Joe's Basketball blog

Last eve, I went to the Tribune to play, but no one was there.

So, instead, I shot free-throws. On the goal closer to the entrance, I hit 62 of 100 - not good. On the other goal, I hit 79 of 100 - not bad, but still not where I want to be. Overall, 141 for 200 - .705. That's at least .100 points below where I want to be.

Afterward, when I got home, I did some sit-ups and some walking on the treadmill. First, I did a mile at the speed of 3.5 MPH, and then at 4.0 for the remainder of 20 minutes. I felt good afterward.

Now the challenge is to not over-eat while I'm stuck at home during the snowstorm.

You know, over the years, I've played with tons of basketball players who think so highly of themselves, that I've almost developed some sort of immunity to it; the sting of the barbs they throw in criticism of others acting almost like a vacciniation, the losses that pile up in the wake of their play just another chance at victory killed by basketball's version of the Black Death.

Then, you watch people you KNOW can help your team get tossed onto the altar of sacrifice.

Tuesday's game against Ott Trucking is a game we could have won - a game we should have won - a game we lost by 1 point. It was an ugly loss - once again punctuated by shots from somewhere just inside the parking lot from #3, and a return of one of the players from last year who probably did more to damage Boone County Lumber team's reputation last year than all the rest of us combined. These two seemed determined to star in the role of "hero," assuming, of course, that the movie in question is "A Nightmare on Elm (actually Ash) Street" and the hero is the basketball equivalent of Freddy Kruger.

But, for once, I wasn't the primary victim. Fancy that.

No; they turned their attention to Skander. Every shot he took - and he didn't take a bad shot among them - they were yelling at him not to shoot, probably in hopes of them gulping down shots as if it were last call on Saturday Night at the local watering hole. And why shouldn't they shoot those shots? It's not as if Dustin - who hopped on board as our seventh player much like the last soon-to-be-castaway hopping on board the S.S. Minnow - minded doing all the hard work, taking all the punishment, and being given none of the credit.

Skander came out aggressive, and did the things he should have done the week before. But in a classic example of "too little, too late," he came out cold, and only hit his last shot - a 3-pointer. Never mind the fact that he was the one covering up their top outside shooter. Never mind the fact that the shots he took were good shots - wide open, and the kind of things he typically makes. Never mind the fact that he drove and dished on several occasions. The moment he hit that 3, he got pulled. And on every shot, 3 and 22 were yelling at him not to shoot.

I have to admit, hearing how upset he was about how he was treated was sort of theraputic in a way for me; I couldn't help but think of all the times when my jump wasn't good enough or my hands strong enough to get a rebound and listening to Skander tear into me about it, or the time he ripped into Tony when Tony batted the ball ahead to him and instead of either him or Tony getting the ball, a defender ended up with it. Sort of a "what goes around, comes around." But all in all, Skander's words were always born out of a competitive spirit - not out of a spiteful resentment of a teammate, and as such, you can't compare the two. Skander didn't deserve the vitriol he got.

And, of course, Bill, our coach, doesn't have confidence in Skander, which, of course, shakes Skander's confidence in himself.

I scored the game's first points - on a 3-pointer in the deep corner. Missed my second shot - another 3-pointer in the opposite deep corner. Add in a rebound and a steal, and that was my night. No assists. No turnovers. Three or four fouls (and every one, a dirty foul - we were playing Ott Trucking, after all).

I'd gripe about how a person who hits his first shot waits several minutes before getting another, but then again, I didn't get pulled immediately after hitting my first shot.

Dustin was solid, aggressive, and did all the hard work he was supposed to do. Every time I play with that guy, I love his game more and more. Skander fed him a couple of times, and I got the ball into the post for him once, but he got so few touches that we just couldn't get things working.

In the end, we took a 1 point loss - 45-44. It was all capped off by Ott Trucking missing the front end of a 1-and-1 free-throw, and batting the ball around until time expired - all with Skander and me watching from the sideline.

Skander didn't have a good game, but even so, we wasted him. Dustin *DID* have a good game. We wasted him, too.

And I know what has to be done. I have to take control of this team. I have to take control of the team at the point - without us having Todd, that needs to be MY position. I have to take the ball out of the hands of 3, who can't help us, and put it in the hands of Dustin, who *CAN* help us. And I have to get Dustin to step up and lead the back line of defense if we're in a zone, because the rest of the back line is a shambles.

We've got Foundations next. It SHOULD be a win. Then again, I shouldn't have a higher scoring average than Skander.

Yes, yes, yes! Chris Valleroy - Jake's dad - is going to be my assistant coach for Upward!

