The National Basketball Association (NBA) has been hosting the three-hour draft selection for numerous years. Although this draft process can be tedious and stressful, it is nothing compared to the work that must be accomplished during the eight weeks prior to that fateful draft day.
During these eight weeks, my goal as a professional trainer is to improve the skill sets of each player while tailoring the player’s game specifically to the liking of NBA scouts. By doing so, I hope to not only make the player more desirable at the NBA level, but also to prepare them for the transition from the college basketball world to the professional basketball arena.
As an example of the importance of pre-draft workouts, I will examine the case of Pops Mensah Bonsu, a George Washington alum who was an intricate part of the GW Men’s Basketball team and is currently playing with Dallas Mavericks. Pops was a standout center at GW and was one of my clients for pre-draft workouts. When we started our pre-draft workouts I knew that there were certain things we needed to focus on in order to make Pops a competitive candidate for an NBA position. After 8 weeks of hard and consistent workouts Pops was passed up in an extremely competitive draft. Although he went un-drafted, Pops’ hard work soon paid off. It was hard for teams to overlook how greatly his skill level had improved since the season, not to mention his immense athleticism. Thus, he soon landed a two-year Free Agent deal with the Dallas Mavericks.
The workouts we did in the eight weeks prior to the draft were crucial to Pops’ success. During this eight-week period, we worked out six days a week and focused on certain aspects of Pops’ game that had been criticized previously by representatives of NBA teams. Planning his workouts was an easy task because we had gone through this process the year before so we knew exactly what improvements the teams needed to see from Pops.
All of our workouts began with Pops in front of a mirror working on his hand placement on the ball as well as his form when releasing the ball. We also worked on him looking the ball into his hands. We spent 20 minutes a day in front of a mirror so that he could see his form which displayed a lazy wrist causing him to push the ball instead of shoot the ball. I wanted him to see the problem for himself and over a two-week period we saw a noticeable improvement. A lot of players are visual learners which is why I incorporated the mirror into our workouts. Overall, I was very happy with the results of this technique.
Another problem that Pops was experiencing with his shot was his lack of elevation while shooting. To correct this problem, I used a drill that was shown to me by Nike Pro Basketball Representative, Keith Veney and is used by Dirk Nowitski. The drill begins with the player down and ready to shoot. Once he receives the ball he explodes off the floor without shooting. When he lands, he lands on the balls of his feet bending back into his “ready to shoot” stance without dropping the ball and then elevates again into his shot releasing the ball on the way up. This drill encourages jumping on all shots. We used various spots on the floor and we did this drill daily. This is a great drill for all players of all ages.
Another criticism Pops was experiencing was that he had poor hands. Every day during drills I would throw the ball hard to him emphasizing looking the ball into his hands before making his move. A lot of players have this problem because they are too concerned about making their move instead of focusing on catching the ball first. I also implemented the use of a weighted ball to improve his catching abilities. I particularly liked to use these drills while on the move due to the fact that Pops runs the floor like a deer which is unusual for a man of his stature. On top of this, he has a fantastic ability to finish around the basket, thus the importance of him improving his ability to catch the ball cleanly was imperative to his future success.
I believe to be a successful post player you must have a hook shot and I teach the jump hook and the sky hook. I started him with the Mikan drill emphasizing protecting the ball with the off-hand and keeping the ball high. During this drill the player remains in very close proximity to the basket at all times. Starting with his head under the basket facing the baseline, the player moves to the right to shoot, grabs his rebound on his way to the left to shoot and the pattern continues. The player should be shooting the ball off the backboard while alternating shooting with either hand depending on the side of the basket and jumping off the opposite foot.
The player can also shoot the ball straight in instead of using the backboard during this drill in order to work on different types of shots under the basket. I also do this drill implementing the reverse Mikan where you execute the same drill but instead of facing the baseline, the player faces the foul line. This drill is great for improving your basic touch around the basket and is useful when practicing your sky hook. After the Mikan drill we moved on to the jump hook emphasizing the same things as the sky hook except you jump off of two feet instead of one. We would work on both shots on the block turning both ways and flashing across the paint. I believe that footwork is the key to making any move successful, so I had Pops working on using both pivots to make his moves more versatile. I teach all post players that upon receiving the ball they should come to a jump stop so that they give themselves the capability to use either pivot. Creating this ability is great advantage to all post players and should be utilized!
Look for the upcoming conclusion to this piece emphasizing footwork and strong hands.
