If you want to change your game this summer here are 4 things you absolutely need to do to get organized.

1. Get a notebook.  It doesn’t have to be anything more than a spiral notebook you use for science or math class. Use this notebook to write down new drills, moves or teaching points you learn from workouts, camps or watching games.  The second use of this notebook is to write out your workouts in a detailed and organized fashion before you get to the gym.  If I were you I’d write them out before I go to bed each night.  Write out exactly what you are going to do and how many reps you are going to perform for each drill.  By writing out your workouts it’s like making a contract with yourself and you are much more likely to do the workout when you get to the gym.   This will also be something you can look back on to give you confidence when things might not be going that great for you.  If you have a bad shooting game you can look back on that notebook and see that you shot 15,000 shots over the last 4 months. It was just a bad night.  The notebook is a source of confidence.
2. Get a workout partner.  Simply put – shooting alone sucks.
• Accountability: find someone who is going to push you and hold you accountable on days that you don’t want to workout. Someone who shares common goals and dreams with you.
• Rebounder:  Someone you can do game like shooting drills with. Game shots from game spots at game speed.
• 1 on 1:  Playing 1 on 1 is one of the best things you can do to work on your game in the off-season as long as you are doing it the right way.
3. Listen to music.  Use music during your workouts as a source of energy and enthusiasm.  Your workouts will be much more intense.
4. You must have a vision.  What is going to get you through the ball handling drills when your forearms burn?  What’s going to make you do that last set of squats when your legs feel like jello?  What should you visualize?  Watch the video below.

The first skill you need to master is the ability to handle the ball.  Without a doubt, as a guard, there is virtually no way possible to be aggressive, take contact and finish if you can’t handle the ball.

After players have the ability to really handle the ball we will add pressure into our stationary drills.  A couple ways we do this is have players partner or have a coach use boxing gloves to put pressure on the ball handler.  Players partnering up will push on their shoulders or hit the arm that is making the dribble move while the ball handler tries to stay square and on balance during the drill.  We’ll take the players through our 2 dribble series using this variation.

Another drill we will do is a partner pressure drill where we put both players side by side (shoulder to shoulder).  The player on the right has the ball and is on offense, while the defense player is on his left.  The offense players goal is to stay in a straight line from sideline to sideline, while the defender is trying to push him off the line by leaning on him or “riding him out”.  You can also use a coach a defender in this drill.

One concept we keep in mind throughout skill development drills is that the “player that hits first wins”.  Initiate contact with the shot blocker on the weak side with your inside shoulder.  When attacking off the dribble drive your shoulder through the defender’s hip.  We want to hit first and be the aggressor.

Create an environment of aggressiveness by manufacturing drills.  If you are the coach running the practice or workouts your players will only do what you demand of them.  Your players will develop a tougher mindset when you add football pads or boxing gloves to your drills.  If you can drive past a defender hitting you with boxing gloves there shouldn’t be any kind of contact in a game you will shy away from.  Have you ever met “soft” boxer?

My question is how do you expand your game?  Also, how do you get to that 70%?  I absolutely do not agree with this philosophy for youth players.

We have a kid that we workout here in Milwaukee, who is currently in 7^th grade and can really handle the ball. If we spent 70% of our workouts with him focusing on ball handling, how is he ever going to get his game to the next level?  The better you are at a skill the more work you have to put in to make improvements.  We have another player, Carrington Love, going to UW-Green Bay next year.  He can really handle the ball, is quick and can get into the paint.  His outside shot and three ball, however, need to be more consistent.  He should be working 30% on his handles and 70% on his three point shot.

When I was a junior in high school my strengths were getting to the rim, handling the ball and making plays.  In the 6 weeks prior to the start of my senior year I shot 15,000 shots and turned a major weakness into a strength, but didn’t neglect my ball handling.

I will say this, while I added a 3 point shot to my game, mentally I wasn’t as aggressive getting to the rim, which probably hurt my game.  However, this was not a skill issue, just a mentality I needed to be aware of and change.

As a freshman Kenny Boyton from Florida shot 29% from the 3 point line and this last season, as a junior, he knocked down 40% of his three point attempts.  I highly doubt he spent 30% of his time working shot and 70% working on his strengths.  In fact Florida individual instruction workouts in the spring consist of 1,200 made threes per week.  That’s the only thing they focus on.

Raymond Felton’s sophomore year at North Carolina he shot 33% from the 3 point line.  The next year as junior he upped this to 44%.  Why is this important?  If you are already good at getting to the rim and making plays becoming a threat from the outside is going to make it easier to use your strengths.

There are a couple cases I do agree with the 70/30 philosophy.  If you are playing at the highest level of basketball you are going to play at focus on your strengths.  Make them great.  If you are a high school player who can really shoot it keep working on that.  This past preseason when working with Steve Novak from the Knicks we spent probably 85-90% of the workouts focusing on shooting off penetration, wide pindowns, and 1 dribble pullups.  He is the epitome of a specialist in the NBA.

