HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT?

DRAFTING A PLAYER WITH HEART

In basketball, the difference between winning or losing can often come down to a single centimeter. That’s what Kawhi Leonard’s college coach always told him.

It could be a loose ball, a coin-flip rebound, a tip-in, a charge taken, a shot denied.

“You can’t take any play off,” said Leonard, the Spurs’ soon-to-be rookie forward. “Getting that loose ball could be the play that helps us win the game.”

The every-possession-counts approach that coach Steve Fisher preached at San Diego State helped transform Leonard from under-recruited high school prospect from Riverside, Calif., into one of the country’s best college players in two short years.

It helped Leonard transform SDSU from college basketball wasteland into a top-five NCAA program.

Thursday, it helped make Leonard the 15th pick in the NBA draft.

(Thanks Jeff McDonald)

SUPERSTITIOUS?

Jason Terry has never been the most popular opponent.  

And his mouthy style has never endeared him to many opponents, either. 

But the superstitious Terry claims the Spurs tried to trick him in one of his best known beliefs. 

Terry prepares for an opponent by wearing the shorts of the next day’s opposing team. This compulsion has left “The Jet” desperately tracking down the right trunks after a bad night. But a network of rival equipment managers and fellow NBA players usually take care of Terry. 

But after Terry’s groin shot to Michael Finley during the 2006 playoffs, he doesn’t have many friends with the Spurs. And the team tried to trick him by giving him a pair of practice shorts rather than a game-worn pair several years ago. 

“It’s gotta be the real thing,” Terry told ESPN.com. “Now, San Antonio tricked me about three years ago when they gave me some practice shorts, and I tried them. And they ended up beating us. So that doesn’t work.” 

Terry told ESPN that his worst shorts he has worn were a pair once worn by former Utah point guard John Stockton. 

“Stockton didn’t give them to me, but I got them from the actual ball kid in the arena,” Terry said. ” When I looked at them, I knew they were his, because they were the shortest thing out there, and then they had his No. 12 on the inside.” 

Terry’s wife, Johnyika, isn’t a fan of this compulsive practice. But her husband doesn’t care. 

“Nah, she doesn’t like it,” Terry said. “But hey, it works for me. Got a lot of wins.”

(Thanks Tim Griffin & LM Otero)

STYLE INSTEAD OF SUBSTANCE?

Championship-caliber teams don't get worse as the biggest series of their season progresses. They don't fumble, stumble and crumble under the sort of spotlight that requires them to be committed, aggressive and accountable.

I've used boxing metaphors before, because no sport better blends the human condition with the spectrum of sports. So in many ways for the Heat, they were Mike Tyson in Tokyo. They were intoxicated with the paparazzi following. They were the life of the Finals party. They were the popular pick to win it all, even after some flaws were exposed early in the series.

And then they got popped in the mouth, and started scrambling around the ring searching for a mouthpiece instead of getting up to answer the count.

And as a result, the Mavericks -- those takers -- snatched a championship from the Heat's waste. But here's where the Tyson-in-Tokyo analogy ends. What the Mavericks accomplished was no upset.

Team won out over top-heavy talent. Determination beat out distraction. Substance overcame style.

(Thanks Michael Wallace - ESPN)

KILLER CROSSOVER

When you stand just 5-foot-6, you usually aren't considered a basketball prodigy. When you are just a 17-year-old sophomore in high school, you usually aren't considered a pro prospect. Aquille Carr -- in what many will consider a surprise -- apparently is both.

The quick-as-lightning, high-scoring, show-stopping point guard from Patterson (Md.) High School returned from a recent tournament in Milan, Italy, with a $750,000 contract offer that conceivably could be worth nearly $1 million.

Carr was the best player in the tournament, averaging more than 40 points per game. Checkout the full article here.



(Thanks Rivals.com)

SMART PLAYERS

Came across a good read on Joey Burton's blog about smart players and decided to pass it along...

Smart basketball teams play with poise. Smart teams never appear ruffled by anything that happens. They're fiercely competitive to be sure, but they play with controlled aggression. They extract the utmost from the individual skills of each player and then blend those skills into their team game. Smart teams don't beat themselves; they consistently win the close ones.

