When I was younger my father was very involved in my life. He got me involved in every basketball and baseball league that he could and it was a wonderful experience that a lot of kids simply don’t get to experience. Not only was I involved in local city/rec leagues, I was playing in other cities just to play against better players. I loved it.

One of the leagues I got in was called the Robb Thomas basketball league that was run by a man named Herb Welling. Herb worked on the air force base in Utah and this man was and is a basketball fanatic. My father and Herb clicked immediately and Herb became one of my biggest fans. Before I get too far ahead of myself let me just say that Herb’s league was the best. He wrote scouting reports on all the players…we were 12-13 years old. He had stats kept and weekly packets that were given out with breakdowns of the games from the previous weeks. I recently found one of the reports on myself that read: “Schofield can score on anyone but seems to have more of a problem making a layup with nobody on him than he does hitting a 20 foot shot.” He was right. At that time I honestly struggled making a layup going full speed. I was horrible at it. Scouting reports and stats, does your league have that?

In my high school years Herb was always there for me and always there for the game of basketball. He was never afraid to talk to anyone about the game or call anyone to talk about the game. He still lives and breathes the game of basketball. Herb moved to Omaha Nebraska around my junior/senior year of high school and it was a sad time for me. This man was a constant presence at my games and more importantly my life. When I vented to Herb about how overbearing my father could be he listened and explained that it was all for love and how he would have killed to have the experiences that I had growing up. I see that all now but I wish I did then.

When my family moved to Iowa for my senior year of high school I had a terrible time adjusting to the whole thing. I was angry for the timing of the move and I had a bad season by my standards and I still have some serious regrets and issues about. My team lost that year in a sub state game to Kennedy High school. We lost on a last second 15 foot hook shot that was made by the player I was guarding. I actually played good defense on him which was something new for me. On the news they show the shot go in and my face just sink. I think it was me realizing that my high school career was over. I walked to the locker room with tears in my eyes and I was met by a man who wasn’t my father or mother but my friend Herb Welling. He hugged me and told me he loved me no matter what and how much he enjoyed watching me play over the years. Herb made the drive from Nebraska just to watch the game. I’ve tried to tell him how much that meant to me and I don’t think he truly understands.

After I served a two year mission for my church Herb and I lost touch. He still stayed in touch with my family a little bit and I always asked my father about how he was doing. A year or so ago my father called to tell me that Herb was in Sports Illustrated.  He had spent hours and hours ‘cracking’ the dribble drive motion that is run by John Calipari and others throughout the country.  Vance Wahlberg started the whole thing really and he’s now an assistant at, I believe, UMass.  Anyway, Herb made a video out of it and it has done very well.  He was an assistant coach at Omaha Central high school where the team won 3 state championships running that very offense.  I couldn’t be prouder of this man.

Herb works as a security guard to really earn his living at Omaha Central high school and voluntarily coaches some AAU teams in the summer.  He is an assistant coach at a new school this year and is excited about rebuilding that program.  As I’ve gotten more involved with hoopskills I’ve realized that I needed to reach out to someone who loves the game like I do and get them involved also.  THERE IS NOBODY I’VE EVER MET WHO LOVES BASKETBALL MORE THAN HERB WELLING.  NOBODY.  I recently did a phone interview with him and my appreciation of the man grows more and more with each conversation.  Here he is a security guard to take care of his family and provide but still dedicates his life to the development of strong solid young men who play a game that he loves. 

I’m proud to call Herb Welling my friend.

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Rick Pitino spoke out pretty angrily yesterday about the allegations that have been made against him and I don’t blame him. As one who has had a lot of stuff printed about incorrectly I have a special fondness for people who go through this sort of garbage with people talking and writing about things that they don’t know are facts or not. If I were Pitino I’d be beyond tired of this.

Pitino admits to the affair and admits that it was a mistake. We make mistakes as people and he has admitted to that mistake. That mistake is what this is all about in this case and is a case of how our decisions today can effect our future. Pitino knew this and we all do yet we still do things dumb and wrong all the time and that is what happened here. He screwed and admitted it and just wanted to move on.

Imagine the wife here. She has to hear about this story day in and day out. People look at her funny at the grocery store and she has to put up with constant questioning from family members and friends. It’s broken trust between people and that’s a tough bridge to reestablish. The children are getting the same treatment and it can’t be easy to listen to things said about your father that may or may not all be true.

