WORK ETHIC

Here’s a question for you.

Are today’s kids working hard on their game?

I say yes.

Are they putting in as much time as players from back in the day?

That can be up for debate.

Players from back in the day spent all day in the park. They worked on their game and they played pick up ball.

If your desire or dream is to become a better player you need to possess a strong work ethic.  You need to keep on pushing yourself.   Work on your dribbling.  Go up and down the floor when no one is around.  Work on your cross-over.  Work on your stop and go dribble, your pull-back and the all-important spin dribble.

Here’s Creighton Burns, a coach for the past 40 years.

I think the really good players continue to get better, but I think many of the “average” players have not developed due to lack of skills development in all areas of the game.  In my opinion, a player should have 4 practice sessions for every game that is played.

I also do not see kids getting together and playing pick up games.  I can remember my former players getting together and driving to other communities to play against the best players they could find.  Not sure that happens that much anymore.  And because of that, not sure kids are really learning how to play.

Steve Schmidt, men’s head basketball coach at Mott Community College told me, “Can you imagine how much a player would improve if he matched the time working on his game that he spends on video games and social networking?  Kids waste time talking about what they are instead of working to become somebody.”

SUMMER COACHING

In America, many pundits blame poor coaching on the lack of skilled basketball players.

They say coaches are not teaching the fundamentals. They say some coaches are in it for the wrong reasons, that they don’t have the players’ best interest.

You hear the whispers, about all the travel team coaches. All they do is assemble the best talent, give them some shoes and fly all over the country to play in tournaments. We’ve been reading about this for many years.

All the talk this summer is about a book written by George Dohrmann, ‘Play Their Hearts Out‘ on a coach and an AAU team. The book brings to light a negative side of the game/business. But believe it or not, there are many coaches on the summer circuit that do it the right way. Guys like Darryl Matthews of Camp Darryl and Norm Oden of the Michigan Mustangs. I’d like to see Dohrmann follow-up this project with a book on the good guys but we all know, negativity sells.

What is never talked about when people bash summer coaches is the time these guys put in. The money they spend, the headaches they deal with and the lack of props from the media.

In my last installment on summer basketball, Chris Grier calls himself “an awesome coach”. Read the whole story from the Lansing State Journal here. 

“I had the best talent, I had Robert Whaley, I had Paul Davis, I had Kelvin Torbert, I had Anthony Roberson, I had Jason Richardson, I had Brent Darby – basically the best players,” Grier Luchey said of that time period, when he coached for Oden. “Everyone that played in Flint, Saginaw and a little bit Detroit, I had them. To be quite honest, I kind of dominated AAU for most of those years. So my name kind of became bigger than the team name. And so everywhere you went it was ‘Chris Grier, Chris Grier,’ and people didn’t know about Norm. It was his group. It was his team, I was just a coach, just a very successful coach.

Would Grier be an awesome coach if he worked with lesser talented players?

When people compare coaches or talk of the good ones, I get annoyed. Who really knows what makes a good coach? Seems like everyone has their own interpretation of what makes a good coach.

Sure winning tells the story but there has to be more to it than that, no?

I have seen coaches do the right thing and still get fired, this after winning 70% of their games. Tale a look at the of Coach of the Year award winners in the NBA. 7 guys have been fired in the last 12 years.

A few NBA players have teamed up with Nike to conduct Skills Academies in the summer. Only problem it’s by invite only. The top players are allowed in; there are a few coaches who work with them and then they play games. I think it was Brian McCormick, a basketball guy from out West who thought this procedure was a bit odd.

Why aren’t they working with the lesser talented kids?

Mike Procopio, who we talked to a few days ago gave me this thoughts on coaching.

I think coaches have such a tougher job today than they had before because of the lack of mental toughness with players today. In the past,  you could scream at a kid and get after them and cut them. The result in that would be the kids working harder and taking the impact of the screaming or getting cut. In today’s society that can lead to a lawsuit or a firing of the coach.

Has coaching changed over the past 25 years? One thing I will say it’s not easy. It never was and never will be. Matter of fact, it’s a bit harder than the average fan thinks.

