Start of high school basketball in the State of Michigan.
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CHRIS MULLIN ON THE RED STORM
“If we stay healthy and play the right way, we should take the next step.”
ON MICHAEL BEASLEY
Former Timberwolves general manager David Kahn discusses Beasley:
“Michael’s issue then from a basketball standpoint wasn’t on the offensive end. Michael had a hard time on the defensive end. I think that wasn’t so much about Michael as the fact most of his basketball training was in the AAU system, (then) a brief time in college. My sense at the time was he didn’t play as much in Miami as he had hoped because of the challenges he faced defensively.
For the most part, a player who can’t defend usually has trouble with playing time or making a team. A coach needs you to defend.
“Offensively, he’s an incredibly gifted natural scorer. There isn’t any part of his game offensively he can’t do — shoot with range, drive, finish. He’s really smooth.’’
Everyone loves to score.
“It wasn’t necessarily one-on-one defense. So much of the NBA is defensive scheme, knowing where the ball is on the court, how a team plays its pick-and-roll. It’s not as simple as it looks and for Michael, it was the only hard part of the game. I don’t know the strides [Beasley’s made] since, but back then that was it.’’
I agree with this. It’s hard to defend off the ball. That’s probably one of the hardest things for a coach to teach a player. The I.Q. has to be there. Have to be alert. Have to have an understanding of what may happen next. You have to be in proper position and you have to talk.
You have to WANT to play defense.
Here’s the entire article via the New York Post.
http://nypost.com/2017/09/19/knicks-carmelo-replacement-may-be-in-the-building/
UNBREAKABLE
(Special thanks to Steve Gilbert)
“Unbreakable power forward. No [elbow] could break him. No loss of a championship could break him. Nothing could break him. You know how I played: I tried to intimidate guys and ‘bow guys, but none of that ever fazed him. As far as giving me problems, he’s right behind Hakeem Olajuwon. Not because of his moves. Because of his mind.”
— Shaquille O’Neal on Tim Duncan
LOUIE DAMPIER
“First of all Louie has an incredible love for competition no matter what the sport. He was a basketball pro’s pro, the highest compliment that can be paid. In our championship year he was the main threat inside of three minutes when the game was on the line. He relished the critical times in the games…and as anyone who has been in contact with him in this sport knows, he is overwhelming loved by everybody.”
-Hubie Brown on Louie Dampier
DOC AND MOSES
Back in the day, boy-o-boy do I miss the hoop magazines…
YOU MUST LEARN
“I’m interested, most of all, in the question of learning. Progress is what distinguishes humans from the rest of the animals on the planet. A lion. I think his behavior is the same for the last 5,000 years or however many years. Humans have improved, or at least the majority have, and that’s what makes us who we are. We are evolving. That’s the way it works, and that’s what I’ve managed to inculcate in Rafael. Sometimes he’s listened better than at other times, but there’s nothing more to life than that.”
-Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal’s Uncle and coach
