Modern day basketball

In my previous post I was touching the term modern day basketball. I wrote about how in this year’s Eurobasket in Poland we could see many examples of a basketball game that has evolved into a much faster and more fluid game, with more mobile players. So lets try to dive deeper into ‘modern day basketball’.

With this in our mind we can move on to the core of modern day basketball. The game is much faster and everyone on a team needs to be able to run and move. There is no place for a big guy if he can’t run and move. Then the other team will just involve him in for example ball screen defense and his team will have troubles because he will be out of position and probably too slow. A player needs to move according to the basketball game, even if he is tall the demands are; running the floor, setting screens, diving and cutting and on defense handle ball screens as well as inside and perimeter defense. Even a tall player must be able to play defense on a guard for a couple of seconds without getting destroyed.

What about shorter players? Is there not room for them anymore? The answer is of course that there is room for them, but the demands on them are getting tougher. A shorter player needs to be really quick if he wants to play on a higher level. When comparing two players with the same basketball skills, speed and quickness, smartness and so on I would bet most coaches would take the player who is taller because he would for example get higher on rebounds and it would be more difficult to shoot over him. Some people might think this is unfair but I would say it’s pure competition.

But it’s not only the physical demands on the players that are significant of modern day basketball. As the game has become faster the reaction time and the time for decision-making has decreased. This is why in modern day basketball you very seldom see fakes anymore. There is simply no time to make fakes, either you are open to take the shot or you have to drive to the basket or to find the next pass. The modern players read situations before they occur and react in a flow.

Today almost every player on a team can make an open three-pointer, I would go that far and say that there must be something very unique for a player to not have a three-point shot in his repertoire. That could be for example a big guy with a great screening and post-up game and where the player can use a hand-offs when he is out on the perimeter to stay in a threat. The fact that almost everyone can make an open three-point shot puts pressure on the defense. They must go out and guard all players, which all modern day players can do, no matter if you are 180 cm or 215 cm. The defense has improved and for an offensive player to get an open shot he just has to be open enough to make a quick draw and shoot it. If he is not open, he will not get open by faking. Then he should already have gone to the basket or dribbled or passed the ball.

Passing is another very interesting subject when talking about fakes or what I prefer to say “no fakes”. In the Gold medal game in the Eurobasket ‘09 the winning team Spain showed great passing skills. They passed off the dribble. They made extra passes in the air. The ball moved so fast, there was definitely no time in the world to fake a pass. In modern day basketball to set up a good pass demands more of the player with the ball. At the same time as catching the ball or attacking with a dribble the angle for the next pass must already have been set up. This can be done by the player’s body movement, how the player uses his center of gravity and where his eyes are. A good tip can be to lean up and look up when using a bounce pass and the other way around, eyes down and lean down when passing in the air.

Now I have talked a lot about the individual part of the game. How the players look, how they move, what skills they have and these areas are of course importing when trying to get a picture of a modern day basketball player. But there is another important aspect I would like to also mention. The way team plays have changed and the style of basketball in the modern day game is much more demanding for the players on both sides on the floor. The offense has changed and the static post-up game is gone. Instead the big players are involved in Hand-offs, Pick & Rolls and then getting in the post again, maybe facing up. They set screens and are constantly active. Looking at a game on a high level there could for example be five screens from one player in the same offense!

But the game has changed also the smaller players and the demands on guards and perimeter players on their ball-handling and passing skills have definitely increased. The traditional style of playing was built up with a point guard taking the ball up the floor and then setting up the offense. But with all the great defenders in the modern day basketball who can put intense pressure on the guard it’s more or less insane to rely on one player only to start the offense. Instead players on position 2 or 3 and sometimes even on position 4 take the ball up the floor ‘acting’ as playmakers in certain parts of the game.

The players have become so much better in defense. They play more intense which in many cases have increased the pressure of the team defense. One example where you get into a lot of trouble is when you let the ball go inside. Way to often the offense gets open shots from outside or hurt the defense in the paint with easy baskets or foul shots when the ball has been inside. Many teams denies the pass inside, maybe not during a whole game even though some successful teams do that, but definitely when the game is on the line it’s very uncommon that a team lets the ball be entered to the post.

Players develop their game, both in offense and in defense. They look at games on video, their own performance, they look at their opponents, they look at players in other leagues both in Europe and in America and they pick up different parts of the game that could fit into their own game. In this way players push each others to become better and better. Teams develop in the same way, different teams change things in offense or in defense to work with the players they have or players they play against. New ways of playing, new ways of solving situations that happen out on the floor push coaches to keep up with the game.

