Being Hurt vs. Being Injured

By Ross Alacqua

There is a big difference between being hurt and being injured. All serious athletes play with some amount of pain. Whether it be sore muscles, bruises or sprained ankles, the nature of competitive basketball, and sports in general, can be very physical. Knowing you're body and having the right people around you, with your best interest at heart, will make knowing the difference between whether you are just hurt or actually injured much easier to understand. Players can play hurt. They shouldn't play if they're injured.

How do you know the difference?

One way is to ask yourself, your parents, your doctors whether playing with a certain pain will actually make the pain worse. Playing with sore muscles or minor aches and pains is something that can usually be done. If the player can deal with the minor amount of pain then they should be allowed to play. If you severely sprain your ankle, playing with that pain could very well make it much worse. So in that instance, it's most likely the right decision to take a couple days off, or more, to let the swelling go down and pain subside.

Now just because you're hurt and not injured doesn't mean you shouldn't treat those minor aches and pains. The fact that the aches and pains are there is a way of your body telling you it's under a certain amount of stress. Completely ignoring those signs is what leads to the more serious injury. Don't let little thing go un-noticed. Talk with your trainer, your doctor and your parents and determine whether or not the pain you're feeling is worthy of labeling yourself as just being hurt or being injured.

We all play with some sort of pain. My senior year at Mercer I played with, and still have, slightly torn ligaments in my right wrist (shooting wrist) but because it was my last year, I got a cortisone shot, took a day off and was ready to go. The situation you're in will play a role in what kind of treatment you get. Young athletes should always be more conservative in their treatment. When you're young and you're body is still growing, it is important not to put it at any risk of long-term problems. If you're older and in your last year of playing like I was and you know you're not going to play professionally, sometimes a temporary fix like a cortisone shot can help you get through that last year. For me, I needed to do what was necessary to stay on the court. I knew I was done after that season and didn't want to waste any time sitting out injured when it was possible that I could play through any pain. Another situation that comes up often is in the travel team basketball world. There's no need to attempt to play through a lot pain when it's the third game of the day and these games are completely meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Rest the body and come back the next tournament because with travel team basketball, there's always a next tournament.

Never take a chance with your body, especially when you're young. Learn to listen to the signs your body is giving you. What is it telling you with this minor ache? Should you sit for a couple days? Can you play through it? Will you hurt yourself more, to the point of being injured? Talk with your trainer, doctor, coach and parents. They should all have your best interest at heart. 

AAU Basketball - Good or Bad?

By Ross Alacqua

There's been a lot of negative talk in the last couple of years regarding travel team basketball. I've even written about it in the past. It's been blamed for the lack of fundamentals in the game today. It's been blamed for players breaking down physically at a younger age because all the games in the summer adds more wear and tear on the body. It's also been blamed for corrupting the game of basketball. It's hard to argue that the shoe companies and crooked travel ball coaches played a large role in that aspect.

AAU gets a lot of the coverage for being the main culprit. In reality, it's not only AAU. AAU gets put on the front page because they're the biggest name. There are several other travel organizations that play a role as well. That's why you'll see me refer to it as travel team basketball because AAU takes probably too much of the blame (though some is well deserved).

I played travel basketball (AAU and YBOA) for several years. I played on a local team with a bunch of my friends and I played on a Nike-sponsored team (GA Stars). I had a blast playing for both teams. I got to travel to places I normally wouldn't have. I got to play with great guys and great players. And I got to play for great coaches. 

Not everything was positive though.

After playing for the GA Stars 16U team, I then played my junior year in High School. By the time the High School season ended, I was completely drained, mentally and physically. Less than a few weeks after the HS season ended, the GA Stars started practicing. I was dead tired and the 17U team is usually the one that receives most of the Nike money so we would have gone to more tournaments than I had ever been to. I would have spent most every weekend in a basketball tournament when I was already exhausted. So I made a decision that was risky. I didn't play travel ball that season. I took a couple months off from basketball completely. I was officially burnt out. 

I didn't touch a ball again until school let out for the summer and I started working camp for my HS coach. I began working out 4-6 days a week. What resulted was my best High School season that following Fall. The sole reason for that was because I had my energy back. I had that fire back. People even mentioned that I looked completely different from my previous HS season. The first game my Senior year, I hit 7 threes, in three quarters. I had the bounce in my step back.