SteveFinamore@yahoo.com

Follow me on Twitter:@CoachFinamore

PART OF PROBLEM OR SOLUTION?

Everyone seems to talk a good game, but what are we doing to help?

Writers, coaches, parents and fans all seem to think they have answers. But all we get are the same old stories every summer. (And yes, blogs like this that cover this so-called problem.)

Joe Rexrode of the Lansing State Journal went deep into summer basketball and came up with this very long report (but well worth the read). He actually hits a few different angles by talking to Tom Izzo, Sonny, Dan Wetzel (who by the way makes a great point at the end of the story) Chris Grier (an agent now and former travel team coach), Maurice Ager and Norm Oden, coach of the Michigan Mustangs.

The piece is dominated by Grier; his involvement with the Michigan Mustangs, its players and where they went to college after playing for him. Not to mention he talks of the Pump brothers and Myron Piggie. What blows me away is he uses ‘abortion’ as an example.

“When I was coaching, the bad fish was Myron Piggie,” he said. “Everyone was comparing everything, all I heard about was Myron Piggie and his deal with Corey Maggette and all those guys, that traveling team with players from all over. That was the bad fish. We didn’t know about any other, there were no stories about who was doing what. A lot of things at that time were legal.”
The Pump brothers, for example, found ways to make money with exhibition games, a scouting service and Final Four tickets.
“When they did it, every AAU coach in the country followed behind it and did anything that was legal,” Grier Luchey said. “The NCAA didn’t have rules in that place at the time. So yes, absolutely, I would say 80 percent of AAU coaches participated in something, whether it was a scouting service or exhibition teams, something of that nature. All of those things were fine, there were no issues. People got rich, the Pumps got rich off of that. There are really only one or two groups you can talk about that really dominated that and got rich off it. They made a business off it. The Pump brothers made an incredible life off of all of those things.”
And what about the suggestion that some AAU coaches are making money off the backs of their players?
“My perspective is this,” Grier Luchey said. “The first thing you need to realize is this: For every alleged kid that is positioned into a college or whatever, all these stories I hear about, then there’s a college coach on the other side who is buying. The biggest story in the history of basketball is Myron Piggie.
“If Corey Maggette goes to Duke and Myron Piggie is taking money from everyone, surely he got money from his best player.”
Grier Luchey had more to say about the other side of the illicit deals.
“College coaches make approximately $2 million a year,” he said. “They are rewarded with shoe deals. Jordan’s kid goes to Central Florida, says ‘I’m not wearing these (Adidas shoes).’ Central Florida loses its whole deal with Adidas and now is a Nike school because one kid says, ‘I’m not putting those shoes on.’ There’s no comment, there’s no fallout, there’s no issues with any of that. Furthermore, the kids are locked up on a letter of intent, they’re bound to that school. It depends on the situation whether or not they’ll release a kid. But the coaches leave all the time. Just arbitrarily leave them.
“So I hear all these moral things about, ‘Who’s getting this and who’s doing that?’ but the system has said that basically the decision has already been made. The only good people are these guys and the bad people are these guys. There’s no opportunity to look at it case by case.
“It’s like this: Some people think abortion is bad. Some think abortion is necessary if a lady is raped or taken advantage of or molested or something like that. You can look at it case by case, but you have some people who have a blanket, ‘We don’t care. Abortion is just bad. That’s it. I don’t care if you were raped, I don’t care what happens, it’s just bad.’ Now I don’t have an opinion either way, that’s just an example I’m using.

Like my former boss and good friend Bob Leckie always says, “When all is said and done, usually more is said than done.”

SteveFinamore@yahoo.com

Follow me on Twitter: @CoachFinamore

COME OUT AND PLAY

(Fifth installment on the State of Youth Basketball)

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York during the 1970′s and 1980′s we played basketball all over the city.

Every outdoor court we went to there was always a crowd of ball players. We walked, we rode our bikes, we took the train, hopped on the bus and one thing was certain, we never got a ride in a car from our parents.

You showed up, walked through the entrance of the court, looked around at the comp and asked, “who’s got next?”

