The New Orleans Hornets are in some turmoil.  They are in the process of changing owners and with that comes a lot of uncertainty.  Enter Chris Paul. 

Chris Paul is an amazing talent who is already being compared to Isiah Thomas despite only playing a few years and really being on a winner yet.  Paul doesn’t want to get stuck in New Orleans with no real supporting cast while the Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls and other teams just keep getting better and better and you can’t really blame him but is this the way to go about it?

What bothers me is the difference in the 2 era’s that I’ve lived in.  When I grew up you really tried your best to make it work where you got drafted.  You had pride in staying with one organization and now those days are long gone.  The scrutiny and pressure on these players to cement their legacies with titles and rings is amazing.  Lebron folded under his pressure at age 25 and Paul looks like he is next. 

Word is that he wants to go to New York with Amare and some other big name free agent to be next year in Carmelo Anthonly but who knows what will happen there.  The Nuggets have already offered a 65 million dollar extension and that can’t be easy to turn down. 

All I know is that Paul is an incredible talent and one of the best point guards we’ve seen in the last 20 years.  He makes any team he is on immediately better and if he wants to jump ship any team would be wise to jump in now to make it happen.

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The days are quickly coming to an end where it is enough just to play high school basketball.  Those days are quickly quickly going to be behind us. 

We’ve had the privilege of working with several great coaches with incredible experience and they all say the same thing.  They want to see players play on the big stage and against the best players in the country.  They want to be able to watch as many players as possible in that setting and see how they do against them because that’s the competition they’ll face every day in practice and in the games in college.  If they rely strictly on high school competition they won’t get a very good idea of where a player truly is at. 

I have a relative of mine who plays at a very small school and puts up 35-40 points a night.  He even has a chance to be the all time leading scorer in the history of his state.  However, he is limited right now in his offers because of his size and the competition he plays against night after night in his typical league.  He has only started to play AAU ball but with kids getting offers earlier and earlier it may have been too late to get the D1 offer he deserves.  This is a very common tale.

In Illinois this year there is a player named Anthony Davis.  Anthony plays high school ball at a very small private school and he dominated there.  He received very little attention from colleges across the country until this spring/summer where he jumped in and started playing AAU ball.  He went from unknown to a top 10 player in the country and a lock for the McDonald’s game next year.  He is going to pick from Kentucky, Syracuse and Ohio St.  I’m not saying he wouldn’t have received a scholarship because he would’ve easily but the attention that he received was as a direct result of his spring/summer play because he dominated the guys he went up against.  These stories happen all the time also.

It boils down to a couple things.  1.  Give yourself every chance to be seen by college coaches.  2.  It’s never too late.  If you want to play division 1 then don’t just hope it, but do something about it.  AAU basketball is a great first step to making that happen.

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Every coach wants to have a team where the players truly take leadership of it.  The best teams in the history of basketball are filled with incredible leaders who possess special traits and qualities that naturally lead to winning.

This morning I woke up and read an article on ESPN about John Wall and how is leadership is already coming out to the older players and how important that is for his future.  Imagine that…you are a first rounder, top pick and in your first game you start directing traffic and getting guys in the right spots.  That’s why this guy was taken number 1.  This trait is very rare and usually only the best have it.  Jordan had it, Magic, Bird, Kobe.  What about Lebron?  I say no.  I honestly don’t think he will be the leader of this team.  Dwyane Wade is the leader and he proved it by getting these guys there.  Lebron would have never won a title on his own and in signing with the Heat we learned of his weakness.

So what characteristics do good leaders have in basketball:

1.  Communication:  Leaders have an ability to communicate to those in ways that get results.  This doesn’t mean yelling, but motivating and keeping them all focused.  The reason people questioned Lebron’s leadership is because of his playoff debacle this year.  He couldn’t keep his team in check and motivated.  Those losses don’t happen to Kobe, MJ, Magic, Bird any of them. 

2.  Self Motivated:  Leaders don’t need anyone to tell them to get going.  They are the ones pushing the envelope and being the coach on the floor. They dont’ let down.

3.  Focused:  Leaders are focused individuals who see the big picture and convey that to the others.  They lead by example and getting everyone to buy into the big picture. 

John Wall showed these in one game and it was impressive.  I think it is what separates him from Derrick Rose.  Rose has a quiet demeanor and is a killer but he isn’t as vocal as Wall.  Rose would never have done this stuff his first game with his team but Wall showed the confidence to do it.  That earns respect and trust from his teammates.  There is nothing more important than leadership on a team and the best coaches know that.  When you see a team that is underperforming you can directly tie it to leadership as a reason for the letdowns.

