Zac is Wack – a basketball webcomic

I was listening to Colin Cowherd on the radio this morning. He hosts a sports-radio talk show every morning from 7 am – 10 am. Today Colin talked a lot about Carmelo Anthony ( one of the star players for the Knicks ), and also about the resignation of their head coach Mike D’Antoni.

While I listened to the show, a man called into the radio station claiming he works for the New York Knicks. This man told the listening audience that he reviews game film for the Knicks. The man made the comment that Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire rarely play defense, or are often in the wrong position on the floor defensively.

I was curious, because I had heard this claim many times before, and wanted to investigate it further. So I went on YouTube and found some recent footage of the Knicks vs the 76ers. After watching just a single clip, I have to agree with the caller. But in fairness, Melo and Amare are not the only ones that don’t play good defense. Jeremy Lin and other members of the team need help as well.

Below is a video clip of the Knicks vs the 76ers on March 11, 2012. Please stop the film at all the times below, read my comments, then watch each particular segment over and over again to understand what I mean.

As you will see, just because players can score in the 20′s or 30′s each game, does NOT mean they are GREAT basketball players. A GREAT basketball player plays BOTH ends of the floor:

.16 seconds – .27 seconds

Carmelo throws the ball away ( which happens to every player at some point ), but watch his reaction. The mistake Carmelo made was not turning the ball over, but his lack of effort to get back on defense. He should never have dropped his head. The only thought that should have entered his mind was ” I need to sprint as fast as I can down the court to stop the other team from scoring.

1.03 seconds – 1.11 seconds ( READ THEN WATCH THEN READ THEN WATCH )

Watch Jeremy Lin in this sequence after the ball is stolen by the 76ers. If you notice, Lin takes a completely wrong angle to cut off Iguodala’s coast-to-coast drive to the basket. If you STOP the video at exactly 1.09 seconds, you will see that Jeremy Lin should have raced down the court and got his body inside the key instead of above the free throw line. If he would have raced and squared his body inside the key, he would have, at minimum, forced Iguodala to alter his direction to the basket, making it more difficult to score.

1.15 seconds – 1.21 seconds ( READ THEN WATCH THEN READ THEN WATCH )

After starting the clip at 1.15, STOP it again at 1.16. You’ll see Jeremy Lin and #7 Carmelo Anthony trapping on the pic-n-roll. This leaves #21 for the 76ers open. Now, start the video again and STOP it at 1.17. You’ll then see that #21 for the 76ers gets the ball, and the player for the Knicks responsible for rotating on defense is #2 Landry Fields. In this situation, it is Fields job to pick up the ball and help Carmelo out, because Carmelo and Lin had trapped the point guard for the 76ers. Watch how #2 Landry Fields closes out on #21 and picks up the man with the ball. Instead of keeping his body between the ball and the basket, he cheats and jumps the passing lane when #21 fakes his pass. When #21 fakes his pass, he not only gets #2 Landry Fields to jump out of position, but also #6 Tyson Chandler. Both Fields and Chandler go for the pass fake instead of staying ” home “. So you not only have these two players jumping out of position on defense, you also see that Carmelo is slow to get back to help on defense after trapping the ball. Lastly, if you STOP the video at 1.18, you’ll see that #21 will drive to the basket. #21 Iman Shumpert for the Knicks is the last guy to help, but stays in his spot. What he should have done is slide over to help stop the dribbler by getting his body in front of the ball.

1.27 seconds – 1.34 seconds ( READ THEN WATCH THEN READ THEN WATCH )

In this sequence, the 76ers start a fastbreak and Amare Stoudemire runs down on defense, but fails to see the ball at all times. It almost appears he’s running down on defense without a true purpose in mind: to stop the opponent from scoring!! STOP the video at 1.31 and you’ll see the most fundamental error that a player can commit on defense: taking your eyes off the ball.

Defense, to me, is always the one element that separates a decent team from a great team. Defense is a choice. You either play it with all your heart, or you just go through the motions. This video clip demonstrates that defense, just like offense, is a team concept, and only works if everyone is doing their job.

