Basketball, Boys' - MNMS

Are you a Tough basketball player?

How can we be the toughest team on the court (even if we lose)? Are you born with toughness or can it be learned? Is toughness a skill? Being tough is not easy so how do you do it? Some of these tips for being tough are physical but toughness is a way of playing that begins in your mind and must become your mental approach (ATTITUDE) to EVERYTHING you do:

1. Change your mental mindset of “your points” and change them to “our points”
2. Make sure your man does not get by you on defense, does not score, does not get a rebound, does not get between you and the ball, does not easily post you up, or does not even get the ball
3. Know not to take chances and get out of position because it makes your team weak; learn from it and don’t let it happen again
4. Learn the plays and how to execute them in a game; tough guys rehearse the game plays on paper, in their minds, and talk them over with their teammates until they become second nature
5. Use your feet on defense instead of your arms; being tough is hard and learning to use your feet makes you the toughest defender on the floor to play against
6. Set a solid screen for your teammate to get open to make them successful; The screen should give your teammate a ONE SECOND advantage to shoot, drive, or pass
7. Jump to the ball, use your arm bar, and always be on your toes and never be flat-footed
8. Take a charge; sacrifice your body for the team
9. Dive on the floor for every loose ball
10. Body up and box out someone every play (don’t let your teammates down)
11. Be the most tired player on the floor and after the game (don’t save your energy EVER)
12. Talk to your teammates on the floor on defense and offense; communicate and KNOW where everyone is on the floor (eyes in the back of your head, head is on a swivel looking for opponents and getting in front of them so they do not get easy baskets)
13. Be strong with the ball in a trap, square up and rip and tear the ball every time you touch it in the offense, be ready to pass to the open man at all times
14. Don’t showboat by jumping to block someone’s shot just to get out of position; tough guys contest, under control and make it hard for their man to score followed by boxing out so they do not get an easy rebound
15. Don’t get screened; be aware of what is going on and fight through it every time unless your teammate communicates to switch or jump switch
16. Give credit to someone else before taking the credit yourself
17. Drive the basketball to the hoop and take the ball up hard against your opponent drawing the foul but making the shot; if you don’t do this you will shoot off-balance bad shots, low percentage fadeaways that hurt your team
18. Don’t hang your head and pout about the last play; take the blame, own it, and don’t let it happen again. GET BACK ON DEFENSE, DON'T LET YOUR TEAMMATES DOWN
19. Look your coaches in the eye and your teammates
20. Be the toughest player to play against and the easiest player to play with