USA USA we are back!!!

Kobe is great down the stretch and D Wade lifted us in the first half. Lebron is a great leader. Coach K does a great job of leadership and motivation and the new title of his leadership book will be "How to lead the Best". Great Job by all the team and total team effort. A classy group who deserved to win the Gold. Jerry Colangelo did it the right way.

Shooting was also a Major Factor in the Celtic's Win

When Doc Rivers went to 5 shooters on the floor, that made it so tough on the Lakers. Garnett had single coverage in the post and Ray Allen and Paul Pierce were able to get to the hoop. Shooters are very overlooked in the game.

Summer Basketball is a Major Factor in the decline of Fundamentals

Summer is here, but I have major concerns for my favorite game:
1. More high school coaches and AAU coaches are concerned more about playing games and putting in their systems, then working on skills.

2. America has lack of shooters and shooters need time in the gym to shoot.

3. America has lack of Point Guards. So that tells me that Dena Evans Point Guard College and Dave Devenzio National Point Guard Camp does not get to work with our best prospects in the country, probably due to a kid's lack of time and funds.

4. All camps for the most part of been shorten recently due to cost.

5. Shooting, Passing, Dribbling, and Footwork have taken a back seat during the summer months.

6. There is no Basketball hierarchy any more and what mean by that is younger players playing with older players.

7. Lack of Mental and Physical toughness in kids is frightening.

8. Hating to lose is something out of the past.

Lason Perkins DVD's

Lason has 2 new DVD's on the A-set Offense and Secrets of International Basketball. I highly recommend both these outstanding DVD's. You can purchase both these at the Basketball Sense website. The DVD's are 2 of the best offensive systems DVD's on the market.

Team USA strikes Gold!!!

It is great to see basically our best players playing together in FIBA Basketball. Let's hope that next year we have the same team represent us in the Olympics next year. With Kobe, Lebron, and Carmelo playing together makes us the team to beat. But the key to this team is Jason Kidd. The Team got the leader it desperately needed in Kidd. How about the 3pt shooting from Lebron and Carmelo.

Skip Prosser a great coaching mentor

I having a tough year with my friend Matt Masiero, Alicia Richardson my son's fiance, and my son's real father being murdered and now Skip Prosser passing away. As a young coach at Five-star Basketball camp I had gotten to know Skip, he had always been great to me. He never big timed anybody. He was great mentor for young coaches in this business. Thank you Skip for a being a better person and being a great coach. I had the opportunity to coach his son Mark at Five-star and only wish that Skip could see Mark become a Head Coach. The Prosser family will be in my prayers.

Fathers of High School Full Court Pressure

In the current Vance Walberg craze of Full Court pressure and attacking offense. I would like to tell you about 2 High School coaches that have influence this current craze that is Ralph Tasker of Hobbs High School, Hobbs, New Mexico a Hall of Fame Coach who won over 1,000 games in his career in a state that has game limits and he also won 12 State Championships. Coach Tasker in my opinion started the original Match-up Press and press on made or missed shots. His 1969-70 team averaged 114.6 points a game which is the national record for scoring average and out of the top ten all time scoring average teams 4 out of the 10 are Tasker teams. Another Hall of Fame coach who deserves credit for this is Coach Fred Williams of Beaumont Hebert High School in Beaumont, Texas who won 4 state championships in Texas. Both of these coaches deserves credit for their styles of play that would later influence Coach Kenny Hoffpauir and Charles Breithaupt with playing uptempo Basketball. Coach Hoffpauir coaches in Texas, but also coached in the Fresno, California area in the 1990's where he influenced then Coach Vance Walberg who was at Clovis West High School in California. Coach Breithaupt coached at Hardin-Jefferson High School in Sour Lake, Texas and his team averaged 109.4 points a game. He and his formers players and now coaches at Hardin-Jefferson and Kountze have won 5 State Championships.

The Live Period is beginning

I wish NCAA would give more thought to giving more time for College coaches to evaluate players this month flies by. Coaches are running the country like mad men. Kids from smaller states get killed by the lack of evaluation time.

