Sharing the Ball

Milwaukee Bucks coach Scott Skiles has put an emphasis on ball movement during training camp:

"We put a lot of emphasis on moving the ball," Skiles said. "If you get into a playoff series against a really good ballclub, and in the regular season as well, you've got to move the ball, strong to weak. The guys right now are good at it. They're really playing unselfishly, looking for the open man and hitting the open man."

Carlos Delfino, who was accquired by the Bucks during the offseason, has always been known as a great passer:

"When you share the ball and you're pushing the ball without dribbling, it creates a great up-tempo game. We have many guys who can do that, and for me, it's great basketball.

We understand sharing the ball makes the team grow. As long as we continue to understand that, we have a chance to be a very good passing team. "

"Push the ball, not dribble. It's nice to watch. It's faster and everybody is involved on the plays. When you catch or make a good pass, it creates a good atmosphere. You're talking about creating shots for everyone."

The preparation into making a game winning pass and shot

"You have to be focused, you have to understand the moment, the clock, and basically think without thinking and just shoot it," Davis said. "Every time I shoot, I see myself making game-winning shots. If you see it, you believe it. You shoot millions of shots like that, and every time you shoot it, you believe you're going to make it. And when I shot it, I didn't even hesitate. It was just a feel."

Here is an article about Davis getting extra reps in during the optional morning shootaround.


I like this quote from Doc:

“You know, the pass was just as good as the shot for me,” coach Doc Rivers said after his team’s 95-94 victory. “We have a saying: Trust the pass. Trust the pass. Our best player trusted the pass. He may have made a shot, but Dwight Howard was in his face. Baby was open. He trusted the pass and Baby knocked down the shot.”

The more the ball moves, the harder it is for the defense to rotate

Article in the Charlotte Observer on how Boris Diaw's passing is rubbing off on his teammates. In a “me-first” league, Diaw is a “you-first” player. He will pass up a relatively open 15-footer to find a teammate with a no-look hook pass for a layup. “We had 32 assists out of 44 baskets made,” Diaw said. “That's really good.”

Said Coach Larry Brown of Diaw: “He can play every position. He thinks pass-first. He sees things you can't teach. … He hasn't seen a pass he doesn't like. And it's gotten contagious with all those guys.”

Said Diaw: “We had a couple of plays tonight where we had four passes – just swinging the ball. It was like ‘The (defensive) help is coming, the help is coming,' but at some point it just can't come anymore. And then somebody is wide open for a 3 or a layup. That would be it for me.”

For the Boston Celtics, they know that an inability to 'pop the ball around' cost them a game at Milwaukee recently:

“I talked about that at halftime (Sunday) because it was evident just watching Milwaukee,” Ray Allen said. “They moved the ball and didn’t care who got the shot, and it forced our defense to shift a lot. When we pass the ball, we get good shots and we make the defense work. At halftime, we had more turnovers than assists, and I sat in the locker room and said, ‘Fellas, this is our negative trait when we lose games. We have more turnovers than we have assists.’ When we have 25-30 assists, that’s when we win games.

Four Traits of a Perfect Point Guard

Quotes about Jason Kidd playing the point guard position and the traits it takes to be successful. These are from his teammates and coaches of the USA team. Check out his leadership with TEAM USA. (Fast forward to the 5:00 mark OR watch the whole piece. It is good)

1. Court vision: "He sees things," guard Dwyane Wade says of Kidd's sixth sense. "When you're on the court and you see him do something, you think he had to see that like three minutes ago."

2. High basketball IQ: "His mind is his best talent, "Krzyzewski says. "And his ability to instinctively react to situations on the court is at the highest level, as high as anyone who has ever played the game. "Krzyewski compares Kidd's basketball IQ to Magic Johnson's.

3. Not just passes; perfect passes. "He grew up being a passer, understanding the angles. With Jason, you get wide-open looks. He puts the ball right on the money." During shooting drills last summer, Kidd turned to Carmelo Anthony and asked, "Where do you want the ball?" Anthony, not quite sure what Kidd meant, gave him a puzzled look. "What do you mean?" When players realize that Kidd can deliver the ball to their sweet spot, Krzyzewski says their reaction is: "You mean, I'm going to have room service and you're going to cut my meat too? You're going to give it to me in a certain position?" So where does Anthony wnat the ball?" Whereever he gives it to me," Anthony says.

4. Ability to facilitate: "What's fabulous for our team is if you put Kobe, Carmelo and LeBron in the game, you need a point guard who's really just looking to facilitate and that's what Jason does, "says assistant coach Jim Boeheim. "Other great point guards have a scoring portion of their game, some of them have it as a large portion of their game, whereas Jason never needs to take a shot." This approach fits the team-oriented aspect of the international game, with the emphasis on passing and selfless play.

Scoring hasn't been Miller's priority with Wolves, yet

Good article on how Mike Miller is being a great teammate this preseason in his first year with the Minnesota Timberwolves. I have posted before on his attitude and work ethic being tremendous over his 9 years in the NBA.

Miller is trying to get his teammates involved during this preseason, choosing to defer to his teammates offensively. Miller knows he can score, which is one reason he is allowing others to do so. (This is evidence of his ability to score)

"I've done it a long enough time now," he said. "I've had years when I've scored a lot of points. There are going to be times when I'll score a lot of points this year. We've got enough scorers. That's not going to be a problem. Passing is contagious. My job right now is to get the ball hopping. I'll get the ball in the hole when they need me to, but I'm going to make plays for other people because that's going to be my job a lot this year."

Teammate Randy Foye says:

"I come down and pass the ball to him: I want that assist because he's wide open at the three and he passes the ball to Big Al," Foye said, smiling. "I know what he's trying to do. He's trying to build a relationship with all of us. During the season, I think he'll take those shots.

"Right now, he's trying to learn us and at the same time we're trying to learn him."