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This is getting ridiculous now.  I wrote the other day how Lebron is going public with a show dedicated to his announcement.  The rumors today are flying that he is going to go to Miami and I just don’t buy it.  I can’t see Lebron going to Miami to share the spotlight with 2 other dream teamers unless he was going to announce with them where they were going.  The whole ‘decision’ is turning into ‘the joke’. 

It’s getting worse daily as the build up continues.  Lebron’s camp is working a plug for the boys and girls club and that’s great but outside of that this is really starting to smell like what is wrong with professional sports today.  I’ll be watching like a lot of people will but this is something that my favorite athletes growing up would have never done.  Athletes like Walter Payton, Ryne Sandberg, Cal Ripken, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson…they would never have done this.  No ‘great’ would ever try to put themselves above the sport, a team sport at that and that is exactly what is happening. 

I know that Lebron wants to be a global icon but MJ got there without doing this.  He wants to be bigger than Jordan you say…well tonight when the show goes down he proves to us all that is isn’t MJ, Walter Payton, Magic Johnson or Larry Bird.  He’s another selfish athlete trying to put himself above a game that I love.  As much as I understand the though process behind it and get the business side of it, I still lose more and more respect as it gets closer and closer to being announced.

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Lebron James is announcing on ESPN tomorrow night where he will be playing the next several years in what is becoming even more of a circus than anticipated. 

Imagine if Michael Jordan had gone free agent during his prime how intense the media would’ve followed him.  We just didn’t have the technology that we have today so this decision by Lebron is turning into a worldwide event and that’s just how he wants it.  The more attention he can get the more money he can earn and he clearly wants to be a billion dollar icon.  By playing this up as much as possible he truly maximizes the potential of the situation and makes himself visible to all.  Companies will make money using commercial time for Lebron’s announcement knowing it will be watched worldwide.  It’s amazing how this is happening really.

We found out today that Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh will more than likely be playing together in Miami and that kills 2 birds with one stone.  They’ll catapult that team quickly but they still have 10 roster spots to fill.  They may have the money to go after Lebron but can you really picture Lebron wearing the Miami jersey and sharing the spotlight with those 2 guys?  I don’t see it.  I can imagine Chicago, Cleveland or New York for the KING and my head is telling me Cleveland right now but my heart still prays that he goes to the BULLS.

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The clock is ticking on July 1st.  Who would’ve ever guessed the day would actually come because we have been hearing about it for years.  Lebron, DWade and Chris Bosh all arranged themselves in a way that they would be free agents at the same time.  It has been publicized to no end and now that day is nearly here.

Where do they end up?  Do they all end up together or separate pieces?  Rumor is that Miami and Chicago have the serious edge with Lebron and Bosh and that they have are a package deal to either of those cities.  If they end up in Miami they could realistically end up with all 3 players in what would be a very stacked team that would have to be the favorite in the east.  In fact, wherever 2 of the 3 go give the advantage to that team.  Miami is the only team that could get all 3 due to the fact that they have Wade’s bird rights which allow them to pay more for him so he can stay with the same team.  It’s very interesting stuff.

The players all met together to discuss the situation this past weekend and the feeling is that Miami is the choice but that Chicago still has a shot.  This leaves New Jersey and New York in the dark and possibly why they are focusing efforts on Joe Johnson and others. 

This free agent class is the best the league has ever seen and what happens in the next 2 weeks will change the face of the NBA forever.  It’s a big deal and something I’m going to watch with historic vision.

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As the NBA draft sneaks up on us and takes place tomorrow night it comes with a bit of disinterest compared to other years.  We just finished up one of the best NBA finals in a long time with a great game 7.  We have the World Cup going on in full force with the USA doing very well for once.  We have baseball hitting it’s stride as we get to the summer months and now comes the NBA draft.

We have a couple great questions early in the draft that will dictate a lot of what happens later.  Where will Demarcus Cousins fall?  What about Derrick Favors?  Who do the Nets take #3?  The Jazz have the 9th pick of the draft and nobody has a clue who they will take but so much of what is done early changes everything for other teams later in the round.

John Wall is certain to go #1 to the Wizards who will than have to try and play Wall and Arenas at the same time.  Both need the ball to be effective and both are true guards.  WAll can guard a bigger guard to a degree but not a strong off guard like Dwyane Wade.  But the Wiz have to play Arenas because has the 2nd most worthless contract in Washington behind Albert Haynesworth.  Nobody wants Arenas.