I'm going to be coaching two teams this year, and I'm already starting off with an awesome assistant coach. And, of course, that means I'm coaching Jake in the 5th/6th grade level, which means that even before I've seen my roster, I know I've got one of the sharpest basketball players out there for my team.

Mr. Valleroy was a wonderful team parent last year, and I recommended to Todd that he ask Mr. Valleroy to coach one of the teams. Mr. Valleroy knows the game, and any group of kids will benefit from his teaching, but more so than that, Mr. Valleroy has the right attitude to approach the game. That's something that many parents find difficult, especially if they've played the sport. You have to strike a delicate balance between encouraging a young player and discouraging bad habits. You have to override the desire to try to tell your kid to do things the way you did things. And Mr. Valleroy did just wonderful with Jake. Jake's a player with no bad habits, a willingness to share the ball, and a clutch performer. You have to think Mr. Valleroy would be the same kind of player - and will teach the same kind of things as a coach.

So, going in, I know that the 5th/6th grade team has a strong coaching advantage. The question will now become what level the players are at; is it a well-developed team capable of running a structured offense, or is it a team best served by a free-flowing offense like the Spartans ran last year? Perhaps just a few out-of-bounds plays?

I'm eager to get my rosters and get things rolling.

Also, last night, I played at the Tribune, with a guy named Allen, and against Steve and Lee. We played three games, with Allen and me winning the first and the last - the last on a 3-pointer by me with the score tied.

I struggled with my outside shot, especially so in the first two games. However, I went to the drive, and I was doing very well with the baby-hook coming off the spin move. Steve tried to back off so he wouldn't be vulnerable to the spin move, so I faced up, and just shot a couple of times.

More importantly, my hands were very active - the most they've been in a while - and I got a good number of deflections, tips, and shot-blocks. My passing wasn't where I wanted it, but part of that was because we were playing 2-on-2, and my teammate isn't a cutter at all. C'est la vie.

Afterward, I hit 19 of 25 from the free-throw line. Close - still not there yet, though.

I'm feeling pretty confident right now. We'll have to see how well it carries over to Tuesday's game against Foundations of Columbia.

Yesterday was a big day for basketball all the way around.

I got my Upward Basketball Rosters. I'm going to be coaching two teams with Chris Valleroy, who will have one of his sons on each team. We practice on Wednesdays.

Our 3rd/4th grade team is the Yellow Jackets. You can access their web page here. At first look, we have a very deep and talented team, based on the evaluation scores of the players. I'm eager to see how this team will work out, because it looks like we have a very good chance to play a very fast style of basketball. So far, I've got one guy who may have a scheduling conflict.

Our 5th/6th grade team is the Knicks. You can access their web page here. At first read, this is a team with some exceptionally big players, with a strong mix of quick players as well. Of particular interest to me is the fact the three players - Landon, David, and Mackoy - are all close friends, and Jake and Andrew know each other from church. That means either we'll have extremely GREAT chemistry, or we'll have a team divided by cliques and extremely POOR chemistry. It'll be up to Chris and me to make sure the team falls squarely into the former category. Also of concern is the fact that we only have 9 players, with one of those who may have to drop out due to scheduling problems. Also, for this team, there's still one player's parents who I haven't been able to contact.

All in all, Upward looks to be much more challenging this year - with increased expectations. Looking at the two teams, both are evaluated higher than the Spartans, but then again, you can't tell me that the Spartans' evaluations were accurate. Almost to a player, the Spartans were evaluated too low, and I could tell that at the end of the second practice.

I was disappointed at the Utah Jazz loss on Friday. A victory would have given Jerry Sloan 1000 victories for his career. The man is such a great coach; I wanted to see him get it. Utah's next game is tonight, at home, against Dallas. Skander and I might have to watch that one.

My fantasy basketball team won its game this week, and we're now up to 7th in the league - just out of the playoffs. Word is that Pau Gasol will be back later this week. That would be a great boost to my team, as Duncan and Gasol run opposite schedules this week.

Last evening, I went out and played some 21 with Caleb and Shannon. Amazingly enough, I won two of the three games. The first game was simply a matter of making my free throws - I hit all 12 that I took. Caleb won the second game in convincing fashion. I won the last game on a crazy come-back. The winning shot was a banked left-handed jumper on the left side of the court when I got Shannon off-balance. Also in that game was a left-handed, one-hand, off-balance shot that went in.