Did sitting out the travel ball season the previous spring/summer have an effect on where I played in college? It may have. I was not putting myself in front of college coaches at some of the big time tournaments that we would have played in. I was okay with that though. I wanted to enjoy playing basketball again and taking those 2-3 months off from the game helped bring the fun back for me.

I ended up getting a preferred walk-on offer from Mercer University. And while my goal was not to sit on the end of the bench for my entire career, I knew I had to earn my way to playing time, which I eventually did, as well as a scholarship and regular contributor to the team. Could I have gotten a better offer had I played travel ball? Maybe. But I didn't care. I am happy with how things worked out and will take all the values and life lessons I learned with me the rest of my life.

The point of telling this is to say that travel team basketball deserves a place in the game. But it doesn't deserve to be the only focus for players. The point of playing a game is to exhibit the skills and talent you have practiced on your own. The game is like a test. You have to prepare for it. You can't improve without the preparation. You'll just stay the same and ultimately get weeded out as the better, more prepared players pass you. There's a saying that states, "If you're not working on your game, there's somebody out there that is and is getting better than you." The saying doesn't go like this, "If you're not playing in a game, there's somebody else out there getting better than you." The reason is because it's not true. You don't get better by only playing games. You get better through individual skill development and then testing yourself and measuring your improvement in a game.

Travel team basketball deserves a place in the game of basketball. But too much of anything usually results in negative returns.

Basketball News and Notes: Part 2

By Ross Alacqua

My Basketball News and Notes Part 1 was all about college basketball. Now we'll shift to the NBA playoffs. We have several great playoff series happening right now. Here are some random thoughts on each second round series.

NBA Playoffs

Mavs-Lakers

Dallas completely destroyed the Lakers, sweeping them 4-0. It looked as though the Lakers just quit. To cap it off, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum were ejected in Game 4 for flagrant fouls, with Bynum's being the most egregious. JJ Barea of the Dallas Mavericks drove down the paint, went up for a floater in the lane and Bynum just gave him a forearm right to the chest and he fell to the ground. Bynum's foul, as well as Odom's, was about as classless as it gets. Bynum is 7 feet tall. JJ Barea is 5'8, maybe. That fact that Bynum drills a guy over a foot shorter than him is pretty pathetic. At least Lamar Odom went after Dirk. They see eye to eye. I knew I didn't like Bynum but I just didn't know why. This cleared it up for me. And Lamar Odom? He's got the talent to be a top 20 player in the league but his mind is a little pre-occupied filming that stupid reality show. And to top it off, Phil Jackson is retiring, supposedly. My guess, he takes a year off and comes back to coach the Knicks or Heat. That'll be about the time the current players on those teams run their respective coaches out of town.

Thunder-Grizzlies

This series is tied up 3-3 after a Game 6 Memphis win on Friday night. The Grizzlies are a simple case of a team getting insanely hot at the right time and riding that streak to a first round win and a second round fight. The Thunder are the better team and will win the series but the Grizzlies made it fun to watch, even though there isn't 1 player on that team who'd I'd want on my team. There's no way on earth Zach Randolph plays like this next season, especially after signing a 4-year extension. He's been a perennial underachiever. A good player on a bad team. He's got no work ethic, and no right hand. My guess, Grizzlies win 35-38 games next year.

Celtics-Heat

This was a much anticipated series that turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. Miami won the series convincingly in 5 games. These are two teams I couldn't dislike more with players that are as hard to root for as any (except Ray Allen). The fact that it is over, though, is good news for me, just so I won't have to listen to more talk about Lebron James. I will give Rajon Rondo credit, though. To come back and play with a dislocated elbow in Game 3 was pretty special. He's a very good player who could be great if he ever learned how to shoot. Another reason to work on your game when your younger instead of playing 100 AAU games in a summer.

