SECTION 2 THE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF THE GAME

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Vivian Smith
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1 SECTION 2 THE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF THE GAME After 18 years of developing players, I have come to find that there are certain key elements to any area of basketball. Any offensive skill, defensive skill, and really anything that happens on the basketball court comes down to a few common components that I really believe we as trainers and coaches must address to get the most out of our players. Throughout this program, in both our on-court and off-the-court training programs, we will address these issues. You can find every fancy terminology in the book, experiment with every gadget and unique training tool out on the market, and all will point back to these key areas. In our evaluation section, we will define how to actually measure these areas and determine in which areas your players need improvement. But after 18 years, I have come to the point where I can watch a player play or workout for 5 minutes and have a 90% accurate assessment of which of these areas are weak and need to improve. As basketball coaches and trainers we should all know how a player is SUPPOSED to move and look out on the floor on both offense and defense. I have said many times that the goal of this program is not to simply give you drills to do with your players, but much more importantly, give you the insight into player development that will allow you to recognize weaknesses, create programs, and deliver them to your players to improve their games and/or your team. Not enough coaches and trainers go back deep enough to understand WHY a player is weak in a certain area and, as a result, are unsuccessful in creating a program for that player that actually gets him or her better. My goal is for everyone developing or coaching players is to give them such a deep understanding of the essential components, that they can quickly identify weaknesses and be able to create and administer a program that produces quick and effective results. 1

2 ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS Fundamental Skill Development While this might seem obvious and old-school, this is an often-overlooked area. Even with the dozens of players we train each year to prepare for the NBA Draft (many who have played at the top college programs), we find the glaring need to return to fundamentals. Without going into each area as we will in our on-court skills section of the course, players need constant work on the basics of the game. Ball-handling, passing, shooting, and footwork throughout all movements need to be mastered and sharp to accomplish anything. In my years of coaching, I realized that if we drew up a play for screening action on the left side of the floor and the ball handler on the right side can t throw a left handed pass, no matter how open the play was, he could not deliver the ball against pressure because he would have to throw the ball across his body. In the same play, how can the play work if the cutter, who is open if and when he receives the ball, doesn t have good footwork to square up and get his feet set to shoot the ball? If you have a play that sets a great cross-screen for your post player but your guards cannot handle the ball or feed the post or your post player does not have the proper footwork to catch the ball and execute a move, you will also find yourself in a bad spot, and a failed play. These are a few of a thousand examples why even the best coaching and diagramming plays will fall short of success if your players are not skilled. Our on-court skills section goes into detail on each skill area. We will go through the details of each skill, the drills to improve that skill, and how to structure those drills as well. Later, in our Drill-Sequencing Section and also in our Performance Training Integration Section, we will give you the tools to put it all together into one training program. One of the things I have learned about player development from being with players Chauncey Billups and Kevin Garnett for over 16 years is that a player has never mastered fundamental skills. These skills need to be constantly worked and improved - even for the best of the world. I often ask young players who have a hard time going to their weak hand, or can t seem to make shots in games, How much time did you spend this week focusing and working on that area? The answer is usually Not enough. As someone who has coached at the highest level, I understand that there are many things you have to get through with your team - offense, defense, press breakers, etc, but when you really break it down as we have at Impact, without players who can execute the fundamental skills, all these areas will simply not be good enough. It is a challenge, but our goal here in this course is to give you the tools to get it all done effectively and efficiently. As simple as it sounds - players can t better without improving their skills. It is an essential component and, what we feel players must focus on to have a chance to get better. Body Control, Position, and Balance Maybe the first and most often heard comment I get when people come in to our gym and see the NBA guys workout and play is Wow, I can t believe how they can control their bodies and movement. This point they make is critical. The best players have the best balance and body control on the court. This ties into everything we do in this program - on and off the court. In our skill development section, every move, every shot, and dribble, must be done with control and balance. The most critical aspect of almost any movement in the game is good balance. In 2012 when Dion Waiters showed in Las Vegas for me to get him prepared for the draft, my first comment was, He has unbelievable body control and balance. And, 3 months later, Dion became the 4th pick in the draft and was 1st Team All-Rookie in Now we all don t have many Dion Waiters, that I understand, but it is an example that as coaches and trainers, we must make sure that the basics skills 2

