San Antonio Spurs 2008 Signature Court

The Highland Mint presents the NBA Signature Court Collection.The Home Court of the San Antonio Spurs presented in a 12 x 20 wood frame, this unique collectible features the facsimile signatures of the top players from the Spurs spread out on a glossy image of their home court. This is officially licensed by the NBA, is limited to an edition of 2,008 and each piece is individually numbered.

Unlike other hobbies that people take to interest, collecting sports cards can be something that is left after one look. When a collector finds a card that he or she really likes, they may look at it several times but after that, it becomes boring because there is no fun in looking at a piece of cardboard. For other hobbies this cannot be said, as you can play sports and play chess everyday and it doesnt get boring. This is something that many sport card collectors face but any hobby can be interactive if enough creative and effort is placed forth.

In order to make collecting cards engaging, you must:

Make routine sweeps: Every other month, you can spend one hour at least to look at the cards that you have in your past collection and any other cards that you may have as of now. You can look at the various card sets, inserts, special cards and player cards. By making routine sweeps of your card collection, you understand yourself as a collector a little better each time.

Separate: When you amass a collection of cards, half the fun can come from organizing your cards in the way that you feel is best. You can organize your cards according to sets, types and more. A fun way to look at every card in your collection is to look for cards that mean something to you, such as player cards of your favorite players and teams. By doing this, you will have a chance to look at each card, at times read the bios of players that may interest you at the moment. In order to find every card of a particular thing, you must look carefully, something that would not be normally done, just to look at your card collection.

Learn daily: You can keep your hobby new and fresh everyday by following what is happening at the moment. You can go to numerous card sites, such as beckett.com, naxcom, topps which will give you the current news about upcoming player cards, and sets. If you revisit everyday, you can understand what is really means to be a collector, you can see a wide variety of cards and learn about common card questions.

Make it more: In order to really make cards engaging, you have to look at it as a passion. Even if you do not devote your life to collecting cards and making money off of it. you can still be a collector in your own field. You may be a small time collector who buys once a month, but it can fuel your juices, to find something nice and that is worth the money. On the other hand, if it is something really important, such as a job, it will be much more engaging.

Invent: When looking at your cards, something that you can do is to try something interactive. You can try to request for autographs of your dream players, you can buy products that you do not normally collect. You can also make your own cards, destroy cards that you think have no redeeming value. There is always something to do with your cards that you may not be able to think of.

Exchange: When collecting cards, you can find people like you, who have the same hobbies, who like the same teams, this will make it that much more fun.

Inspiration: You can find inspiration in seeing how these players have succeeded, in your own career.

Collecting cards is something that is easily turned dull because of the lack of uses that it has. However, with a little creativity and effort, it can be enough of a real hobby.

NBA fan and card collector

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New Balance Little Kid/Big Kid KNF70 Basketball Shoe,White/Navy,10.5 M

Womens college basketball coaches rely on recruiting or scouting reports as another tool to find girls to recruit. These reports are developed either by an individual or an organization. So if college coaches use this report to find players, how do you get your name on a report?

There are local, regional and national recruiting reports available to coaches. Some of the reports include:

Blue Star Report

For over 25 years Blue Star has been one of the most influential organizations in selecting and advising such publications rankings and listings as found in The Sporting News, USA Today, Gatorade Circle of Champions, and McDonalds All American Team just to name a few. These rankings and evaluations are part of our national Blue Star Report available to media & colleges across the country.

All-Star Girls Report

The All-Star Girls Report (ASGR) will look at the nation's top players in each class that impact 500 collegiate programs on a yearly basis. The top prospects in each region of the country will be identified after extensive, year round scouting and featured in the ASGR rankings.

Collegiate Girls Basketball Report

The Collegiate Girls Basketball Report rates nearly 1,500 players in each class as well as 1,000 junior college prospects. Prospects in each region of the country are identified after extensive, year-round scouting, including quiet and dead period events!

Southeastern Hoops Report

The Southeastern Hoops Report is the southeast's fastest growing grassroots scouting and recruiting source for girls basketball. The Southeastern Hoops Report features write-ups on the best and most talented prospects attending Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee high schools have to offer.