Coach Mike Conley's Big Day

My earliest recollection of Coach Conley is having 14 6Th graders who were the most discipline and unselfish group of kids on a great team. This was because of his leadership and coaching. I know you are not only proud of your son and Greg Oden, but you also had coached Daequan Cook and Josh McRoberts. Coach thanks for doing things the right way. What people don't realized you coached an AAU team last summer without those guys and you did a great job. You are great for this game thank you. Another Old School Coach doing a great job with America's youth.

Taras Brown, I want to thank you for what you have done for Kevin Durant

Open letter to Taras Brown, I want to thank you for all the hard work and training you put into Kevin Durant. Old school Basketball coaches are extremely proud of you. Thanks for doing things the right way and we know this is a special day for you. We know you trained Kevin for the right reasons. Again thank you.

The Kevin Durant story it is all abouts Skills and hard work

Kids listen up Kevin Durant got this point of career by working shooting and other individual skills. He didn't do it by playing a million games. He has put up millions of shots in his training and that's how he became a great shooter. His trainer also instilled physical and mental toughness in Kevin. Thanks to old school trainer Kevin will be a long time all-star in the league. Old school still rules.

Best Individual skill development coaches

I would like your thoughts on individual skill development coaches. Steve Finamore does a great job with this.

Best High School Basketball Coaches in the USA

Please email your thoughts on the best high school Basketball coaches in the country. I want big school and small coaches that do a great job. Please email at herbwelling@cox.net with your thoughts.

Point Guard Development Ideas

In my opinion Bob Hurley and the late Dick Devenzio are two of the best sources for developing the point guard. Coaches please send me your thoughts and drills on developing the position I have information to share. Winning Hoops has just come out with a great report on Floor Generals Developing Prolific Point Guards.

Mike Conley is a winner at every level

Mike Conley who I have seen play since the 5Th grade is an old fashion pass first point guard. Mike can lead, pass, finish, defend, and in the area of shooting I know he will improve is shooting. He has great IQ for the game and His teams will win some NBA titles. He is my favorite player in the draft. I am hoping he slips down to my Celtic's. That brings me to another subject Mike's dad has done a great job of developing Mike and also Greg Oden and I have so much respect for him as a coach and developer of young men and players.

Running the Break and Pressing for tempo

Please email your ideas and I will exchange mine with you. My email address is herb.welling@ops.org. I have great stuff from Pepperdine, Memphis, North Carolina, Hobbs High School in Hobbs New Mexico and Mitchell High School in Colorado Springs from the 1971 and 1973 State Champions teams that ran.

Summer Basketball Ideas for Coaches and kids

1. Skill Development - Shooting program consist of making 500 shots a day. Play 1 on 1 with a buddy or older kid. Work on attacking dribbles moves. Play 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 this summer.

2. Coaches please don't coach summer league, have somebody else coach your team. Instead get your players in the gym 3 times a week working on their skills and teach them how to play in mini-scrimmages with 2 on 2 games, 3 on 3, 4 on 4. Go and evaluate your team in games don't coach them.

Coaches less offense is exactly more offense let your kids play

I am calling on all coaches at every level to run the Fast Break again and teach players to be more offensive orientated. Please teach shooting and drive-n-kick offense which is the hardest thing to guard in Basketball. Red Auerbach and John Mclendon started the running game please get back to style coaches.

Magic Johnson loves seeing the Fast Break back in the NBA

I enjoyed listening to Magic being interviewed during the Lakers and Suns game. He was very complimentary towards Steve Nash and loves how the Suns push the ball up the floor and run.

In light of Virginia Tech are we too politically correct?

Let me preface my latest blog by saying that I am high school security person. I believe that I am on the front lines of domestic terrorism and I am deeply saddened by the Virginia Tech tragedy. With that being said, I believe that the shooter was already identified by the staff and teachers as a potential random actor. I believe that staff was ignored by the administration at the school because they are too worried about being politically correct, and sadly we have a bunch of innocent lives destroyed by this evil person. I feel that we cannot stop these events when they happen, but we had so many warning signs with this misguided student who was bullied for most of his life. We have a responsibility as a community to help be pro-active in these matters and do the right thing which is more important than being politically correct. We have plenty of more these types of individuals throughout the world and we have responsibility to identify potential random actors. Finally, I pray for all the families in this horrible event.