Raja Bell Training
 
July 13 Today is one of the best days of the year for me. Today, Raja starts his workouts in preparation for next season. This year we are starting a little later than usual because we want to make sure he is healthy. He missed the last 8 games of the season with a calf injury. It is the same calf muscle he tore in the playoffs in 2006. I truly admire Raja. He is a self-made player. He is not physically gifted and is not a great athlete, but he is carving out a great career after taking the long road to the NBA as an undrafted free agent. His work ethic and focus is remarkable and he is committed to maximizing every ounce of his physical potential, every day. Once we start, I usually have to be pretty firm and say “that’s enough for today,” or he will stay in the gym forever. Raja started strength training about 3 weeks ago and is now incorporating yoga for more flexibility. He lifts 3-4 days per week. We try to schedule his lifts after we shoot but that is not always possible. The first couple of weeks we will work on the court 3 days per week and get about 350 shots in a workout. We will work up to 5 days per week with about 500 shots and then taper back a little about 10 days before he leaves for training camp. We try to keep most workouts to about an hour and we definitely don’t want to ever go past and hour and fifteen minutes. One of the great things about Raja is he always has a goal. He doesn’t just go out and fire them up. Each year he looks at what he wants to improve and comes in with a list. This years list includes getting to the basket more, getting better and having more options as he comes off screens and to continue his climb as one of the best 3 point shooters in the league. After 4 years of playing for Phoenix, he thinks he has become too much of a standstill shooter. Now playing for Larry Brown, in Charlotte, he is going to be called on to do more things he needs to recapture a lot of his old skills. Most of the drills we used can be found in the workout program available at www.BreakthroughBasketball.com. All the drills are multi purpose so I might use one drill one day as a warm-up and the same drill the next day as a ballhandling drill. We also shoot 5 foul shot in between each drill. We work on made shots so each drill works to 10 makes. We also work both side and both directions. The first few workouts, I just want to get the ball back in his hands. We start out by shooting 140 shots in a drill I call short long. It is a great rhythm drill and really gets up a lot of shots in a short period of time. We then moved on to some wing shots from about 17’. Just coming to the ball for a catch and shoot. We also worked on going away from the ball. We worked both wings and on top. We then moved to wing screens. Setting the screen at about 19’ and curling which produced a 17’ shot. Next is wing catches with a 1-dribble counter opposite the pass. In other word, if we were on the left side, he would come to the ball, from the baseline (passer was on the top), make the catch and rip toward the baseline for a 1 dribble shot. The emphasis is I would like him to get more length on his dribble so he covers more ground, and to take straighter lines to the basket. He wants to get to the basket more so he has to start thinking about covering ground and using the pull-up as a counter move. We then moved to a little ballhandling/break work. Coming from mid-court as if he was on the break and catching a headman pass. He gets 1 dribble to attack, a second dribble, in close quarters (I use chairs as obstacles) as a counter dribble, into either a pull up or a finish at the rim. We finished up with a quick game of “Beat the Pro,” starting at six points. Eventually we will start at 9, which means if he misses his first shot, he’s a loser. We the played a foul shooting game then, it was out of the gym. We made 320 shots in just under an hour. July 14 Today was on of the days Raja had to lift before we shot. He lifts a very high intensity so we have to be careful of fatigue. We started with footwork to loosen up. We did multiple sets of chair pivots, using each of the 3 main pivots, drop step, front pivot and inside pivot. The only counter we used was the inside pivot/sweep counter. We start with the drop step with the chairs just outside the block. Remember, in the NBA, they have a 16 foot lane so it is a pretty good stretch. We then go front pivot, in which the chairs are moved out to about 17 feet, inside pivot from 20’ and then the pivot counter with 1 dribble 25’ which leads to about a 19’ shot. We then went to wing L cuts, first with a catch and shoot, and then with a 1 dribble move for either a pull up or rim finish. Yesterday, all the 1 dribble moves were rips away from the pass, so today we went with 1 dribble in the direction of the pass. We then moved on to break shots, simulating catching the ball on the run as if on the break, with a catch and