Basketball 180!!

By Sean Connolly

I was playing ball the other day, and I usually play with this guy who’s in his late 30’s who coaches a high school basketball team. Now, I’m faster and a little bit stronger than him and he still manages to out-jump me on every rebound. To be honest, I was sick of gettin’ embarrassed.

So, I tried to bring up why he jumps higher than me even though he’s like one inch shorter, but of course my pride came into play. I didn’t want to ask an advercary how he’s better than me. So, I initiated a conversation about the practice regimens he gives his kids. He starts talking about it, you know the same old same old…sprints, lay-ups, and passing. I start asking if he’s got any big guys, he said no, none at all. I laughed and said they must suck, to which he responded we went undefeated last season. There’s my opening. I asked him, ‘don’t your guys just get roughed up on the boards if they’re all short?’ He said ‘no, I got a secret. It’s something my dad taught me when I was a kid, and growing up I was usually the shortest but I could jump the highest.’

So here’s what he told me…

He said to do two types of vertical jumps in succession straight for like a minute and do about 5 sets a day.

• The first one you bend your knees and your hips and hold it for like 5 seconds before jumping, and then jump as high up as you possibly can.
• Then when you land you do the same bending but jump up immediately and then when you come down you do the jump where you hold it for 5 seconds, and so on and so on.

So, that’s it. I’ve been doing it for about a week now and I haven’t seen anything drastic yet but I haven’t played in a while. I think I should be able to get out and play sometime this week and hopefully I’ll see some sort of results, or at least get one rebound over this guy.

Technorati Tags: Basketball advice blog, basketball coaching tips, Basketball jumping tips, Basketball Training Tips, How to increase vertical leap, How to jump higher, Jump training, Sports Training, Vertical Jump Tricks

Tags: Basketball advice blog, basketball coaching tips, Basketball jumping tips, Basketball Training Tips, How to increase vertical leap, How to jump higher, Jump training, Sports Training, Vertical Jump Tricks

By Sean Connolly

To Do List To Ruin My Reputation

By Josh Howard

1. Admit to smoking weed
2. Tell everyone I threw a party before a playoff game
3. Get caught doing 94 mph in a 55mph zone
4. Let the world know about my view about my country’s national anthem

Surely that’s the end of the list. Right? Well before Josh Howard does anything else to make himself look worse, let’s talk about his most recent moronic move in which he tells everyone that he doesn’t ‘celebrate’ the national anthem(who celebrates the national anthem? I usually just sing along or acknowledge it, I leave the pinatas out of it).

At a celebrity flag football event hosted by Allen Iverson, rapper Los attended the event unfortunately for Howard, with a camera. While the Star Spangled Banner is going on, Howard is seen ignoring the song and then comes up to the camera and says the following…

We got the Star Spangled Banner goin’ on right now, I don’t even celebrate that $@!*…I’m black.

Josh Howard on the star spangled banner

What a fool. How disrespectful can you get? I guess Josh took the phrase bad publicity is better than no publicity. Here’s some advice, lay low ’till the season starts and shut your mouth.

Here’s the link to the video…http://youbeenblinded.com/video-josh-howard-doesnt-celebrate-the-national-anthem/2001

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By Sean Connolly

This year’s induction ceremony into the basketball hall of fame included the biggest names in basketball in the modern era. The class included two of the greatest big men of all time in Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon, along with Ewing’s coach, Pat Riley.

Ewing vs. Olajuwon

Surprisingly in their career they were never really compared, probably because one was in the East and the other in the west, but let’s be one of the first to do so. Who’s career was better? Olajuwon averaged 21.8 points a game during his 18 seasons in the NBA compared to Ewing’s 17 points a game during his 17 seasons. All though Ewing was revered as more talented, looking at Olajuwon’s career as a whole shows that he was in fact a better player. Olajuwon holds the NBA record for blocked shots with 3840(amazing number), and most importantly has two NBA titles under his belt. Ewing has 0.

Not the best, but darn near close

Pat Riley and his 5 rings were inducted into the hall of fame this weekend along with Hakeem and Patrick. Riley ranks 3rd all-time in wins and led both the Lakers and Heat to NBA titles. His one blemish on his record was his inability to win a championship with the aforementioned Ewing, John Starks, Charles Oakley, and company. If he picked up a title or two then who knows where he would’ve ranked. Either way his coaching style has emanated throughout the NBA and he has set a style that coaches decades from now will knowingly or even unknowingly replicate.

Does Dickie V deserve to be in this class

You betcha baby!! Sorry, had to do it. It is true though, Dick Vitale does deserve to be in the hall of fame as his, ahem, unique style brought him fame, fortune, and ultimately respect. He is the voice of college basketball and you can’t make it big in college hoops without your name being yelled out on ESPN followed by an emphatic ‘baby!!’

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By Sean Connolly

Something smells fishy. At least in San Fransisco, where the Warriors are looking deeper into Monta Ellis’s injury that he reported. After one month after signing a huge deal with the Warriors, Ellis revealed that he has an ankle injury that will keep him out for at least three months.