Rick Pitino has done a lot of good with his life and had a positive effect on a lot of people. By worldly standards he’s a very successful person who has a wonderful family. I want articles to come out and talk about those things and I want people to talk to his wife and children about the good that he has done. Sometimes we all want to knock someone off a pedastal to make ourselves feel better and that could be what is going on.

Pitino has given us the best example of how adultery or extra marital affairs can effect lives in a negative way and the list on this is pretty high, but it’s time we move on from this story because the story shouldn’t be about Pitino and the affair, it should be about the crazy woman who tried to extort him for milllions of dollars and the investigation into her criminal behavior.

To the Pitino’s i can only say that we can’t change the past and the consequences that were set when that route was chosen but you can choose how it is handled. You handle it with dignity and class. You admit when mistakes were made and you apologize for the way it effects your family. Then you love those close to you and call it good. That’s all that counts and all that cares. Then you make absolutely sure that you are never in that situation again.

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Can someone tell me how many coaches in Division I history have been stripped of 2 final four appearances?

Can someone tell me how that coach was given arguably the best job in Division I basketball?

Let me answer my own questions:

Coach Calipari is the only coach to be stripped of 2 final four appearances after his team was stripped of their 38 win season when Derrick Rose ‘allegedly’ had someone else take his entrance exam for him. The other team was UMass when players were given extra benefits but Coach Cal was long gone by then bombing in New Jersey as a pro coach. Seems those guys were already paid to play there.

Coach Cal is a proven winner on the collegiate level who gets great kids to play for him. He is full of charisma and has always got great players where he coaches. At UMASS he had Marcus Camby and a slew of talent that the school hasn’t seen since. At Memphis he got whoever he wanted there and won at a school that hadn’t won in a while and played in a horribly weak conference. Sound familiar? I’m not saying he cheated and wont’ say that. I’ve been part of numerous allegations against my own character when I don’t believe it was warranted so I won’t say players were paid to get there. I’m just saying that Coach Cal succeeds where others haven’t. By getting the Kentucky job he just made that program one of the most targeted schools in the country again. They are back on the map and that is what Kentucky has to have. Coach Cal will win there and he has to win there. He already has a top recruiting class and that won’t change. Now we will see if the guy can actually coach instead of just relying on talent to win.

The last thing I want to have this be like the steroid era in baseball where we were all so enamored with what was going on that we didn’t see what was happening. I don’t want to be that way with Coach Cal but I’m started to lean toward something being fishy. I’m not accusing at all but I’m also not looking at the situation with rose colored glasses. When two programs that you were over have had their final 4 appearances wiped off the records then that warrants special attention. I can’t hide that fact. But I also can’t hide the fact that Kentucky has to win so they hired him and they know exactly what they are getting.

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This is a sad story that could have a happy ending.

When I was growing up there were several players who had their careers and lives ruined by drugs. You had Len Bias, Roy Tarpley, John Drew and the list goes on. Some believe that Reggie Lewis’ life was cut short by drugs being in his system. Tarpley and John Drew lived but didn’t have the careers that they could have and should have had without drugs. Michael Ray Richardson was another fabulous talent who couldn’t keep it together. Is Michael Beasley next? I hope not.

Beasley is a talented player who is on his way to a great NBA career. He’ll be a consistent scorer and rebounder for years and still hasn’t filled out to get his grown man strength, but it’s coming. Is today a sign of trouble or a sign of bad behavior being fixed. We don’t know yet.

Beasley got in trouble last year while hanging with some of the other rookies at the rookie syposium. They were fined and disciplined as a result of their actions and it stained the players involved but none more than Beasley. There was reported alcohol and marijuana and girls though only the girls and the alcohol were found at the scene. Was that the time to be alarmed? It looks like it was now as we all look back.

Either way, he is young and can recover from this. I hope his motives are good for going and that he wants to get this fixed. Ask Chris Anderson from the Nuggets how much money drugs/alcohol cost him and he’ll tell you but the thing Beasley has to realize is that with him and his talent the price would be 10 times what it cost the Birdman. Let’s pray he gets this figured out and that we have only seen the beginning of Michael Beasley.

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I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and wonder if there isn’t some truth to it. While the coaches and players have to love all the games it really takes away from camp time. I’m a proponent of both.

