When I was first in Jr. High I admit, I didn’t have a desire to read books. That is, until I discovered books about current and former NBA legends of that time. I love to read books or chapters of books about Bill Russell, Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain, “The Big O” Oscar Robertson, “The Hawk” Connie Hawkins or “Mr. Clutch” Jerry West. These books endeared me to basketball even more and gave me a motivation to practice harder, to achieve, but most of all to dream big.
I recall a book about Jerry West, called Mr. Clutch the Jerry West Story. Did you know that the NBA logo is taken from an image of Jerry West dribbling down the court? I believe what I am going to tell you came from this book, but don’t quote me. In it Jerry West says if you want to be a great shooter or play in the NBA, you need to shoot 500-600 shots a day. Wow, I thought, that is a lot of shots! But that became my new goal. Now I don’t know how many shots Larry Bird, Dirk Nowitzki, Dale Ellis, Ray Allen, Del Curry or his son Steph Curry shot, just some of the great shooters in my lifetime, but I am sure they shot a great deal to be so accurate.
By shooting so many shots a day, this really made me an accurate and consistent shooter and teammates started feeding me the ball because I could score. The number of practice shots dropped off a bit when I was a junior and senior in high school, being at a new school and noticing girls a bit more. (This not the time to stop shooting as much and probably negatively affected the number of colleges showing interest.) But by my 3<sup>rd</sup> year of college I started to hit my goal again of shooting a few hundred shots a day and the muscle memory came back along with the much increased jumping ability. I really believe this is what enabled me to play pro in Europe. I saw a number of guys get sent back on a plane after 2-4 weeks of not producing in the games.
There are always going to be teammates that are jealous of your talent that you spent hours on while others are out having fun or partying, but it will pay off if you are committed and put in the time. A few times while playing overseas, I got my stroke pretty good despite certain individuals not wanting to pass me the ball. I can recall scoring 16-18 points in the first or second half a few times and since we were up, not seeing the ball much after that. My work was done though and we had a good lead and won the game. We had 4 players including myself that did the bulk of the scoring and enabled us to win 60 games with only 5 losses for the season. Those 5 losses weren’t in league play though, so we stayed undefeated in 2 national leagues! Since we had such a stellar record and were in the local paper each week, we started to get noticed. In European Basketball, they prepare and develop younger talent to play on the national Olympic teams. Called the Jr. Olympic team, it consists of 18-22 year olds.
I loved to practice shooting and had a chance to play in many highly competitive games. I also loved to perform. Some players are great players and even great teammates, but either hate or have a fear when it comes time to handling the ball during crunch time. The more pressure, the more I thrive on that. I don’t want anyone else to take the last shot, but me because I believed I had the best opportunity of scoring. When you put in the time, you have to have that confidence in your game.
Since we had this notoriety, the England Jr. Olympic team challenged us to play them at the Spectrum, a rather elite venue in Warrington, England if I recall. Well, the other American on our team, Mike, who was usually our leading scorer, had a hairline fracture in his elbow from a fall he took in a previous game and would have to sit this game out. I was extra motivated knowing this Jr. Olympic team really wanted to beat us and that I would have to kick it up to high gear.
I was really up for the game and couldn’t wait until it started. Sometimes you just know during warmups in the layup line and pregame shooting drills that you are on. Unlike most euro teams, we were surprised that these 18-22 year olds were mostly black athletes that seemed to be hungry and skilled.
Despite the tight aggressive defense, my jump shot was really feeling fluid and I was hitting most every jump shot. I was playing very aggressively as well because when someone plays aggressive with me, I try to be even more aggressive and intimidating. I even stole an inbound pass for a drop in dunk. This team was predicted to beat us because we were the older players and our 6’6” forward and Mike our other American guard was unable to play. But we won! I don’t think they were counting on my 29 points to lead all scorers and our 6’5” small forward adding 27 if I recall.
I loved to practice shooting and had a chance to play in many highly competitive games. I also loved to perform. Some players are great players and even great teammates, but either hate or have a fear when it comes time to handling the ball during crunch time. The more pressure, the more I thrive on that. I don’t want anyone else to take the last shot, but me because I believed I had the best opportunity of scoring. When you put in the time, you have to have that confidence in your game.
Take it from Jerry West, the NBA Logo. Get your 500-600 shots per day. Also practice in game situations on getting the ball right off a pick and going straight up as well as dribbling down to the window and stopping on the fly for a quick jumper. It is all about timing, good mechanics, rotation and consistent follow through.
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