There is one simple way to get listed on a girls basketball recruiting report and that is to play at an event that is either hosted by or attended by the recruiting individual or organization.

Visit http://www.patoshajeffery.com/basketballrecruiting.htm for the Top 12 Women's College Basketball Recruiting Web Sites.

My name is Patosha Jeffery. I've been involved in basketball as a player, coach and trainer since 1987. My skills were good enough to get me a full basketball scholarship to the University of Memphis. I've coached several young ladies that's earned basketball scholarships themselves to schools like the University of Colorado, University of Florida, Southern Mississippi, Ole Miss, Arkansas State and Florida A&M to name a few. I am a Certified Fitness Trainer and Specialist in Sports Conditioning.

My philosophies are" To Add Value to Others through Inspiration and Participation" and "To Mentor Young Ladies through the Process of Excelling in Basketball".

Visit http://www.girlsbasketballtrainer.com for articles, videos, motivational tips and training methods that deliver dangerous results, Guaranteed!!!

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Mega Land

3 years & up. Enter into a magic land of tunnels, huts and balls! Children can connect the pieces anyway they want. They can create their very own maze with this 5-piece play set featuring a basketball hoop, 1 hut, 2 cubes, 2 tunnels, 50 balls and a carrying case. EZ Twist Technology provides for easy set up. This product is made of polyester with nylon bindings and has a mesh and polyethylene floor. The individual units measure Hut: 33"L x 33"W x 48"H, Large Cube: 28"L x 28"W x 33"H, Small Cube: 28"L x 28"W x 28"H, Tunnel: 18" Diameter x 20"L.

The Chicago Bulls will have many decisions to make after the NBA season, a disappointing one even if they make it to the NBA Playoffs. A big one is at shooting guard, where Ben Gordon and Larry Hughes both demand starting money.

The Chicago Bulls offered Ben Gordon $10 million per year earlier in the season to remain a Bull, and Gordon turned them down, as did Luol Deng. Gordon figured a good season would propel his market value above the Bulls offer. Whether that comes to fruition or not remains to be seen, but NBA teams will surely give Gordon a good look.

The Bulls guard will draw some NBA suitors, but the bigger question is, which shooting guard the Bulls will want to keep for their roster? The addition from the Cleveland Cavaliers of Larry Hughes gives the Bulls some room to maneuver. Both have their upside and downside, but for me, I like Hughes' game better than Gordon's.

Larry Hughes, when he wants to, can be a stifling NBA defender, and is taller than the postable Gordon. Although Gordon can be electric offensively, he is often inconsistent, whereas with Hughes, you can pencil him in for 15 points a night, with hopefully a much better defensive effort than Gordon.

Many other questions still need to be answered concerning the Bulls roster, but with Larry Hughes penciled into the 2-spot for the next few years, at least the team is covered on both sides of the court, and the issue of the small backcourt is handled.

http://www.fastbreakblog.com

basketball gear Spalding

2002-03 Topps Jersey Edition JEDAS Damon Stoudamire H (Basketball Cards) (Piece of Authentic NBA Uniform)

There is no doubt that 10 seconds can change the memories and opportunities that the players take from even a regular season high school game. Those rewards increase dramatically when there is a championship of any kind on the line.

In my opinion, every coach should have a written plan on how s/he is going to handle every late game situation that can be thought of before the season starts. Going over those situations must be a part of the every day practice plan. Making an unplanned and unpracticed decision as the game unfolds is not the best way to handle it. No one is thinking or communicating clearly under the pressure of the end of a big game. The time for coaches to think clearly is in the off season and the time for players to learn and practice those situations is every day of the season.

If your team executes your plan under pressure at the end of the game, that is all you can ask.

Here are some opinions I would like to offer to at least consider when formulating a plan to handle the end of game situation as to whether or not to foul to protect a three point lead. My message is not to use my plan, but to think for yourself and decide how you are going to handle these situations.

Once the clock gets to seven seconds (so the clock will stop at 6 on a foul) and the ball is in the front court, you have to take the ball from the dribbler. A foul is probably going to be called, but if you teach your players to take the ball, then you will either have stolen the ball (not likely to be let go by the official) or you will have fouled and kept the opponent from shooting a potentially game tying three point shot. If you are not in the bonus yet, that is even better, you keep taking the ball when the opponent inbounds until they get to go to the free throw line. You must foul the dribbler at least 10 feet away from the three point arc.