3 of body control and balance are in place if we expect our players to reach their potential. His ability to stay on balance in a variety of basketball situations, allow him to be a very versatile and effective player on both ends of the floor. Using another example - I have watched many players come in to train and noticed that on almost every shot, they lose their balance, causing them to fade back or to the side and decreasing the accuracy of their shot. I have also seen players go to make a strong dribble move and fall off balance, putting them in a bas position where they cannot shoot or pass. As a trainer, my initial thought would be to make a coaching point to the player to Stay on balance. But after years of seeing this, I began to realize that many of those players did not have the physical tools, or proper body control, to keep their balance no matter how much I corrected them. It needed to be trained into them. Certain muscles needed to be developed and sometimes flexibility needed to be improved. This is done both on and off the court - and our drilling section will focus on this in almost every repetition, while the Performance Program will also address some of the muscle imbalances and, without over-complicating the system, allow you as a coach or trainer to install 2-3 exercises that will improve your players in these areas. We will offer many basketball drills that force the player to be on balance, therefore strengthening the proper muscles and training them This isn t complicated, and a combination of focusing on these drills throughout the course of the workout and implementing the performance training exercises, will produce outstanding results and allow your players to improve in all on-court areas. So what exactly am I referring to when I mention body control? Well, that is a good question but as basketball coaches, we have our own definition. When we watch the game, we can tell when players are off balance or, literally, out of control. I have talked to many people and debated the exact meaning of body control, and in every instance, we conclude that it is a unique term that someone in basketball, or really in any sport, would be able to identify immediately. Lying beneath all of these points is the ever-famous basketball coaching point of GET LOW. As I have studied the game and player development I have certainly concluded that nothing in basketball can be done well from an upright position. Nothing at all! Shooting, dribbling, passing, defending, rebounding - all are done much better when the player, as we say, starts low and stays low. Coaches and trainers everywhere have their players doing wall-sits, and are constantly screaming our STAY LOW. The easiest analysis I like to use is when a player is upright he is like a stretched out spring - basically powerless and worthless. But when he sits down in that proper stance, on both sides of the ball, and keeps his wide base, he is that same spring, mashed down and ready to explode upon release. The most important point to consider here and understand is that there are some players who CANNOT get as low as you would like them to get. This has to be trained. An athlete in poor condition with limited flexibility, tight hips, and no hamstring or glute strength CANNOT get low - no matter now load you tell them. In this course, we will put you WAY ahead of the next coach or trainer by giving you the tools and drills to allow all your players to play low on both sides of the ball. You will be AMAZED at how much better they become and how much better your team gets when this is accomplished. We will discuss the specific uses in each section in our On-Court Drills Section, but body control and balance apply to following main skills. Change of Speed I have said it many times, especially when speaking about a player making the move from college to the pros, or even from high school to college or middle school to high school - nothing is more important than ability to change speed on the court. In fact, as we evaluate players, speed is certainly a factor, but it is secondary to the ability to go from slow to fast, or CHANGE SPEEDS. This is not something I invented or came up with randomly, but rather an observation from training thousands of players over 17 years - and may of the best in the world. 3

4 I remember my first day, back in 1999, training Antonio Davis, then with the Indiana Pacers. I was a young trainer and very excited to get Antonio as a client. Recall my first clients were Kevin Garnett, Chauncey Billups, Tyronn Lue, and Joe Smith, so I had an idea of how fast, agile, and powerful the NBA guys were. After the first 10 minutes with Antonio, I was scratching my head thinking this guy really isn t that good. His pace to start the workout was a little slower than the others and, not being a particularly strong offensive player, his moves also started a bit slow. But then, when we turned the heat up, I saw Antonio go from slow-to-fast SO fast that it blew me away. He continued throughout the workout to blow me away with just how much explosion and change of speed he had. It made me realize, at a young age of 28, that pure speed wasn t the key in most cases - but ability to change speeds was. Take another great example in Chauncey Billups. As a young player, Billups played very fast - all the time. In fact, I can remember him playing with the Celtics as a rookie and people commenting that he did not play with good tempo, another basketball term we use for change of speed. Well, as Chauncey matured as a player and began to figure it out he began to play at his own pace, but then when it was time to make a move or create space or find an opening, Chauncey took off like a rocket. Watch Billups run, jump, etc and he will not blow you away with his athleticism. But watch him make a move on the court and you will see what a true change of speed is. As we take you through this course, we will constantly emphasize teaching and coaching your players that they don t need to be fast all the time. In fact, the key to all of our offensive moves is ability to explode and change speed, but be able to also slow back down to shoot the ball under control and on-balance. Consider making a cut to get open, it is the sudden burst, or change, of speed that will free a player from the defender. I have watched hundreds of youth games where players just cannot get open with without the ball - all because they do not have an understanding of changing speed. The same goes for defense: being able to start and stop quickly is the key to staying in front of offensive players and stop their progress. Just like body control and balance, change of speed can be drilled both on and off the court. In all of our drills in this course, we will constantly be reminding you as a trainer and coach to emphasize to each player that they need to change speeds at game pace. This constant reminder in every drill will train their system to be more explosive and execute in the game. We will also provide you with the Performance Training exercises to increase your players ability to change speed by building the proper muscles and training them to be more explosive and powerful. As you will see in the course - it all works together, on and off the court - to produce better basketball players. Change of speed is a critical area. Footwork As our training program has evolved and gone through various minor changes and additions, the attention to footwork and its importance has remained a major point of emphasis. Every area of the game requires some kind of footwork. And, taking it even further, good footwork is the absolute base for great body control, balance, and the ability to change speeds. In every skill, from shooting to defending, footwork is critical. Throughout this course, we will remind you in almost every drill and situation, to check the player s footwork and, if it is not correct, slow the drill down and get it right. We won t go through everything here as I am intending to teach footwork for every area of the game at this time. But rather want to begin the course with having every coach or trainer know that great footwork equals great things, and, maybe most importantly, as we all can t have 15 Kevin Garnett s on our team, great footwork can compensate for lack of athleticism and other technical and tactical skills. Take a player like Paul Pierce, who, relatively speaking in the NBA, is not an outstanding athlete. Yet Pierce has had a hall of fame career and is one of the most efficient and effective scorers in the history of the game. Why and How?? Amazing footwork. Watch Pierce for 3 minutes and you will notice he has 4

