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All posts for the month February, 2013
On the jump ball circle, you don’t often hear about the importance of good blocking out, but it is crucial as well as very easy. Many times, it is obvious to both teams where the ball is going to be tapped. If one team has a much taller player jumping, he will tap to a pocket where he has two men together. However, often, even though the ball is tapped between the two, a smart player from the other team will cut in between and steal the tap. He can easily be blocked out since he has no time to fake and jockey at all, but it is necessary for the players on the circle to realize that he must be blocked out. This is a perfect example where technique means almost nothing. Getting the ball is simply a matter of realizing that an attempt to block out must be made.
In a second situation, on the free throw lane, many players merely step into the lane instead of stepping against the man beside them. To be sure you get the long rebound, you have to step against your man and clear out some space for the ball to fall into. Many players get good block out position, but the only ball they can get is one that is falling through the net.
From Dick’s book Stuff
Any time you get the ball, and often before you get it, look to your basket. It is astonishing that players need to be told such a thing, yet players fail to do this constantly.
Often there are men free near the basket (Isn’t that where you go when you are free?), but the player with the ball doesn’t look at them. Frequently, a so-called great pass is made, and all it took was someone to look.
There is nothing clever or complicated about this instruction. It is something everyone can do, but very, very few players do it every time.
It can be done every time, so make it a habit. Overdo it in some pickup games if that will help you remember. And then do it in games. Every time.
From Dick’s book Stuff
LONHOBIR is a made-up word for good shot selection—a thing that almost all players are terrible at. The word takes the first letter of each word of the following phrase: Shoot Layups Or (shots with) No Hand (up) On Balance In Range.
You’ve got to wonder (unless time is running out) why anyone ever takes anything but a layup or a shot with no hand in the face on balance and in good shooting range. If you can’t get the shot you want, pass off. That seems easy enough, yet players instead want to flip up a scooper or let go a flying hook or a fade-away jumper. What for?
“But Coach,” you hear players say, “I’m good at that shot.”
“Sure, but you’re better at shots with no hand in your face. You’re even better at shots when you’re on balance. You’re even better at shots when you’re a little bit closer.”
Why take a fade-away when you can pass off and try again? Why take anything but a very high-percentage shot? The guess might be that players are selfish, and they want to score, and they are afraid that if they don’t shoot when they have it, someone else will. But that is not the answer. One-on-one games prove that.
In a one-on-one game, you not only get every shot, but the more shots you make, the more shots you get to shoot since most players play one-on-one with a “make-it-take-it” arrangement. Yet, even in one-on- one games, players repeatedly take poor, low-percentage shots instead of being patient and waiting for a better opportunity. There is no explaining it except as being a lack of awareness. Most players just don’t give much thought to percentages.
Learning to make a shot with a hand in your face is not nearly as important as learning to pass up such shots and learning how to get shots with no hand in your face. Of course, layups and inside shots are not included in the “no hand” rule. You should be able to make those with ten hands in your face.
For a quick review, some questions.
What excuse do you have for shooting shots off balance and out of your “sure-shooting” range?
Why do you shoot when there is a hand in your face?
Why won’t you pass off and wait for a higher percentage opportunity?
And the best question of all is, why do you ever take a bad shot in a one-on-one match?
Sometimes, even good players make very little sense.
From Dick’s book Stuff