If you want to play at the next level or get your game to the next level you absolutely have to work on your weaknesses AKA Kenny Boyton and Raymond Felton.  If Dirk Nowitzki had continued to work on just being a catch and shoot 3 point shooter where would he be right now?  I highly doubt he’d have a ring and MVP honors without developing his ability to get to the rim and create off the bounce.

What you do all depends on what your goals are.  What level do you want to play at?  This is the question you need to answer first before you design your off season plan.

–

Mike Lee

@mikeleehoops

If you are looking for innovative drills and workouts for the off season be sure to check out www.miskillz.com.  Close to 200 Drills.  50 Scoring Moves. 20 downloadable workouts.

SPRINGFIELD, MA- Jerry Smith has signed with the Springfield Armor’s NBA affiliate, the New Jersey Nets, making him the third Springfield Armor player to earn a GATORADE Call-Up this season, it was announced today. Smith becomes the fourth player in Armor history to earn a call-up and is among more than 100 NBA players with NBA D-League experience currently on 2011-12 rosters.

Smith, a 6-2 guard acquired by the Armor in the fifth round of the 2010 NBA Development League Draft has had a stellar season in his second year in the NBA D-League that included a stint in New Jersey Nets’ training camp. In 32 games this season, 29 starts, Smith has averaged a team-high 19.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists and a team-high 1.9 steals in 34.5 minutes per game. Smith, the reigning NBA D-League Player of the Month, led the Armor to their best month in franchise history in February, averaging 22.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.1 steals en route to an 8-0 record. Smith was also honored as a 2012 NBA D-League All-Star and was the league’s ‘Performer of the Week’ for games played Jan. 30-Feb. 5. He holds career NBA D-League averages of 15.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 28.4 minutes per game through 78 games, 35 starts, over two seasons. Smith ranks in the top five in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and minutes played in Armor history.

Prior to joining the Armor, Smith played four years at Louisville. He holds career averages of 8.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 138 games, including 111 starts. Smith’s Louisville teams made four straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including back-to-back NCAA Elite 8 appearances in 2007 and 2008. The Cardinals also captured the 2009 Big East Tournament championship.

Smith is expected to join the Nets today and be available tonight when the team faces the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center.

Originally posted on www.netsdaily.com

With a roster opening created by the 2-for-1 Gerald Wallace trade, the Nets have called up D-League Player of the Month Jerry Smith from Springfield. Smith, a 6’2″ combo guard out of Louisville, has been generally regarded as the league’s top prospect since Gerald Green was called up by the Nets from the L.A. Defenders.

Smith, 24, played with the Nets in training camp. He’s averaging 19.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 32 games for the Armor. Smith was named D-League Player of the Month for February and Player of the Week for the first week of that month. In February, he led Springfield to a perfect 8-0 record, averaging 22.1 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists. He was chosen to the D-League All-Star Team.

Smith is the fifth D-Leaguer called up by the Nets this year, followingDennis Horner, Larry Owens, Andre Emmett and Green. In response to the call-up, Smith tweeted, “So blessed to have this opportunity!!! Thank you lord I know it’s all your work! #GoNets!”

A crafty, shifty point guard who can break down defenses and either score or get the ball to an open teammates, Love possesses excellent quickness and ball handling ability. Leading the team with 18.5 points per game this season, he has scored more than 1,000 points in prep career for Pius XI, who claimed the Classic Eight title this season and have advanced to the state semi-finals.

Love dished out 132 assists in the team’s first 22 games, an average of 6 per game. He also shot 61% from the field overall and 70% from the free throw line.

In four tournament games, Love has averaged 20.7 points per contest, coming up big when his team needed it the most. Love has committed to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and head coach Brian Wardle.

Finalists for the award were Love, Riley Bambenek of G-E-T, Peter Drummond of Racine Lutheran, Josh Mongan of Germantown, and David Neis of Benton.

The voting panel for the WSN Senior Basketball Awards consisted of:  Nicholas Kartos, WSN President and Founder; Travis Wilson, WSN Content Manager; Mark Miller, WSN Boys Basketball Editor; John Casper Jr., Eau Claire Leader-Telegram

Last summer I was talking to a friend of mine who is an assistant at high-major NCAA DI basketball program about what players they were looking for.  When I got the roster for the Stephen Curry Skills Academy I sent them over to him to let me know if there were any kids their school was interested in.

He sent back the list of players to keep an eye on at Steph’s Academy, which the school had already offered scholarships to or were strongly considering offering.  One of the players listed came to the station I was running.  He was extremely talented, but his work ethic and desire were absolutely awful.  I asked some of the area high school coaches and they confirmed what I saw.  To play at a school like this you need to have a work ethic and some desire.  Their head coach demands nothing less than excellence.

Since the Academy was a weekend long I had a lot more time to evaluate a player than most programs do before offering him a scholarship.  Needless to say, he was crossed off their list, a school that as of last week, was ranked in the top 10 in the country.