Reports are that the Warriors do not believe the explanation Monta gave his team and that they are launching an investigation into the situation. Maybe this is a bad idea by the Warriors to upset their most valuable asset. Ellis has been the Warriors most integral player and has shown enough promise that last month the Warriors inked him to a long-term deal.

Is this report true? The San Fransisco Chronicle says that they are not investigating and that the medical trainer who was said to look into the injury isn’t even on the same continent. This whole situation seems very confusing.

From what I learned in the past couple of months of wild sports stories, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And, something has to be up. It does seem sketchy that Ellis would conveniently report an injury for the first time after he signed a lucrative contract. Personally I think all off-season injuries should be investigated for the integrity of contracts. These players sign contracts that say you can’t do this or that or the contract will be void if you get hurt. The Warriors has to look at this from a business stand point. If a client doesn’t follow his or her contract properly you don’t look past it and say ‘just don’t do it next time’.

If this situation is under investigation and things come out saying that Ellis lied in any way, he needs to be punished. A precedent needs to be set.

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By Sean Connolly

United States’ redemption is complete. The story is over and they did what they needed to do. Now let’s look at the results of this competition that pitted NBA teammates against eachother.

Preceding the Olympics there was a lot of talk about NBA players heading east to Europe. Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and even Lebron James said that they would consider playing in Europe. There’s more money to be made there and a completely different atmosphere, something that they may easily welcome.

Now, I don’t know whether there was any validity to the comments but if there it’s not there any more. The rest of the world is in no competition with American basketball. Not only that but the international rules are not condusive to a successful career. The game seems to be sloppy, choppy, and reckless. A career ending injury is basically imminent.

I appreciate what international players have brought to the NBA, but the last thing I want to see is NBA players going to Europe. David Stern and the NBA need to do whatever they can to prevent this. Call me selfish, but I want these guys over here so I can watch them, too bad Europe.

Technorati Tags: 2008 USA Basketball Team, American Basketball, Beijing, Beijing Olympics 08 Mens Basketball, Chris Paul Olympics, David Stern, David Stern Europe, Dwayne Wade, Dwayne Wade Trade To Europe, European Basketball, Injuries Olympics Basketball, International Basketball, International Basketball Rules, Kobe Bryant, Kobe Bryant Gold Medal, Kobe Bryant Trade to Europe, LeBron James, Lebron James Gold Medal, Lebron James Trade To Europe, NBA, NBA Europe Trade, NBA Olympics, NBA Players Moving to Europe to plau, NBA Trade Rumors, Olympics 08, Olympics Gold Basketball, Olympics USA Basketball Gold Medal, USA Olympics Victory

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By Sean Connolly

For 19 minutes and 59 seconds in the first half, Australia’s game plan was perfect. Nearly everything went like it was drawn up. But a demoralizing buzzer beater from Deron Williams ended that perfect gameplan and launched the US to a 116-85 win.

The plan was simple for Australia. Defend the paint, make open shots, hope that the US shoot poorly from the line and from behind the arc. Australia stayed back, defended the paint well, allowed the US to shoot and it seemed like it was working. They made a couple of big threes and nailed open shots. The US shot horribly from the line in the first half, and the threes just didn’t seem to be falling. Things looked positive for the Australian side that were rumored to be capable of upsetting the dominant US. So, with all this going Australia’s way, how did they lose?

How did Australia lose, or better yet how did the US win? Offensive rebounding. In the first half the US had more offensive rebounds,13, than Australia had for a total,12. When playing a team that includes Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Carmello Anthony, the last thing you want to do is give them second chances. Kobe and company cleaned up the boards, picking up second and even third chances that kept them ahead in the first half.

In a game like this, Australia just wanted to keep their head above water. And, towards the end of the 2nd quarter it seemed like the Aussies were doing so. They were until Deron Williams pushed their heads underneath the water with a buzzer beating 3 pointer at the end of the 1st half. With the US holding on to a 9 point lead, a lead that they didn’t deserve with the way they were shooting from the line, Williams put all that Australia upset talk to rest. Williams broke free with the clock running out and tossed up a three with the clock running out. He drained it and drained whatever hopes Australia had in beating the USA.

The buzzer beater by Williams catapulted the US to a 17-0 run in which they scored 14 straight to start the 3rd quarter. What at one point was a managable 9 point deficit with seconds left in the first half had turned into a 26 point deficit before the Aussies could get warmed up for the second half.

This win puts the US one step closer to the top level of the podium, which now seems inevitable. Redemption is imminent for this US squad and their no nonsense aproach instilled by coach Mike Krzyzewski is the main reason.

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By Sean Connolly

It’s been two years since the FIBA Championships in which the Greeks picked apart the US National Team to win the FIBA Championship leaving LeBron James and US disappointed. In their first challenge in this Olympics the US National team defeated Greece, holding a Greek team that put up 101 in their last meeting to a mere 69 points.