The fact is, I've never seen a championship team in any sport that didn't play smart. And while smart teams may not always win championships, they are always competitive. It's no surprise that those teams are comprised of players who think the game-who make productive plays under pressure and seldom, if ever, make game-costing errors. They consistently outthink their opponents. They master the game's finer points, the little details that almost always determine the difference between a W and an L.

"Play smart," says Jerry West. "Your brain is as much a weapon as your legs and arms."

The ability to make the correct split-second decision and execute a critical play consistently is a key attribute of a great player. Regarding the mental game within basketball, Phil Jackson says, "It's not how hard you play, it's how smart you play." I agree with Phil, with the caveat that if you don't play hard it may be too late to play smart. Smart players always play hard. It's not that great players stop to mull over a decision as to what to do next. They anticipate what needs to be done, which enables them to do the right thing.

(Thanks Joey Burton, Basketball Insights)

THE TRUE TEST OF TRUST & TEAMWORK

With 1.7 seconds left on the clock and down by three, the Spurs season would be decided by their next shot attempt.  Greg Popovich drew up a play for a 3-pointer, and surprisingly, it wasn’t for one of the experienced “Big 3” that had hoisted four championship trophies in the past seven years, but instead for undrafted rookie Gary Neal.

Say what?

“It’s kind of a great feeling; Coach Pop draws the play up and you see you’re going to get the shot and nobody looks around and questions it or anything like that,” Neal said.  “It was great walking out of the huddle and your teammates are happy with you getting the shot and expecting you to make it.”

“I think it was a very good call by Pop,” Manu Ginobili said.  “It was the kind of play that's designed for him to take a shot like that because he’s the one with the quickest release.”

As a sidenote, Ginobili said after the game "It was mid-September and I was working out and he showed up one day.   They told me that this was the new shooter we had.  I’m not lying when I say that I saw him miss the first 20 shots he took.” 

Says a lot about the Spurs chemistry and trust in each other by giving him the final shot without any objections from the team.

(Thanks Andrew McNeil of ESPN)

DO YOU MAKE TOO MANY EXCUSES?

Came across another great nugget about "excuses" on the PGC Blog that every player should read...

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Excuses are for mediocre players.  Forget them.  There are thousands of excuses available to all losers.  To have a good excuse is to have what every other loser in the history of the world has had.

Don’t make the ridiculous mistake of thinking that your particular brand of excuse is somehow more valid than the last 20 million that have been uttered.  You can hope your mother will believe you and maybe your girlfriend - or at least they may sympathize and keep their mouths shut if they don’t, but everyone else knows an excuse when he hears it.

Your particular excuse is just as stupid as everyone else’s.  There.  Now you know it.  Now you are free to accomplish things, and to work, and to concentrate.

Forget about excuses. They are enormous wastes of time and words.

"A successful person is not one who has found the right set of circumstances, but rather, one who has Developed the right set of attitudes."
- Dick DeVenzio

(Thanks PGC)

THERE IS AN "I" IN TEAM

Don't buy into the myth... there IS an "I" in team - it's personal accountability... our choices impact our teammates.

SPORTS SCIENCE - THE TRIANGLE OFFENSE

Great explanation of the Triangle Offense used by the Lakers and why it has been so successful.

PHIL JACKSON... SHAMAN OR COACH?

I'm NOT a Lakers fan... but I have been intrigued by their troubles on the court this season, given the abundance of talent they have to work with.

Came across an article in the LA Times this morning that mentioned a few of the things Phil Jackson recently did to help prepare the team for the playoffs.  Now I realize that most athletes become somewhat superstitious on a winning streak (whether they admit it or not), so should I be surprised with what I read this morning???

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 The feeling around the Lakers' practice facility has been more rigid leading up to Sunday's playoff opener against New Orleans, Jackson's cadence reflecting the importance of what lies ahead for a team that hasn't always seemed to be of championship timber.

He undertook his annual team exorcism last week, lighting a bundle of sage and taking it through the downstairs area of the Lakers' training facility — the trainer's room, the locker room, then onto the court and into the weight room.

It's his way of getting rid of bad spirits, of cleansing whatever ails the team during the regular season. He started it a bit earlier than usual, putting flame to incense after the Lakers sustained their first five-game losing streak since 2007. They won their final two regular-season games.

"The intensity is way higher from the players and coaches," forward said. "You can tell it's starting to turn a little bit."

