I sure do miss NBA basketball. To get my fix, I’ve been watching NBATV and seeing all of the old classics. MJ, Kareem, Bird, Magic, DR. J, etc… it sure brings back some memories. The thing with the classics is that I already know who won and in most cases know what happens next, because I’ve seen the games before: several times. Just not the same as watching a “live” game on TV where you don’t know the outcome, the winner, the loser, the hero, the goat. The talks seem to be going nowhere, even after they brought a mediator in, nothing seems to have changed. I thought for sure that something positive would’ve come out at that time. Boy, was I wrong. Now it seems as if another two weeks of the season are down the drain. College basketball will be starting soon and I am afraid that a lot of NBA fans will be getting their hoops fix by watching the college game. I wonder if all the guys that left school early are happy with their decision now. My hat goes off to the players that stayed. The one and done needs to be done away with. Let the kids come out of High School if they think they are good enough.  When the kids stay in college longer it improves the college game as well as the pro game. Last year’s NCAA FINAL UCONN and BUTLER was not enjoyable to watch, to say the least. One of  reasons being there was only one sure fire pro on the floor Kemba Walker. Better players on the floor equals a better product to watch. UCONN has some future pros from that team but right now only Kemba is an NBA player. On BUTLER’S team Shelvin Mack was a second round pick, so he is not guaranteed an NBA contract or roster spot. If you go back to the NCAA FINALS of previous years, I’m sure there were more future NBA players on the floor than one. With the lockout going on, we have seen players go to CHINA, EUROPE, etc.. where else are they going to play. During the summer there was no Summer League in Vegas. Eventually there was the  IMPACT basketball league, which was a joke, no defense, no stars, no crowds it looked more like a glorified AND ONE game. The other games that the players play in is the same thing.Nobody wants to watch basketball that isn’t real basketball. We need the coaches, players, GM’s and all the story lines that go with the season. We shouldn’t be talking lockout, we should be talking about Dwight, LeBron, Kobe, KD and who has the best shot at winning this year. I’m tired of hearing about BRI, hard cap, soft cap, flex cap. I want to hear about pick and rolls, jumpshots and even dunks. Both sides need to get real and in touch with what is happening in the world and in the US with our economy. Thank the Good Lord for our health and for having a job that we love. NBA BASKETBALL I LOVE IT!

I have been training basketball players for over twenty years and I have been blessed to work with players on ALL levels, both boys and girls and men and women. One thing that I have ALWAYS done is teach players how to play the game and CORRECT mistakes that they make. Whether they are ten years old or on their way to becoming an NBA all star, a trainer needs to teach and correct. NEVER stop coaching! Recently I have had the opportunity to observe some “trainers” in action. One guy was actually sitting down in a chair while the kid did some drill work. Another guy spent twenty minutes of the hour having the kid stretch and run laps. Then there are other guys that do busy work and don’t correct anything. I saw the player make the same mistake everytime and the guy never corrected it or mentioned it. The boom in trainers has gone off the charts in recent years. There are some guys that have never played or even coached, that call themselves “trainers”. Then there are  a million shooting coaches out there. Some of them have the craziest ideas on shooting and are so confusing that they turn off the player. I feel that I know a little something about basketball and shooting but after talking with some of these guys I feel like I just spoke to the leading heart surgeon in the world. Keep it simple, so you don’t confuse yourself or more importantly the player. You would not believe the number of requests I get from people that want to be an NBA shooting coach. Like I have some magic formula to make that happen. The point is that there are a ton of people that are now trainers and they have no training on being a trainer or any coaching background in that sport. Some trainers think that the more bizarre some drill is that it will make that player better, when it has no relevance to that sport. I get all kinds of emails from trainers that they have the “secret” to shooting and the “tricks” to up your points per game by 10 -12 a game. If that was the case everyone would be doing that and improving that much. The reason why there isn’t more improvement is because it takes a lot of time, effort, energy, sweat, to do things correctly and then y There are others that claim if you do certain exercises you will NEVER get hurt. Can you believe that NEVER get hurt, why wouldn’t every team hire that guy, if he can prevent injuries. It amazes me that parents spend money on these guys and they are just stealing money, turns out that they are very expensive babysitters. If you want to get better you need to work on the fundamentals and when you master the fundamentals you need to go onto improving your weaknesses, from there you start adding to your game. Too many trainers throw so much out there to a kid and the kid can’t even get his footwork right on a straight line jumpshot and they have him trying to do a stepback jumpshot. Then there are clinicians that claim during their two hour clinic they are going to show the player how to do twenty different things. They will show twenty different things to do,  but is the PLAYER going to be able to DO any of those things after two hours of drill work. Probably not, they will walk away with a bunch of drills to work on while not being able to master anyone of them. All that I can say is that they must be UNBELIEVABLE teachers, trainers, coaches to do all of that in a short period of time. There are NO secrets, tricks, shortcuts on becoming a great player. The player must be passionate and have the desire to become better. If you want to be a GREAT shooter you need to shoot the ball hundreds of times every day, you must do form shooting, shooting off the catch as well as off the bounce. Then you need to work on coming off screens, one on one moves, flares, fades, stepbacks, etc.. Then you need to practice your FREE shots from the line. Can you believe there are guys claiming that they can make SUPERMAN a 90% or better shooter from the line. I know there are people that can make him better but 90% is not realistic for Dwight Howard. He has struggled for so long and for him to increase 30% points is not going to happen. It may happen for a game or two, but it will not happen for an entire season. There are good shooters that can’t shoot 90%. It’s great to have confidence in your teaching but you have to be realistic too. Parents if you hire a trainer make sure the trainer teaches and corrects, isn’t that what you do to your child while they are growing up. Expect nothing else and accept nothing less.