HP Practice

Good news was that, for once, I wasn’t exhausted going into practice with HP. However, the practice wasn’t great, wasn’t bad, but not great either. The fun started before practice. Ben shows up in a foot boot. He had previously been under the “don’t do something if you were in pain” order. Ben decided to hear “you can do whatever you want”. He’s a maybe for tomorrow. Josh had been sick but showed up to practice. So we’re down two men despite everyone being there.

For continuous motion we practiced dribbling, with my placing a large emphasis on doing it with the head up. Following this, we spent some time in a half court scrimmage practicing just moving around, essentially, on offense. Giving them a “position” to play just seemed to throw them off, more than anything. I think I would have been better off saying “you 5 go in and play” on some level. Gavin was particularly upset at being told he was going to be a center. This after already being told, when he started chucking up shots during our water break post continuous motion, that if he shot like that in the game he would come out. Not a happy day, for Gavin, all things considered.

Following this we played a game of golf, then did our triangle passing drill. It was then time to practice our inbounds play. I basically taught them a simple stack in/out cut and a free lance play at the free throw line. Later on, after we’ve worked on picks, we’ll probably do a box play or two. The way we did the stack is simply to alternate who cuts towards and away from the basket, based on whether it’s an odd or even number called out. Most of the players had no problem with this, though a few struggled.

After that it was time for the “here’s how games” work. I talked about subbing in and then kneeling down, and telling the player who’s subbing in for you which player you were guarding. The nuts and bolts of substitution. I then did a much better job of explaining my philosophy about subbing, then I did with GL on Thursday and even took some questions. Jack A asked a good question, for instance, about what happens if you get tired. Would then mean you would get less time. I explained that when a player gets tired, I try to get them back in when they tell me they’re ready. I felt good about this part. However, I just felt like the rest of practice wasn’t as filled with instruction as I would have liked. I think I really need to start including teaching points on my practice plans, and using my practice plans when I’m doing the practice (as I’ve basically done the practice plan, but from memory).

I haven’t gone into nearly as much detail with the HP practices as I have with the GL practices. Part of this is simply reflecting that I am more tired for HP practices than GL. But also, because I don’t have quite the same bond with the HP team as I do with GL and so I simply have less to say about them. I sincerely hope that this changes, as I don’t want to be that parent who favors one child over the other. I am really hoping once we’ve been in the breech together, after a few games, that the bond will start to form. But in the mean time it seems like a good time to do a team overview:

Adam – I really want to like this kid. Or rather I do like this kid. I really want to like his basketball skills. However, while he’s close on a whole bunch of issues, the complete package just isn’t there. He is aggressive, which I like, but his man to man is weak. He can penetrate well, but then gets trapped and doesn’t know how to get out of it. In the long run I think he could turn into a real good player, but he’s not quite there yet.

Ben – The stronger of the twins, when he’s not in a foot cast. Despite not being a tall player he’s definitely going to be an inside presence for us. He had predicted he would be playing a 2, but I explained, “No no. It’s more like 3 or 4”. He’s also a great teammate. Today, for instance, when he had the cast on and was sitting out to the side he was cheering on his teammates in a great manner. He was a definite starter, but now with being a maybe for tomorrow, I’m not sure. I think I will start him if he’s able to play, but just really limit his minutes. I’d much rather have him for January, February, and March, then play him some in November and lose him the rest of the season.

Danny – Kid’s got a great smile. He’s pretty quick and a good slasher. I think he has the potential to be one of our stronger players. When we were doing triangle defense, he did a great job of getting his hands up and deflecting the pass and otherwise disrupting the passing lanes. He will be starting tomorrow. His dad, while all smiles kind of rubs me the wrong way for no real reason. I don’t want to say he’s creepy but that’s the best word to describe how he rubs me the wrong way. Off-putting perhaps? Whatever it is, I can’t really put my finger on it yet.

Gavin – Our center, despite his protests. Attitude is going to be an issue with him more than ability. Well decision making and resulting attitude. He doesn’t have a sense yet of how to play the post, but I anticipate that will develop over time. I had said I was going to start the 5 best defenders, which he is not. However, with Ben a maybe, it looks like Gavin could very well get the start in his place.

Henry – He’s small but he doesn’t play it. He’s a sharp kid and so he’ll be someone I use as an in bounder a fair amount. The one thing that bothers me is that he dribbles really high. Now since he’s short it’s not too much of a problem, but it does make it far easier to steal the ball from him than it would be otherwise. He’ll be starting tomorrow.

Jack A – He took losing very hard in his house league game. I like that. As I said he’s got a real good jump stop and can making a moving lay-up. I tried him a little at point and that’s not the right position. And not just because he has a tendency to travel, by semi-catching the ball as he’s dribbling. He is, I think, a gamer so I expect him to do better tomorrow than he had been at practice.
Jack B – Unlike Henry, he’s a small player who plays his height. I think he’s got some good instincts and could be developed into a better point guard than he is now, but he’s not there yet (as he has a tendency to pick up his dribble at the first sign of trouble). For the time being he’ll be seeing less playing time.

Jacob – I basically gave my assessment of him the other night. He’s got a great grasp of basketball fundamentals, but lacks a lot of the athletic ability to execute. Because of his size he’ll get some good chances to play. I’m going to be very curious what his WS says about him.

Jon – He’s a kid who I’m going to play in spurts, as he gets tired easily. I told him this and he seemed comfortable with that idea. Shares much of his brothers aggression and good nature. He’s also a lefty versus his brother being a righty which is kind of interesting. So he’s going to be a starter but will likely also come out after only a couple.

Josh – He’s a bit slower than most of the other players on the team. And he doesn’t do some things all that well. But every now and then he shows a flash of something, such as today when he executed a perfect through the legs and behind the back crossover, that shows that he belongs, something I didn’t think was true of him at first. But as I can’t figure out how quite to use him, he too will likely see less playing time tomorrow if it’s a close game. Of course if it’s a blow-out I’ll likely leave him in more just so I can figure him out a little better.

Zach – Reputedly the best player in the grade. This is probably true, though he’s not going to be able to take over a game the way David can, or at least I haven’t seen it yet. He is the best of a bad crop at point guard. Unlike with GL where I would feel comfortable putting half the team at point (literally), I don’t really trust any of the players to play point. But someone has to do it, and for now it’s going to be Zack.

So that’s our team. Brian told me some real nightmare stories about some of the PL coaches, so we’ll see how that goes. But I’m excited at having a chance to play a game and see how we stack up.