shoot. We then worked on some dribble explosion from a ballhandling position where we simulate him bringing the ball up the floor and making a 1-dribble explosion to beat his man and get his shot. We finished up with a 5/7 where we pick 7 spots and he has to make 5 out of 7 shots before we move to the next spot. If we don’t make 5, we start over from 0. He lost from the second spot and then proceeded to make 28 in a row. He doesn’t like to lose. We finished up from the foul line. 360 made shots in 50 minutes of work. Tomorrow is an off day on the court. It is the one day he will lift without shooting. We also try to schedule at least 1 day where he will shoot without lifting July 22 We got back to work today after a forced layoff. I was called away on a family emergency. Raja worked in the weight room but was not on the court. Today we wanted to just get some repetitions. I brought in a high school kid, Sean Kett, to rebound for us and make things go a little smoother. Having a rebounder gives the workout some pace. In addition, Raja gets a little break while Sean is shooting. In return, he gets a pretty good workout. Raja is a good mentor for kids. He enjoys showing them little things that will make them more effective. Last year we had a kid that had just graduated HS work with us. When he told Raj that he was going to try to make his college team as a walk-on, Rajacalled the coach and put in a good word for him. We started with a 5/5/5 drill from 7 spots. This is a footwork drill that gets the shooter going both ways. From there we went to wing shooting, from each side and on top. From there, we moved onto the same drill, but added a 1 dribble rip to it. One of our objectives is to get him to be more effective on the dribble. The next drill was a little guard play where we attacked a chair with the dribble with a 1 dribble change into either a pull up or a rim finish. In either case, there was no 2nd dribble. Whatever he was going to do, had to be done with the change dribble. We then took a piece out of Charlotte’s offense. They set a small/big backscreen for the high post and the screener steps out looking for either the shot or the drive. We went from each side. Then, we used a simulated defense. Sean would follow him up an he had 3 choices: close out short, close out long to the right, close out long to the left. Raja had to read and make a play with a 2 dribble max. We finished up with making 5 out of 7 shots from 7 spots and then foul shots. All in all, we had about 300 makes in an hour and 10 minutes. July 23, 2009 Due to the gym schedule, today Raja lifted before we shot. I knew he would be fatigued so we made an adjustment by limiting his range. We started with short/long. A quick 140 shots to warm up. Next was a set of intensity shots. Since he lifted upper body and we were going to go with shorted shots, we decided to put more conditioning into the workout. The intensity series gets you shots from a designated spot but contains some good footwork and continuous running for conditioning. First set was layups, second set jump shots, third set 1 dribble jumpers, fourth set dribble jumpshots with a second dribble change. From there we worked on wing play, receiving the ball on both wings and the top. First jump shots, then 1 dribble shots. We finish with Sean showing defense so Raja would have to decide shot or drive. We then went to wing screens, curl on the dribble, hide behind for shot and turn downs. It is one of the ways we work ballhandling into the workout. We finished up with “Beat the Pro” (as Raja says, “I should win because I am a pro”) and foul shots. We worked for about an hour and 10 minutes with 370 makes. One of the challenges with established players is having them make small adjustments. They are already very good at what they do and I don’t want to change anything and make it worse and they are a little resistant to change. Right now Raja reacts to everything as a jump shooter. Short dribbles and often stepping to the side. Since he now feels he needs to be better getting to the basket, little by little I hope to lengthen his dribble and get him to go in straight lines. The trick is to get it done without him noticing July 23 Anthony King joined us today. Anthony graduated from the University of Miami in 2008 and played last season in Frankfort, Germany. He played, last summer, for the Miami Heat summer league team and then went to Europe for some seasoning. He has already made a decision to go back to Europe this season and then try to push for an NBA spot next year. At 6-8, he is a little undersized for a power forward so we’re going to try to work on his intermediate game and the things he can do to out quick bigger players. He is an excellent defender and rebounder, but to have a chance, he needs to scorer better than he does. King is a good workout partner for Raja. He works very hard and needs to improve some of the same things that Raja