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Basketball - Steps to Success - Hal Wissel
Basketball - Steps to Success
Third Edition
by Hal Wissel
NEW, 368 pages
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About Basketball - Steps to Success
Learning and teaching basketball skills and tactics can be challenging. Executing them in competition can be troubling. Mastering them can be a career-long quest.
Is it possible that a single book can provide all the instruction you need to conquer these basketball roadblocks? First you must know exactly how the skill or tactic is properly performed. Check! Then you need to attempt it again and again, with corrective advice through those trials until you get it right. Check! Next comes practice. Lots of practice, with drills designed to make performance of the skill or tactic efficient and effective. Check!
In Basketball: Steps to Success, Coach Hal Wissel covers the entire progression of technical and tactical development needed to become a complete player. From essential footwork to key principles of defense, this guide details the skills and tactics needed to excel in today’s game. Shooting off the catch and creating shots off the dribble, running two- and three-player offensive plays, and many more topics in the book will prepare players to succeed in every situation on the court.
About Hal Wissel
Dr. Hal Wissel has a wealth of experience in the National Basketball Association as an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks, Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies, and New Jersey Nets. Hal was also director of player personnel with the Nets and scout and special assignment coach with the Milwaukee Bucks.
As a collegiate head coach, Wissel compiled more than 300 wins. He turned losing programs at Trenton State College and Lafayette College into conference and division champions, respectively. Wissel led Florida Southern College to four straight trips to the NCAA Division II tournament and three straight trips to the Division II final four (’80, ’81, and ’82), winning the Division II national championship in 1981. Wissel coached Fordham University into the 1972 NIT Tournament and also coached the Dominican Republic national team in 1975.
Wissel founded Basketball World and CoachWissel.com, instructional ventures featuring basketball camps, clinics, books, and DVDs. Basketball World’s highly successful Shoot It Better Mini Camps are conducted worldwide for players from youth level to NBA and WNBA level.
Wissel received a bachelor’s degree from Springfield College, a master’s degree from Indiana University, and a doctorate in physical education from Springfield College. Wissel’s best-selling book Basketball: Steps to Success has been translated into eleven languages. Wissel is also the author of Becoming a Basketball Player: Individual Drills, which has been made into a DVD. Wissel has also produced five basketball shooting DVDs.
Wissel’s honors include being named Coach & Athlete magazine’s Eastern Coach of the Year in 1972; Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year (’79, ’80, and ’81); and Division II National Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches in 1980. Wissel has been inducted into the Florida Southern College Athletic Hall of Fame, the Sunshine State Conference Hall of Fame, and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.
Hal and his wife, Trudy, reside in Suffield, Connecticut, and have five grown children and one granddaughter.
Reviews
"Hal Wissel demonstrates to the world why he is recognized as one of America's top-rated basketball clinicians. This book is a must-read for players and coaches at all levels of play."
Hubie Brown -- Basketball Hall of Fame, two-time NBA Coach of the Year, NBA Analyst for ESPN, ABC and NBA TV
"Hal Wissel is an outstanding teacher and has many years of experience coaching and scouting in the NBA. He knows what he's talking and writing about. This book will help players improve and help coaches teach."
Phil Jackson -- Basketball Hall of Fame, 11-time NBA Champion coach
"Hal Wissel shows you ways to build your own confidence. Coach Wissel helped me understand my own shot and become my own best coach."
Pau Gasol -- Player Los Angeles Lakers, NBA All-Star
"Hal Wissel's personalized teaching helped me improve my free-throw shooting, three-point shooting, and post-up ability."
Dale Ellis -- Former NBA All-Star, ranks fifth in NBA career three-point shots made, career .403 three-point percentage
“Hal Wissel helped me improve my field-goal percentage and three-point percentage, and his training led to my shooting over 40 percent on three-pointers for four consecutive seasons.”
Mike Miller -- Miami Heat, Former USA National Team Member
About Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules. Basketball is one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sport.
A regulation basketball hoop consists of a rim 18 inches (45.7 cm) in diameter and 10 feet (3.05 m) high mounted to a backboard. A team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the hoop during regular play. A field goal scores two points for the shooting team if a player is touching or closer to the hoop than the three-point line, and three points (a "3 pointer") if the player is "outside" the three-point line. The team with more points at the end of the game wins, but additional time (overtime) may be issued when the game ends with a tie. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it while walking or running (dribbling) or passing it to a teammate. It is a violation (traveling) to walk with the ball, carry it, or to double dribble (to hold the ball and then resume dribbling).
Various violations are generally called "fouls". Disruptive physical contact (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.
Basketball has evolved many commonly used techniques of shooting, passing, and dribbling, as well as specialized player positions and offensive and defensive structures (player positioning) and techniques. Typically, the tallest members of a team will play "center", "small forward", or "power forward" positions, while shorter players or those who possess the best ball handling skills and speed play "point guard" or "shooting guard".
While competitive basketball is carefully regulated, numerous variations of basketball have developed for casual play. Competitive basketball is primarily an indoor sport played on carefully marked and maintained basketball courts, but less regulated variations are often played outdoors in both inner city and rural areas.
The strategies also evolve with the game. In the 1990s and early 2000s, teams played with more "isolation". Teams that had one superstar would let one player, usually the point guard or shooting guard, run most of the offense while the other four offensive players get out of his/her way. Nowadays, teams tend to play with more teamwork. The "Center" position has evolved to become more of a taller "Small Forward" position. Since teams play more teamwork, ball movement has evolved with the game, and more jump shots have been taken as a result.
There are two main defensive strategies: zone defense and man-to-man defense. In a zone defense, each player is assigned to guard a specific area of the court. In a man-to-man defense, each defensive player guards a specific opponent. Man-to-man defense is generally preferred at higher levels of competition, as it is intuitively easier to understand and avoids mismatches between players who play different positions. However, zone defenses are sometimes used in particular situations or simply to confuse the offense with an unexpected look.
Offensive plays are more varied, normally involving planned passes and movement by players without the ball. A quick movement by an offensive player without the ball to gain an advantageous position is a cut. A legal attempt by an offensive player to stop an opponent from guarding a teammate, by standing in the defender's way such that the teammate cuts next to him, is a screen or pick. The two plays are combined in the pick and roll, in which a player sets a pick and then "rolls" away from the pick towards the basket. Screens and cuts are very important in offensive plays; these allow the quick passes and teamwork which can lead to a successful basket. Teams almost always have several offensive plays planned to ensure their movement is not predictable. On court, the point guard is usually responsible for indicating which play will occur.
Defensive and offensive structures, and positions, are more emphasized in higher levels in basketball; it is these that a coach normally requests a time-out to discuss.
Basketball - Steps to Success
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