The group meditation sessions haven't started in the playoffs yet, but they're on the way too, important chapters in Jackson's metaphorical book on postseason success.

He also instructed video coordinators Chris Bodaken and Patrick O'Keefe to insert clips of the movie “True Grit” into game video throughout the first round. Jackson told players to take particular note of the movie title, for obvious reasons.

None of this is new to Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw, who first started experiencing it all as a player under Jackson in the early 2000s.

"I remember that Phil's voice and his demeanor would change when we got to this point of the year," he said. "You just knew there was no messing around in practice and it was serious. I used to keep everything loose and joke and laugh in the regular season. I like to have fun, but even for me it was like, 'OK, leave that part of it alone.' Even to this day, I don't crack a smile or anything else because it's serious time."

(Thanks Mike Bresnahan)

THE REAL RUDY

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Two hours before the Lakers played the Kings Wednesday night, a man and his 13-year-old daughter walked up to Kobe Bryant.

Bryant had already been on the court for two hours and normally doesn't take a break from his pregame shooting routine for pictures and autographs, but he had just heard the girl finish a stirring practice rendition of the national anthem and happily obliged as the man thanked him and introduced himself and his daughter.

"I'm Rudy Ruettiger and this is my daughter Jessica Ruettiger," he said. "She's singing the national anthem before the game."

"Rudy?" Bryant said as a smile came over his face. "The movie?"

"Yeah," Ruettiger said.

"That movie changed my life," Bryant said.

Suddenly the roles were reversed and Bryant was the star-struck fan who wanted a picture.

Bryant was a sophomore at Lower Merion High School when he first saw the movie "Rudy" in 1993. He would see it at least a handful of times in theaters and by his estimation, "a hundred" times on tape. Bryant said the film motivated him to work harder than he ever had before and continues to inspire him to be the first one at the practice facility and the last to leave.

"When I saw it I told myself if I can play as hard as Rudy with the talent I have, anything's possible," Bryant said. "I've met a lot of people in my life but that one there, man, that one [messed] me up."

Ruettiger and Bryant spoke about adversity and the importance of giving back and inspiring those who might look up to them as role models.

"We talked about struggles and I said it's not how hard you take a hit, it's how hard you get back up," Ruettiger said. "When you hit a certain status in life you want to help people. It meant so much to hear him say that the movie changed his life. It blew my mind. I couldn't believe it. What do you say to a guy like Kobe who is so excited to meet you?"

As Ruettiger walked away with Jessica and his son Danny, Bryant turned to a Lakers staffer who had just walked onto the court and pointed to Ruettiger.

"You want to meet the person who's had the biggest influence on my life?" Bryant said. "That's Rudy. The real Rudy Ruettiger."

(Thanks Arash Markazi, reporter and columnist for ESPNLosAngeles.com.)

CHAMPIONS EMBRACE ADVERSITY

"Desiring fair treatment is the province of the mediocre. Champions don’t want to be treated like everyone else. Champions don’t want to be put on an equal plane with others, they welcome the opportunity to show what they are made of under all sorts of conditions. They don’t worry what has happened to anyone else. They are eager to demonstrate what they can do." - Dick DeVenzio

(Thanks Sefu Bernard)

PLAYOFFS ARE HERE

A Spurs fan, a Mavs fan, and a Lakers fan are climbing a mountain and arguing about who loves his team more.The Mavs fan insists he is the most loyal. ''This is for the Mavericks!'' he yells and jumps off the mountain. Not to be outdone, the Spurs fan is next to profess his love for his team. He yells "This is for the Spurs!" and pushes the Lakers fan off the mountain.

UNDERSTANDING SHOT SELECTION

"When it comes to shot selection, you must differentiate between a bad shot and a missed shot.  A missed shot can still be a good shot."

- Sefu Bernard

TEACHING PEOPLE HOW TO BUILD TEAMWORK

On a recent flight I sat next to a woman with wisdom.  And, of course, wisdom is what we learn after we know it all.  That’s who and what she was: A wise person who could teach others simply by how she lived. 

As we chatted, she shared that when she first moved to a certain big city with her husband and three young children, not one neighbor came to greet them.  The weeks went by, they unloaded boxes and hung pictures and drapes, but nobody welcomed them to the neighborhood.  So one day she told her kids, “Let’s bake cookies for all!” —and they did.  Then, loading up their little red Radio Flyer wagon, they spent a Saturday morning delivering fresh, still-warm homemade cookies and big smiles to their new neighbors, up and down the street.

