I saw this picture by Charles Rex Arbogast on Sactown Royalty accompanying an article titled “DeMarcus Cousins Ain’t No Joke.”

Look at the position of his body as he changes directions. When I run clinics, I emphasize this position: the foot is outside his knee and his knee is outside his hips. Look at the angle that he creates to push from his left to right. He keeps his shoulders over his base of support rather than allowing them to sway to his left as he changes directions, which would slow down his movement.

Also, on another note, look at his ankle. Look at how much his foot is sliding in his shoe. In the low-top vs. high-top argument, would his foot slide as much in low tops? I do not know the answer, but it certainly seems as though his shoes need a better fit or there is something that could be done to improve the performance of his shoe in relation to his movement in this situation. Supposedly Kobe Bryant has asked Nike to create a shoe and sock system that prevents this type of sliding in one’s shoe to negate the tenth or hundreth of a second lost because of this. Kobe also famously wears lop-tops because he feels that he is quicker. Makes some sense when seeing this picture.

However, the greater point is the importance of creating the right angles for acceleration in the desired direction. To stop his movement to his left and accelerate to his right, Cousins create a big angle and a wide step. Some argue that this bigger step slows down the player because he travels further away from where he wants to go. However, that distance is small compared to the improved quickness of the change of direction movement by creating this angle to, as Lee Taft says, “meet his momentum” and drive in the opposite direction.

One of the NBA’s most interesting relationships is between Dallas forward Dirk Nowitski and his long-time trainer and mentor Holger Geschwinder. Geschwinder interests me because of his unorthodox approach to training Nowitski, especially compared to the way that most U.S. basketball players train during their teenage years and in their early professional career. I have tried unsuccessfully to track down Geschwinder for an interview for the Hard2Guard Player Development Newsletters, but the video below offers some insight into Nowitski’s greatness and Geschwinder’s approach.

Some key points:

1. A systematic plan to develop his skills. I have heard interviews before where Geschwinder talks about adding tools to the toolbox every off-season so that Nowitski constantly develops and adds to his game.
2. Nowitski started late: “I didn’t get into basketball until I was 13, 14 really.” Yet, he was an NBA lottery pick when he was 18. He played multiple sports as a child and he saw others peak early (a characteristic on early specialization) while he continued to grow and improve his game.
3. Emphasize the game. Not about the money and it’s not work. It is a passion. Playing and practicing is play for Nowitski – the activity is enjoyable in and of itself, regardless of the reward. “Once basketball is a job, you’re on the wrong route.”

On ESPN, Tim Graham writes about New England Patriots’ QB Tom Brady and his relationship with his long-time mentor Tom Martinez, the former College of San mateo Head Coach.

The trainer’s role is often tricky especially as players move further along in their competitive careers. While a player moves from coach to coach as he progresses along the competitive ladder, he often stays with one trainer (for good or bad), meaning that the trainer and player often have a better relationship and more trust than the coach and player (just look at Dallas’ Dirk Nowitski and his long-time mentor Holger Geschwinder). The trainer also knows the player better than the coach due to the length of the relationship: he has watched the player mature physically, emotionally and psychologically. As Martinez says:

“It’s one of those things where I can see right away what he’s doing. He trusts me, so when I tweak him, it’s right back to where he wants to be. Then, at that point, it probably is psychological.”

Outsiders assume that the best coaches coach at the college or professional levels, so a player does not need to use his own trainer. College and professional coaches occasionally feed this belief because they are insecure with another trainer around or because they feel that a trainer might undermine their work. In basketball, many coaches worry about the influence of the trainer and the conflicting goals spoken by the trainer and the coaching staff, the me vs. we argument. A trainer focuses solely on one individual player, while a coach oversees an entire team of talents, skills and egos with one (hopefully) common goal. However, the trainer sometimes has an edge in reaching the player because of the relationship:

“When a guy gets that good like Brady, the quarterback coach is intimidated because he’s not as good as the player,” Martinez said. “So they hesitate to say things. Therefore, the player gets sloppy.

