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Kobe Bryant On Instilling Work Ethic In Your Kids

Posted on by Nathan Edick

Do you instill the same work ethic in your kids?

I do. You do it by repetition. By simply the act of working everyday. You can’t talk your children into working hard. That’s the one thing that drives me crazy. I have parents come up to me and ask: ‘how can I get my kid to work hard? What do I need to tell them? Can you talk to my kid?’ I say ‘listen, it’s not something you can talk through. Its a behavioral thing. You have to get up everyday and do the the work. Consistently, do the work.’

My kids (activities) they work everyday and that’s how you instill it in them where it becomes a behavioral thing. It doesn’t matter what they decide to do. But she understands the discipline that it takes to work at something every single day. So whether she wants to become a writer, a director, a doctor, a lawyer, she will have those characteristics.

Its observing. It’s seeing you. It’s not just me, it’s my wife as well. Her commitment to the children. Making sure they are on point, on schedule, with school work, everything is sharp. Seeing me everyday, getting up to train and work hard.

The example has to be where it is at. A lot of parents are “do as I say, not as I do.”

Tips Entering Tryouts with Grandview Heights Head Coach, Ray Corbett

Posted on by Nathan Edick

Grandview Heights Head Coach, Ray Corbett, shares insight for players at all levels to best prepare for tryouts. Coaches are looking for players who showcase great attitudes, hustle and an enthusiasm for the game. Players must lock-in mentally to avoid any slippage when it comes to attention to detail. Be confident, give your best effort & be an energy giver.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN: Tips Entering Tryouts with Grandview Heights Head Coach, Ray Corbett

Just Hoops Highlight Series – How to Defend Screen-the-Screener

Posted on by Nathan Edick

Screen-the-Screener is a multiple screening action set that can put the defense at a disadvantage as you hold-in to help on the 1st cutter. Use the “shark” concept to take the defensive player guarding the least threatening player (opposite wing) to defend the down-screen. This allows you to “hold-in” on the 1st screen to take away threat #1 while the “shark” defender can tag the shooters hip coming off the down-screen.

10 Tips For Parenting Your Student-Athlete

Posted on by Nathan Edick
  1. Be positive
    1. It rubs off. If you complain about them not being in the starting lineup, they will do the same. Be an attentive listener.
  2. Be realistic
    1. Someone may be bigger, faster, stronger, tougher, or smarter. Know their limitations and encourage them to make the best contribution that they can. Everyone on the team will have a role and encourage them to be the best they can be in that role. Star in your current role while finding ways to improve your weaknesses outside of required activities.
  3. Don’t knock the coaching staff
    1. How can you expect your child to play to their fullest if all they hear from you about the coach is negative? The coach represents authority so you will give them the wrong message if you ridicule the coach and his/her teachings. Support the coach’s rules, philosophies, and playbook. Encourage building high quality connections with strong communication channels.
  4. Support the other players
    1. Treat each player as if they were your own. Don’t dislike a player because you don’t like their parents or their role on the team.
  5. Don’t be a know-it-all
    1. Coaches spend many hours with these young people that the parents may never see. Be a good role model and let the coaches’ coach.
  6. Be an active parent
    1. Monitor their academics and insist that they earn good grades. If you put academics first, your child will be more successful.
  7. Have an awareness of your child’s social activities
    1. Monitor their friends, hangouts, relationships, curfew, language, and rules. Talk to them about drugs, alcohol, cyber-bullying, and mental health. If you don’t communicate well in these areas, the wrong people will influence them.
  8. Be unselfish
    1. Don’t use the sport for the wrong reasons. Let them play because they love the game.
  9. Don’t baby your child
    1. Sever the umbilical cord. It’s a tough world out there so let them begin to prepare for it. Let the coaches push your child. Let the coaches make them tougher mentally by challenging and holding them accountable.
  10. Don’t live your life through your child
    1. You had a chance to be young. Let them create their own story. Don’t force any sport down their throat.

Duke Basketball: Skill Development

Posted on by Nathan Edick

Takeaways for all players, coaches & trainers:

What to work on? What is going to get you on the floor.

What is the difference between a good player and a great player? The fundamentals and the way they do things.

The biggest adjustment for players going into college? The basics.

  • Coach Chris Carrawell: “The league we play in, they are not going to let you dribble 25 times and shoot a step-back 3. What we try to get these guys to understand is simple in college basketball is really effective. In the NBA, the teams that win do the simple stuff well.”
  • Coach Jon Scheyer: Emphasize shooting spot shots. “We really like to drive the ball and get drive and kicks. So being able to knock down your open 3’s is a big thing. Moving forward, we start building in specific movements. Coming off screens, working on change of direction moves and getting into the paint and focusing on footwork.”

Shooting 100-200 game-like shots will go further then spending a lot of unnecessary time in the gym working on parts of your game that does not translate to live play.

June Newsletter for Coaches, Players & Parents

Posted on by Nathan Edick
  • Finding your Team Leaders from Texas Head Coach, Shaka Smart
  • Shooting Drills on The Gun from former Wisconsin Head Coach, Bo Ryan
  • NBA Champion, Nick Nurse – 1st Year Head Coach with Plenty of Head Coaching Experience
  • Articles on ‘Be the Same, Whether You’re Up or Down: A Lesson From Golden State’s Steve Kerr,’ and ‘Inside the relationship that unleashed Steph Curry’s greatness.’
  • A breakdown of Decision Making & Reads on Baseline Drives using WNBA highlight
  • Play of the Month: Portland Trail Blazers – Rub Flare/Kill


Click the link below to read our June Coaches Newsletter.

