Simple...Yet Effective

How often in the game of baseball are games won from homeruns only? How many games go 9 innings with no one on base and the final score is made of only homeruns? Not many.

How many football games are won by the team that scored the most, and both teams went for a touchdown on every possession? Whether it is a run play or a pass play on first through third down, in the history of the game, how many teams have won games by scoring or attempting to score every time they were on offense? What would be the need for offensive coordinators? The answer is, none.

I bring this topic to light with the aforementioned sports because basketball is no different. How many offensive possessions or basketball games are won with a shot taken every time the first player touches the ball or even after one pass is made and the receiving player touches the ball? Not many. That is because strategy is involved in any genuine competitive sport. The desire to win, even in football, sparks the use of brains over bronze.

In more cases than not, the smarter play is the simple play. The smarter team is the team that is capable of understanding the offensive strategy, defensive strategy and thought process of the coaching staff in regards to what they want to accomplish in every practice, team meeting and game. Because an entire season plays a physical and mental toll on players, it is best to keep things simple yet effective.

Simple yet effective should be involved in a player’s mentality at all times.

For example, a simple bounce pass that most players have been doing for years, if possible, should always be kept simple and effective. This means one handed bounce passes, behind the back bounce passes, between the legs bounce passes and over-the-head bounce passes are all complex bounce passes that lead to problems more times than not. The same rule applies to fundamental chest passes and over-the-Head passes. You must keep them fundamentally sound in order to make an effective pass and be an effective player.

Defensively, do not double team if you don’t have to. Of course if your coach requires it, or if you are playing defense and happen to find yourself near an offensive player that has dribbled into the corner of the court, you should establish a tough double team. Any other time, you should help and recover quickly back to your man, allowing the court to remain balanced and leaving no one open. This is keeping the defensive spacing on the court simple and effective.

Even in a pressured situation, it may be more effective to make a between the legs crossover to free up space as opposed to a behind the back dribble.

Maybe when on a fast-break it would have been more effective to stop and knock down the short corner bank-shot than to force your way in a crowd of defenders to get a layup. You may be risking the chance that the referee may not call a foul, a defender may block your shot, or the defensive pressure may have caused you to alter your shot and make you feel uncomfortable just long enough for you to miss your shot.

Basketball is a sport that provides the key to an enormous room full of complex situations. These situations seem to be catching the attention of most players and young teams today. The General Manager of a famous hotel chain once told me that well kept rooms that only have the inhabitant’s necessities tend to appear simple, but prove most effective in meeting their needs. That’s how you create a happy customer.

SwinsBasketball
Phone: (862) 234-0511
Email: swinsbasketball@gmail.com

Fingertips

Here's an interesting fact, among all of the areas of your skin, your fingertips possess the highest concentration of touch receptors. This means they are most sensitive to pressure, vibration and general activities involving motion. They are you're body's sensory probes. Taking this information into account in the game of basketball, why wouldn't you want your fingertips involved in every aspect of your game?

When dribbling the basketball, you will need to keep your head up and eyes open so the necessary passes or open shots are made. Sure, you should keep the basketball in your peripheral vision, but an expert dribbler will trust and confide in their fingertips to ensure total control of the basketball. Simple dribble moves to get you out of trouble such as the cross-over or the backup dribble, are done effectively with hand strength and the fingertips. It is extremely necessary to have an established grip on the ball and this can be done without having a ball that feels like glue.

Let's switch to another fundamental part of the game, shooting. Your on a fastbreak, sprinting at your fastest pace, controlling the ball with your finger strenghth and fingertips as you keep your head up and eyes focused on the basket. There's no teammate ahead to pass the ball to and the defense seems to be catching up with you fast. It just so happens that the opposing team's big man is the only guy back (he never made it completely down the court from the previous posession) so you decide between two types of shots: lay-up or short jump shot. The big guy is hedging at you trying to slow you up and it works. You make the quick decision as soon as you dribble below the three point line to stop and pop. You take one more dribble and just as you get below the freethrow line you pick the ball up. PAUSE!

[Picking the ball up involves coordination and because your head is up and you're not looking at the ball your fingertips have engaged into action and will do the work for you. They give the ball one last pound as both hands come together.] PLAY!

You place the ball in your shooting hand with the fingertips locking onto the ball and your supportive hand is also locked onto the ball. Your thumbs are in the "T" position and the ball is only touching the fingertips and the pads of your hand. PAUSE!

[It is so important to get a perfect shooting grip on the ball. It is critical that the fingertips are involved in this process. Just as you control the ball with the fingertips when dribbling, you must also control the ball when shooting. You fingertips should be the last part of your hand that touches the ball when released. They are the "final director's cut" before the ball is in the air under the control of no one. The pressure they apply should be just right as you follow through to give the ball the backspin it needs.] PLAY!

You shoot! Perfect rotation on the ball, thanks to the proper pressure applied by the fingertips. The mechanics of B.E.E.E.F. were in tact and you felt confident that the ball left your hands just right. Swish...



SwinsBasketball
Phone: (862) 234-0511
Email: swinsbasketball@gmail.com

The Phone Booth

Remember the all glass phone booths from back in the day? They weren't the most comfortable places to stand inside and talk to someone over the phone. But what had to be done was done. Some phone booths even came with a door you could close so that you could talk and have some privacy.

Privacy could be defined as preventing intrusions into one's physical space. Wouldn't this be the ideal situation a jump shooter would want everytime he shot the basketball? Picture a kid growing up in a small town somewhere in NC. He spends most of his time with few people throughout the day (Mom, Dad, brother, sister). When he finally steps onto a basketball court and is being hounded by a kid his size or bigger, he get's his first feeling of a stranger intruding his physical space. This is an uncomfortable feeling and the physical pressure can convert itself into mental pressure, thus becoming overwhelming and forcing a turnover or a pass to a teammate. "Good defense", shouts the defender's teamates as they try to do the same thing to their men.

Was shooting an option for the young kid who just knew every day of his short life that he was on his way to being the next Erving "Magic" Johnson? Could he have shot the ball under the physical and mental pressure and actually made the shot? Not that day...

A few months go by and the kid gets a little stronger both physically and mentally. This is when he was taught to shoot his "J" in the phone booth and not in the street. The flow of increasing pressure he felt in the game that day (physical --> mental) lowered instantly in a reverse manner (mental --> physical).

The pressure was lowered in this direction because he was confident that the defender couldn't stop his jump shot regardless of the pressure he was applying. How was this possible? Well, the young soon to be "Magic" knew that when he held the ball in his hand he was in the phone booth with the door closed. That was all of the space he needed to shoot the basketball properly. He found his shooting form quicker, he found his confidence in his shot faster, he found a way to frustrate defenders...Game over.

Learn more about the Phone Booth "J" during SwinsBasketball training workouts to improve your shot and build that confidence and consistency everytime you step on the court.


SwinsBasketball
Phone: (862) 234-0511
Email: swinsbasketball@gmail.com