Drills, tempo and actually incorporating such into games

Alan Stein, is a Nike trainer who also works at DeMatha High. He has gained tremendous respect for his work and achievements. Stein recently did a post at his site about people he admires and it contained an interview with Kevin Eastman.

Here's one Q-and-A:

Question: What aspects of the game do coaches need to emphasize more with their players?

 Coach Eastman: Most coaches are great with drills. They know millions of them. But they need to teach their players to transfer those drills into playing the actual game. That transfer is the ultimate goal. Most high school (and many college) players don’t really know how to play. Coaches need to emphasize time and score, proper spacing, ball movement, help defense, post feeds, tempo, etc.

 Here is another:

Question: What are the biggest skill deficiencies you see in high school players?

Coach Eastman: They play too fast, they over dribble, and they care too much about “me” and not enough about “we.” Getting players to understand tempo is extremely challenging, but it is a quality that all of the top players have.

Go here for this specific post.

This might not float the boat of many but this is material we love. How and why do Coach Bo Ryan's players at Wisconsin improve their individual numbers every season?

Kismet? Pure luck?

How and why do Coach X's players rarely get better throughout their eligibility?

Steve Nash (and many others) understand tempo (as well as so ,many other aspects of basketball). That's one of the reasons Nash succeeds despite not being the strongest, quickest or the best jumper.

An insightful feature by Alan Stein

We are amazed sometimes -- positively and negatively -- by the actions -- on and off the court -- of some basketball prospects. This includes Twiiter postings, MySpace pages and the like.

Read the following and ask yourself where your decisions and behavior fits along the spectrum:

Brand You 2.0
Alan Stein
April 29, 2010

I have been writing my weekly blog for well over two years now. I created my blog as a means to consistently provide my experience and expertise on proper basketball strength & conditioning. That quickly morphed into sharing insights and perspectives on issues and topics that would have a positive impact on the lives of players and coaches off the court as well. Very rarely have I “recycled” older posts. I like my material to be new and fresh. But this week is an exception.  I dusted off a blog I wrote exactly one year ago.  I didn’t do this out of laziness. I did it because of how strongly I believe in the message. Players, I hope you read this carefully. Coaches, I hope you share it with your players. I made several updates to the original post.  So, without further adieu, here is Brand You 2.0!

What are your favorite brands?

Nike? Apple? Facebook? BMW? Vitamin Water?
 
What traits come to mind when you think about your favorite brands?

Elite? Durable? Stylish? Performance? Quality?
 
Do you consider people to be brands? Well they are! The most obvious is Michael Jordan (heck, his company is called the Jordan Brand). What about Donald Trump, Jay-Z, and LeBron James? Do you consider them brands? I certainly do. Why? Because the characteristics that come to mind when you think of them as individuals are automatically associated with the product they endorse. Make sense? You won’t see Donald Trump endorsing Wrangler Jeans.
 
If you want to be successful, both on and off the court, you need to start viewing yourself as a brand as well. Think of it as “brand you.” Everything you do affects your brand in some way (either positively or negatively). The way you dress, the way you act, and even the way you play.  You need to take your brand very seriously if you want to make it to the top. And just to clarify, I believe in being authentic. I am not telling you to act like someone else or to try to please others just for the sake of it.  You need to be real. You need to be genuine. You need to believe in your own brand, and equally important, set the standards of your brand. You need to decide what characteristics you find most important and then live up to them every day of your life...

Go here for the remainder.

Go here to find out about Alan Stein.