1. I love the idea of playing basketball to get better and I push that. I can do drills till I’m blue in the face but if I’m never in a game situation I don’t really have a chance to really grow as a player. You have to combine both.

2. I love the thought of coaches that are AAU specific as long as those coaches run disciplined systems. When I played AAU ball i had a coach who thought that if we didn’t get rebounds it was because that God was punishing him. Looking back, the guy had some issues and wasn’t the right fit for us. PLayers don’t need babysitters, they need coaches.

3. Kids need the summertime to work on specific skills. I would literally take 1-2 hours a day just to work on my shooting, dribbling and passing. Kids now are spending that time in Las Vegas waiting for the next game. I can’t blame the kids because that is where the recruiters are so you have to go there, but the summers are now so packed that kids fall behind in a number of areas as a result.

That’s why I’m so mixed on this topic. The recruiting of younger players has changed the landscape of summer basketball so much that it makes it very difficult to judge. What would I have done? I would’ve played in as many summer leagues as I could so i could get seen as a player. That’s why we play isn’t it?

The majority of the people who visit www.hoopskills.com come here because they want to be better players and give themselves any edge they can so they can get to that next level. That next level might be junior high, high school or college but we each have a next level that we are trying to attain. For those trying to get to college it is tough to fault going to as many AAU tourneys as possible just to be seen.

However, let me throw this out. Get a good mix of both. Make sure that the summer is planned with enough downtime to work on some of the weaknesses that are made apparent during the games. Coaches are watching and if you continually show that you can’t shoot then take a tournament off to work hours on your jump shot. Just as many kids who want to help themselves during the summer actually hurt themselves by playing poorly because they are unprepared.

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I’d love to hear some thoughts on this because I think the whole thing is ridiculous. Lebron James is one of the three best players in the entire world and if he gets dunked on trying to block a shot then so what. Any good defender should have plenty of chances to get dunked on. If he blocked the shot nobody would have said anything about it but since he got dunked on it becomes this big news. NIKE should have allowed the footage to come out and it would have been over and done with. By making it so mysterious it became famous and Jordan Crawford made a name for himself. Never mind the fact the kid will more than likely not be a pro, but he’ll forever be known as the guy who dunked on Lebron in a camp setting. BIG DEAL if you ask me.

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I love summer league basketball because of a couple things. I love the fact that no player can foul out and fans get to see guys who are hungry and trying to prove themselves against others a lot like them. Sure, some were first round picks but that only makes it harder in a lot of cases because people are out to prove that they belong. Here’s what i think has stood out so far:

Tyreke Evans: In the words of Charlie Murphy describing Prince as a basketball player, “that cat can ball”. Tyreke Evans is shooting the ball well and scoring with ease in the summer league. He has shown the ability to get to the basket and is a very strong finisher. His shot is ugly looking but rather effective. Typically players with ugly shots are usually streaky shooters and he’s no different but his ability to get in the lane and get fouled will help him in the league. More and more I love this pick for the Kings because Evans is a playmaker. He’s not a point yet but he’s a legit playmaker and will prove that in the NBA.

Steph Curry: Disappointing so far. I still think he’s going to be a good pro but so far he isn’t shooting the ball well and players are going at him hard. He’s had some good halves of games but hasn’t put a complete one together yet. I think he’s trying to hard and forcing too many shots. He doesn’t have to be the man anymore and that might be effecting his play. I’m just attributing it to trying to hard and that’s it. Curry can play.

Adam Morrison: So far the guy is proving that he may not be the worst pick in the history of the draft. Morrison is a year removed from ACL surgery and sat the bench for the Lakers last season. IN fact, he wasn’t even on the playoff roster. Morrison has a lot to prove and is one of the veterans of the summer league but he scores the ball well. He’s averaged 21 a game so far while shooting 42% from 3. I know it is a small sample size but he is showing that he might have some value on a roster and actually earn some time. However let me say that using my self created “Luke Jackson” rule…no summer league superstar has ever been given time based on his play in the summer league. Luke Jackson looked like a superstar in the summer but never put it together in the league.

