Having been a small forward as a
basketball player, it has been very interesting to me as a coach to train
players on position 1 and on position 5. Initially I
believed that the two positions are very different. But coaching young tall
players at the ages 13-16, my question is if I should train and help them to
play inside the basket primarily or use them outside the 3-point area. When
you have a thirteen years old player at the height 1,85m/6ft, can you imagine a
future center or a tall point guard?
On the other hand, how difficult is
it for you to do a shorter player with great dribbling but less potential to
play in a
higher level an injustice. Furthermore, as you try to “create” a
tall point guard, many times the young player feels uncomfortable playing away
from the basket when her main advantage is close to it.
Trying to solve these problems I
have selected the next solutions: 1)I choose plays with 4 players outside and 1
player at the top of the key or 1-4 set plays. So I manage to have 5 players
actually outside. In addition, I give the opportunity to the center to score
with 1-2 dribbles, or without (because plays often finish with her inside the
paint).
2) Coach Ettore Messina referred to
this scheme “Developing the big man” in the coach clinic
2010 in Hamburg, Germany. He focuses firstly on 3 things: A)He insists on the
young big man running offensive transition and scoring easy points B) He also
keeps on pressing him to fight for offensive rebound and C) Points from free
throws. By these ways we
can give confidence to a young tall player who (don’t forget it) hardly
controls her body most of times.
3) Then I try slowly to improve her
inside game. I will not refer to drills or moves, because there are many on the
net. I want to express only my view about the first period when the player
starts to play near the basket. To me two things are important: A)When my
player receives the ball at the low post I keep on scoring without
dribble(maybe a hook shot) or with one dribble. B) When she receives the ball at
the low post we don’t want any defender at the weak side low post. It
is crucial the tall player use 1on1 the moves that she has learnt during
training.
I am looking forward to your views,
ideas, objections, considerations via my email: kitsoleris@hotmail.com or
twitter: @Gkitsoleris.
