The Screaming Viking

The mav’s managed to best the heat last night in convincing fashion.  Both teams had a few runs, but the mav’s were just too hot to handle.  Dirk went 1-12 in the first half, but Dallas still has a 2 point lead going in to the half.  All series long the talking heads have said that dirk needs some help and last night he got it.  I’ve been on wax a couple of times saying that I think the officiating is bias…last night I think it was pretty bad as well.  The heat had 15 more free throws than the mavs…which is quite a difference in the NBA.

Obviously my opinion means nothing, but I like the way things turned out.  I like to see guys that have worked hard for many years finally earn themselves a title (Dirk, Kidd, Terry…).  Those guys have been in the league quite a while, been to the finals at least once each and finally earned themselves a title.  I like seeing Mark Cuban win a championship as well.  He’s been outspoken and can be an ass but whenever he talks about his teams you get the sense that he is as much a fan as anyone.  He wants his team to succeed both on the court and financially, he pushes for that and seems to have passion.  I like the feeling I get from an owner who seems invested in winning year in and year out.

I also like that James didn’t win a title his first year.  I’m sure his will come, but I just don’t like his public persona.  The move from Cleveland to Miami put a very bad taste in my mouth.  I have never had a problem with a guy moving teams, I just didn’t like the way he did it.  Call your former boss, tell him your moving on…call your new boss, tell him you accept…hold a press conference.  Some heads have said that they do not like the way he kept Cleveland in limbo for a few years during his last contract with them.  He seemed to act like they owed it to him to get him a title instead of him earning one.  I realize the decision earned 2mil for charity and that’s cool, but I think he should have at least notified his former boss before he went on the air.  Even if it was a phone call a couple min before he announced…it could have been handled better.  I also don’t like the “Chosen 1″ tattoo on his back…it seems awfully arrogant.  If he’d have brought multiple titles to Cleveland..then by all means, ink it up.  But to do it before you have won anything is a bit ridiculous.

LeBron also seemed to shrink from the spot light.  An average of 2.5pts or something in the 4th quarter of the finals?  In a press conference he tried to point to the “other things” he does in the 4th…but the bottom line is when the game is on the line the ball should be in his hands and he should be taking the shots.  Maybe he’ll mature in to his role but it would be a shame if he continued this mediocre performance in the finals and was able to win a championship on the back of someone else.

I’ve setup a new blog website to post some of my coaching experiences.  I’ll cross post for a little bit, but eventually I want to leave my coaching experiences there and keep this as my personal general commentary on life.  Hillbilly Coach

————————-

Every year the girl’s head coach here runs a basketball camp…he has since I’ve been in grade school.  This year I signed my kid up for camp.  I thought this would be a good opportunity for her to get to know some of the people she will be in class with and also, she could use the work on her game.  I’m a big fan of these camps.  I think they give the players a bit more instruction than you can provide during an organized practice and playing with new people makes them really focus on the simple aspects of the game.  When you play in the school program some coaches have a propensity to push the players to run the ‘set offense’ all the time.  This prevents them from free forming and discovering how to play the game a little more organically and with flow.  Learning the importance of the pick and roll as well as cutting to the basket is key at this young age.  In these camps you have to go back to those basics and work on those areas of the games.  Plus the players get quite a bit of floor time as well as several games a day.

Camp started on Tuesday.  I came in to the gym on and off to see how things were going.  Mostly because I like watching and I’m hoping for opportunities to work with various age groups next year.  I wanted to see what kind of talent there is in those various groups.  Bottineau made it to the state tournament for baseball, and the baseball coach is the head boys coach whom is also running the boys basketball camp.  They left on Wednesday for practice before they start the tournament so the camp was short staffed.  The girls coach asked me if I would be interested in helping out, naturally I was.  I saw this as a good opportunity to get more involved with the program and pass along some of my knowledge and techniques to the players.