In Steve Marsh’s look at F.C. Barcelona in the June 2010 Delta Sky Magazine, “Blue and Red and Known All Over,” he writes about Barca’s star Lionel Messi who started at the Barcelona academy, La Masia, when he was 12.

“When a player is 18 years old, he has money, he has girls, he has a car,” says Ruben Bonastre, the assistant to the director of the academy. “It’s very difficult to tell them that the most important thing is his humility, but I think that maybe we are the only people who can tell him thing. Because we knew him when he was a child.”

Beyond the ability to reach a player or the confidence to talk honestly to a player, trainers also focus on parts of the game that often go unpracticed during a team practice, especially in-season when competition and team strategy take precedence. Martinez feels that elite athletes need constant technique practice, much like golfers.

“Mechanics should be coached on a daily basis, and I don’t know that it is. It’s like Tiger Woods’ golf swing or Michael Jordan’s free throws.”

Baseball teams have pitching coaches. Most NBA teams have a coach in charge of player development, and some have shooting or free throw coaches. How many college teams have shooting coaches? How many high school teams? Most coaching staffs divide responsibilities by positions, but rarely does that mean that a coach is hired specifically because of his aptitude working with post players or developing shooters. Is technique not something that elite players need to train regularly?

A good trainer can play a pivotal role in a player’s development because of the individual relationship and the understanding of the player’s personality, motivations and techniques. A trainer does not replace a coach, but coaches should view a skilled trainer as an ally, not an adversary. Most trainers want to train and help individual players maximize their innate gifts, while coaches focus on developing a team. These are not opposing missions, but complementary. Better players with more skills make the job of coach easier, and the trainer sometimes can reach the player or connect with the player when a coach may be unable due to the length of the relationship and the trust between trainer and player.

ESPN’s Justin Verrier has a nice article about Kevin Durant and his mother’s influence.

“When I was younger I would have good games,” Durant said. “I would come home to my friends and brag and boast, but she always told me to be humble because all the stuff could be taken away from me.”

That advice led to his work ethic:

“After practice I just try to get in as much work as I can,” Durant said. “That’s why I think I’ve gotten so much better throughout the season: I always put in work after practice. My mom always told me to be like that.”

When practice ends, are you the first one out the door? Do you put in more time to master the skills learned in practice? Are you the first one in the weight room to work on your body and athleticism? Do you push yourself or do you wait for the coach to yell at you to work harder?

Practice in Proportion to your Aspirations.

The best players work the hardest. Often, we assume that means that a father, coach or trainer pushes the athlete. However, the best athletes are intrinsically motivated. They train or practice because they want to work out, not because someone forces them.

“It wasn’t like I always wanted to be a pro basketball player,” Stephen Curry says. “I had to make that decision. Dad always told us that whatever we wanted to do, he’d support us. He wasn’t ever going to push us to the gym; sure, he’d go with us, but it’s not like he’d wake us up and force us to go. That helped me a lot, because my work ethic has always been my own and not someone else forcing it on me.“

Curry has had that type of work ethic from a young age, as his high school coach explains:

During Curry’s junior season, [Charlotte Christian head coach Shonn] Brown told the players that if they attended every mandatory practice, they’d receive a prize. Stephen made every practice except for one. “He came to me and said, ‘Coach, we missed one today, it was my fault, can we come early tomorrow and make it up?’” Brown remembers. “I said, ‘Absolutely;’ he and Seth came the next day at 6 a.m. and doubled their workouts … that just showed how, off the court, he’s very bright, very respectful and respected, which is proof that he was reared very well from a parenting standpoint.”

It also shows his worth ethic, to wake up at 6 A.M. and do a double workout, his self-responsibility (not blaming someone or something else) and his competitiveness, as he did not want to miss out on the prize. As his dad, former NBA player Dell Curry, says:

“Stephen is driven by wanting to be good,” Dell says.

As for his training, he trains his decision-making skills, not just his ball handling skills, unlike many wanna-be point guards:

Curry says he tries to emulate the play of Steve Nash and has become close with Chris Paul…

Curry says his best learning strategy isn’t necessarily mimicking others; instead, he watches video of himself, pausing the tape before each play, thinking about his best passing and shooting options, then pressing play to see if he made the right choice.