I get a lot of emails from people asking about recruiting and how they can get more colleges interested.  It’s an interesting process that is enjoyed by some and not enjoyed by others.  I’ll go over some ideas that I have about the topic but feel free to chime in with your own opinions.

#1-  Are you in a position to be seen?  No college coach is going to offer a player they haven’t seen play before.  Are you playing at a big high school or in a rural area?  It makes a difference.  Coaches want a chance to see players and if they can go to a city and watch a few games in a week and interact with other coaches they are better off than going to a remote location to catch a game.  You had better be worth their time if thats the case.  I’m not saying to avoid small schools, but I am saying if they aren’t coming to watch you play in high school then you need some more options.

#2- Should I play AAU?  Of course you should.  Without a doubt, if you can, get on an AAU team and play all summer long.  When I was in high school this was just getting to be a big thing and it was amazing.  As a result I was able to play against Jason Kidd and a number of other future pro players.  It was experience that you can’t get any other place.  These forums are the best for coaches because they can watch a number of players at one time and it increases exposure.

#3  Know your Limitations-  When you are being watched please don’t try to do things you’ve never done before.  That includes pretending to be a point guard when you don’t have the skills or haven’t practiced there.  If you aren’t a 3 point shooter then don’t start trying just because a coach is watching.  Know what you do and do it well and most important thing to remember is to always work hard.

#4  Understand what coaches are looking for-  Coaches look at all facets of the game but that also includes attitude, work ethic, teamwork and the little things.  They pay attention to your team being a winner or not also.  Coaches want kids who play on winning teams because it creates an attitude.  If you are a point guard a coach wants to see how well you handle the ball, pass the ball, mental toughness on defense, ability to shoot the ball, finish in traffic, pressure defense.  It’s amazing what they are looking for.  It’s the details.  When i talk about passing i mean crisp passes that aren’t lazy and ball handling that isn’t sloppy or flashy for no reason.  Pressure defense is something that takes place the entire possession not just while your guy has the ball.  It’s the details that coaches look for and it’s important to know.

#5-Proper Expectations:  I hear all the time from players who view themselves as better than what they really are.  It’s ok to be confident in your abilities.  It is just that I get messages from people who might be a 6*1 post player who scores 25 a night for his high school team in a small conference in rural Alabama or wherever.  You are a great high school player who could play college basketball but you aren’t going to play at Alabama or in a power conference because they aren’t looking for 6*1 point guards.  If you want to play college ball understand this please and adapt.  I knew that I would be 6*0 tall but I was a shooting guard growing up.  I had to learn and change for the point guard position so that i could get recruited and it turned out great for me.  Realize that if you are a 6*4 post player in high school that you need to develop skills away from the basket and it will only increase your options.  You work on those traits on your own time to improve and don’t pick the AAU game to decide you are an outside threat.  I hope that makes sense.

I have some other ideas but I’ll put those in another time because I have to go.

Bookmark It

Derrick Rose is a stud.  I’m still stung over the fact that he didn’t play at Illinois but you can’t fault the guy for picking the school that should’ve won the title.  Having said that he would be my clear cut choice for the top pick in the NBA draft next month.  He’s a big strong guard who is older than his years.  He’s dominated other first round competition and has shown a unique ability to really let the game come to him and make everyone else better.  His teams have always been winners.  He won back to back state titles in basketball and led his college team to a miracle shot away from winning there.  He’ll do the same in the pros.  If Jason Kidd is as good as he is then Rose will be better because I think he’ll develop the ability to be an above average shooter.  If he goes to a team that likes to play uptempo or the type of offense that Chris Paul thrives in, we’ll see Rose in many many all star games.  Plus, he’s from Chicago so the Bulls would be idiots not to pick him from a business standpoint.

Michael Beasley is an amazing talent.  He’s strong and very skilled with either hand.  He plays above the rim and is very physical and smart on the court.  He’s the type of player that will be a 20/10 player from his first season on.  Some of his best attributes are his hands as he has an amazing ability to catch the ball in traffic and finish in traffic.  When the ball is in the air he gets it and it’s as simple as that.  He developed a solid shooting range in college and though he won’t be a 3 point threat he will have to be guarded out to 20 feet and if they do, he’ll have the ability to go right by nearly anyone who guards him.  The Heat will take him and if they don’t then they deserve to be where they finished last year.