Upon hearing her story, I commented, “Um, gee, that’s really something.  Your family was the new family in the neighborhood and yet you took cookies to people!?”  Her response was wise.  Leaning toward me with a hint of mischief in her eyes, she nearly whispered, “Sometimes you just gotta teach people how to live.”

(Thanks John G. Mille, Authorr)

BE LIKE BRAD...

Since Butler's unimagined run (again) through the land of the giants in the NCAA tourney, Brad Stevens has become the most talked about coach since Wooden.  Looking more like a player than a coach, what is it this young coach has figured out that the older seasoned coaches have missed?

I came across a great read by John Miller (via Sefu Bernard of PGC) that gives us some insight into his thinking. The entire article can be read here.

(Thanks Sefu Bernard)

THE NEXT NBA POINT GUARD PHENOM?

Aquille Carr is being touted as the next phenom point guard to hit the NBA... and he's only a Sophomore.



(Thanks SI.com)

10 DAYS TO PROVE IT

Zabian Dowdell arrived in Phoenix with 10 days' worth of clothes, two Bibles and a copy of a letter saved on a laptop.  He wrote the original letter to himself a decade ago, by hand in the bedroom where he grew up, 595 words with the title I Will Make It.

He was 16 then, a basketball player in a football town, worried that college recruiters would not notice him in Pahokee, Fla.  "Nothing will stop me from making it to the NBA," Dowdell wrote.  "I am on a mission."

After going undrafted in 2007, Dowdell rode the bench in France, dodged paper airplanes thrown from the stands in Italy and stayed up until 3 a.m. in Spain to watch NBA games on his computer, still seething at the fellow point guards drafted instead of him.  When his mother stumbled across his old letter while cleaning out his room, she typed and e-mailed it to him, sensing he could use his own motivation.  Dowdell recognized the defiant tone of his younger self and saved the e-mail, to read whenever his resolve was tested.

Last October, after the Suns cut him out of training camp for the second year in a row, Dowdell rejected a $750,000 contract in Europe and took $13,000 from the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League because Tulsa offered something Europe did not: the possibility of a mid-season NBA call-up.

Finally, at age 26, after three seasons in Europe and two stints in the D-League, summers spent running on golf courses and shooting jumpers past midnight, Dowdell finally signed an NBA contract... a 10 day contract.  He took those 10 days and played his way into a regular season contract.

What is it that you want to do or want to accomplish?  Are you on a mission?

(Thanks Sports Illustrated)

WILL YOU BE READY?

Trailing Florida in the second half of the Southeast Regional final, Butler coach Brad Stevens did the most preposterous thing: he put Chrishawn Hopkins in the game.

The Indianapolis product had played seven minutes total in the previous two months. He had scored two points in that time. He had failed to even remove his warmups in 13 of Butler’s last 18 games.

So when Stevens turned and called, "Hop!" even Hop was a bit startled.

"That was a pretty tough situation to be in," he acknowledged.

But assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry gave him some brief encouragement -- "Just play, don’t be scared" -- and there went Chrishawn Hopkins to the scorer’s table. Nobody in America could have guessed he’d help save Butler’s season.

Down nine with just more than seven minutes to go, Hopkins drove to the basket and fired a pass to big man Matt Howard for a layup. On Butler’s next possession, Hopkins let fly a 3-pointer that swished.

"They tell us to shoot when we’re open and don’t hesitate," Hopkins said. "It felt good as I let it go."

Next thing anyone knew, Gators coach Billy Donovan was calling timeout. The Florida assistants were undoubtedly squinting at their scouting reports, wondering who No. 20 was. Their lead was cut to four and would never again be more than two possessions.

And the Bulldogs were swarming Hopkins to congratulate him on the biggest minute of his basketball career.

"It shows he’s always ready to go, which is one thing we emphasize," said sophomore center Andrew Smith. "You always need to step up and be ready when you’re asked."

