I know it's normal for a lot of high school guys to think of offseason leagues as nothing else but glorified pickup basketball games. Roll the ball out there and just play wild jungle ball.
That doesn't really work unless you have vastly superior talent, and even then, a lack of defense — nobody really plays serious defense in pickup games — will haunt you later. Teams that shoot the ball well and handle the ball well often win out against physically superior teams. It's the way the basketball universe is.
Chemistry and timing, skills and work ethic matter in this sport. That's why I continue to encourage everyone in 17U to come to practice and work together. We had a pretty good team in the Aiea 16U League, and we weren't bad at all in the NJB Spring League even though we were younger than most teams in the 17U.
Tonight, we were up on Lakeside by eight or 10 points in the first half. We had Mike and Kaelen back, our rotation was doing well, all 10 players. Then our lack of chemistry, our disorganized play hurt us. Hurt us big. By halftime, we were down six and we wound up losing 53-42 (I think). Guys got tired. Guys weren't running the right plays, even inbounds plays — even though we had worked on them in pregame warmups. Guys weren't hearing what the bench was calling.
Again, we missed Isaiah, no doubt. But we have enough to win games even without our best guard. And it isn't happening.
At a certain point while Lakeside ran that small lead to a double-digit lead in the second half, I gave in. It's like God was saying, "Relax. You did all you could. No amount of coaching will help a group of players that doesn't show up for practice as a team."
It's true. Unless we had Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson out there, there's a long shot of us competing and winning against any decent opposition in 17U. So, now that we as a team know that we're not very good without practicing, I really hope everyone makes it to practice tomorrow (Thursday, 3:30 pm) and Saturday (10 am).
Basketball isn't an incredibly complicated game. It's about basics. Togetherness. Trust. Work ethic. Blood and sweat. Without those things, it's difficult to win consistently, even with skilled players. And that's what's hurt us in these recent losses (Lakeside, Dolphins). That extra pass isn't there like it used to be. That open shot isn't quite there because the pass is late. The open cutter isn't getting the ball. Or the guy didn't even cut to the basket on an inbounds play.
All these things come together through practicing together. It's that simple. It's no magic formula and never has been. So I really hope everyone makes it to practice. The alternative for us as coaches, if we don't get dedicated players, is to find new players. I would hate to do that after all we've been through as a team the past two years. But sometimes people change. They lose their sense of commitment. They lose the drive to excel. That's cool, actually. Nobody stays the same forever.
It's just that there are some players who get even hungrier, work harder and longer and heighten that dedication over time. Players who look forward to working together at practice, then kicking butt in games. It's a journey with peaks and valleys, and right now, we're definitely in a valley. We're competing, but we're nowhere near our potential.
This is the fall. PAA League, we're midway through. NJB All-Net begins on Friday. After the fall, everyone gets busy with high school ball. We can set up a scenario for great basketball, great teamwork and great fun. But it's up to us as a team to step up and make it happen. Us coaches and do only so much. We show up at the park every day for you guys, the Thunder.
What you put in is what you get out of it. Tonight, it showed 100%. It's time to turn that around and play the way the real Thunder know how to play. It starts with practice, the antidote to poor chemistry.
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