Oj Mayo has been talked about as a top 5 pick for 5 years now.  He really has and the latest information about his possibly taking money won’t hurt his draft stock.  Mayo is a big, older 2 guard who has some excellent skills.  Mayo shouldn’t be the top player taken and it shouldn’t even be a discussion.  He’s a very good player but he can’t run the point like some people are saying.  He’s a 2 guard who will cause some matchup problems and he could play the point in an offense like the triangle where it isn’t as important, but he’s going to end up either going 3 or sliding for a bit.  I like his game because he can shoot, handle and pass and he’s a 21 year old freshman who has played in a spotlight for his entire high school and college career so he’ll have an easy adjustment.  I don’t like his game because I don’t see a lot more room for growth personally.  I could be wrong and I hope I am but I don’t see him as the player that can carry his team in the 4th quarter like I do Rose and Beasley.

Bookmark It

One of the best selling items that we have on our site is the Better Basketball Series Dvd set and for good reason.  They cover 1 on 1 offense and defense, passing, shooting, ball handling, post play and scoring without the ball.  Though I think scoring without the ball is worded a little funny because you can’t technically score without the ball you get the point what the DVD is about.  They feature instruction from Jason Kidd, JJ Redick, Chauncey Billups, Rick Barry and Sue Bird. 

Having played against Jason Kidd I have an appreciation of what makes him such a great player.  He is faster than people believe and very gifted at giving people the ball at the right time and not run them into the defense or an area they can’t do much with the ball.  For example, you’ll never see Kidd pass the ball to a big man 25 feet away from the basket unless it is out of necessity and these tapes give you a taste of his mentality and mindset as a top flight point guard.

For coaches, these are a must.  You get drills that you can watch over and over and make them part of your practices.  You will learn a lot of the little things that can make all the difference in making you a winning coach.  I always look at it as a means for improving myself and giving myself an edge over another coach and this can make that difference for you. 

For players and coaches alike the Better Basketball DVD set is worth a serious look.

Bookmark It

I’m a Bulls fan so I was in absolute shock when I watched them win the lottery process.  I watched the Miami representative act stunned when their card was pulled at #2 and then watched at the same time as the Bulls rep was dumbfounded.  After all, the team had a 1.7% chance of landing the number 1 pick.  It made me wonder if the process is rigged or fixed.

Could it be?  Sure it could be fixed.  There have been rumors floating around for years about the infamous lottery where the Knicks were able to land Patrick Ewing and the league would like the Bulls to get good.  Let’s face the fact here that the league was down a little the past few years and now the teams of old are at the fore front.  We have the Celtics/Lakers finals possibility and the Bulls with the top selection.  When the NBA was at it’s peak was when the Celtics/Lakers/Bulls were all good teams or up an coming teams.  The commish could be trying to create a Bulls/Cavs eastern conference rivalry much like the Pistons/Bulls of Jordan times. 

This could all be just speculation because you can’t go wrong in this draft taking either first or second but a 1.7% chance are some amazing odds to beat without help.

Bookmark It

In case you haven’t heard, OJ Mayo is in the news again for ‘allegedly’ receiving gifts while enrolled at USC.  Wen the news came out yesterday I wasn’t surprised at all.  This kid was one of the top 5 kids coming out of high school and if they NBA didn’t adopt the wait a year from high school policy he would’ve come out this year.  Instead he chose to go to USC and as a result might do more harm than good for his college.

Then I got thinking, if the allegations are true, who got more stuff or money while in college was it Reggie Bush or Oj Mayo?  After the report came out last night on ESPN, most people would strongly have to look at Mayo as the winner of the battle.  He was reportedly getting paid for a long time dating back to his endless time in high school.  We are talking about a kid here who wasn’t your typical freshman.  Like Derrick Rose, Mayo is a very old freshman having pushed the high school age rules to the limits.  From the time he was 15 years old he was regarded as a can’t miss kid who is bound for NBA greatness.  Some placed him on a level with Lebron James as a high school player.  He’s no Lebron but he’s a lottery pick in the draft. 

