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September 25th, 2014 BY COACH RAY SMITH Many, if not most basketball players would love to have the green light and shoot the basketball freely and at will. Given the adoration that "star" players on all levels are given in addition to the offensive freedom, it's totally understandable why players tend to desire this status. With this being said, a high achieving basketball team cannot consist of 12-15 athletes who all have this role. History has shown that the most successful teams usually have two or three players who take the majority of the shots. Typically, the rest of the team is comprised of individuals who fill a role or complement the players who take the most shots. A role player can be a starter who doesn't score much and whose primary role is to guard the other team's best player or someone who comes off the bench and gives the team an energy lift. In Part 2, we will discuss in more detail some of the different types of role players. One of the hardest things for numerous college freshman and NBA rookies is making the transition from someone used to dominating the ball and/or taking a relatively high amount of shots to someone that has to take on a lesser scoring role. The mature ones accept this change while the immature players often do not, leading to clashes with coaches, team mates, said player transferring colleges, etc. Everyone isn't going to be their team's version of Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry or Diana Taurasi. At some point in your career, you most likely will have to accept a lesser scoring role, obviously some players more than others. Even the great Michael Jordan played a year as a role player. As a freshman at the University of North Carolina, Jordan averaged about ten shot attempts a game. With other high level players around him, Jordan knew his role would be to defend, shoot open shots when he had them and keep the ball moving in legendary Coach Dean Smith's offense. Result?? A starting position and a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP as a freshman........Not bad! Even when the NBA's best get together to play for the national team, you will see many of the world's top players sacrifice their scoring for the betterment of the team. These guys are MULTI- MILLIONAIRES.....So if they can put aside their ego and do it........... why surely you can! Below are some tips on handling being a complimentary piece or
Stay tuned for part 2...................And remember, it's a simple game! |
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