James Harden: He’s trying to prove me wrong and I’m a LOT suprised. I watched this kid in college game after game and never was truly impressed. As i watched ASU lose in the NCAA tourney I was convinced that Harden wouldn’t be a great pro. He’s showing some strong signs in summer league that he can play and do many things well. I still think he’ll struggle in situations where he doesn’t have the ball and where he isn’t an option offensively but he’s showing now that he deserves a look to be an option for the Thunder. I’m not sold yet but i’m coming around to the idea that he can play.

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The Jazz seem to be in a bit of a quandry and have limited time to fix the situation. When the Blazers signed Paul Millsap to a 4 year 32 million dollar offer sheet last week it escalated the Jazz need to trade Carlos Boozer or if they can’t do that, let Paul Millsap walk to a division rival.

Millsap proved to be a valuable player last season when he averaged a double double while Boozer was out with his yearly injury. Boozer is a proven NBA player who averages a double double when healthy and is great at finishing around the hoop with either hand. Boozer and Deron Wiliams form a great tandem in Utah but is there time together done?

What do you do if you are the Jazz? Clearly they don’t want to go any more over the luxury tax than they already are. If they resign Millsap but don’t trade Boozer then the team goes 14 million dollars over the luxury cap and no team wants to be in that area in this economy. If they trade Boozer they can match the contract to Millsap. They will still be over the cap because of the players they will take on but Millsap has shown that he can play in this league. But then the question becomes…who will take on Boozer?

Boozer is a very good NBA player who produces. Last week we saw several trade rumors involving the Bulls, Blazers and Jazz. With the Blazers aggressively going after Millsap it forced the Jazz hand and was a great move by the Blazers gm. He knows the Jazz want Millsap but can’t afford to keep both. He knows that by signing Millsap he takes away some of the Jazz gm’s leverage in the deal by forcing action possibly quicker than anticipated. Several teams would love Boozer, including the Bulls who were set to get him last week before the talks reportedly broke down.

I expect Boozer to be dealt this week and his time in Utah will be over. When and if he’s healthy he’ll be a welcome addition to any team in the league.

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I can’t blame a guy for wanting 10 million dollars a season and to play in a desirable area, but i can blame a guy for trying to spin it any other way. Hedo has said that he chose Toronto because of their chance to win games. C’mon. People just want to hear the truth and not be mocked because we aren’t stupid. This move was a personal choice and all of us are fine with that. We all have areas we’d like to live and work and get paid tons of money to do what we want. I’m great with that so don’t try to spin it into “well I went there because they are going to be a winner”. They aren’t going to be a winner. They aren’t going to be anything. Nobody is going to hear from Hedo again and he’s going to return to the scrub he was before he went to Orlando. He capitalized on a great system for himself but I expect nothing from him from here on out.

Orlando got Vince to replace Hedo and he’ll bring them a little more athleticism and scoring ability but Hedo was a better passer. Neither are noted defenders but Orlandon covered their backsides and did great with it. The eastern conference will be better next year and they’ll have to be if they are going to beat the Lakers.

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It really isn’t true that free agency starts today because players can agree to terms but not actually sign for another week or so. But for all intents and purposes the free agency period began at midnight this morning. That’s about all that has happened so far.

In years past the free agency period was marked with gm’s making trips and contract offers all over the place but this year nothing has been announced yet. We know that Ben Gordon is visiting Detroit and that Portland is going after Hedo. We have guesses everywhere else. In Utah we are waiting to see what happens with Paul Millsap and who is going to offer him some money.

The truth is that we have few teams who want to spend a lot of money on players this season when next season is set to be the greatest list of free agents ever to hit any professional sport. Next year we will see Lebron, Bosh, Wade, Boozer all free agents. I know I’m missing some but teams want to be able to go after those players and see what happens and they don’t want to be tied down to Hedo Turkoglu if they can get Dwyane Wade. The other side of the coin is that some teams realize they won’t be players for those guys so they want to get players that they can.

Just like baseball this past season, few teams are willing to spend the money than before and it will show itself. Jason Kidd, Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess are all players who are older but have some life left. Where are they going to go? Would they be better off taking 1 year offers and seeing what is out there next year? I only know that with how slow this free agency period has began that it will drag out longer than normal and we will have some players who will have to take less than they are used to if they want a roster spot. Years ago we had Sprewell reject a 3 year 21 million dollar offer because he thought he could get a better offer and he hasn’t been heard from since unless it was about foreclosures.

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