This constant development of the game is what modern day basketball is all about: to keep your eyes open, to follow trends of how the game is developing and then to take that back to your club and team, work with it, use it, and maybe find new ways of doing it. Then you are also developing the game and maybe on day you are one of many creators of ‘the modern day basketball of the future’.

Coach David Leman

Eurobasket ‘09 – Spain Champions!

What a performance last night as Spain cruised through the Gold Medal Game against Serbia. Already in the first half they were up with 20 points and actually it more or less felt that the game were over. This Spanish Team has changed during the Eurobasket and really felt like champions as they cruised through the play-off. The way they played, with intensity on defense and with a great running game maybe the other teams just didn’t have the stamina to keep it up against them.

This years Eurobasket was very interesting to follow. As long as the competition it’s great when there are so many teams that can go all the way. I believe all 8 teams in the quarterfinals could have won it all. But that’s the beauty, every game has it’s own life and it’s more or less impossible to know before a game who will be the winner.

I remembered the game in the group stage between Serbia and Spain when Serbia beat Spain big-time. Both teams were running all game long. The intensity was so high but the players just kept playing. Yesterday in the final it was the other way around on the score board, but the game was still intense. Sure, there were some signs of fatigue on some players, but they were still running and playing a modern day type of basketball.

During this championship we have also seen how modern day basketball has evolved. I have spoken about the term before – Modern Day Basketball -  but it all comes down to that. The game of basketball keeps evolving and this year when some star players weren’t playing other younger talents, players of the future took more place and showed everyone that they deserve to be on this level. The game is so much faster and everyone – EVERYONE – can run and move like a basketball player.

I have heard a lot of people saying that they don’t think the players are so tall anymore and it’s not until you see the players around regular people you see that they actually are really tall. This is interesting because in our minds we judge how tall they are from the way the play and behave on the floor. Most of us then believe they are not as tall as they are because they move like shorter and faster players. This, all readers, shows how the game is evolving faster than most of us out in the basketball world is aware of.

In my next post I will dive deeper into “Modern Day Basketball” and “Modern Day Players”.

Defensive footwork: “Close-outs”

In basketball a player’s foot work is fundamental both in offense and defense. I believe that all players no matter if they are young players or senior professional players need to work on their footwork and especially the defensive footwork. In modern day basketball when fakes are history and ‘catch and react’ behaviors are most common the close-out to a player with the ball is a fundamental part of a players ball-defense.

What is a close-out?
A defensive player is closing out on an offensive player trying to make the player with the ball hesitate. A good close-out takes away the shot at the same time as it takes away the penetration. After a good close-out the defensive player will be in a good position and stance and at a proper distance to be able to put pressure and to play defense out on the perimeter.

The movement of a basketball player doing a close-out is very similar to the movement of a fencer moving forward or backwards in attack or retreat. The body is moving on a straight line and has to be in a good balance and control, making it possible to change direction at any time.

I have chosen a video clip from last evening’s game between Serbia and Lithuania from Eurobasket (16 sept -09 in Poland) where Serbia’s players close-outs several times to keep pressure on the Lithuanian players without getting blown by.

“Basketsmart”

Many coaches, basketball people and people from other sports both in Sweden and outside of Sweden have asked me about the program we do in the Swedish National Teams to warm up and prevent injuries. In the Swedish Coach Educations the federation has put “Basketsmart” on the courses to spread it out in our basketball nation. The project “Basketsmart” is made by Fysio Jörgen Sandberg, the women’s NT Fysio and a key instructor in the National Team Program.

I think Basketsmart is an excellent way of warming-up for players in all ages.  The whole program is a development of “Knee control” made a few years ago. In Basketsmart the basketball is a part of the exercises making it more fun for the players to do these type of exercises. Lately Basketsmart has been developed into Basketsmart 2nd Level (“Stegring” in Swedish) which makes the whole program into two different programs à 15 minutes.

The key in all excersises are knee control and core stability. What I like the most is that it combines warming-up with good excercises for knee-control and core stability and at the same time includes some strength work-out. The last excercises have change of speed to make the players alert before entering the next part of the practise session.

Some exercises to mention are for example:
- regular squats
- dribbling forward 2 and 2 and jumping and hitting each other shoulder to shoulder before a controlled landing
- one leg squats while dribbling the ball forward
- one leg jumps combined with a reaction to a sprint or a slide.

The videos on “Basketsmart (Svenskbaskettelevision.se)” are in Swedish but I believe everyone else will understand the excerices by looking at the video. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me and I’ll try to find an answer to your questions. I wish you all good luck!

