TO SIT OR TO PLAY?

Ok, say you are a high school basketball player.  You’re actually pretty good and you are offered a scholarship from a Mid-Major school.  On the other hand, your father is tight with a head coach at the High-Major level (or he donates a lot of money to the school) and you have a chance to walk-on to the team (mind you, there are a few All-Americans at your position).

What would you do?

Go to say a the Mid-Major school and get minutes, or go to the High Major and sit?

(No, this is not something that is going on now with someone I know, it’s a situation that came up while speaking to another coach this morning).

********************

Detroit Free Press say some football players at the University of Michigan told them that the U of M football is practicing more than the allotted time.

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

ASSISTS, LOOSE BALLS & TURNOVERS

A guy I met about 10 years ago used the above name for his scouting service; I found it pretty interesting.

I’ve been addicted to Twitter and Facebook since the start of the summer, it’s pretty cool, both sites.  Though I tend to post a lot more on Twitter (CoachFinamore).   There are good solid basketball people on Twitter, I enjoy reading their comments.  Summer basketball and shooting (the basketball, not a gun) have been a couple of topics discussed a lot as of late on both networks.

I have heard so much about the negative side of the summer basketball venue. AAU coaches pulling their teams off the court during a game.  A coach punching an official, turnovers, undisciplined play, etc.   The latest from the New York Times on another negative part of summer basketball; how expensive the roster packets cost at these events along with the admission.

Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo refused to pay $100 for admission to the Summer Jam tournament in Milwaukee earlier this month after one of his assistants had already paid $250 for the packet that doubled as an entry fee. Izzo said the tournament director should visit him if he had a problem.

This is where the college coaches like Izzo and Stallings with strong voices need to step up.  Not saying anything will not help the problem.  Don’t sit there and say, ‘I don’t want to hurt my relationship with the promoter or organizer of the event because I may never get a kid’.  To me, that’s weak.  If you can recruit, you will get a kid.

Roster booklets and admission fees at summer basketball events have been a joke for many years.  Sometimes you can’t even get a kid’s name and jersey in the book.   I recall back in the 90’s at the ABCD camp the charge to get in was $5.  If you wanted, you could buy the roster booklet.  For those that don’t know what a roster booklet is at an event it’s filled with the players and coaches information participating in that event.  Address, phone number and other info like high school attending, high school coach and sometimes parents names.   A lot of college coaches need this info especially if they are interested in a player they are seeing for the first time.

I’ve known coaches who have seen a kid out on the floor, open up the packet, check his jersey number, like his game and decide to call his home right there just to leave a message, “Hey this message is for Joey, this is coach so and so.  I am sitting here watching you play and I think you really play well.” The coach leaves a message for the kid so he’ll get it when he gets back home.  I’m not sure of the NCAA rules at the time, they are always changing so not sure if was illegal or not.

I understand these tournament people need to make money so they can pay for the facility, the officials and the employees, but charging hundreds of dollars for a book is insane.  The highest a book should cost is a $100.  For a small-level tournament the book should cost no more than $50.  I once went to a weekend AAU tournament and the guy was charging $80 for the book and $25 to get in.  I was like, ‘I’m trying to get kids scholarships and give them a chance to play college ball and you’re charging me $100′!

If basketball people who really care want to improve summer basketball, get rid of the high priced roster booklets to start.  Stop complaining about low field goal percentage and turnovers by our players.

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

THE SUBJECTIVE

My guy Michael DeCourcy of the Sporting News came out with his column today (Starting Five) and he had a great piece referring to the USA U 19 men’s basketball team capturing the Gold Medal.   For some reason that accomplishment received less publicity than someone dunking the ball in a pick-up game.

What does it say about American basketball that Jordan Crawford’s pickup game dunk got 100 times the attention of the United States’ U-19 World Championship?

America can’t just excuse this abomination by claiming no one got to see the U-19s because they weren’t on American television. That’s a situation that ought to be rectified, pronto. But no one saw Xavier’s Crawford dunk on LeBron James, either.

James is the biggest star in basketball, but Crawford’s dunk happened in a meaningless pickup game in which James’ attention was split between having some fun playing and making sure he didn’t injure himself in the process. Indeed, it was a major PR blunder for Nike to demand tapes from the few videographers recording the game, but that didn’t drive all of the coverage.

The U-19 team won a major international championship in which it was a constant target and that was strongly emphasized by many countries that play basketball seriously. Some major sports websites barely acknowledged this, after devoting reams of coverage to Crawford’s dunk. That’s messed up.

I know why.  The ego! People have huge ego’s.  They are afraid to give credit to USA basketball for playing the game the right way.  So we messed up a little bit a couple of years ago in international play, that was due to choosing a bad selection of players.  Our eyes were blackened because ESPN glorified the ‘And 1 Mix Tour’ and then every kid wanted to be ‘The Professor’.  As coaches, we have been battling those negative events ever since.  But please, give credit where credit is due.

I have always said that Team USA has nothing to gain when they defeat another country in basketball.  When they win, it’s like, ‘oh they’re supposed to win‘.   God forbid if they lose, all the bloggers, so-called coaches and anyone else who knows how to turn on a computer get their fingers warmed up and rip into American players for not shooting the ball well.

Gotta love the ones who make it personal!

Sam Presti, General Manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder and one of the nicest guys you will ever meet once said he wants players who are; 1-resilient, 2-competitors and 3-professionals.   Instead of criticizing our players at the younger levels for lacking such traits, why don’t we do something about it?

I’m pleased to announce that I will be writing a basketball column for collegeinsider.com Joe Dwyer and Angela Lento have been doing a great job for many years and are two of the most passionate basketball fans you will ever meet.

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

FOLLOW THE RULES

As you know, we like to talk about Playing the Right Way here at the player improvement blog.  Not only do we provide information on the physical and mental part of the game but we like to spread the word on how to act off the court.  

Two former Kansas Jayhawks players were sent home from the NBA Orientation for rookies.  New York Times has the story.

According to two people with direct knowledge of the situation, Chalmers and Arthur had women in their hotel rooms Tuesday night, a violation of the program’s rules. Both people — a league official and a business associate of one of the players — spoke on condition of anonymity because the league considers this a private matter.

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

THE BALL

While driving my nine year-old daughter to school this morning I noticed a boy dribbling his basketball while he walked to school. Over his scrawny right shoulder was his large book bag and in his left hand,  his rubber basketball.

That sight brought a smile to my face.

The night before, while exiting the supermarket I witnessed three teenagers walking in through the entrance and one of them was carrying a basketball under their arm.

Two days in a row I saw two kids with a basketball, not on a court.

Embrace the ball. Caress it. Hold it. Sleep with it!

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!