There are two things that make up a great basketball player: the ” tangibles ” and the ” IN-tangibles “.

Tangible things are those things you can measure: your ball handling skills, how tall you are, your shooting ability, your strength, your vertical leap, how many rebounds you grab, etc. These are things that can be measured.

But there are other things that make you a great basketball player: the IN-tangibles.

The IN-tangibles are those things that cannot be measured, like playing great defense, setting a good screen for a teammate to get open, diving on the floor for a lose ball, encouraging your teammates, etc.

These IN-tangibles do not require you to have any special talents. To have these intangibles, you simply need two things: DESIRE and HEART.

Now you must ask yourself: how can I measure myself as a human being?

Can I measure myself by tangible things, like the clothes I wear, the kind of car I drive, or how many video games I have?

I think the ONLY way to really measure yourself is by looking at the ” IN-tangibles “.

Am I a nice person, do I help others, am I caring to those around me, do I work hard, am I a leader, am I unselfish?

THESE ” IN-tangibles ” are what makes YOU a great human being.

You know, when you talk about any sport, and peel away the layers of who wins and who loses, there is something much deeper to sports that we often forget about…….SPORTSMANSHIP.

I looked at Dictionary.com and this is what it said for Sportsmanship:

” …..sportsmanlike conduct, as fairness, courtesy, being a cheerful loser, etc. “

I wasn’t truly satisfied with this definition, so I looked in my trusty pocket dictionary and found:

” …ability to be gracious in winning or losing. “

Ahhhhhhh…………MUCH BETTER!!!

Never equate having good sportsmanship with being weak. Sometimes we are taught that if we do not ” bury ” our opponent, or throw punches to show how tough we are, then we don’t deserve to win. Well, let me give you an example from my playing days that might help you understand how to have both the desire to win, and show sportsmanship at all times.

When I played ball, I hated to lose. I mean, I HA-TED to lose. But if I was ever in a game and my opponent got knocked to the floor, I’d help him up. Or if two players from opposing teams squared off to fight, I always jumped in the middle. Why? I guess I saw something more important beneath the surface of winning at all cost. To me, the players on the other team were standing in the way of our team’s success, but they were human beings first.

Come to think of it, I think it would be awesome if the NBA made a rule that if an opposing player gets knocked to the floor, and an opposing player is nearest to him, he HAS to help that player to his feet. ( Yeah…..like that will ever happen. LOL But kids would learn so much by these types of gestures.

You have to watch this video. This is what I mean about SPORTSMANSHIP and peeling off the layers to discover the true meaning of the word. I apologize to all you basketball freaks out there, that I dared to plug in this softball clip. My bad ; )

I guess by now you’ve heard about the new point guard for the New York Knicks. His name is Jeremy Lin, and about two weeks ago he had an opportunity to be a starter for the first time in the NBA. The reason he got this opportunity is because another player on the Knicks team got injured, opening the door for Lin to give it his best shot. Over his first 5 games, Lin managed to break a few records, as well as become just about the most popular player in the NBA!

Jeremy Lin was a great high school player, but no one ( except Harvard ) wanted to give him a scholarship. Once he graduated from Harvard, no one wanted to draft him into the NBA. Once he was in the NBA, no one wanted to give him an opportunity until someone else got hurt.

I think it takes a pretty strong person to keep working hard even though things never seem to work out. I don’t think Jeremy Lin could have done what he did without the support of his family and friends, the people around him telling him to never quit. But there are young players out there that have no one to rely on, no one there to believe in them. That’s when believing in yourself becomes key!

MY TWO FAVORITE JEREMY LIN QUALITIES:

1) He never gave up.

AND

2) He always puts his the team’s success above his own.

I think these are the two qualities I admire most about Jeremy Lin. And you can tell his teammates appreciate him for those qualities as well. No matter what people and the media say, I think Jeremy Lin will be who he is, and not try and live up to any expectations or be like anyone else.

Judy Garland said it best:

” Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. “