There used to be some debate as to this strategy when the offense could put four rebounders on the free throw line, but now that the offense is only allowed two rebounders, the odds for an offensive rebound have dropped significantly.

Personal experience tells me that in the thousands of games I have watched, many more late three point shots go in and send games into overtime than I have seen the sequence of: making the first free throw, missing the second on purpose, getting the offensive rebound of the missed free throw, and then making a shot to tie (or win the game if the shot is a three point shot).

To me, the following statistical argument is even more convincing.

A player like Mario Chalmers, or a three point shooter with similar abilities relative to the competition, can hit 33% on a shot like he made, even being guarded. Today, the players have incredible range and take more shots from several steps behind the arc, so there is also a bigger area to defend, not just the sector right on the arc.

Your opponent has to have five things happen successfully to tie the game under extreme pressure if you choose to foul:

#1 They have to make the first free throw. Let's just assume you foul an 80% ft shooter.

#2 They have to miss the second free throw on purpose without accidentally making it or missing the rim entirely. Most players do not practice missing free throws. You can't just shoot it to the right or the left, that would give a huge rebounding advantage to the defense because the ball will not come off the rim very hard. You have to shoot it hard to get a longer than normal rebound. I would say 90% success on not making the shot accidentally and not violating and missing the rim completely. That is not even taking into account the pressure factor of doing something you rarely if ever practice during the most pressure packed time of the game.

#3 The shooting team must get the offensive rebound. I would say that 40% of the time without fouling would be great success on that.

#4 The offensive rebounder has to score without traveling or committing an offensive foul. If he/she throws the rebound to a teammate, they cannot turn it over or make a pass that makes the receiver reach for the ball and throw off shooting rhythm and balance. That is tough to do under pressure. I would say 95% of the time that would happen without a turnover. That percentage is probably high, but I am estimating high to give the benefit to the offense to drive home the point that you have to foul.

#5 The player shooting has to hit the shot--let's say 50% success on a 2 point shot to tie, 33% on a three to win (since we assume that the first free throw was made)

If you calculate the probability that all five of those things succeed on the same play (80% x 90% x 40% x 95% x 50%) it comes to a maximum of 14% of the time you would be tied by a missed free throw, an offensive rebound, and a 2 point shot. That is also with high estimates for each of the 5 parts to happen independently, so I believe that the true probability is actually less than 14%. Either way it is not close to the estimate of 33% of making a three to tie the game. Even if you believe the odds of your opponent making the three point shot to tie are as low as 1 in 6, the percentages say that you are still better off fouling the dribbler out by the 10 second line.

When a good team (and when you are playing for any championship, your opponent is usually at least a good team) is faced with a three point deficit and 10 seconds, they are going to tie you once in a while. I would just rather make it tougher on them to tie by fouling and not letting them take a shot they will make at least one out of three times.

To hit a 3 point shot after making a free throw to win the game (again, if my percentages assumptions are correct--I think they are high) would be 80% x 90% x 40% x 95% x 33% = 9% I would add two thoughts that I believe dramatically lower that percentage. If you are throwing the ball out beyond the arc for a shot with tougher defense on the pass out and under extreme scoreboard and clock pressure, the chance of making a safe pass would diminish. Point number two, the rebounder is more than likely not going to look to throw out for a three, but is going to focus on scoring. Depending on how much time is left, there might not be time for a pass out and a three point shot. I believe the offense will go for the highest percentage shot they can get, which is a two not a three. My estimate is that throwing out for the winning three after making the first free throw and missing the second is less than 4%.

Even if you don't agree with my percentage estimates, put in your own percentages and do the math to make a judgment that is reason based. The main thing is to formulate a plan, practice it over and over in your practice sessions, and stick to it in the heat of the game. If your players execute the plan, win or lose, you have been a success!

The Coaching Toolbox http://www.coachingtoolbox.net is a resource site for basketball coaches and players of all levels. Brian Williams is a former Indiana High School coach with over 20 years of experience at various levels.

basketball Hoop