Strengths and Weaknesses

Too many times I see things on social media regarding players' strengths and weaknesses. Here is some food for thought on that.

Lately, I've seen a ton of coaches writing on twitter about "What did you do to get better?" "Work now, playing time later." Etc. Now, I totally agree that the summer is a time that you NEED to work to become a better player, but here is a little different thinking on the subject.

Have you worked on your weaknesses this summer? I would hope that every player has worked on their weaknesses but sometimes they need to continue to work on their strengths and that may be more important for them to get playing time for their upcoming season.  Players who are great shooters should continue to work their tails off by shooting. They can't neglect working on their shooting or that could become like other parts of their game.

You look at a player like Nik Stauskas and see his development over the summer of his freshmen and sophomore seasons.  If you noticed, he worked on all types of shots and worked on taking more contested shots because he knew that he would have the ball in his hands at the end of the shot clock. He also worked on his handle but he knew that if he wanted to play at the next level he had to work on his shooting even more.  I feel from watching some of his high school games that he had a really good handle in high school as well but his role changed once he got to college and then it changed after his first year. Now, he's a lottery pick after being an afterthought by many after he signed with Michigan. His confidence increased, how do you work on that?

I'm going to drop some old school knowledge on people here. I remember when Chris Porter came to Auburn after a couple of years of JUCO. His hype was huge. He had a great junior year and was named SEC Player of the Year as well as All-American.  At 6'7", he was a power forward at Auburn.  He wanted to play in the NBA and not many 6'7" power forwards get there.  He needed to become a small forward and his game suffered his senior year because he tried to become a 3pt shooter.  He was drafted late in the second round and has bounced around the world since.  I'm not saying that he hasn't been successful but he tried to make himself into something that he is not.

And then there is...

Malik Rose

He was a also 6'7" power forward but he played at Drexel.  He was also an All-American.  He thought about entering the NBA Draft after his junior year but decided against it work on his game.  The difference is, he continued to work on his strengths which was low post play, rebounding, and defense rather than try to become a jump shooter. He ended up becoming a serviceable 15'-17' jump shooter after working on it but he knew his bread and butter was in the paint. He had a successful NBA career as a bruising power forward for 13 seasons.

The lesson of the these two stories is...be you.  Don't try to be something you aren't.  Does this mean don't work on other aspects of your game? No.  It means that you have to whatever you can to help your team.  If that means you are the guy that does the dirty work then be the very best at that. If that means you are a spot-up shooter, then be the best spot-up shooter you can be.  Love your role and force your coach to play you by dominating your role.