Last summer I also had the opportunity to watch some Live Period events here in Milwaukee with players that I workout.  One player in particular I have know since he was in 6^th grade and his dream school was there evaluating.

I saw a coach from his dream school there and called up a friend of mine who was close to their staff.  He got the coach to go over and take a look at this kid play.  I was really excited for the game to begin because he had played great last game and has spent a ton of time working on his game.  The assistant stayed for about 10 minutes and this kid played worse than I think I’ve ever seen him play.  I felt horrible for him.  His one shot was gone in 10 minutes.  Do you play down to your competition or do you hold yourself to a standard no matter who you are up against?

More recently I was working out some extremely talented sophomores from Milwaukee when I friend’s dad wanted to come check out some workouts.  I came to find out later that he was really close with a coach on staff at an SEC school – he was there partly to evaluate these kids.

In all of these situations the players had no idea who was evaluating them.  You never know when you’re opportunity to earn something that you have been working for will come so you always need to be prepared—with your skills, conditioning and mind.  If you are coming off the bench it is so important you stayed mentally engaged in the game. Your opportunity might only be 60 seconds or the last 23 seconds of a quarter.  Your opportunity will come though— eventually.  It’s up to you to be aware, be ready and take advantage.

When the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball team had to play without Keifer Sykes, its offense sometimes bogged down.

That might not be a problem next season.

Coach Brian Wardle’s latest recruit, Carrington Love, is expected to provide backup at the point guard position and possibly could play alongside Sykes next season. The senior point guard from Milwaukee Pius XI High School was just what Wardle was looking for with perhaps his last remaining scholarship for the 2012 class.

“Carrington is a winning kid; his high school coach will tell you that,” said Ike Wilson, who coached Love’s AAU team, Playground Elite. “With him and Sykes together, you’ve got two guys that really break people down and pick you up defensively 94 feet.”

Love, who expected to sign his letter of intent next month, wasn’t heavily recruited and was labeled as a late-bloomer. But Wardle and assistant coach Jimmie Foster, a Milwaukee native, had been watching Love closely when it became apparent they needed another point guard. Wardle watched Love score 17 points in a win over Wisconsin Lutheran on Saturday night and then told Wilson he wanted to offer Love a scholarship.

“Carrington told me he wanted to go there, and that was that,” Wilson said.

Love was an AAU teammate of fellow Phoenix recruit Jordan Fouse of Racine (St. Catherine’s) and became the third member of Wardle’s recruiting class from in state, joining Onalaska’s Nick Arenz.

Love averages 19 points per game for a team that is 21-3 and still alive in postseason play.

“He has some explosiveness but what I’m impressed with is Carrington knows every single position in every set that we run, and we run a ton of sets,” Pius coach Joel Claassen said. “The last couple of weeks, he’s been carrying us, and I think we’ve got a real shot because of him.”

Love wasn’t scared off by the fact that with Sykes, the Phoenix likely has its starting point for the next three seasons.

“Hopefully, I’ll get to play alongside Keifer,” Love said. “I would love that. He’s a wonderful player.”

NCAA rules prohibit Wardle from talking about Love until he signs. Wardle will have an additional scholarship available for that class if he chooses to use it because redshirt sophomore Clayton Heuer has decided to transfer. The Wisconsin Rapids native, who played sparingly in his first two seasons, will likely go to a Division II school where he can get more playing time.

“Clayton’s a great kid who worked really hard, and we’ll miss him,” Wardle said. “He wants to play more, and I completely understand that.”

Wardle may need that scholarship if Jarvis Williams decides to return after missing most of his senior year because of a foot injury. That scholarship also could go to Cole Stefan, the shooting guard who transferred from La Salle.

When I played one thing I always looked forward to was being evaluated at the end of the season or at a camp.  I think the reason why can be summed up in two sentences I picked up from a great book, Winning, by Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE.  I couldn’t say it any better than this.

“Maybe some information is hard to swallow at first and yes, “bad” news often hurts, but soon enough, like all knowledge-it’s power-in fact, it’s liberating.  When you know where you stand you can control your own destiny, and what is more fair than that?”

So the question is, “What are you going to do now?”  Are you going to sit around and feel sorry for yourself because the coach said you needed to work on your jumper or get in the weight room? Or are you going to form your organized plan of attack and get to work?  Are you going make excuses?

After the season take a week off, evaluate your season, decide your goals for the next 3 months, 6 months and where you want to be at the beginning of next season.  Don’t try to make big gains in 1-2 weeks.  It’s small improvements over a long period of time that lead to big results – it’s called the Compound Effect.  You have to have patience and persistence.

If you are looking for workouts you can print and take to the gym we have over 170 drills and printable workouts at www.miskillz.com.  For about $10/month you can have a personal trainer working with you.

On a side note, if you are a coaching a team, I highly suggest reading books outside of the basketball world.  I have read several books regarding management and leadership by executives in the business world and they give great examples of how to manage and lead your team, which is essentially what you are doing with your players.  I just posted a top 10 list here.