in me, it’s definitely boosted my confidence.”
Way to go Wilson, keep up the good work and live in the gym!
PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!
I came across this video from YouTube tonight that I had seen a few months back on television.
What’s your excuse?
PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!
I came across an article on the Detroit Pistons and their pretty good start thus far in 2008-09. They currently stand at 7-2 with a big win on the road against the Lakers this past Friday night. This piece, written by A. Sherrod Blakely via Press News Service talks about their defense…Not how well they are defending but their defense being under scrutiny! The last I checked, Detroit lost to Boston by 12 at home and by 7 in New Jersey. I’m sure a lot of teams would want the Pistons problems at 7 up and 2 down. I like their team…
“I told you all from the beginning, every year you’re either establishing your identity or re-establishing your identity,” said Curry, who stressed that the season is relatively young. “We still have to establish our identity as to who we’re going to be as a team. In order to win a championship or compete for a championship, you’re going to have to be a really good defensive team.”
PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!
-Coach Finamore
hoops135@hotmail.com
Where has he gone? The ‘5′ man I’m talking about. The pivot. The big fella. You know, the guy who jumps center! The huge wide body that sets up above the block and looks to post his man up.
I came across a piece about Michigan State University men’s basketball recruits by way of the Lansing State Journal and there is an interesting quote from Spartan head coach Tom Izzo.
“So you’ve got to find someone who, I don’t want to say isn’t good enough, but might not be quite good enough to leave right away, but has the work ethic and wants to be a player,” Izzo said. “A lot of big guys don’t want to be players. They (just) play because they’re 6-foot-9, 6-foot-10 or 7-feet tall.”
I spoke with someone who has a lot of juice with a certain Big Man Camp that is nationally known each summer and they told me the numbers are way down. What’s that due to? I’d say we are seeing less and less natural ‘bigs’. Everyone wants to step out and shoot the ‘3” doesn’t anyone put the time in to work on their drop-step, shuffle dribble and face up game?
To all the ‘bigs’ out there – work on your drop step. Practice the Mikan drill each day, work on your footwork, learn to shoot the jump hook, work on your shuffle dribble, get into better shape so you can sprint up and down the floor and last, work on your face up series. Just watch KG or You Tube Hakeem Olajuwon.
PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!
