Pete Newell'sPlaying Big - Peter Newell and Swen Nater

Pete Newell's Playing Big

by Peter Newell and Swen Nater

NEW, 224 pages plus DVD

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About Pete Newell's Playing Big

Pete Newell’s Playing Big offers a rare opportunity to learn from a basketball coach who has taught Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Bill Walton the finer points of post play and added new inside dimensions to the perimeter games of Shawn Marion, James Worthy, and Scottie Pippen. With this book and DVD, Pete Newell and Swen Nater show how you too can learn and apply the tactics and techniques from the world’s foremost expert on playing big and dominating the inside game.

Every champion in basketball history has been able to score and defend in and around the paint. Pete Newell recognized the importance of post play early in his career, and then he used his techniques to coach teams to an NCAA championship, an NIT title, and an Olympic gold medal. His superb teaching skills resulted in players and coaches throughout the world who sought Newell’s insights and the creation of his Big Man Camp and Tall Women’s Camp.

Newell’s camps, at which Swen Nater is also an instructor, have become the gold standard of post play instruction and, until now, have been reserved for elite players. With Pete Newell’s Playing Big, tap into the legendary coach’s exclusive knowledge, and take your team to new heights.

About Pete Newell

Pete Newell has a collegiate coaching record of 234-123, including back-to-back appearances in the NCAA championship game (1959 and 1960) with the University of California at Berkeley. He won one NCAA title, an NIT title, and a gold medal with the 1960 U.S. team. Newell's Cal teams won four consecutive Pacific-8 titles (1957-1960), and Newell was National Coach of the Year in 1960. Considered America's “basketball guru” for his vast knowledge and teaching skills, Newell was enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1979. He has run his Big Man Camp since 1976 and his Tall Women's Camp since 2001, developing the skills of serious high school, collegiate, and professional players.

About Swen Nater

Swen Nater is a former NBA and ABA center who led both leagues in rebounding and who is often consulted as a big man's coach for developing high school and college players. Nater, who developed his post skills under the tutelage of John Wooden at UCLA, runs his own Big Man Camp in Seattle, where he has helped to develop many players who have gone on to play in the NBA. He also works as an instructor at Pete Newell's Big Man Camp and has authored three basketball instructional books, including one on rebounding.

Reviews

"Pete Newell is the guru of post play and playing big. This book not only shows you how to master inside play, but it also demonstrates how Pete has had such an impact on basketball. If you want to raise your game, learn or coach footwork, and play big, read this book!"

Ann Meyers Drysdale
General Manager, Phoenix Mercury
Olympian, All-American, Hall of Famer

"Pete Newell's Playing Big is the standard by which every basketball resource will be judged. In a style and format that allow any aspiring student, teacher, coach, and player to easily comprehend what it takes to get to Newell's Hall of Fame level, Coach Newell perfectly captures the training tips, techniques, and methodology that have guided the true legends in basketball. Pete Newell's Playing Big is not only a meticulously researched, brilliantly organized, incredibly complete review of how players have excelled in the post, but it's also a blueprint for maximizing talents in basketball and in the game of life itself."

Bill Walton
Basketball Hall of Fame 1993
Member of NBA's 50 Greatest All-Time Team

"Coach Pete Newell's vast knowledge of basketball is unparalleled. He gave me 90% of my game as an NBA player and allowed me to use that same knowledge as a coach and general manager in the NBA. Players and coaches will benefit tremendously by reading Pete Newell's Playing Big and watching the DVD. No other source explains the footwork and principles of the game so well."

Kiki Vandeweghe
ESPN Analyst

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.

Pete Newell's Playing Big