That Basketball Life

Back to the basket basketball is a lost art form.  The ability to use size to your advantage does not exist to the extent it did 20 years ago.  Back in the day you had centers that would dominate the game.  Guys like Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabaar, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Wes Unseld,  and Shaquille O'Neil could all influence a game with their God given size and their ability to use their size and coordination to their advantage.  There's no debate that these were all world class athletes where the tag "freak of nature" would aptly apply. However, it wasn't just centers that used back to the basket moves to great advantage, it was great players like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Adrian Dantley, and Magic Johnson that realized that adding a back to the basket game to the arsenal would only help them compete. Nowadays the big men you see are much more skilled at dribbling the ball and shooting from distance.  They play more like...

In the old days, when a kid began playing basketball he would get assigned a position. Many times what position he played depended on his size, quickness, and his ability to shoot. If you were tall, chances are you played inside. If you were short and quick, chances are you played on the perimeter. What coaches would then proceed to do would be to have the post players exclusively learn post moves and then perimeter players exclusively learn outside moves. What this practice actually did was limit the players development. Lets face it kids grow at different intervals. Tommy might be a tall fourth grader who levels out by the time he is in eighth. The problem lies with the fact that Tommy has been taught post moves all his life and is not prepared to play outside against other perimeter players because his coaches didn't think it was necessary to play Tommy anywhere but on the blocks. At the youth levels, it is so important to keep the kids well rounded. Do not separate your team...

I'm a firm believer in the lessons that athletics in general and basketball specifically can teach kids. It's more than just putting a ball in the basket. There are many parallels between the hard work and focus required to improve as a ball player and to be successful in school and life. I believe that a good coach should always emphasize working hard to improve. I also believe that he should take it a step further and explain to his kids how hard work is a good habit and it should be a part of every aspect of life. He should emphasize that hard work should be used when doing homework, when doing chores, or when doing anything important. An uncle of mine once said that the only thing every man has and he should value is his good name. This uncle emphasized that you need to do everything in your power to keep your good name. Laziness is not a trait that keeps a good name. Hard work and good habits are. Teach the lesson of how valuing hard work is important to your team. It...

Over the last decade or so we've seen the game of basketball transform before our very eyes. Gone are the days of the dominant big man who could score with his back to the basket. Now a days all you see are players of all shapes and sizes whose main interest is to shoot from the outside. When we're talking outside we're talking from way beyond the arc. The further the better. You see kids in the gym spending more time working on shots from half court than on basic skills. All this has done is made players more one dimensional and easier to guard. We are almost 20 years removed from the Michael Jordan Era and Kobe Bryant's last game was a few years ago. What people forget is how important the post up game was to these 2 amazing scorers. These guys were so unguardable because their game was so multi faceted. Try to negate their speed with a smaller player and they would take him to the post. Put size on them and they would work from the outside. That's what made...