Just Hoops June Newsletter

What we can learn from the San Antonio Spurs – Pound the Rock

Posted on by Nathan Edick

Practice after practice, day after day, season after season, the Spurs pound the rock. They get 1% better every day. They know that the first one hundred blows may not yield the outcome they hope for, but only through one hundred unsuccessful blows will come the one that cracks the rock, the one breakthrough victory, the next world title.

We live in a world where some people believe that high-level athletic performance is easy and that people are born with talent and greatness. They want immediate mastery. They want all the accolades without most of the sweat. They want to hit the rock on the first blow and have it break. The world is full of people looking for a shortcut to the top. There are none. Are you willing to pound the rock?

April Newsletter for Coaches, Players & Parents

Posted on by Nathan Edick
  • Transition Defense Tenants from Kevin Eastman
  • Shooting Drills on The Gun from former Gonzaga Coach, Jerry Krause
  • Chris Beard, “Why I Coach”, from his time as Head Coach at Angelo State
  • Articles on how heartbreak didn’t break Tony Bennett and ND Coach Muffet McGraw Says ‘We Don’t Have Enough Women in Power.’
  • A look at Virginia readings away screens & turning a flare screen into a back-screen
  • Play of the Month: Virginia – Elevator Rip

Click the link below to read our April Coaches Newsletter.

Just Hoops April Newsletter

Teaching Points from the 2019 Men’s Final Four

Posted on by Nathan Edick

Tom Izzo

Rebounding – Send 4 to the boards

  • Guys are constantly going (gives your players mental edge, keeps them aggressive)
  • If you send 4 and they don’t get board you lose (players must fight for every board)
  • Forces other teams to adjust
  • Most basketball players don’t enjoy contact—tougher team usually wins
  • Go after ball instead of letting it come to you

DRILL: 2 v 2 Rebounding—Block out drill

  • Working on hit, find, and get
  • Make sure players go after ball with 2 hands
  • Grab ball above your head=good rebound
  • Coaching offensive and defensive rebounding at the same time. Offensive rebounder tries to get even footing with the defender. Don’t just lean on defensive guy

Tony Bennett

“Pack Line” Defense

  • Dotted line on the floor 16-17 feet from the basket.
  • Nobody goes outside the line with the exception of the on-ball defender.
  • Defenders inside the pack must stay in a stance and see both. Have vision!
  • No help move, just a recovery move.

Ball Pressure

  • Closeouts – run 2 steps, chop rest of the way. Come out with high hands.
  • DO NOT let the ball-handler go baseline.
  • DO NOT allow the ball-handler to shoot a rhythm shot.
  • Try to force the ball-handler to an angle. Turn him and level him off.
  • No straight line drives – the more you turn the ball-handler, the better.
  • Shooters – Have to bother hand. Get hands up on the ball, not on the face.
  • Against the ball you must =
    Closeout/Take away baseline/Take away rhythm shots/Level off/Bother/Jump to the ball

Bruce Pearl

“Raise the level of expectations they have for themselves. As sons, as brothers, as son’s of God. No one should have higher expectations for you than yourself. Focus on the positives, everyone is good at something, find that in all your players.”

Under out of bounds defense “15”

Coach Pearl uses a number system to call all of his defense. First digit indicates where the defense picks up (50’s were full court, 40’s were 3/4, 30’s half court, 20’s in the scoring area, and 10’s were under out).

The second number indicates the type of defense (0 = no switching, 1= 1-3-1, 2 = 2-3, 3 = 3-2, 5= switching everything).
55 would then be full court man, switch everything etc.
15 builds from the inside out. The ball can’t ever go inside. If they get anything it has to be a lob or a pass way outside. If you have good ball pressure you can steal these passes.
Rules:
1)Don’t let the man on the ball side block duck in.
2)Don’t allow any clean screens.
3)All defenders must stay inside their man.
4)On ball defender must have hands up. Any low pass is a steal for someone else.
5)Come together on all screens. If you are switching onto a screener win the foot fight and get below him so he can’t slip.

Chris Beard

“In basketball, there is no right decision. After you make a decision, you make it the right decision.”

300 Club – Making 300 made 3’s every day in practice from the start of the season to the end
Kill Drill – 3 Consecutive Stops (7 kills in a game is an automatic win) – 21 stops in a game

We believe in daily film. Daily film is crucial-Day to Day work in the film room-minimum of 10 minutes a day.
No cell phones at team functions (team meals and bus rides)

Should High School basketball use a shot clock?

Posted on by Nathan Edick

Would implementing a shot clock at the high school level improve the game of basketball? With every game that is slowed down by long possessions & the final score kept in the 30’s, regardless of outcome, the debate rages on among the basketball community.

Would adding a shot clock improve player development? Provide a better viewing experience? Allow the better team that night the best chance to win? Better prepare players for the college level? How much will it cost?

Below are two insightful articles that cover both sides of the argument:

For – https://www.basketballforcoaches.com/high-school-shot-clock/

Against – https://rlsdailymail.wordpress.com/2019/03/03/high-school-basketball-heres-hoping-time-has-run-out-on-shot-clock-idea/

Earlier this season, our Twitter poll question overwhelmingly was in favor of adding a shot clock in the state of Ohio. Comment below and let us know where you stand.