Last second game winning shots. Attractive dunks. Flashy crossovers. Monster blocks. Beautiful team play. When people are watching the game of basketball, those are the moments of full excitement that make this sport so beautiful and fun to watch.
But underneath all those highlights and memorable plays lay countless hours of practice, hard work and commitment.
Basketball is the perfect mix of individual quality and team work. One player can make huge difference on the court, but without other four guys even the best players in history could not win games.
Here are some basic, but important things that any player should learn to do well and consistent in order to become great.
1. Always start with the fundamentals
When you watch videos on the internet of great basketball players, most of the times you can see only highlights; best dunks, dribble moves, blocks…
But even with the greatest players in the game (Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Steph Curry and others) those highlights are less than 10 percent of their points and moves; the rest are the fundamentals.
The reason because these players are best is because they do fundamental things consistently and effectively. They spend countless hours practicing how to receive the ball correctly, keeping their head straight all the time; positioning their feet the right way, keeping the balance all the time.
These are the things that every basketball player does on the court for the majority of time, so it is very important that those things you do correctly, with pace and commitment, and with minimum mistakes.
The best players are the ones that do most fundamental things better than others. Always work on your fundamentals and the more you practice them, the more natural and flawless they will come to you during a game.
2. Discover and minimize your weaknesses
If you want to be a complete basketball player, you need to be able to do a little bit of everything on the court. If you are good ball driver but bad outside shooter; your defender can leave you space for shooting but prevent you from driving in the lane.
That always leaves you with less options and it limits your abilities. You must recognize your weaknesses and put extra amount of work in overcoming them.
You want to be a threat in any situation, both on and off the ball offensively, but also a reliable defender. Analyze your game and work hard on improving your weaknesses.
3. Be committed on the defensive end of the floor
They say that defense wins championships, and there is a reason for that. Defense is not fun. Defense is not the reason why the crowd is coming to watch games.
But without defense you cannot win. The good thing about defense is that anyone can play it. You don’t need to have natural talent for defense – you only need to have the motivation and commitment to play it.
Even the best offensive players are great defenders, because they know that executing on defensive end of the floor builds confidence in the team.
Always practice your defense, be committed to execute defensive tasks as best as you can. Hard work on defense brings confidence on the offense, because you know that even if you didn’t score you can repay that on the defensive end.
4. Communicate on the court
Every team has a leader on the court, and it is usually the most vocal player. Basketball is a team sport – you always have four guys beside you on your team. And if you want to be successful you need to communicate with them all the time.
Whether you want to switch on defense, call the defense type on pick and roll or position your team on offence; you have to let your teammates know your intentions and your position on the court.
Communication makes defense efficient and rock solid, builds trust between players and brings organization and fluency on the offensive end.
5. Be part of the team
Michael Jordan was among best NBA players from the moment he started playing for the Chicago Bulls. But he did not win championships until he started to trust his teammates and started to involve them more in the game.
He was still the best player in the league, but he realized that one player cannot win games. In basketball, your team is your family. And if you love your family you will do whatever it takes to help your family succeed.
Listen to your coach, trust him and let him guide you. When coach calls a play for you, it is not for you to score, it is for your team to score. When you realize that, you will play on a higher level.
6. Be humble in wins and lose with dignity
For great basketball players, wining is natural thing to do. When you win the game and when you played a good game, you are doing your job and nothing more than that. That game is over and you are thinking only about the next one.
When you play bad indoor basketball and you lose the game, don’t let it be the end of the world. Face your failure and use it as a motivation to improve, to practice even harder and be even better. Wins sometimes can be misleading but loses are often revealing. In loses you discover your character and your ability to overcome difficulties and become better player.