Reggie Bush ‘allegedly’ got his money and benefits after he was a near sure thing while at USC.  He supposedly got in the hundreds of thousands but this one hasn’t been finalized yet so we don’t know all the numbers.  My money is still on Bush because of the guaranteed money a top 5 pick in the NFL draft would get as compared to an NBA deal for the first 3-4 years.  I mean that someone would pay Bush more knowing they would get more money back because of the amount and timing of the contract.  Sure I’m speculating here but there might be some merit to it.

What happens to OJ Mayo?  Nothing really.  He didn’t violate a law if we was receiving gifts.  He won’t go to jail or anything like it.  He’d be the latest of many who have taken gifts while in school and all that are hurt are the programs that are left behind.  Since Chris Webber and the Fab 5 left Michigan where have they gone?  They left that program with a wake of problems that they are still recovering from.  Is USC next to go through it?  I hope not because there has been no proof of their involvement in the deal but maybe they should have been more on top of things.  Who knows at this point? 

The only thing I know is that Mayo is a lottery pick regardless and that his agent of choice is the one that is reportedly behind the whole deal.  Not surprising to me.

Bookmark It

Oscar Robertson is highly regarded as one of the most well rounded players to ever play the game.  He averaged a triple double for an entire season and that’s something that will tough for any player to ever challenge.  If there was a player who could do it he would have to be Lebron James.  Last night during the Celtics win against Lebron and the Cavs the announcers debated this very point and I wanted to weigh in on my two cents.

I call this a basketball training argument because that’s what I think this is really about.  Oscar was clearly ahead of his time and dominated the game from day 1.  People tend to miss the fact that he missed averaging a triple double in his rookie season by only .3 assists a game.  His 2nd year he made it easily and his most narrow miss again was his 4th season where he fell short by ‘only’ averaging 9.9 rebounds a game.  Steals and turnovers weren’t kept stats in his early portion of his career so we’ll never know about those areas altogether.  What made Oscar Robertson so good?

Lebron James started playing professionally at 19 years old and has taken the NBA by storm.  He hasn’t averaged a triple double for a season but he did average 30 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists a game this year becoming the 3rd player to do that.  The other two were Oscar and Michael Jordan.  Michael did it once while Oscar did it 6 times.

Oscar was a 6*5 205 pound athlete who handled the ball outside and played in an era without a lot of height at certain positions and certainly not the depth.  He didn’t play against international competition and race was most certainly a factor in the 60’s.  He simply dominated the competition and was the best player in the league during the 60’s and that can’t be argued.  He made the absolute best of his situation and did what he was supposed to do. 

Lebron plays against the best players in the world now and strength training has changed the game.  A player like Lebron in the days of Oscar would’ve been something unseen, almost circus like.  He’s 6*9 240  pounds and is athletic as it gets.  He would’ve been the biggest player, strongest player and most athletic player in the league.  The numbers he would’ve put up would be scary.  We’ll never know and that’s why we can’t argue era’s.  If Oscar were put into today’s game I guarantee he would’ve been a dominant player but he wouldn’t average a triple double.  If you give him the same competition, training products and teammates then who knows what Oscar would’ve been like today. 

My point is that basketball training and competition is what makes the game so special today.  Imagine how far the game has come in the 40 years since Oscar started playing and imagine what it will be like 40 years from now.  How much more can we advance in our knowledge and understanding of the human body?  Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James…..who’s next?

Bookmark It

I get caught up in basketball life and I sometimes forget to throw out my opinions on something that at hoopskills.com we get asked all the time…What is the best basketball training dvd?

There are a lot out there and some are much better than others.  I grew up in a time when these tapes were starting to come out and I bought all I could.  Technology is much better now and that makes these training DVD’s that much better. 

What areas do you want to improve or need improvement?  What position do you play?  Are you a coach or a player?   These things all play a role in what you are looking for and I’ll help you through that process.