(Thanks ESPN)

FRIDAY'S QUOTES

“You are doing one of three things during practices and games. You are getting better, staying the same, or getting worse.”
- Coach Rebecca Tillet

"Great Teams Have Great Teams"
- sign in Butlers Team Room

"It's amazing how much knowledge you can receive if you just LISTEN."
- Christopher Michael Jones

“If you tell me you desire to play at the collegiate level, yes...I have to hold you at a higher standard. My job is to prepare you.”
- Coach Stewart

"Don't practice until you get it right. Practice until you can't get it wrong."

“Soft, selfish or stupid. You can be one of these things, but you can’t be two [and remain on the team].”

- Jeff Van Gundy

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Mike Thomas, boys head basketball coach at Kalamazoo Central High School found himself in a tough situation while in East Lansing this past weekend. His situation wasn’t on the sidelines late in the State semi-final or Final game at the Breslin Center for the MHSAA tournament. Nope, it was the MORNING of the State championship game in which they were in for the third straight year.

Three of his players decided to do what a lot of teenagers try and do... they broke curfew the night before and the young coach (only 28 years old) had to make a difficult decision.

Do you allow the players to play? After all... it IS the championship game... right? Or do you send a message that the TEAM depends on each other to be ready and selfish behavior will not be tolerated?

The coach suspended all three players for the entire game, one happened to be a starter.  I personally think it was the right decision.  All too often coaches preach about all the life lessons sports teach, it's nice to finally see one of those lessons in action.

Oh yeah, The Kalamazoo Central Maroon Giants won the championship without the three players.

(Thanks Coach Finamore)

6 TYPES OF TOUGHNESS

Came across a great read on the PGC Blog regarding the often used (yet often misunderstood) word in sport - toughness.  Here are six type of toughness...

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Mental Toughness
Championship players are continually focused on the areas of their game they can control. They aren’t focused on a referee’s poor call or a teammate’s mistake. These players know they can only control their own effort, enthusiasm, and attention to detail. They keep focus on those areas of their game rather than on other external factors. Are you mentally tough enough to fight through the usual excuses; including fatigue, boredom, and blaming others?

Injury Toughness
See Steve Nash. Nash’s face has been bloodied and beaten up over the years, and he has a constant back injury. That must all be very painful; however, it hasn’t stopped him from participating in many games and practices with his teammates. Are you tough enough to play through a minor amount of pain, so long as no further or more damaging injury could arise?

Verbal Communication Toughness
Point guards are always communicating; providing verbal instruction and encouragement to their teammates on the court, in the weight-room, and even on road trips. A great point guard communicates clearly, concisely, with consistent enthusiasm, and the appropriate tone. Are you tough enough to provide on-going and non-stop communication with your teammates on an everyday and every-drill basis?

Physical Toughness
The best guards invite and welcome contact. Basketball IS a contact sport. On the offensive end, you have to connect with the first punch. On the defensive end, you have to make the offensive team uncomfortable with your defensive presence. Are you tough enough to not allow a bump on the hip or slap on the wrist from finishing a strong, powerful dribble move to the basket?

Body Language Toughness
Psychologists say that over 90% of what we communicate is non-verbal. However, few players are aware that (based on how they stand and position their bodies), their actions and words often are incongruent. Are you tough enough to act present and engaged in every moment of your life, both on the court and off?

Improvement Toughness
Successful people in life have a resilient desire for improvement in every aspect of their life. With improvement comes change, and with change comes the discomfort of the unknown. Special players welcome that awkwardness, knowing improvement is on the horizon. Are you tough enough to face some temporary inconvenience for the end goal of permanent improvement?

(Thanks PGC and Lyndsey (Medders) Fennelly)

PLAYING WITH A SENSE OF PURPOSE

As I sat watching Uconn destroy Duke last night in a 75-40 nail-biter (cough cough), I couldn’t help but notice the difference in style each of the teams played… and what a difference one style made versus the other.

The one word that best describes UConn’s game is “quick.”  The moment fingers touch leather they are in a race to get to the basket on the other end of the floor.  They attacked without hesitation and most of their scoring came off of fast breaks. 

Duke on the other hand, didn’t push the ball up the floor with any sense of urgency.  Instead, they were content with allowing UConn’s defense to get down the court and get set up… which made it far more difficult to get an easy basket in transition. Why would you willingly allow a defense to setup before trying to score?

Unless of course you wanted to lose by 35 points...

SPORT SCIENCE AND FREE THROWS

An interesting Sport Science on the art of free throws.