NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

I always like getting into a conversation with my good friend Herb Welling about coaching.  I always remind him that New York produces some great ones.  For instance, in basketball Pat Riley, Red Holzman, Red Auerbach, Lenny Wilkins, Larry Brown,  the late Al McGuire,  Doug Moe, and Billy Cunningham all born in New York. (That’s just off the top of my head)

In football, the late Vince Lombardi grew up in Sheepshead Bay.  In baseball, Joe Torre and Gil Hodges also were born in New York.

Something must be in the water.

The New York Knicks, one of the best organizations in all of sports have just hired Mike D’Antoni.  The Knicks fans have been through a lot of tough times the past few years, they are starving for a winner.

D’Antoni is their man.  The New York Newsday with a piece on the newest Knickerbocker.

A LONG, LONG, TIME

Chicago Cubs fans have been waiting a very long time for a World Series.  Manager Lou Piniella has them right where they want to be.  Click her for a piece from the Daily News on Piniella and the Cubs.

‘We’re doing the best we can, every day. That’s all we can do, nothing more, nothing less.’

I enjoy watching Chicago compete.  I get a lot of their games on WGN – here is more from ‘Sweet Lou’.

“Let these guys concentrate on this year’s team,” Piniella says, gesturing toward the batting cage as the Cubs took batting practice in preparation for Wednesday night’s game against Joe Torre’s Dodgers. “No sense in looking at the past. Let this team stand on its own merit.

“We’ve got good team chemistry here and they get after it hard every day. That’s all I can ask as a manager. We’ve got good players here. We’ve had some decent success and I think we can get better. There’s room for improvement.”

SHARING

Remember the purple dinosaur Barney? His slogan was, ‘Sharing is Caring’.  We teach this concept to our children.  We want our athletes to share the ball with their teammates.

I have a few coaching friends who like to pass material along to me via e-mail or through the old fashioned way, U.S. Postal.  I enjoy reading this stuff because it’s usually fresh or it’s stuff from back in the day from the likes of Red Holzman, Vince Lombardi, or George Allen.

There are also some very good websites/blogs with valuable coaching material available, free of charge. Eric Musselman has a tremendous blog that I make sure to visit each day.

As a coach, do you share material with others? Or are you the type who clams up and sticks to himself? Do you pass along clinic notes to others or do you keep them to yourself? I know some coaches who allow others to watch their practice.  They also allow them to sit in on workouts, some even staff meetings. Larry Brown sent out a letter to all local college coaches a couple of years back when he was with the Knicks inviting us to a practice whenever we wanted.

Do you share?

Congratulations to Anthony Solomon who was hired as an assistant coach at Notre Dame.  Chicago Sports has the story.

BASKETBALL CAMP

Well it’s that time of year again. Brochures to be mailed, calls to be made, t-shirts to be ordered, getting local coaches to come in and give an aspiring lecture to campers, gym time to be reserved, getting your players to spend some time at the gym with the campers and of course, teaching kids how to play the game.

At Jackson Community College we are beginning our second summer of camp. We will begin Wednesday June 11 and go to Friday June 13th starting at 12 Noon. Click here for more information.

Last summer we had a wonderful turnout in our inaugural session.

Matt Painter at Purdue has a pretty good camp going. JCOnline.com alerts us.

“Kids and their parents should look for a place where the player can get instruction,” Painter said. “Some kids come simply to have fun. Some come to get better as a player. Learning to play the game and developing good sportsmanship are things we stress.

“We provide some very good instruction. Then it’s a matter of what the camper wants to do with it. We place an emphasis on what you learn and then going out and working on it.”

Painter touches on a couple of different aspects of camp. A kid can learn the game and of course have fun. Relationships are built during the couple of days. It’s a period of time where a kid can really find out if he loves the game. It’s non-stop instruction, games and of course…fun!

‘FLIP’ THE SWITCH

A couple of weeks ago I read in a newspaper that the Detroit Pistons can’t keep turning the switch on and off when they feel like it.

I don’t believe that kind of garbage. 

Ian Thompson of SI.com has a GREAT piece on the Pistons. I love the Joe Dumars and Flip Saunders material.

“At the beginning of the year,” Detroit coach Flip Saunders said, “we had our first meeting, and I had each guy tell me what they could do to help us win a championship. I got all those things typed up and I keep them in my coat pocket for every game. I keep it there as a reminder, in case I ever have to pull it out to them: ‘Hey, this is what you told me you were going to do.’ “

Each player declared what he could do to help the Pistons win their first title since 2003-04. They spoke in front of each other, and it became a personal contract among the players and their coach.

“I’ll read it before games to see the mentality of where our players were at the beginning of the year, to see where they’re at [now],” Saunders said. “Chauncey [Billups] talked about not turning down shots — because I get on him sometimes that he turns down shots — and knowing our game plan as far as following through on that game plan. And ‘Sheed [Wallace] talked about the winner that he is, that he’s not going to let his team down, that they can follow him.

Thanks to Detroit Bad Boys for the heads up for posting the article on their terrific blog.