wants to improve on, 1 and 2 dribble moves and scoring in the mid-range. We can work on screens, ball screens and option off them from both perspectives. We warmed up with chair pivots, using all pivots and counters. We started on the block with drop steps and gradually moved out to 16 feet for front pivots and 20 feet for inside pivots. The counter, because they involve a dribble, were moved out to about 23 feet. We then when through the intensity series, first layups then jump shots, then 1 dribble and finally 2 dribble changes. Then we went to split post shots, front pivots from the low post and inside pivots from the high post. Then we reversed the sides and the pivot feet. We then went to some 1 and 2 dribble moves, off the catch, from on top and on the wing, starting with about a 22 foot catch. We went catch and shoot, catch – 1 dribble move and then catch – 2 dribble move with a change in direction. We then worked on ball screens with a slip, passes coming from the weakside. In order, shots were catch-jumpshot, catch-jump hook and then catch-drop step counter. We finished up with wing shooting from 3 spots and then beat the pro. The total was 300 makes in 1 hour. August 10 Back at it after another forced layoff. The one thing we were trying to avoid was re-injuring Raja’s calf muscle. He decided to try to play a little bit and wound up tweaking it. It is the same calf muscle that he hurt during the season and forced him to sit out the last nine games of the season. So we took some time off for therapy and then got back at it. All I wanted to do was get the ball back in his hands. We started with short-longs for a warm up. We then went to wing shooting, catch and shoot, from both sides and the top. The next progression was the same drill with one dribble in the same direction. It started out slow but once he regained his rhythm he wound up making 24 in a row. From there we moved to trailer shots. Moving from mid-court, trailing from each side of the lane, first was catch and shoot, next a 1-dribble counter and then a 2nd-dribble counter. We then went inside and did front pivot jumpers and quick turns. We finished up with some break work, handling on the run from mid-court, 2 dribbles into a shot. We finished with 310 makes and, with the exception of screen work, touched most of the areas that he wants to improve on. August 11 Rasual Butler joined us today. He has been lifting and boxing for 4 weeks and looks great. Rasual is coming off a great year. After two years ago not even dressing for 59 games, last year he started 72 games and averaged 12ppg. I think that is a direct result of the work he put in last summer. Rasual is a shot hound. The more reps the better. He is much different that Raja in that Raja has several areas he wants to work on to become more complete. Rasual feels his ticket is his shot. He shoots so many shots that I can’t believe his shoulder and wrist don’t develop tendonitis. I know I throw him so many passes that my arms hurt. After the short/long, we went to 5/5/5 to get into some rhythm and footwork. Then wing shooting on both sides, top and wing and across the top. From there, we went to corner fades, and wing pin downs. In the blink of an eye, we were up to 300 made shots. We then went to trailer shots, both catch and shoot and 1-dribble counters. We finished up with making 5 out of 7 from seven spots and shooting 15 foul shots for a total of 500 made shots in about an hour and ten minutes. Rasual then told me that he might not be in tomorrow because he thinks he is being traded to the Clippers and might have to go to LA. August 12 Woke up today with the news that Rasual, in fact, has been traded to the Clippers. I hope this is a good move for him as he has been told that he is a projected starter at one of the wing positions. Started with short/longs with Raja. I really think that little drill has value as it really sets up your shooting rhythm and gets you loose. 140 shots in a few minutes will raise your core body temperature pretty quickly. We then went to screen work, running fades and curls off win screens. First with no dribble, then with 1 dribble. New York cuts off of wing screens, again with no dribble then with 1 dribble. I had mentioned earlier how Raj likes to mentor younger kids. There was a 14 year old shooting with his father on the next court. Every chance they got, they would come over and watch. During a break, Raja went over to introduce himself. He then asked the kid if he wanted to join us. I can’t believe how wide his eyes got. He joined us for the wing screens. We then went to trailer shots, 1 dribble counters, off the break, and then with a second dribble change. Quite a bit of running in this workout so we finished with some spot shooting from 5 spots and some foul shots. August 13 We started today with some foot work, doing chair pivot with drop steps, front pivots and then inside pivot. As we changed pivots we