Tips for Tryouts

I played good defence and im always working on my shot and ball handling. I am probably shooting 100 shots a day when I dont have practice after school because of home work and stuff like that.
But on the weekend I get over 200 shots just because of shooting 150 form shots. I have my first school game on thursday so im pretty excited and the next aau tryout is the saturday coming up.

I think you are a dedicated player Ben.... you have a good work ethic.... At your position you HAVE to be a good defender so keep working at that.
From looking at your shots I think that you have great form and from what you keep telling me, the results of your shooting shows that what you are doing is working. I might make this suggestion... when you are done with your form shooting, try to do your shooting at game speed. IF you think your footwork is good now, its important that you shoot that way.... we don't get too many "HORSE" type looks in games. :-)
You have a big week coming up - First school game - GOOD LUCK THERE and the last (?) AAU tryout, or are there more? Give that your best shot.
I hope things work out well for you.

I think there is one more after the next one and they want you to go to all of them.

Good idea.... if you miss one you can probably count yourself out.

Give it your best shot.

Ben,

I was watching a shooting tape from George Lehman.... "Road to Success" and he said a few things about keeping the head still and freezing the guide hand... I went back and watched your shooting videos..... great job.... you head is still and your guide hand is frozen, great follow thru and foot work....

Keep up the good work.

I tried to find that tape out there somewhere Ben, I don't think its available anymore. I always liked watching this... and its how we taught shooting. This tape he shoots hundreds of shots and doesn't miss ONE! I saw him a shooting clinic and we had him at our school... NOT ONE MISS.... amazing!

Here is something he let his kids do at the end of every practice...

HAVE FUN
Take the ball at half court, take the ball to the basket using any move or moves that you want to and take a jumper of whatever.... in essence.... be a HOT DOG and have some fun...

Most of our posts have been on the serious side so I thought it was time for you to try out some stuff YOU want to do.... You never know, you might invent a new move.

So I had my game yesterday and we got killed. We werent boxing out at all. On the first possesion the team got 5 offensive rebounds then they finall y got a basket( I wasnt in) :). But I scored 2 points on 1of 1 shooting when I got the ball in the corner pump faked, the guy went by and I took a dribble to the left and swished from 17 feet. I think I had 3 or 4 assists and 1 or 2 turnovers.

Sorry to hear about the loss.... but at least you guys know what you need to work on... BOXING OUT! I used to tell my players that they worked so hard on defense that then need to FINISH... Box Out & REBOUND!

Just keep working at your game.. and things will get better. The season is early, you have a long way to go. Let me know how things are going and IF you have any more questions or ideas.

Do college and NBA players know what theyre going to do on the play? For ex. Does the player go, I'm going to shoot a jump shot on this play or is it I see the guy off playing the drive now im going to shoot it.

I think the good players read the defense and react accordingly. Don't forget the NBA players are some of the best players in the world. They have been playing for years and have a lot of experience to help them make those decisions. The good college players react that way also.

If I'm a good three point shooter and you let me open I am going to knock it down, you close out to fast - I give you a shot fake and either go around you or crossover dribble as you go by me and I take the outside shoot.

IF it is a SET play and you are getting a few screens so you can shoot the three, then as you are catching the ball you are thinking shot... but IF that defender plays you tough and takes away that shot then you have to react and penetrate to set someone else up.
Most plays are designed with more than one option just in case they do take away the first.

Its kind of like playing baseball when you are batting - you don't have a lot of time to decide IF you are going to pull the trigger - you like the pitch, its in your zone, you let it rip. Have confidence in your own abilities... I've seen your shot... its darn good... if you are open.. shoot the ball.

Don't try to out-think yourself Ben... thats why I always say "let the shot find you.... " and then react. Don't drive yourself nuts, have FUN.

How did your tryouts go yesterday? Hope things are going well for you there.

I was looking at a few videos on you tube, watched one about creating space and getting your shot off... take a look at this one -

Click here: YouTube - Creating Space to Score!! Chase's Blog -- How to Shoot a Basketball --

Copy and paste that Ben.

Coach Sars & Ben, I picked up something really interesting from Don Kelbick about reading the defense in 1on1 situations. We're actually coming out with an article on it shortly.

He calls it the "Act of Immediacy". You take what the player is good at and have him react immediately. Then, if the defense takes away your move, you have a counter to your immediate move. For example, Don worked with a post player in Europe who would get "paralysis analysis" by trying to read the defense. So Don took what he was comfortable with which was a drop-step baseline, hook shot and had the player do that move over and over, so he got REALLY good at it. Then, he added a counter to that move, so when the defense takes away the hook shot, he has another move to beat the defense with. (Correct me if I'm wrong on this, Don)

In his experience, he found players would always resort to what they were comfortable with no matter how many times you practiced reading the defense in practice. Another thought was that split-second (or longer) it takes for you to read the defense, gives the advantage back to the defense. By acting immediately, the defense does not get the opportunity to get set.

I can relate to this, because in high school, I had a decent hesitation dribble. If the defender took it away, I used a wrap-around dribble that went behind my back. So, I had my "immediate" (hesitation) move and then my "counter" move (wrap-around or behind the back).

Tryouts went well yesterday and im doing well defensively and ball-handling and stuff like that. But my shot is not falling.

The way set up one drill it looks like theyre considering me but I think I need to hit some shots.

Thats great advice Joe, always good to have a counter to add to your game. Don always has some good points to add to our discussions.

OK Ben,

You're handling the ball well and playing good D! Both PLUSES!!

How many good looks are you getting? Are you playing vs a m2m Defense? You might have to create a little something for yourself IF you have the chance.

My suggestion for this week is to do A LOT of shooting so that when you go into the next try out session you are ready and confident. I've seen you shoot, you have a great shot, have some confidence in yourself and knock the shot down when you get the opportunity!

How much time do you have to do some shooting every day? Set a goal for yourself and get after it... remember, game speed and good luck buddy.

i had another game today and I went 4-4 with 8 points and 0-1 on free throws. I had one stop and pop, 2 layups 1 was a regular layup but the other was a contested layup where I was running at the guy with the ball and he kind of jabbed at me like he was trying to block it and then stepped off and I finished it. My other shot was a 17 footer from the wing when I pumpfaked took one dribble to the left and knocked it down.

That was nice shooting Ben!! Just go into next weeks tryouts with the same confidence. Things falling in place for you now? (with your shot?)

Just relax and shoot it like you shoot at your own basket! So - how much time do you have to devote to shooting each day this week?

I probably spend and half an hour to an hour shooting around everyday. I also do ballhandling.

Set a number of shots that you want to make and do them at game speed. (after you do a little form shooting - you have great from by the way!)

Then see if you can make more in a half hour than the day before.... too bad you cant have somebody feed you... or shoot with you - you can get a lot more shots in that way!

I just wanted to talk to you about one play in my game yesterday.

I was playing the wing and I told the point guard on that play that Im going to post up my man. Our formation is 3 wings and the two post guys on the elbows(We don't really have a huge banger on our team). So I posted my guy up just a foot off the block. Then my big guy on the same side I was on cut to the basket and I gave him a bounce pass for a hoop.

That's kind of like a back door play, one of the slickest plays in the game... I would have loved to see that one! We used to send someone to the short corner and then duck the high post player right to the rim. A great move - this is very similar. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Nice heads up play Ben!