5 mastered his footwork to be able to create space and get his shot off. He has also mastered it to be able to guard some of the best perimeter players in the league year after year--his footwork is flawless. We get young players coming in to train all the time who, in their first workout, demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of footwork. Once we slow them down and teach the following, they improve immediately and immensely. The 1-2 step into shots Keeping a wide base Various pivots and how to use them Sitting properly on the balls of the feet Watching high school games I see players all the time who never have their feet set, always are pivoting into the defender, and play upright with a narrow base on both sides of the ball. We will allow you to teach your players great footwork, in progressions that will allow them to improve gradually and realistically while gaining an understanding of the importance of their feet. I have always felt that if a young player could master his footwork in the 9th grade, he or she would have a tremendous advantage over most all the competition in their age group. That is our goal here: that at the completion of this course, you are well equipped to make every one of your players substantially better. at the guys who, year in and year out, play well in the NBA, they are they guys who are most fit. Kobe, Durant, and guys I know first-hand, Garnett, Billups, Rudy Gay, Rip Hamilton (and I could go on), are all in elite shape. There is nothing more evident to me in youth basketball and even in college than the lack of elite fitness in the players. Players carrying too much weight, not conditioned enough to run the floor hard, or most importantly, make a move at GAME SPEED, as we teach in all our drill work. It is very simple - you cannot play this game without being in great shape. We will detail in this course, how to achieve this elite state of fitness at any level. It involves everything from doing all drills at game speed, to basketball specific conditioning, to eating properly and getting good sleep. Is it easy? No, but as I have always believed, there is nothing in life worth achieving that comes easily. It will take some work, both from you as a coach and trainer, and from the players. But we are prepared to get you there. For me, I have been on a personal quest for 17 years to make players more fit - period. I believe in it and I believe we do a great job of structuring our training to produce these results. Our Drill Sequencing section will talk a lot about sequencing the drills to make sure the players are getting the proper cardiovascular workout - and not stopping the workout constantly. We will also deliver a series of conditioning drills to add to your program as well as discuss the overall nutritional approach players should take. Conditioning and Overall Fitness As any player who has trained with me or at Impact over the years knows very well, I am a huge believer in elite fitness and conditioning for a basketball players. In fact, when someone asks me what I noticed MOST about NBA players after 17 years of training them, I always answer, quickly, Too many of them just aren t in elite shape. My thought process is this, and I know many of you will agree. If a players is a great shooter, passer, defender, or whatever, but he is not in shape, as soon as the fatigue sets in, all the great skills go out the window. If you look When it is all said and done, our goal is for you to have an amazing ability to get your players to truly believe that they have to be in great shape to be at their best. If they can t take this step, then, as I said above, all the talent in the world cannot overcome fatigue and what it does to the body. When a player is in elite shape, his or her skills can be maximized. A player who is not in shape simply cannot train at game speed, and therefore really cannot improve in the ways the want. Watch any workout in our facility and you will be able to tell within 3 minutes, which 5

6 players are or are not in great shape. Continue to watch, and those players who are not in shape will begin to get sloppy, not pay attention to detail, and really just get through the workout. Of course we will discuss a very critical point here: that players cannot be in elite shape for 12 months out of the year. In the program, we will give you the tools necessary to set your training year up to make sure your players are peaking physically during the most important time of the year - the season. When our players arrive in June or July, to begin to prepare for the upcoming season that officially begins in October, we will gradually bring their fitness up to an elite level, allowing them to maintain that fitness all the way through the season. Not an easy process and it is obvious that many teams or players tend to burn out halfway through the season. Through this course, we will make sure your players continue to improve throughout the entire season. 6

SECTION 3 THE MENTAL SIDE

SECTION 3 THE MENTAL SIDE In all my years of training, I have come to the very valuable conclusion that effective training, and, for lack of better terms, why we have been so successful, sometimes has