U18 All-Star game at Eurobasket 2009

As many of you know the Eurobasket 2009 starts in Poland on Monday the 7th of September. For almost 2 weeks the eyes around Europe (and the world) will be pointed at Poland and the different cities and arenas. At least all the basketball eyes, which are a big significant part of the world population. Anyway a new and very interesting happening is the U18 All-star game that will take place the 18th of September before the Quarter-finals for the big boys!

After our success in Sarajevo at the U18 European Championships two of our players got invited to this venue. Andreas Person and Christopher Czerapowicz will both represent the yellow-blue colors among the best U18 players of European Basketball. Only a few nationals have more than one participant among the 24 players and Sweden is one of those countries, quite good right?

I wish them the best and I hope they both continue in Katowice the way as they finished the championships in Sarajevo.

Kick-off i Täby Basket

Nu när jag är hemma i Täby har jag passat på att kika förbi Täby Basket, min gamla modersklubb och se hur det står till där. Idag på kvällen var det Kick-off och jag gick ner till Tibblehallen för att mötas av massa ungar och föräldrar som stod utanför entrén. Det delades ut glass och det var en väldigt härlig stämning. Inne i Tibble CC på läktaren fanns en basketshop uppställd och det kryllade av folk.

Hela läktaren var fylld av basketspelare och föräldrar och stämningen var väldigt god. Kjelle Karlgren höll i taktpinnen tillsammans med nya ordföranden Jan By och man visade lite bilder från sommarlägret i Hedemora. Pricken över i:et var en tjej från Solna som visade bollbehandlings-skills på hög nivå. Den tjejen kunde verkligen dribbla bollen. En riktig bolltrollare!

För min del var det riktigt kul att träffa på en massa folk jag inte sett på flera år. Det är nu 9 år sedan jag flyttade till Luleå. Jag minns väl de kick-offs som jag var med om både som spelare och som ungdomstränare (för P-85) och man mötte upp sina lagkamrater och tränaren gav ut lite information om träningstider och så vips var en ny säsong igång. Samma glädje och energi kunde jag se hos alla de killar och tjejer som visade att Täby Basket är en förening med en massa spelare som tycker basket är kul och en massa tränare och föräldrar som ställer upp! Det var verkligen energi i luften.

Jag då, jo jag träffade min första tränare, Erik (efternamnet Söderberg, om jag inte minns fel?) som tillsammans med Björn Stenberg fick mig intresserad av basket, när vi tränare i Byängskolan på mellanstadiet. Erik berättade även att han spelade med Näsbydal, herrlaget med de rutinerade spelarna (Sahlström bland annat) som är ett tungt lag i Div 3 i Stockholm. Jag måste erkänna att suget att gå ner och träna väcktes till liv, undrar om de tränar torsdagskvällar i Jollen som de gjorde för 10 år sedan? Dessutom träffade jag på Waldo Teppans, där som coach för P93/94. Kul att även prata lite med Mats Carlsson, som numera är invald i förbundsstyrelsen.

För min del har jag lovat att hjälpa till i klubben medan jag är här hemma i Täby. Det blir lite timmar på basketgymnasiet och sedan hjälper jag till lite på damlaget som spelar i Division 1. Måste säga att det är riktigt roligt att vara nere och hålla träningar igen, inte för att det var så länge sen vi var igång med landslaget, men är man coach så är man coach. Då finns hela tiden suget där att gå ner på golvet och jobba, oavsett vilket lag det är, så länge det finns spelare som vill träna och vill bli bättre.

Svenska nationalsången

Sveriges nationalsång är en riktigt fin sådan. Det är alltid en speciell känsla att sjunga nationalsången inför en landskamp. Det har nu hunnit bli några landskamper sedan sommaren 2007 och den stolthet och energi man känner inför en match när man står där inför uppkast och sjunger med är stor. Tyvärr får man inte alltid äran sjunga nationalsången i alla matcher. I EM fick vi däremot se den svenska fanan höjas högst upp i taket och vi fick höra vår nationalsång efter EM-guldet i Sarajevo. Se videoklippet från Svensk Baskettelevision nedan.

Uppdatering:
Efter kommentarer och reserach har jag fått reda på att dikten “Den Svenska national sången” skriven av Richard Dybeck, 1844, innehåller fyra verser och det var här jag fastnade för framför allt vers 3 som jag ansåg var både den finaste och den mäktigaste versen. År 1866 valdes vers 1 och 2 ut och blev vår svenska nationalsång vilket förklarar varför man bara sjunger dessa två verser, och i många fall endast första versen.

Dikten Svenska Nationalsången 3:e stycket/versen

Jag städs vill dig tjäna mitt älskade land,
din trohet till döden vill jag svära.
Din rätt, skall jag värna, med håg och med hand,
/:din fana, högt den bragderika bära. :/