Overall the camp went well.  There were not near as many players there as I remember when I used to go…but there were still enough to do the planned activities.  Maybe the attendance is a product of the time of year the camp takes place.  They run it right after school is out…and this could be either good or bad.  Some might be looking for a break right away, other’s might take off right after school, given the memorial day weekend, for a vacation and it might work out well for others who have plans for later in the summer.  This guy has been doing this for awhile so I assume this is what works for him.

I worked with both the boys and the girls in a few different areas, shooting and ball handling mainly.  I ran them through the basic drills, which I think are important at virtually all age groups.  After the drill stations we ran individual competitions.  The coach’s main functions during these events are to keep time and record stats.  After that we play the team games.  Here we coach both sides up a bit and act as the official.

It seemed like most everyone had fun, I can’t think of someone who looked like they didn’t have a good time.  Over all, in that short week I noticed improvements in the mechanics of several of the players.  Some of the girls especially need to work on their shooting form.  They are going from the little girl that had to heave the ball from their waists to get it to the rim…to having more strength and being able to shoot with a “proper” technique and be far more accurate.  Hopefully they will keep working over the summer and come winter Bottineau will have a pretty decent team at that age level. (5-8).

I’ve been watching some NBA action as of late, the conference finals and the championship round.  I also caught parts of games through out the season.  I haven’t been much of an NBA fan for years…I’ve been turned off by the game.  I think being back up in this area and getting involved with the basketball program at the school has reignited some interest in watching the game on T.V.  That’s probably fairly normal I would imagine.  I’ve also posted several times on here that I listen to lex and terry quite a bit.  Chances are their commentary on the world colors some of my opinion.  I heartily agree with some things they say, and don’t so much agree with others.  Politically I think they are blind morons, but when it comes to sports I believe they have some opinions that are valid to me.  They have had Tim Donaghy on a few times during the conf finals/finals and his commentary and insight into what happens is nothing short of fascinating to me.  I believe that to a certain degree the NBA is far more rigged than other sports.  I think they have more interest and ability to make a series stretch out 7 games, keep the game close and hand the game to the team they want to win.  It could not have been more evident than in game 3 of this years finals.  If you don’t think things are rigged, you need to sit back and objectively watch this past game. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t think I’ll ever understand how coaches are hired at the professional level.  It seems like at the NCAA level at the very least a little bit of past success is necessary.  They might be coming off of being fired somewhere or had a bad stop at their previous school, but chances are some where in the past they have demonstrated some sort of competence.  Maybe it was at an assistant or coordinator position, a past head coaching position…but somewhere down the line a head coach has shown some level of competence.  I’m only speaking for football and basketball.  I don’t follow hockey or other coaches enough to know if they follow the same pattern.

In the NBA it seems like no coaching proficiency is necessary before the chair is pulled out for them.  This is especially true for star players that want to break into NBA management/coaching.  Magic was my favorite player to watch and listen to, but he made a horrible coach…his little stint with the Lakers was not good, but he wasn’t there long enough to get a solid sample to know if he wasn’t effective.  Jordan, great player…horrible executive.  His insistence on hiring Larry Brown was a bad decision, his personnel moves have been bad.  He just hasn’t been able to put together a solid team.  Some guys have had success, Jerry West, Larry Bird…hrm.  It might seem like I’m drawing a black/white line there, but I don’t mean to.  Those are the high profile guys I can think of off hand.  I’m sure there have been successful black players that have transitioned into coaches and management, but I can’t think of one off the top of my head.  Maurice cheeks maybe, I’d have to research some on that.

Enter Kevin McHale…what has this guy done to prove that he is a decent coach or front office guy?  He has stumbled around Minnesota for years and done nothing with that team.  For many years he had Garnette to build around and simply failed.  He was forced to coach the team he put together and failed at that as well.  What do the Rockets see in this guy that would garner a head coaching opportunity?  There are many guys out there that are available for this spot that have some proven success…yet McHale gets the nod.  I’m not sure why he is favored in Houston, I could see it in Boston where he was a star…but in Houston?  If anything, given his history in Minnesota I can see this costing the rockets money in season tickets.  I wouldn’t follow a team this guy is running.

Weird stuff.