Coach

(Photo by Audrey T., former Aiken High School point guard)
University of Kentucky basketball coach Tubby Smith (left) and the Writer of this Blog enjoying the 2006 Nike Peach Jam Invitational.

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“I don’t want these shoes, I wanna GO HOME!”
--Diana Ross in ‘The Wiz’

Also, something you ABSOLUTELY won’t hear anyone at a Nike Basketball Camp say.

Hello everyone,

…Well, I enjoyed myself at the 2006 Nike Peach Jam Invitational, as the above pic shows.

Such a small world, isn’t it?

Fresh off this year’s Masters, ya boi was fortunate enough to be able to go to another national tournament. The Peach Jam, which was held from Wednesday, July 12 to Saturday, July 15, is a national high school basketball tournament that features the top 24 Nike Elite teams in the nation, teams laden with the best high school talent around.

In turn, a number of college coaches and scouters head out to the event, and it’s pretty big…just 10-15 minutes from the house. (I don’t get it either, our little Central Savannah River Area is jumping with major sporting events…oh well, more for the boi to cover)

But yeah, shout to my friend Kimani, who would’ve gotten the lead quote except for my late viewing of the Wiz Thursday (July 13) evening (sorry Mani).

“Have fun.”

To hear that was especially great, because the first day of Peach Jam stunk because things on a professional and personal level fell through in a big way on Wednesday, the first day of Peach Jam.

Truth is, it happens sometimes. But no one bounces back like the Writer of this Blog, and…Kimani’s quote, you ask?

Yep, that’s what I did in full…talked to a lot of coaches, shook players hands, did an interview with Tyreke Evans, who’s actually on the front of the SLAM Streetball magazine…(speaking of SLAM, and I won’t take long with this, I won a lifetime subscription to the magazine last Tuesday (July 11)…yeeeeeeeah, that’s right)

Well, the subsequent Thursday and Friday were fun, and I’m going to drop some highlights from Thursday action:

Thursday

(Well, much like any Peach Jam, there were an assortment of gifted players from all over the country…but for time’s sake, I’m just going to tell you that a team of players from Indiana and Illinois ran stuff…in fact, THREE TEAMS from that region ran stuff…most of all Derrick Rose and Eric Gordon. If they both go to Illinois, I’m telling you right now, it’s over. But, that’s not what’s really important…)

Seems like I’m always backtracking…

Wednesday…
Wasn’t such a bad day at all because one of my fellow church members was competing for the South Carolina Ravens team…

Jerel Stephenson, a gifted and intelligent rising junior at Glenn Hills High School in nearby Augusta.
The Ravens were a team made up of South Carolinians and Georgians, and they played in the 16-and-under division at the Jam.

(For clarification, there were two divisions, the 16-and-under, and the 17-and-under…the 16U tournament was a new addition to this year’s play.)

On Wednesday, the Ravens were down at halftime before ‘Rel came out in the second half, and absolutely dominated the game in all facets…his play really got the guys going, and the Ravens got the win.

Now, before I continue, I have to tell you ‘bout ‘Rel’s skill set…

I mean, what can’t the kid do? He’s savvy and experienced, and that was before he started playing basketball on AAU teams and the like. He can shoot efficiently from 20 feet and within…he can handle the ball, is ok for defense for his age, has quick hands, can play inside and outside…and…

He has COURT VISION.

Court vision, as I was telling my friend Faith once, is my favorite trait of a basketball player. Even moreso than someone who has great defensive prowess…because court vision implies such a great awareness of what occurs on the basketball floor…and it’s bigger than making a pretty pass.

Those of you that really know me know that I’m a fan of Spider-Man…and now that I think about it, one of his greatest powers is his premonition, his Spider Sense.

On the basketball floor, it’s no different…it’s getting into the passing lanes, it’s making the extra pass, it’s playing so fundamentally sound in these days of me-first hoops that it makes the casual fan coo and the intelligent fan wonder and wander to a different place and time.

That’s ‘Rel in a nutshell.

