Gym one.  Player 1 walks into the empty gym, turns on the lights and puts the ball down.  P1 stretches, jogs and does some light plyometric/footwork drills.  Player 2 enters the gym, jogs to get loose and does the same warm-up, while P1 does the Mikan Drill.  When P2 is done warming up, P1 and P2 start basic shooting drills; passing and closing out on the shooter and rebounding one’s own shot.  They start with mid-range jump shots, no further than the free throw line.  Player 3 arrives, gets loose and joins a three-person shooting drill.  When Player 4 arrives, P1 and P2 work together and P3 and P4 work together.  P1 and P2 finally extend the range on their jumpers.  When they have six players, they play three-on-three.

Gym two.  P1 walks in the gym dribbling the ball and throws a three-pointer at the rim.  He walks after the rebound, dribbles back to the three-point line and throws another shot at the basket.  P2 enters and P1 shows off some And 1 move.  P2 takes a three-pointer, and then they play one-on-one, dribbling and dribbling and dribbling before shooting.  As more players enter, half court shots are attempted, balls are throws off the walls and double-pump three-sixty lay-ups are practiced.

These are two examples illustrating the difference between the European/International player and the American player.  I was at the middle school in the town where I coached in Sweden one day after our practice when I witnessed the first scenario, a group of girl players between the ages of 16 and 25, some good, some not.  The second example took place tonight at a local high school as I conducted a workout on the other half of the court and involved freshman, junior varsity and varsity players at the high school.

People point to the sagging shooting percentages in professional basketball, blaming hundreds of factors, but I always come back to these two examples.  I can’t help but trace the problem to its origin.

Americans excel in individual defense, ball handling and one-on-one play because we play more pick-up basketball and many players learn to play, or develop considerably, while playing on the playgrounds.  International players excel in shooting and movement without the ball because they work together from the beginning, rather than constantly competing, as is the American way.

Playground (pick-up) basketball is great for learning toughness and for working on one’s individual game.  However, these benefits must be complemented by additional skill work as well.  Simply playing lots of basketball will not necessarily make one a great player.  He must be smart, too, and use his court time wisely, practicing his weaknesses and further developing his strengths.  Too many times, players take the court and lazily shoot around until a game starts.  That is court time the player can use to improve his game, whether he works on form shooting close to the basket, ball handling drills, pull-up jump shots off the dribble, etc.

The And 1 Mix-Tapes are fantastic.  I enjoy watching the tapes and use them in a practice environment.  However, it appears some players (and I’ve seen this in Africa, Europe and the States) fail to understand the practice involved in mastering the moves of players like Skip To My Lou, Sick-With-It and Hot Sauce.  In one of the “Street Ball” episodes, the Professor says Hot Sauce should be called the Energizer Bunny because he never stops dribbling.  He always has a ball in his hands working on his handle.  It doesn’t just happen.

Skip, Hot Sauce and the others spent a lifetime dribbling the ball and the Tour is the fruit of their labor.  However, I see adolescents at the park trying to do one of the moves, but they can’t dribble the ball with their left hand.  They cannot do a basic “Figure Eight” drill without staring at the ball, but they think they can pull off a move that took Hot Sauce years to perfect.  Please, players, give these guys their due.  They are not overnight successes.  They work at their craft.

I, unlike many coaches, have no problem with players learning to do these moves which they will never use in an ordinary game.  I think players who can do these moves will have a tight handle and unquestioned confidence with the ball.  However, to be able to do these moves, players must first learn to handle the ball.  They need a tight handle.  And, players with a tight handle are few and far between.  It starts with building control, doing drill after drill so the ball becomes an extension of the hand.  Then, the player builds quickness, making game moves at game speeds with perfect control, the ball always in the fingers, not in the palm or the wrist.  Once the player has a tight handle, then he can emulate his And 1 heroes because he will have the ability, and will need only to learn the creativity and the flair which make the And 1 Mix-Tapes entertaining.

Similarly, shooting the three is an important facet of today’s game.  However, players, especially young players, who never venture inside the line to work on their shot never develop or progress properly.  They learn to shoot with poor form and develop bad habits that become increasingly difficult to correct the more the player plays.

Every time a player starts shooting, he should start close to the basket and warm-up with some form shots to build proper form through repetitions.  As the player progresses further and further from the basket, he should shoot with the same mechanics.  If a player has different mechanics at twenty feet than he does at ten feet, he has flawed mechanics.  The only difference should be in the leg drive which powers the shot.

Practice makes permanent.  Every time a player practices, he either practices good habits or he develops bad habits.  Players who excel and achieve greatness, reaching and exceeding their potential, discipline themselves and work on their fundamentals, practicing their shooting from close range, or doing “boring” ball handling drills to develop confidence, control and quickness.  Students do not jump from addition and subtraction to calculus.  There are steps and an educational process where skills build upon each other.  Students with poor basic arithmetic skills will struggle with higher math.  Similarly, basketball skills build upon each other and players need a strong fundamental base in order to develop more advanced skills and moves and to succeed at higher levels.  International players understand the fundamental importance of proper practice, while many American athletes are fundamentally flawed despite superior athletic ability, toughness and aggressiveness.