Bulls-Hawks

Never have I seen a more Jekyll and Hide team than the Atlanta Hawks. They go into Chicago and win Game 1. Both teams play pretty poorly in Game 2 and the Bulls win. In Game 3 at home, the Hawks come out flat in front of a sold-out crowd. Larry Drew had to call a timeout 49 seconds into the game because of a lack of effort. That's got to be a record. They played terrible, were never in the game and lost by 17. Derrick Rose lit them up for 44 points. Game 4 was a complete 180. The Hawks came out with effort, energy and enthusiasm, got great efforts from Jeff Teague, Joe Johnson, Al Horford and Josh Smith (in the 4th quarter). I don't know what to make of this team. There is no way to predict from one game to the next how they'll play, or if they even care to play. I've never so many comments from one team about coming out and playing with energy. Is that not a given at this level? Wouldn't you think a team would come out excited to play Game 3 at home in a 1-1 series. I just don't get it. With the series tied 2-2, the Hawks go into Chicago, get down by 15 early then come back to take the lead then end up losing by 12. What a rollercoaster ride this team is. I went to Game 6 in Atlanta (and games 3 and 4) hoping to see a great game in a great atmosphere. All I got was a blowout with absolutely no opportunity to root for the home team. The home crowd was dead the entire game and Scottie Pippen was sitting right next to us enjoying every minute. Hawks lose the series 4-2 and have so many questions heading into the off-season.

These are the news and notes from around the world of basketball. If you missed Part 1: NCAA Edition, check it out here. What are your thoughts on the NBA playoffs? Who's going to win the NBA Finals? Let me know in the comments.

Basketball News and Notes: Part 1

By Ross Alacqua


As the NBA playoffs continue to excite and the NCAA date for players to declare for the draft having come and gone, these are my news and notes around the world of basketball.

In the world of college basketball, we had underclassmen deciding whether or not to enter the draft. We had Gary Williams announcing his retirement and also new recruiting changes on the horizon.

Returning to School

As a college basketball fan, it's always great when some of the games great players return to school for a year. In most cases, it's the right decision for them. The one and done rule has really hurt both the NBA and College game. That needs to change.

Some notable returns are UNC's Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller and John Henson. To me, it wasn't surprising to see Zeller and Henson return. Zeller could use another year to refine his game and Henson needs to add a few pounds and work on the 15-17 foot jump shot.  Harrison Barnes is the one I was slightly surprised with. In my opinion, he needed to stay. He had areas of his game that needed improvement from on-the-ball defense, creating his own shot and improving the range on his shot. He was also projected as a top-five pick in the draft which is why I was surprised he returned. You don't see many kids pass that up. I give a lot of credit to him for being mature and understanding that he'll succeed quicker in the NBA if he comes back and fixes the flaws in his game. All things I've read is this kid has a good head on his shoulders and is mature beyond his years.

Two other key players that are returning to school are Kentucky's Terrence Jones and Ohio State's Jared Sullinger. Jones needed to return more than Sullinger but with the incoming class that Kentucky has, I didn't think he'd want to deal with a potential drop in playing time. He started the season as their best player but really fell off as the year went on as him and Coach Calipari butted heads a number of times. He seems like he's in the same mold as Demarcus Cousins; great talent, huge headcase. But I do give him credit for sticking around another year to improve.

Sullinger was also projected as a top-five pick in the draft. He had an NBA-ready body, although I don't think most of it was muscle. I think he's right to come back and get stronger and work on his post game, both offensively and defensively.

Next year in college basketball will be a good one.

Leaving School Early

While there were smart decisions made to stay in school, there were some dumb decisions to stay in the draft. Three players I think should have come back include:

• GT - Iman Shumpert
• UGA - Travis Leslie
• Kansas - Josh Selby

Georgia Tech hasn't had a decent season in a few years and Paul Hewitt lost his job because of it. Iman Shumpert was their leading scorer but he's the exact same player he was when he started at Georgia Tech. Paul Hewitt was never known for player development and it showed with most of his recruits. Shumpert needed to come back, work on his game and his decision-making before coming out. He won't be drafted in the first round and therefore won't get a guaranteed contract. He'll make a team next year in my opinion, but could be out of the league in 5 years.