Coaches- For beginning coaches I always recommend Coaching your Coaches: A guide to Coaching Fundamental Basketball
It is great at showing real drills and organizing a practice. Most kids don’t go through organized practices at young ages. This is a must for beginning coaches.

Another strong recommendation comes from the Hubie Brown series. This guy is a basketball genius and his ‘Secrets of Winning Basketball vol I and Vol 2′ are very well put together for coaches of all levels.

Players- Depending on what type of player you are really can determine your level of interest in these programs. However some of them should cover all positions because a good fundamental is the same no matter the position.

I love Magic Johnson’s Fundamentals. Magic has some help from some pros in this 2 hour set and that makes it more enjoyable. He also has an advanced series as well for players that feel the need for more. I love both of these and recommend nearly anything from Magic.

I love the JJ Redick Better Shooting Set also. He has incredible fundamentals that apply to any position and i love the extra features like the training regimen and chart for assistance. The main instructor on the tape is Rick Torbett who I had honestly never heard of until this but I’ve researched him since and the guy knows his stuff. For guards this is a must but for any position you can use this and get better at scoring the ball more consistently.

I’ll cover some more later but for now take a serious look at some of these Dvd’s for improving your game or your coaching.

Bookmark It

The University of Tennessee and the University of Indiana have some interesting decisions to make over the coming year after losing some key players.

For Tennessee they lost two key players in Ramar Smith and Duke Crews after they reportedly failed several drug tests.  Bruce Pearl took a strong stand with these two because they were both very highly rated coming out of high school and were big pick ups for the Volunteers.  However, they both have underperformed collegiately and will finish up their college careers at other schools.  Both would have been significant contributors next season.

As for Indiana, the University upheld the earlier decisions by interim coach Dan Dakich to get rid of starting guard Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis and announced that DeAndre Thomas and Eli Holman would leave and be transferring to other schools.  This leaves Indiana with only 3 scholarship players remaining and 8 players in all.  Indiana made a great hire getting Tom Crean to come in and clean up the mess left behind by Kelvin Sampson and he’ll fix it but not without some growing pains.  Sampson was fired after violating several rules and lying about it to investigators.  The team also lost DJ White to graduation and Eric Gordon to the lottery of the NBA draft.

Both teams wont’ be as strong as they were this year but both teams will be better off than before by making the changes that they did.  I’m proud of both coaches and universities for their actions.

Bookmark It

Avery Johnson was let go yesterday as coach of the Dallas Mavericks.  Avery coached the Mavs for a couple seasons and led them to the best record in basketball last season before losing in the first round of the playoffs to Golden St.  This year the Mavs lost to the Hornets in the first round again in only 5 games and were clearly outplayed. 

Is Avery deserving of this?  No if you ask me but I’m more impressed with Avery as a leader of these NBA athletes and he’ll get another job.  He is a shining example of accountability that we don’t see very often and it’s sad that a successful 50 win season doesn’t give him more time. 

In the end it is Mark Cuban’s team and investment and he can do what he wants.  He’s chosen to go the Steinbrenner way and that’s ok because it’s his money.  In my opinion the Mavs shouldn’t blame Avery Johnson for this when Devin Harris defensively could have hung with Chris Paul or at least slowed him down.  Instead, they acquire Jason Kidd who is getting older and give up a young player that I really like in Harris.  But that’s just me.  I also don’t think any team with Nowitzki will ever win a title because I don’t think he’s tough enough and I don’t think he has that edge that is needed and it has shown.  Outside of Dirk, Kidd and Josh Howard this team is getting older and more expensive and they need a complete makeover.  It is amazing how fast their window has truly closed. 

Maybe Cuban saw the Mavs needed to rebuild and that Avery wasn’t the guy to lead them.  Maybe Cuban knows something we don’t and wants to get D’Antoni from the Suns to come to Dallas.  I love D’Antoni and if that’s the case i’m ok with that but have it be something good because Avery Johnson has my respect as a coach and a person for how he handled this situation and the constant praise that he isn’t afraid to hand out to opposing teams, coaches and players.

Bookmark It