The real problem out there was Shannon, because he was playing exceptionally dirty last night. Of course, dirty Mruzik defense is something of a family tradition, but Shannon is taking it to new levels. Every Mruzik plays close, and every Mruzik commits blatant blocking fouls, but Shannon actually PUSHES on the blocking fouls. He's starting to develop a hand-check - likely stolen from Tim Vargesko - and between the body block, the hand-check, and his willingness to reach in to steal the ball, you're talking a VERY physical player. I try to be patient, but there's only so patient you can be, and I'm using most of my fakes - giving him a clearer and clearer picture of what I can do and what I can't - which will allow him to play dirty more effectively. And in 21, I don't have the big counters that I need - the ability to get him off of me by passing and cutting or the opportunity to run him into a pick. Once we get into a real game, we'll fix the dirty play.

Caleb and I also worked on pick-and-roll a bit, with me showing him how to recognize the difference between pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop situations.

I am starting to worry about Caleb's drive move. A couple of times, it was a blatant travel. And worse, one time, it was a carry move followed by a travel. I think part of it is a remnant from him learning to dunk. What he's doing is legal - if you go by the rules for travelling from the pros. But if you go by high school or college rules, he could have some serious trouble in an officiated game.

And, of course, in playing those games against Shannon and Caleb, I've done something to my left side. It might be a back thing, or it might be a pull of something toward the front of my hip. Either way, it's really sore today. It occurred - I think - when I was trying to pop Shannon as a warning to stop bodying me. That should make tomorrow's City League game interesting.

And for the City League, after talking with Travis Acton on Friday night, I'm looking at re-instituting an old tradition that he and I used to have. I shared the tradition with Skander years ago, but it sort of died out when Skander's games were confined to late Friday nights, with him hanging out with other friends afterward. But now, it's time to bring back this blast from the past: how well we play decides where we have supper that night. Play well, and we're looking at places like Red Lobster. Play bad, and it's Long John Silver's. That might really help get Skander back into the right frame of mind for tomorrow night's game. Right now, he's being aggressive, and that's a big improvement, but I'm afraid his confidence is shaken. I'm going to try to get him back on track. We're playing Foundations of Columbia, so we should win, but I'm more interested in getting Skander on track. The season is pretty much toast for any chance of a championship, but we now need to get chemistry in place for future years. Skander's going to be vital to that.

Skander and I watched the Utah vs. Dallas game last night.

Jerry Sloan won his 1000th game as an NBA coach. The way he handled the whole thing was classic Jerry Sloan - downplaying his own role in the accomplishment, getting his players off the court quickly so as to avoid the spotlight. And, in front of the reporters, he again downplayed his accomplishment, choosing to focus on the players.

And then, you saw the weak spot in the armor - you saw the fact that he *IS* proud of the accomplishment, just like anyone would be. But it wasn't a "proud" moment - it was a GRATEFUL moment. Former Jazz coach Frank Layden approached Sloan to congratulate him, and Sloan's comment was, "Thanks for getting me here." In gratitude, Jerry Sloan showed his human side.

1000 victories, the longest tenure with a single team in NBA history, and the man has never won the Coach Of The Year award. A man synonymous with discipline and team play, and when we need an Olympic Coach who is strong in discipline and team play, we grab up a college coach, because we all know how well those college coaches do when they come to coach at the pro level. Never mind that there's a qualified NBA coach out there, who has served as an assistant coach for the Dream Team in the past.

Skander made the comment that Utah, because of its market size and lack of attraction for free agents, almost has to run its franchise as if it were a college program - a long-tenured coach, with a well-defined system. He suggested that when Sloan leaves Utah, Utah will be bad for a long time. Well, I think there are a few hopes that that won't happen; Utah could always hire Sloan's assistant - Phil Johnson, who, amazingly enough *HAS* won the NBA Coach Of The Year award - or they could hire in a former Sloan player like Jeff Hornacek who could attempt to preserve the culture. But it definitely is an interesting idea.

People have been talking as recently as last year that Sloan should be sent packing. That's just plain stupid. The man is stability defined, and when you've got young players, stability is critical.

It's time to give the man his props, people. Jerry Sloan for NBA Coach Of The Year - even if he never wins another game.

Well, finally a win for Boone County Lumber. A pretty poor game for me, though. 0-2, both from three-point range, 1 assist, 2 turnovers (one to Skander, one to Dustin), 1 assist (to Bobby), and two rebounds.

Dustin won the tip, tipped it to me, and I threw over the top to a wide-open Skander - who blew the lay-up. I figured it was going to be a long night. I was guarding 3 for them, and he kept taking me off the dribble. It got really frustrating when he took me off the dribble at the 3-point line, I called for help, and sure enough, he went all the way to the basket for a lay-up.