Travis Leslie had a great season for UGA. He had career highs in minutes, assist-to-turnover ratio and shot 80% from the FT line while averaging 14.4 pts. He's also only 6'4 on a good day and shot 30% from the three point line. He needed to return, work on his perimeter skills and the range on his jump shot before leaving. His athleticism and energy alone will keep him on a team in the league but to be a major contributor, he needs to improve.

Josh Selby is the poster child right now for all that's wrong with the one-and-done rule. He started the season suspended 9 games for receiving improper benefits and finished the season averaging 8pts, 2 rebounds and 2 assists and shooting 37% from the field and 36% from the three. Those aren't exactly great numbers for a player who's a documented headcase hoping for an NBA team to give him a chance. I'd be surprised if he goes anywhere near the first round.

Gary Williams Retires

The college basketball world lost a legend when Gary Williams surprisingly stepped stepped down as Maryland's Head Basketball Coach on May 5th, 2011. In his 22 seasons at Maryland, he led the Terrapins to 14 NCAA tournaments, 7 Sweet 16's, 2 Final Fours and 1 National Championship. He finished with a 461-252 record at Maryland. Here's a great piece on him from ESPN. The coaching carousel in the ACC just keeps on moving as Maryland hires Texas A&M Head Coach Mark Turgeon to replace Gary Williams. 

Recruiting Changes on the Horizon

The NCAA has decided to revisit the recruiting structure in college basketball. As Dana O'Neil from ESPN puts it, the NCAA is "embarrassed by the annual transfer lists that roll on for miles" and are "chronically looking for ways to cut out the nefarious third parties that skulk around the edges of the sport." The NCAA leadership council is in the process of fielding proposals from all parties, including commissioners, presidents, coaches, iHoops members, AAU tournament directors, student-athletes and the national high school federation. Pending approval, the recruiting calendar could change as early as 2012.

Recruiting has always been a bit of a shady business in college basketball. It's nice that they're trying to clean it up a little bit. My only issue is that the NCAA probably has a worse track record for doing things right than the shady coaches, boosters, etc. responsible for this call-to-change. I have very little faith the NCAA will get it right, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Let me know your thoughts on these topics and more in the comments. Come back for part 2 soon where I talk NBA Playoffs and give my thoughts on each second round series.

3 Qualities of Clutch FT Shooters

By Ross Alacqua


With the NCAA tournament recently finishing and now that we're into the NBA playoffs, it's fun to watch all the close games and how teams execute down the stretch. So many games come down to free throws.  It's not always the most exciting way to end the game but if you have a great free throw shooter, you're golden.  Great free throw shooters want the ball in their hands in a must-foul situation.

I always prided myself on being a great free throw shooter.  I knew that if I wanted to be in the game in crunch time, one sure fire way to stay on the floor was my ability to shoot free throws.  I was over 90% from the foul line my final two seasons at Mercer University and I always wanted the ball in my hands when we had the lead and the opponent was fouling.  There wasn't a doubt in my mind those free throws were going in.

For a lot of players, standing at the line for a 1-and-1 at the end of a game is pretty nerve racking. You can tell when the nerves get to a player because most times their shot will barely graze the front of the rim, or they'll completely brick it off the backboard.  For some, it's tough to focus and fight those nerves when you have everyone in the gym staring at you.  There's usually a lot riding on those free throws.

There's a movie starring Kevin Costner called "For Love of the Game" that demonstrates how clutch players are able to step up and block out all kinds of distractions. It's a baseball movie but the concept applies to all sports.  Kevin Costner plays a professional pitcher who is coming towards the end of his career and the movie follows him through a single game against the Yankees.  One thing that made him a great pitcher was what he called "clearing the mechanism".  Before he made a pitch, his sole focus was the catcher's mitt and he blocked everything else in the stadium out. From the fans to the music to the other players, he blocked them all out so it was completely silent and he was unable to see anything else around him.  He then executed the pitch. Free throw shooting is no different.  A player needs to clear all distractions from their mind before the shot.

Here are three qualities that all clutch free throw shooters must have:

Confidence

Become a great free throw shooter alone in the gym with nobody watching.  I took thousands of free throws alone in the gym (or with one rebounder).  I knew I had to first become great with nobody watching before I could become great with everybody watching.  Without the confidence of knowing your shot is going in with no pressure, there's no chance of making it in a high-pressure situation.  If you can't hit at least 80-90% of your free throws with no pressure, you can't be trusted to hit two with the game on the line.