progressively moved further outside. Inside pivots were done at about 18’. We then went to inside pivot counter with 1 dribble. If we were doing it in the post, the counter would be to a power move, but on the wing the dribble is used to create a pull up jumper. We then progressed to L-cuts from the wing, first a catch and shoot and then to an offensive move. We then moved the starting point to the wing and ran the same options cutting to the top. We then went into the post for front pivot fades and quick turns for layups. Next was wing screen work, over the top and then turn downs. Then I acted as the screen defender and hedged the ball screen. First, was dribble splits with a high hedge and then we worked on dragging the hedgeman to force a switch. We closed with 5/7 from 7 spots. August 14 Today was an off day. During the workout season, just like the regular season, rest is important. The most common type of injury is not abrasions, bruises or contusions but overuse injuries. Too much work will take you off the court, due to strains, pulls and fatigue. Overuse is the primary cause of tendonitis, a common condition in athletes. Once you have it, the only cure is rest. During the season, rest is hard to come by so we try to stay pro-active by scheduling in off days. This one of those days when Raja lifts, but does not workout. August 15 Back at it. Today is repetition day. I usually categorize the workouts when we have regular workout. All workouts contain shot repetitions, footwork. conditioning and ball handling. How we work on those is dependent on the type of workout. I try to vary them so the players don’t get bored or stale. The categories are repetition, where we just concentrate on a high volume of shots; fast break, where we run up the floor and simulate skills coming off break options; screens, where we concentrate on reading and coming off all types of screen (except ball screens) and position, where we work on things specific to the players position, such as getting open on the wing, ball screens, post ups, pop outs, etc. This is also when we take pieces of his offense and his role during the season and try to incorporate them into drills. We started with 5/5/5 from 7 spots. Then moved on to wing shooting. We used 5 spot instead of the 3 we usually use. The spots were: wing-to-corner, wing-to-elbow, elbow-to-elbow, elbow-to-wing and wing-to corner. Making 15 shot in each series usually works out to be a pretty good drill. The conditioning in a repetition workout comes from the intensity and the rapid succession of the drills, as opposed to the movement needed to cover ground. We take no breaks for the entire workout and only shoot fouls at the end. In about 15-20 minutes, we were quickly up to 180 shots. We then moved on to about 15’ with back to the basket shots. These are usually front pivot jumpers, some with counters and dribbles, and what we call “quick turns.” A quick turn is essentially a front pivot which turn into a sort of a spin or wheel turn because the end result is a lay-up instead of a jump shot. Larry Brown, the Bobcat coach, likes miss-matches and they feel that if they get Raja isolated against a slower player (and there aren’t many of them) he should be able to out-quick them to the whole. At the very least, he might be able get to the foul line. We then went back outside and did a flare drill in which the shooter catches going away from the passer, the ball come, over the top for either a jump shot or a 1-dribble shot. We then went out to the top, come from mid-court, catch from the wing (as if the shooter was a trailer) and then; catch and shoot, catch and 1-dribble shot, catch and 2nd-dribble change. Since he believes that he will handle the ball more this year, I try to have him make 1 dribble moves and add in a 2nd dribble counter as much as I can. We finished up with 70 3’s, 10 from each of 7 spots. August 16 Today was play day. Miami, or Florida for that matter, is not known as a basketball area. Even if that is so, there is an enormous number of NBA players, past, future and current, that live down here. It is traditional that they all get together and play at Miami High at 10 am on Sunday mornings. Some Sundays, you might see more NBA players on the court at Miami High than you would in an NBA game. Regulars include Carlos Boozer, Udonis Haslem, Jason Williams, Tim Hardaway, Rasual Butler, Carlos Arroyo, Glen Rice, James Jones, John Salmons and more, in addition to a lot of local college and international players. They get some pretty good runs going. It is usually a pretty going test and allows us to gage how we are progressing. August 17 We usually emphasize the things that Raja feels did not go well on play day. Today, we worked on coming off screens. I think the reason he didn’t come off screens well on Sunday is because, in pickup games, nobody screens. There is no flow and the ball is usually not delivered properly. Regardless of