Bringing a little bit of the annual Paradise Jam to St. Croix, a couple of dozen boys and girls, age 8 to 18, ran drills and got technique tips from certified coaches at a free basketball clinic Friday at St. Croix Central High.
Nels Hawkinson, a coach certified by the International Basketball Federation, and fellow coach Fred Williams run the 20 or so young men and women in drills on stance, turning in place with traveling, shooting and other fundamentals.
"Keep that elbow in and use the other arm to protect yourself!" Hawkinson said, leading the kids, some as young as 8, in dribbling drills. "If you can dribble well, there is a place for you. Every team needs somebody that can handle the ball really well," he said.
While the young would-be ballers were mostly boys, quite a few young women came out for some tips and practice too.
"I brought my twin nieces, Anna and Marie, my daughter, Shardae (Magras), and a friend, David Ascension," said Raquel Meade. The girls seemed to be really enjoying it, Meade said.
Her 13-year-old daughter, who plays for the John H. Woodson Jr. High basketball team, came to last year's clinic too, Meade said.
The kids at the clinic also received T-shirts, backpacks, water bottles and other prizes, including one X-Box video game platform for one lucky athlete, thanks to the Department of Tourism, which helps sponsor the tournament.
Zavion Langrin, 8, won that video game: NBA2K13 with Jay-Z, for doing the best on one of the drills.
"It's a really nice game, said his mother, Rabia Hendricks. It was already on his Christmas gift list, and these games are expensive, so that was wonderful for him."
He's really a soccer guy, but this summer he's really taken a keen interest in basketball," she said. He really loves the game.
The tournament is on St. Thomas because it has the only suitable facility in the territory, but Paradise Jam is meant for the entire territory, so they come over to run clinics and work with kids on St. Croix, said Williams, a former college ballplayer and coach who works with Hawkinson on the Paradise Jam tournament.
"It's a fun time. No one will become an NBA star today, but kids can come out and have some fun and learn some skills with the drills," he said.
The U.S. Virgin Islands has been the home of the Paradise Jam event since its inception in 2000, offering mens and womens college basketball teams a chance for excellent early season competition in an exotic island setting. The Paradise Jam mens and womens tournaments take place Nov. 18-21 and Nov. 24-26 respectively at the University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center on St. Thomas.
The Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation coordinated with the Paradise Jam organization and Department of Tourism to put on Monday's clinic.
AFTER a memorable summer for national basketball teams at the senior levels, attention shifts to preparation for the senior men and qualification for the FIBA World Cup 2019. The Virgin Islands hosts Dominican Republic in the first round of qualification games on November 24 at St. Croix Central High in the first of a six game home-and-away schedule. Eighty teams around the world are vying for the 19 spots at the FIBA World Cup 2019. Other teams in Group D include Canada and the Bahama... [read more]
AFTER a memorable summer for national basketball teams at the senior levels, attention shifts to preparation for the senior men and qualification for the FIBA World Cup 2019.
The Virgin Islands hosts Dominican Republic in the first round of qualification games on November 24 at St. Croix Central High in the first of a six game home-and-away schedule.
Eighty teams around the world are vying for the 19 spots at the FIBA World Cup 2019.
Other teams in Group D include Canada and the Bahamas.
The Virgin Islands will then conclude the first window on November 27 against the Bahamas on the road.
Then on Thursday, February 22, the Virgin Islands will host Canada and on Sunday, February 25 travel to Dominican Republic to conclude their series.
Their final two games will be consists of Bahamas at home on Friday, June 29 and Monday, July 2 travel to the great North as Canada rounds out the calendar.
The Dominican Republic is the top ranked team in the group based on the FIBA World Rankings at 18, Canada follows at 24 and the Virgin Islands are No.59.
Group C consists of Mexico, Puerto Rico, United States and Cuba. Group A will comprise of Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Panama. Group B will include Brazil, Venezuela, Chile and Colombia.
The top seven teams in the Americas Region will advance.
The senior men are coming off a final four appearance at the 2017 AmeriCup an the senior women finished in fifth place after picking up a pair of victories in AmeriCup play. Thhe finishes was the best showing from the Virgin Islands side.
When evaluating young talent for today's NBA, many teams place the preference on profile over skill. In profile, teams are looking for players with length and athleticism that can defend multiple positions while bringing some level of production on the offensive end. Players with great profile and elite skills get selected at the top of he draft. As the draft progresses, teams are left to select from a pool players that possess profile or skill, or a little of both. As the draft pool nar... [read more]
When evaluating young talent for today's NBA, many teams place the preference on profile over skill. In profile, teams are looking for players with length and athleticism that can defend multiple positions while bringing some level of production on the offensive end.
Players with great profile and elite skills get selected at the top of he draft. As the draft progresses, teams are left to select from a pool players that possess profile or skill, or a little of both. As the draft pool narrows, teams often lean towards profile with a little less emphasis on skill.
'Profile over skill' is precisely why John Collins (208-F-97, college: Wake Forest) was available when the Atlanta Hawks selected him at No. 19 in the 2017 NBA Draft. At a glance, one might believe thatJohn Collins doesn't profile as a high end talent.
As a collegiate player, he demonstrated a very strong skill-set as an interior player on the offensive-end, but this set of skills does not necessarily translate into today's NBA game. However, a deeper looks shows that both his profile and his skill-set might have been under-appreciated by NBA talent evaluators and that the Hawks might have landed a player that may yield both immediate and long-term high-end returns.
With Collins heading into his rookie season with the Hawks, the window of opportunity is wide open. The Hawks have substantially turned over their roster and are now without the players who accounted for 55% of minutes played and 56% of points scored last season. Some one will need to play those minutes. Hopefully, some one will score those point as well. Lets have a look at how Collins fits this team as well as what we can expect to see from him this season.