Routine

Use the same routine every single time.  Too many players have different routines in different situations, even if they're subconsciously doing it.  Watch a player shoot free throws in the first quarter, then watch him shoot free throws in the 4th quarter.  The routine should be the exact same in both instances. Your routine should be a habit.  You shouldn't have to think about how many dribbles you take or how times you spin the ball.  You should instinctively do it.

Focus

When you step to the free throw line, the only thing you're looking at is the basket.  Don't think about the score.  Don't think about the fans in the stands. Don't think about your routine (another reason why your routine needs to be a habit).  And most importantly, never think about missing.  Visualize the ball going in.  See it going through basket.  See the "little man" in your mind make it every time.  Once you're focused, just shoot.  Shoot it the same way you've shot it thousands of times by yourself in the gym.

Clutch free throw shooting is not something that happens over night.  It takes hours of work.  It takes persistent and perfectionism.  If you don't expect to make every free throw, you won't.

Defensive Slides - Building a Foundation

There are a ton of opinions out there about how to properly teach defensive slides.  It's important to remember that, no matter the philosophy, having strong feet, legs and groins is crucial to be an effective defender.
The On Court philosophy is about improving (1) Balance, (2) Body Control, (3) Change of Direction and (4) Economy of Motion.  So when you view a video like the one below, view it from that perspective.  It's about strengthening the feet.  It's about strengthening the legs and even your groins.  It's about learning how to pivot and change direction, and perhaps most importantly, it's about training your body to maintain a defensive stance for extremely long periods of time.  We all know that as soon as the defender comes out of their stance, the offense wins.
So for all the opinions about how to properly teach defensive slides, remember there's no point in teaching advanced techniques if the player has no foundation of strength in the feet, legs and groins.  This video teaches that foundation.
For more videos like this, check out our Online Training Packages or visit our YouTube channel.

Are You A Leader?

Teams, and businesses for that matter, need a strong leadership presence in order to succeed.  Without leadership, a team lacks any kind of identity.  Success is impossible without a true identity.

Pick any successful team and you should be able to figure out the leader on that team.

Duke's basketball team is a reflection of it's leader, Coach K.  They're are hard-nosed, tough and smart basketball team.  They rarely beat themselves.

The Atlanta Braves won 14 division titles in a row by following the approach of Bobby Cox.  Cox always stuck up for his guys, regardless of fault and was the most loyal manager in the game of baseball.  He would drive fans nuts by sticking with players for so long.  He always believed they would pull through and succeed. He made it so players wanted to play in Atlanta for him.

There are so many teams in all sports that, on paper, are incredibly talented.  Talent, however, does not always equate to leadership.  Just look at the NY Knicks. They trade for Carmelo Anthony and get worse.  Denver all of sudden is better without him.  Why do you think that is?

Some of the qualities of a leader are - Honesty, Accountable, Trustworthy, Loyal, Intelligent, Committed

Being able to lead a team takes a special kind of personality.  First and foremost, this player needs to work harder than anyone else on the team.  If the leader doesn't work hard, nobody else will follow.

The leader needs to be well-respected by their peers.  Part of this is about work ethic as previously mentioned.  But more of it plays to how the leader handles themselves.  How do they go about their daily business?  Do they follow through on their commitments?  Do they only take the credit when they succeed?  Do they push the blame off on others?  The leader has to be willing to take the blame when things fail just as much as they're willing to take the credit when things go well.  What kind of person is the leader off the playing field?  All of this goes into whether or not they're respected by their peers.

Everyone claims they have great leadership skills.  It's probably one of the most used skills added on a resume.  But is EVERYONE a true leader? I believe that everyone has the ability to be a great leader.  It's whether they're willing to put the effort and thought into what it means to be a leader and then living their life and playing their game according to that.

You can be a vocal leader or lead by example.  It doesn't matter.  Just put the effort and commitment into.  Push yourself harder than anyone else you're working with. Take credit when credit is due but more importantly, take blame when blame is due.

Ask yourself, "Would I want to play with/for me"?