Training

Basketball players are incredible athletes. They are fast, agile and lean, and they also have excellent endurance and powers of recovery.

A typical NCAA Division I player can complete the 40 yard speed test in 5 seconds and can jump over 70cm in the vertical jump test making them exceptionally powerful and quick (1). It's no surprise that strength conditioning and plyometric training composes an important part of elite players' training (2). Both strength and power training has been consistently shown to improve speed, acceleration and jumping ability.

Other than strength, speed and power, basketball players must possess excellent endurance. Whereas a distance runner or cyclist requires excellent low-intensity aerobic endurance, basketball players are expected to repeat multiple high-intensity activities with minimal rest periods. Speed endurance becomes an important factor, as does the ability to tolerate a high production of blood lactate.

As you'll see in the articles below, basketball players make some very specific demands on their body. To be truly effective, your basketball training should reflect those demands...

Before exercise, the body needs to be well hydrated and properly fueled. During exercise, nutrients can be depleted especially if good nutrition is not practiced in the days leading up to a workout or competition. After exercise, muscles stores of carbohydrate need to be replenished, fluids need to be restored, and protein is needed to repair muscles and get ready for the next day. The G Series from Gatorade was developed to do just that - give athletes, like you, hydration and fuel before, during and after your practice or game.

Basketball

Basketball is a sport played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court. The objective is to shot a ball through a hoop 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter and 10 feet (3.0 m) high mounted to a backboard at each end. Basketball is one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sports. A team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the basket during regular play. A field goal scores two points for the shooting team if a player is touching or closer to the basket than the three-point line, and three points (known commonly as a 3 pointer or three) if the player is behind the three-point line. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but additional time (overtime) may be issued when the game ends with a draw. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it while walking or running or throwing it to a team mate. It is a violation to move without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands and resume dribbling.

Violations are called "fouls". A personal foul is penalized, and a free throw is usually awarded to an offensive player if he is fouled while shooting the ball. A technical foul may also be issued when certain infractions occur, most commonly for unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of a player or coach. A technical foul gives the opposing team a free throw, and the opposing team also retains possession of the ball.

As well as many techniques for shooting, passing, dribbling and rebounding, basketball has specialized player positions and offensive and defensive structures (player positioning). Typically, the tallest and strongest members of a team will play the center or power forward positions, while slightly shorter and more agile players will play small forward, and the shortest players or those who possess the best ball handling skills and speed play point guard or shooting guard. 

In early December 1891, Canadian Dr. James Naismith, a physical education professor and instructor at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School (YMCA) (today, Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA), was trying to keep his gym class active on a rainy day. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in a gym, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot (3.05 m) elevated track. In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, and balls had to be retrieved manually after each "basket" or point scored; this proved inefficient, however, so the bottom of the basket was removed, allowing the balls to be poked out with a long dowel each time.

Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball. The first balls made specifically for basketball were brown, and it was only in the late 1950s that Tony Hinkle, searching for a ball that would be more visible to players and spectators alike, introduced the orange ball that is now in common use. Dribbling was not part of the original game except for the "bounce pass" to teammates. Passing the ball was the primary means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the asymmetric shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a major part of the game around the 1950s, as manufacturing improved the ball shape.

Street Ball

Streetball or street basketball is a variation of the sport of basketball typically played on outdoor courts, featuring significantly less formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players to publicly showcase their own individual skills.

Some cities in the United States have organized streetball programs, operated similarly to midnight basketball programs. Many cities also host their own weekend-long streetball tournaments, with Hoop-It-Up and the Houston Rockets Blacktop Battle being two of the most popular. Since the mid-2000s, streetball has seen an increase in media exposure through television shows such as ESPN's "Street basketball" and "City Slam", as well as traveling exhibitions such as the AND1 Mixtape Tour, YPA, and Ball4Real, also BallUp. A common feature to Streetball is the 'pick up game'. To participate in most streetball games around the world, one simply goes to an outdoor court where people are playing, indicates a wish to participate, and once all the players who were at the court before you have played you will get to pick your team out of the players available and play a game. Generally the team captains alternate their choices, but different courts have differing rules in regards to player selection. Many games play up to 7, 11, 15, or 21 points with baskets counting for 1 and 2 (if beyond the 3 point arc) points.A popular variation of street basketball is 21, also known as Hustle, American, St. Mary's, a V or Varsity, Roughhouse, 33, or Crunch. 21 is played most often with 3-5 players on a half court, typically when not enough players have arrived at the playground to "run 3's" (play 3-on-3). However it is possible to play "21" with only two players, or more than 5.

Further, in some forms, players can freely enter the game after it has begun, starting at zero points or being "spotted" the same number as the player with the lowest score. "21" is an "every player for himself" game, with highly variable rules. The rules of "21" are usually agreed by the players at the beginning of the game.

Raining M.V.P

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Kevin Durant has plenty of scoring titles. Now, he finally has an MVP trophy to go with them. The Oklahoma City Thunder star won the NBA's top individual honor Tuesday, receiving 119 first-place votes. An emotional Durant thanked everyone from his teammates to his mother, Wanda Pratt, at a ceremony in Edmond, Okla., on Tuesday.

"You made us believe, you kept us off the streets, put clothes on our backs, put food on the table," a teary-eyed Durant said to his mother, who was in attendance. "You the real MVP."

Durant also thanked veteran forward Caron Butler, who shortly after signing with the Thunder on March 1 placed a note in Durant's locker that read, "KD MVP."

"I don't really say much in those moments, but I remember that," Durant said. "I go home and I think about that stuff, man. When you got people behind you, you can do whatever."

Durant won his fourth scoring crown in five years by averaging 32 points. The 6-foot-9 forward helped the Thunder go 59-23, second-best in the league, despite playing much of the season without three-time All-Star Russell Westbrook by his side because of a nagging knee injury. "Everything in my life, I had to take it," Durant said. "They're not going to give it to you out of sympathy. I wouldn't want it any other way. This was another case, if I wanted to win the MVP, I had to go take it. I felt that this was the year I did that."

Durant, who averaged 32.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists, becomes the first player to win both the scoring title and the MVP award in the same season since Allen Iverson did it in 2000-01.

Crys Smith

Hi my name is Crys Smith, I am a junior at Diamond Oaks Vocational school but my home school is Mt. Healthy High school. I’m a boy for those who can’t tell because of the way my name is spelled, its spelled like that because I’m named after my mom Crystal unlike most boys who is  named after their dads. I’m 6’5 or 6’6 one of those, I am 205lbs and I am in love with basketball which I guess you can tell by my blog but yeah. I have other talents and things I like such as: dancing, music, shoes clothes, soccer etc. but I would choose basketball over anything; I just got a passion for it.

My favorite player in the NBA is Kevin Durant . He is the greatest scorer in the NBA, I look up to him. He is a big man that can play the outside and what I mean by that is he can either play power forward or he can play the guard positions which he is very good at, he has the M.V.P title to prove it and his stats prove it to which is why I call him the greatest scorer in the league, which he is!!!!