Yeah, he’s only 16. But I think a conversation had by myself and a number of youth at GYZ tells the tale…

(paraphrasing, of course…)
The Writer of this Blog: Yeah…I saw Jerel at Peach Jam…he’s really good.
‘Doubting Thomas’: Yeah, I’ve heard he’s good, but is he really good?
Witness: Yeah, he’s good…
TWOTB: Yeah, you know, we all talk junk…everybody think they got some game, but yo, dude can play…I mean he’s hooped everywhere…
DT: Yeah, but I want to see him play me…I think I could get him…
Everybody else: Naw, man…*subsequently followed by laughter*

Fast forward to Thursday…

And the Ravens are playing like…(insert expletive here). I mean, really…as a collective, they are playing horribly. It’s a miracle they aren’t getting blown out…even in the second half, it’s clear that whatever the coach said at halftime WAS NOT HEARD.

This coach…aside from being too emotionally involved…just looked to be outcoached and outclassed…

Too emotionally involved?

Yeah, I said it…
There is a such thing.

Being a coach is like being a good father (as far as I know)…you have to stay attached to your players, but stay detached to the mistakes that they can make some times…you can’t become overly emotional to the things they do, and you always have to do what’s best for the team, the family…and that means having your best five on the floor for a certain situation.

How did I learn such a lesson?

Funny you should ask…
Only a few years ago, the Writer of this Blog was coaching a team of 12-13-year-olds…around that age group. And guess who was one of my players?

Small world, isn’t it?

He was a great player then, but we had played two games…single-elimination…and won the second game BY A HAIR. So to start out the third game, I sat our hero for the whole first quarter, to rest him, I guess…but I kind of forgot he was there…

HOW DO YOU FORGET HE’S THERE?!?!?!?! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, DOC...
(old Good Doctor talking to young Good Doctor...)

The good news is, where I messed up, the Father meant for good. When he came off the bench, he was LIGHTS OUT. We were down by a bunch in the first half, but we came back with a vengeance. ..

We lost the game. Yep, championship game. We lost it.

That game, even though I don’t look at it too analytically, serves as a reference point to a lot of things. Anytime I think about mistakes that I’ve made in this lifetime, that game always comes up. I mean, sitting ‘Rel was one thing, but there were some many things that could’ve been done differently.

Do the memories of that game hound me? No, of course not. Just helps me not to make the same mistakes again.

Anyway…the Ravens coach does the same thing…sits ‘Rel DEEP INTO THE SECOND HALF…I think Jerel might have sat out 9-10 minutes of a 16 min. second half…pretty much sat out an eternity.

So…Jerel came off the bench, and you guessed it…LIGHTS OUT.

Finding people, making steals, helping the team to the cusp of victory…

They lost the game.

(As it stands, they would go 2-1 in the tournament…but wouldn’t advance out of pool play…a shame, because that team was loaded.)

After Thursday’s game, I talked to ‘Rel’s mom…and I asked her did she remember the Game back in the day…

She was like “Yeah…”

Then I said…”it wasn’t ‘Rel, it was the coach.”

She was like “Yeah, but there were so many other things…”

Hmph. Listen for that name, though. Jerel. Stephenson.

Anything else interesting about ‘Rel? Not really…he’s just Jig’s cousin.

Yep, that Jig.
Small world, isn’t it?
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So yeah, I had a lot of fun.

But about that pic (which was taken on Friday)…

It’s cool enough that I was able to take a picture with someone that I consider a role model, and someone who represents so much as far as not only Kentucky basketball, but the college hoops landscape itself. It was refreshing talking to Coach Smith…I was able to tell him that I was from the area, working for a local paper, and funny enough, he asked me about my middle school principal…

“Do you know Rose Berry…yeah, I know the family…”

Small world, isn’t it.

Well, sometimes it gets downright miniscule…

Look closer. I can’t help but smile when I realize that 1) a recent Aiken High graduate took this picture, and 2) I wanted to take this picture with the wall in the background, but Coach Smith tells me to move over…right in front of an elevator. Now, understand, we’re on the first floor. And it just seems fitting to me that at the climax of the Peach Jam, after meeting Coach Smith, that this picture would be taken somewhere where I feel like I am in my life…on the cusp of moving up.

Next floor please…

The Good Doctor