The other guys are talking about how much better we are when we're in man-to-man. The other guys are wrong. Don't get me wrong; I hate the zone as much as anyone, but we are an awful defensive team, and outside of Dustin (for the group we had last night), a bad rebounding team. (Dustin may be the best rebounder in the league. His only problem is that he's also the closest thing we have to a shot-blocker, and, of course, shot-blocking generally costs you rebounding position.) We played a bad team, only beat them because in the second half, all of our outside shooters caught fire at the same time. Our defense was BAD. BAD, BAD, BAD.

There's a reason we go zone, and have only been successful when we've played a zone in the past. That reason is that we are TERRIBLE at team defense in man-to-man when a player - ANY PLAYER - gets beat. And we have several people who can't guard a player man-to-man without getting beat. Next week, we'll go up against a different team - a team that has mobile players who can beat their man off the dribble or off the cut. And if we go man-to-man against them, we'll give up lay-up after lay-up.

Of course, 3 and 22 for us can't play zone. And 22 can't play man, either, and I'm not all that hot on 3's man defense - he's playing for steals, and to his credit, he gets a good number of them on cross-court passes. But he leaves his man - THE POST THREAT - to do it.

Skander played all 40 minutes - and then proceeded to learn the wrong lesson from it. The lesson he learned was that he had to play all the minutes to be effective. Of course, the reason he played all 40 minutes was because 1) we didn't have a coach on the bench, and 2) the person who WOULD HAVE gone in for him felt he was playing poorly, and kept his seat on the bench because he saw signs of Skander getting on track.

Truth be told, I normally don't mind making sacrifices. It's a big part of basketball. But I start to mind when a person feels that they're justified in saying they deserve to play every minute.

3 played mostly in control tonight, although he took a couple of really bad shots - even after we talked about it. One of them - which was better than most - was unnecessary, but after it went in, he called back, "Don't worry about me." If I had been having ANY sort of decent game at that point, I'd have subbed for him. The guy is apparently a player who thinks that any shot that goes in is a good shot. That explains, somewhat, when we were trying to kill the clock, he drove aggressively into the heart of the defense; after all, if he hits his free throws, then that's good - despite the fact that no time is coming off the clock.

Skander caught fire late and Steve caught fire late, and both hit some big shots. But the real victory was earned on the backs of Dustin and Bobby. Bobby turned in an INCREDIBLE game, in which he only dropped one pass - from number 3 - and it was a short pass with way too much pepper on it. (In other words, pretty much ANYONE would have dropped that one.)

I'm still very frustrated that instead of moving the ball through the point on the outside, we skip pass over the point. Against this team, we can do that. We'll get killed if we continue to do that, though.

What I saw out there last night was a great game by Dustin, a good game by Bobby, exactly what I expect from Steve, and a game where Skander started out poorly, but developed into the game and ended up with a pretty good game. But I saw an AWFUL defense, and I saw fool's gold out there in the game of 3, and while 22 was effective for the most part, it was because he wasn't looking to be a scorer but a distributor to a greater extent. If he stays that way, he'll be okay - outside of the mental lapse at the end of the game with a needless elbow of a defender on a post which got called and nearly triggered a fight. (Like I said in a previous entry - last year, he did more to make us absolutely hated than all the rest of the players of the team combined.)

I'm not sure if the chemistry I saw last night was the beginning of a trusting team where everyone is allowed to contribute, or a bunch of guys who all wanted to talk but fell into a good game where a few shots started dropping. Personally, I see the chemistry of the team as being explosive - in a negative way.

But I've got one big hope in the team: DUSTIN. This guy is an absolutely awesome player and teammate. He plays smart, he plays unselfish (he had the best pass of the night - a drop in to Bobby), an incredible rebounder, a good shooter, good at the free throw line, and an alert defender. A one-point loss to Ott Trucking, and a victory against Foundations while we've had Dustin. Now the schedule gets tough. Maybe Big Mike will be back soon, and we can give Dustin some help.

I'm not sure where Skander is going. At times, it seems like he's got the same attitude toward the game as 3, and simply is just a smarter player. And he respects how smart Dustin is, as he should, but doesn't realize that it's Dustin's attitude that's what makes him smart. And if Skander's attitude is going in the same direction as 3, then there's really not much point of me sticking with this team. I want to play with the Lees and the Dustins and the gold-shirt Scotts. A Skander with the right attitude is the most devastating Skander there is; whether it's these games with Mandell and the rest of his crew, or his trip to Savannah, or what, I don't know, but Skander's attitude is becoming a problem. I keep wanting to say, "Hey, why don't we go play at the Tribune on Monday," but truth of the matter is that I'm afraid to take Skander along. In times past, I didn't worry about it; I knew Skander's attitude was one of competitiveness, not arrogance. I'm not so sure that that's the case any more.

A win's a win, though, and I'll take it.