where have they gone?

Over the past couple of days on Twitter, there has been some rumblings about things that are almost lost arts in basketball.  It got me to thinking about some of the things that are not as emphasized as they used to be, or things that people simply do not want to value.  It seems like a lot of times with young players they want to look cool.  Playing hard has almost become a bad thing to some. 
The 4 things I am going to focus on for this are: post entries, off the ball screening, boxing out, and the mid-range jump shot.

1.)  The simple idea of entering the ball in the post needs 2 things to be succesful.  First the ball handler must get a good angle.  Second,  the post player must establish position and maintain it.  Sounds pretty simple, but I cannot count how many times we had turnovers on this.  We had a rule at UW-Parkside that said we couldnt enter the ball in the post unless we got outside the volleyball lines.  Trying to throw it from the top is a tough pass.  The second problem with the passer is that they do not pass it away from the defense. The biggest problem with the reciever, is that they simply do not post hard and get pushed out to 15 feet. 


2. Off the ball screening is what makes good motion go.  However, the concept seems lost with so many dribble drive offenses and ball screening offenses.  Again it takes 2 people to set it up (The cutter and the screener).  Good off the ball movement helps to create great shots.  However, a lot of times the 2 players just simply interchange with each other and therefore have not gained any advantage on the defense.  Its not easy to run good motion and a lot of coaches seemed scared to put that much freedom in their players hands.

3.  Boxing Out:  As players have gotten more athletic, the trend has been to check and release.  At the higher levels I would agree with it.  However at the small college level and high schools it is a rarity to see a good box out.  Any successful team needs to be able to defensive rebound to win games on a consistent basis.

4.  The last one is the mid range jump shot:  Simply put, how many times do you see a sportcenter highlight of a mid range jump shot??  It is a very fundamental play that is tough to find in younger players, they all want to shoot the 3. 

These 4 things are all things that can be emphasized from a coaching standpoint and would instantly make your team better.