Evan Turner isn’t a clear #2 but he’ll probably go #2 to the Sixers but they have the same dilemma.  The Sixers have a point forward with a big contract in iguodala and he has limited interest as well.  Will Turner run the point in Philly or play off guard?  Can he shoot well enough to be an off guard?  NO.  He’s a playmaker and is a great player but he isn’t a shooting guard.  He became a lotto pick when Thad Matta gave him the ball and let him run the team.

#3 is the Nets and they have a big decision to make.  They are in a good spot but a spot they could screw up.  Do they take Wesley Johnson, the sweet stroke from Syracuse or do they go big with either Cousins or Favors?  Cousins is a clear talent and to me is the best player in the draft, but he’s a head case.  He could slide here for a couple picks and nobody would think anything of it but if Cousins go to the Nets then they have Lopez and Cousins in the middle and that’s about as good as it gets in the NBA.

Lives will change forever tomorrow and I look forward to watching it unfold.

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I’ll writing a much bigger article on this one currently but I wanted to blog on this today because I see too many basketball camps or practices with strategies in place that just don’t work.  Players learn bad habits at young ages and then we expect them to magically transform into the players they want to be later when nobody taught them correctly.

1.  Practice at game speed:  When doing drills as a team or as an individual go at game speed.  Since you aren’t going to take a shot in a game that isn’t game speed you might as well practice hard.  I would rather have a guy go hard for a half hour and really wear himself out then waste 2 hours shooting slow lazy jump shots.

2.  No standing:  Don’t devote a lot of time to standing and doing nothing.  In between drills players should run to the drinking fountain and back.  Drills should be broken up so that players are always involved and active and improving at a quick pace.  Players, especially young players, will lose interest if they are standing and watching too much.

3.  Experience teaches more than listening to coaches:  To teach a point please involve the kids instead of talk at them.  If a player is to learn something he/she needs to experience it on the court in that situation.  Dont’ expect someone to understand something they have only seen in practice as compared to living it in practice. 

Like I’ve said, I’m writing a longer article on this topic but these 3 practice strategies get results and improve players.

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What a great game that was.  Intense as can be throughout and a great matchup. Those teams could play 100 times and split the series.  In the end, the Lakers were too big and too strong for the Celtics.  Without Kendrick Perkins in the middle the Celts were outrebounded like crazy on the offensive glass and that offset a horrible shooting night.

In fact, if you would have told me Kobe would go 6-21 or whatever he was and that the Lakers would win with that i would’ve been very surprised but that’s what happened.  The best player in the series wasn’t Bryant, it was Gasol as the Lakers went to him whenever they needed a big bucket last night. 

The other unsung hero was Ron Artest.  He played a great game on offense and defense and really made Paul Pierce have a really tough time getting any good consistent shots.  On offense he gave them timely baskets and just played his heart out.

Watching the Celtics helped me realize that Ray Allen is about done.  His shooting stroke isn’t the same and he couldn’t get to the basket.  He had a hard hard time creating his own shot on offense as well. Don’t get me wrong, Allen played great defense on Kobe and made his life tough but Ray is about done and will go down as one of the best shooters of all time.  He’s still a horrible passer but that’s another story.

Anyway, it was a great season and a greater way to end it.  Congrats to the Lakers and their fans.

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Every season kids will email and ask us about AAU basketball and if they should play or not.  They want to know if they should just stick with their junior high or high school team and i couldn’t answer with a more resounding NOOOOOOOOOOO.  Play AAU basketball.

In fact, AAU basketball is now more important than in season basketball.  Kids that don’t play well for their high school teams play AAU and sometimes a completely different player shows up.  However, the most important thing about AAU ball is that it help you get seen.  Coaches want to go to an area or a tournament where they can see a bunch of different players at once and evaluate true talent against true talent and that’s what AAU gives you.  It is so much bigger now than when i was growing up where the summer tournaments were really just getting started.  Now, these kids should be busy traveling all over and playing against the best competition in the country.  It was AAU ball that allowed me to play against Jason Kidd and other great great players and that experience gave me confidence and helped me learn what I could really do.

If you are a kid reading this and you play in a small high school and you want to play college ball then you are crazy not to do whatever you can to get on a traveling team where coaches can see you play.  It’s worth the effort and if a scholarship is on the line then it’s worth the money.

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