that, he feels he should be able to overcome those types of errors and still be able to make shots. We started with short/longs and immediately went into corner pins where the cuts was a fade to the corner. Next was wing screen downs, using curl cuts and popping out behind the screen. Next were flare screens. As we worked the flares, we started to ease into a little ballhandling. The first set was a catch and shoot off the flair. The second was catch, shoot and sweep away with 1 dribble. The 3rd was catch, sweep 1 dribble and then a 2nd dribble counter. The last set was catch and then rip back to the middle. The next screen was a zipper screen, first to a catch and shoot and then to a ball screen on top. Moving on to ball screens, we went to the wing where we worked dribbles screens for shots and then turn-downs. We finished up with a game of 5/7 from NBA 3 point range, from 7 spots. At one point he made 19 in a row. August 18 Don’t let anyone tell you that NBA players don’t work hard. Carlos Boozer was in the gym today. It has been a different summer for him this year. He had announced early that he was going to exercise to out clause in his contract next year (probably a mistake. Not exercising it but announcing it). He is now involved in an ugly divorce from the Utah Jazz. They are frantically trying to trade his, while he has value, before they lose him as a free agent. His salary is so high that he doesn’t fit the salary cap for many teams. Plus, if they wait, they know they can get him as a free agent and not lose any of their current players or draft picks. It is a tough situation. Even with that swirling around him, he works as hard as anyone. In the gym, trying to get better. Wherever he winds up, he’ll be ready. We started with footwork, doing chair pivots. We only did the basic pivots, drop step, front pivot, inside pivot. We did not do counters. Next was wing play, into which we incorporated the counters that we did not do in the footwork drills. We went with L-cuts to the wing with a catch and shoot from about 23 feet. The footwork is the same as an inside pivot. Logically, the next step is an L-cut to a sweep counter with 1 dribble. We try to cover as much ground as possible with 1 dribble. We try to get a lay-up or, at worst, a pull up jumper inside 8 feet. We then go to a 2nd-dribble change. We also worked a catch and rip into the seam, with 1 dribble. Next we worked 1 and 2 dribble shots from the high wing, starting with the ball about 28 feet from the basket. First we worked the first move going toward the middle and then the first move going up the sideline. We next worked break shots, first running up to the corner and then trailer shots. We finished up with a 7 spot, 5/7. At one point he made 14 in row and 19 of 21. August 19 Before the workout today, Raja stated his goals for the upcoming season; 90% from the line, 45% from the floor and 42% from 3. He believes that, in Larry Brown’s system, he can accomplish that. The way that he is used will give him more opportunities closer to the basket that he had in Phoenix. That will translate into a better shooting percentage and more foul shot opportunities. He probably won’t get as many 3 opportunities but the ones he will get might be better looks. We started with a Mikan Drill, both frontward and backward. We then when to some chair pivots with the chairs spread a little further apart. He can tell already that there would be more conditioning in this workout. We also wanted to work up a sweat quickly. We then moved on to some intensity drills. Intensity layups followed by some X jump shots. After a few foul shots, we went back to intensity jump shots, with 1 dribble, then intensity jump shots with a second dribble change. The last one in the series was an intensity jump shot, with the catch, a rip back to the middle and 1 dribble. A few more foul shots led us to a set of wing shots, first with a catch and shoot and then with a catch and rip back to the inside. We only did 3 areas, wing and corner on both sides and across the top, as opposed to the 5 spots we did in the repetition workout. That is because doing as much reversing direction as we were doing, by ripping back to the middle, is very taxing, especially on the legs. The next set was L-cuts to the wing and from the wing to the middle. All the catches were to 1 dribble shots, including rips back to the middle. We then went to 7 spots, making 10 3s from each. When we shoot 3s, we estimate the distance from basket by using the 3-point line that is on the court. Raja wound up a long way long way out. He really wasn’t aware that they have extended the college 3-point line this year to. I think it is near 21’ now. So, instead of being near the NBA distance, we wound up 2’ further out. Once we made the adjustment he made 19 straight. We finished up with a foul shooting game. ../BreakthroughBasketball.com.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0