If you were lucky enough to get picked by someone and get on the court, you had better win or you had a long wait for the next game. If you showed up with 5 guys, you waited your turn. I recall showing up to a court and a couple of my friends and I were turned down by someone who had next. We didn’t get mad, we waited our turn and wound up smacking everyone the rest of the night. (Pick-up ball 101: When you have next, always accept someone’s request to put them on your team, don’t dis’ anyone)

West 4th street, Manhattan Beach, East 5th street, Tillary Park, Holy Name schoolyard, were a few courts we played on any day of the week, and at any time of the day. During the summer, we’d spend all day on the court.

I once read something from the great Bob Hurley Sr., boys head basketball coach at Saint Anthony’s high school in Jersey City, New Jersey. Hurley said when his sons Danny and Bobby Jr. were young he would drive them to another part of Jersey City, drop them off at a court and leave them there to play…all day.

Clarence Gaines Jr., son of the late, great Clarence ‘Big House’ Gaines Sr. passed along a story to me last week about his son and going to a park to play ball. “Do kids go to the playground and play pickup anymore? My son is 11  and doesn’t do it. Wish I could just find a place to take him and leave him for 3 hours to experience free play and pickup basketball. This would be better than any camp.”

Gaines and Hurley think alike.

Jim Boone, men’s head basketball coach at Tusculum College said, “Today’s parents really try to shelter their kids, they do not allow them to go through the normal bumps and bruises of growing-up.”

I have discussions with friends on a daily basis about how our world has changed in terms of child safety. I often wonder if there are more crazies out in society today compared to back in the 70′s or is just that today we have more media outlets (plus the internet) and we learn more about these deviant critters? Are we as parents more protective than our parents? I don’t know, you tell me.

“I was in Laguna Hills for a soccer tourney. Beautiful location. Got there at 9:30AM. Last game ended at 3:30PM. Beautiful outdoor basketball courts – one full court – two wonderful half courts. Great sunny day. Not a soul on the basketball court the entire time I was there. What a waste.” Said Gaines.

Again, great point, what a waste. Where is everyone?

SteveFinamore@yahoo.com

Follow me on Twitter: @CoachFinamore

TODAY’S PLAYER

(Fourth installment on youth basketball)

I like to talk to the people with the knowledge. I like to hear from the ones that are in the gym. Give me thoughts on summer basketball from a guy who has coached and trained players! Give me someone who is passionate when discussing basketball.

A few years ago I had the chance to work with Mike Procopio at Indiana’s Basketball camp down in Bloomington. We have stayed in touch ever since. Mike is one of the best trainers out there.

Mike, what is the biggest difference you see in high school players today as opposed to say 20 years ago?

I think the biggest change in today’s player is not only an overall lack of skill compared to players 15-20 years ago but the lack of role players. Back then a lot of players understood roles and could accept being a lesser part of a team. Not only that but there were the one trick ponies that could come in and make shots, move without the ball, just play defense, or have other skills that they maximized. It seems like the majority of players today need the ball in their hand to be effective and are for the most part non-existent without it. Obviously there is the age-old argument of the lack of skills and fundamentals of players today, which is correct as well. There were plenty of unskilled players back 20 years ago, but they would have an impact on the game without always having the ball in their hand.

Tell us something else that is changing in today’s ball player:

Another issue with today’s player is the empowerment of them. Somewhere along the line high school players at all skill levels have gotten empowered where they are expected to be handed everything without earning it. They are afraid to try to get their hands dirty. They refuse to struggle through things and earn them. Players 20 years ago were patient in their development and understood that it took sacrifice and they would have to wait their turn, but it was in their own best interest to do so. I think today’s player feels this self-importance and that they automatically deserve things without working to earn them.

Players today; harder or easier to coach than 20 years ago?

The player’s 20 years ago weren’t all perfect and had some bad traits, but it was in a different time, when coaches, administrators, and parents were respected and revered by players. Today’s world is much different where players view some if not all of those people to be threats to players in today’s game. Players back 20 years ago were just easier to coach. Players weren’t all coachable but I do feel that a higher percentage were more receptive to coaching than today.

Visit Procopio’s website and you can find him on Twitter: @Hoopconsultants

SteveFinamore@yahoo.com

Follow me on Twitter: @CoachFinamore