Playing time Coach Mike Bundenholzer is notoriously stingy when allocating minutes to rookies. However, there are no entrenched players ahead of Collins on the depth chart.
Collins is expected to split time with Ersan Ilyasova at the power forward position amidst a 'bigs' rotation of Collins, Ilyasova, Mike Muscala and Dewayne Dedmon. A pretty even split of minutes among those four players is a reasonable expectation. Luke Babbit could also see time at the four.
Offense If there is one thing Collins brings to this team, it is scoring potential. Elite NBA scorers have one thing in common - they can score at every layer (perimeter, mid-range, around the rim and at the rim). There is little question that Collins has the skills to be productive at and around the rim. But, in college, he displayed a very solid mid-range game that is almost a lost art in today's NBA game.
During workouts leading up to the NBA draft and during action in the NBA Summer League, Collins looked comfortable shooting the ball from the perimeter. Is it certain that all of this will translate into a strong NBA scorer? No, but John Collins has the tools to do the work.
Regardless of Collins' scoring prowess, Coach Budenholzer will require him to learn and play within the offensive system. His opportunities to be on the floor will certainly be aligned with how quickly he learns and how effectively he executes the system. Collins should be active in the high screen action which should produce scoring opportunities at ever layer. It shouldn't take long to find out how prepared he is to score at the NBA level.
The passing and cutting decisions within in the Hawks' offense should challenge him most on the offensive end. If he is to effectively to deploy his repertoire of offensive skills, he will need to make good decisions with the basketball and earn the trust of his teammates. Playing without the ball, he has to understand where he needs to be and where he needs to go. Getting to the spots his teammates expect him to be will be essential to Collins receiving the ball in a position to take high percentage shots.
Defense Defense is the area where Collins certainly has the largest learning curve. At the collegiate level, Collins was a foul-prone defender with the athleticism to make plays but did not demonstrate strong fundamentals.
Collins will now be facing players who are bigger, stronger, more athletic and more skilled while playing a game that moves faster. It would not be a surprise to see him struggle on the defensive end, especially early in the season.
Coach Budenholzer demands that his players understand how to play within the team concept and to make excellent decisions decisions on the defensive end. In the NBA game, there is no time for cognitive decision-making. Decisions are made on instinct and preparedness. If Collins can demonstrate effort and aptitude on the defensive end, Budenholzer might be patient with inconsistent decision making.
While Collins will face some very difficult match-ups going to head to head against NBA bigs, he is not competing for playing time with a defensive stalwart. Ersan Ilyasova understands and executes well within the team concept on defense, but he is not known as strong one-on-one defender at his position. If Collins can quickly improve his fundamentals, his athleticism will allow him to make plays on defense that Ilyasova cannot make, especially when it comes to rim protection.
Rebounding In addition to scoring, rebounding is an element that should come very natural to Collins. He is an explosive leaper with a nose for the basketball. He was a terrific rebounder in college and there is no reason he should not be a strong rebounder in the NBA.
If fitting into the offensive system is coming slowly, he can always create opportunities by hitting the offensive boards. On the defensive end, he will have to balance playing defense in space with getting to the boards. Elite NBA rebounders can defend in space and get to rebounds. Time will tell if Collins can do both.
While It is impossible to predict how quickly John Collins will earn Mike Budenholzer's confidence, Collins can rely on the fact that he brings two things to the floor, perhaps better than anyone else on the roster. First, he has the most diverse set of natural scoring skills on the team. Second, he is the most athletic big on the roster, and perhaps the best athlete on the roster.
When a player brings things to the floor no one else can bring, it is tougher for a coach to keep that player off the floor. As he is learning this season, if John Collins can thrive in the areas where he is already strong, he can keep himself on the floor which will expedite the learning curve for the rest of his game.
U.S. Virgin Islands native Tim Duncan (211-F/C-76, college: Wake Forest) wrote an impassioned letter this week in The Players' Tribune urging people to help him donate to the relief effort in a often forgotten section of Hurricane Alley. Duncan's initial goal was to meet a $1 million donation, something that has already been met according to the You Caring donation page. Now, the former San Antonio Spurs legend is announcing the second phase of his plan. In a video released via The Pla... [read more]
U.S. Virgin Islands native Tim Duncan (211-F/C-76, college: Wake Forest) wrote an impassioned letter this week in The Players' Tribune urging people to help him donate to the relief effort in a often forgotten section of Hurricane Alley.
Duncan's initial goal was to meet a $1 million donation, something that has already been met according to the You Caring donation page.
Now, the former San Antonio Spurs legend is announcing the second phase of his plan.
In a video released via The Players' Tribune Twitter account on Sunday, Duncan asked people to continue to donate. In donating, people would be pushing Duncan to match their contributions up to $1 million dollars in the relief effort.
Additionally, according to the San Antonio Express-News, Duncan will be working in collaboration with the local Texas grocery chain H-E-B to take food and relief donations. Duncan will then charter a plane and take the supplies himself to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Via The San Antonio Express-News:
'I want to make sure it's not a one-ditch effort,' said Duncan, who lived his first 18 years on St. Croix before moving to North Carolina to attend college at Wake Forest. 'Just, 'Oh yeah, we went down there and did this and it's done.' Because the recovery process is not going to be done. It's going to take months and even years for everyone to recover to normal life. Organizers are asking for donations of flour, rice, beans, peanut butter and granola bars -'Things that can be eaten without electricity,' said Eric Cooper, CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank - as well as soap, detergent and paper goods. If you would like to donate to the relief effort speared by Duncan, you can do so by clicking the link here.
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