I hope everyone had a very happy, safe and healthy Thanksgiving. It was great being home, not traveling anywhere or any game to play. It was my first Thanksgiving at Boothbay Harbor, ME. UCONN won the Maui Classic. Congratulations to the HUSKIES coaching staff and players. How about Kemba Walker, he has been playing at another level, it doesn’t matter who he is playing against, he is putting points on the board. The HEAT are struggling as they are trying to find their way. Many people are surprised by their early struggles and some are not. It is tough to get three guys together who were all the MAN on their previous teams. Now they must share the ball and the limelight. This is easier said than done. LeBron and DWade are used to having the ball, when one doesn’t have it the other looks lost. If and when they figure it out they will be scary and fun to watch. The HEAT have also lost players to injuries. Speaking of injuries there have been alot this season. None more devasting than Greg Oden’s. This guys entire career has been one injury after another. You have to feel sorry for him and all that he’s been through. Now he has time to send pictures of himself to adoring fans. On the other hand Blake Griffin has returned from being injured and he is a monster. Saw him play in Denver and he plays hard, hits the floor for loose balls and is a physical speciman. Blake is fearless in attacking the rim and going after rebounds. I enjoy watching him and the way he plays. Could use some work on his jumper and at the line, but who doesn’t. Hopefully the Clips can get healthy and get better. You could say that every year about them. High School ball has started up and I went to a scrimmage the other day and neither team talked on defense, they did scream for the ball on the offensive end when they were open or clap their hands. Kids don’t talk anymore because of their upbringing. They text message, IM, fax, facebook etc.. their is no verbal communication. Guys you need to talk to one another and let your teammate know that there is a screen, that you have his man, that you are switching, that you need help. TALK on the floor. I will be heading to Florida on the 13th and will be there until the 22nd in the FT Lauderdale and Miami area. Maybe I will catch a couple of games or practices on the HS, COLLEGE or PRO LEVEL. Take care and don’t put on alot of weight eating leftovers.

   Just finished up a two day shooting camp at Wilcox Tech in Meridan, CT. The camp was put on by Jeremy Pringle and Brian Maderias. They both did an outstanding job of getting kids to this event. The kids that attended were all very coachable and they all wanted to get better. They did improve during the two days. You can actually see the improvement over a short period of time, especially when it comes to footwork. I can’t say enough about Jeremy and Brian as I have known them for years. I first met them through the CT STARTERS program about 10 years ago. They have grown up and are good people, I am blessed to have them as my friends. It was great to see Bobby Burkhardt and Joe Tichotsky on Sunday. They both stopped by to say hello. There are so many outstanding human beings that I have met because of basketball and I am sure that there are outstanding people in all fields of work and life. On the other hand there are also bad guys involved with the game as well. Try to eliminate your time with the bad guys and spend time with the good guys do this in everything that you do and you will find yourself being successful and having less problems. I am looking forward to spending Thanksgiving at home in Maine. It will be our first Thanksgiving at our home. We have always been away because of basketball season or going to Carole’s parents. This year there will be no traveling for us, we will just be enjoying our time together as a family in our home. December will soon be here and before you know it Christmas will be here. Stay safe, be healthy and tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. There is so much to be Thankful for, make sure you thank the Good Lord.

I have been doing shooting camps and giving shooting demonstrations for over twenty years. I have been at hundreds and hundreds of schools, camps, etc..  and I have always preached that in order to become a GREAT shooter you need to chart your shots. Since I was sixteen I began charting my shots and am still doing it to this day. I never get bored shooting the ball because I am always trying to beat my best shooting performances whether it be during workouts or a lecture. Over the course of my twenty years shooting  and speaking at hundreds of camps I have seen about ten notebooks. That is about 10 kids that decided to chart their shots out of about 100,000 that I have spoken in front of over the years. Most kids don’t get it and don’t understand the importance of charting shots. Once you get into the habit of charting your shots, you know exactly what you did during the workout and then you see the number of shots that you took and how many you made. You have feedback and once you see that you are improving then you want to practice more and when you see that you are getting better it give the player confidence. Confidence leads to success and success leads to confidence it is an ongoing cycle. Last spring I had the pleasure of meeting a coach in Denver who worked the Dave Hopla Shooting Camp, she coached a youth team of boys and does an outstanding job. Her name is De’Edra Dangerfield and she came back to camp a couple of weeks ago. I was glad to see her because she is a very good coach and cares about the kids. She brought along her youth team and all of the kids had their shooting notebooks. An entire team and these kids are young. I hope that they continue to chart their shots when they leave De”Edra’s program. She has these kids on the right road and she has made me very proud. Finally someone gets it. You keep track of shots in a game why not during your workouts. Make your workouts competitive with one another and also with yourself. While in Denver it was great seeing Big Bill Ficke of Big Bill’s NY STYLE PIZZA. I am so blessed to have people in my life like Bill and Mark Sharpley who runs the JAM program. Mark always has done an outstanding job of getting kids to the camp and always has a top notch staff. His wife Rebecca is behind the scenes making sure that everything is run smoothly. Take care and God Bless. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and let’s make sure we give thanksgiving to the Good Lord who is responsible for all of our blessings.

   November is a great time of the year. The Giants won the World Series, I have been a Giant fan since the time I can remember. Loved Willie Mays, my favorite player. Baseball is over but we have college and pro football and NBA basketball. College basketball will start up soon too. Then there is Thanksgiving a time to spend with the family and loved ones. A time to be thankful for everything that we have in life. It is a time to count your blessings and we have much to be thankful for even if we think that we don’t. As long as you have the Good Lord in your life there isn’t anything else that you really need. Take some time and pray to the Good Lord and tell Him how much He means to you and how much you need Him in your life.November also is a very busy time of the year for me as well. This past weekend I was in Baltimore to see my aunt Jean, my brother Skip and his beautiful daughter Hailie. I don’t get to see them as much as I would like to, but they are always in my thoughts and prayers. We went to dinner on Friday night. Saturday I was up early and off to Woodbridge, VA to do a clinic for Dennis Marshall. He runs a youth program and does an outstanding job with his kids. The kids were great, they were respectful, worked hard and learned what was being taught. Dennis’ son Kendall is a freshman at UNC. I remember Kendall when he was ten years old at my camp in the Pocono Mountains. Even at theat time you knew that he was going to be a special player. I look forward to following his career. Good Luck Kendall.After the clinic in VA I took a quick shower and headed to my 35th HS reunion. It was great seeing everyone that attended this event. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t more people there. I was shocked to see how many of my former classmates have passed away. It makes you cherish every moment on this earth even more. It was great catching up with everyone that was there. Hope everyone had a great time, I wish I could’ve been there for the entire event but my schedule did not permit me to do so, at least I got to stop by.On Halloween I had another clinic, this one was in Maine at Point Lookout in Northport, ME. Bill Reynolds ran this event and had about 70 kids. The facility was phenomenal, hopefully I will be back there to do something again with Bill. The kids were really into it. There were boys and girls from 10 years old to seniors in HS. Thank you all for attending.The next trip that I take is this Friday and I am off to Denver, Colorado to do my fall clinic with Mark Sharpley. Mark and I have been doing this camp for about 10 years. He does an outstanding job of getting kids to this event. We do one every Memorial Day weekend too. Mark always has that one filled up. I am looking forward to my return trip to Colorado to work with the kids, see all of the coaches, and also to see my main man Big Bill.Remember we all have so much to be thankful for. Till the next blog, take care and God Bless. May your Jumpshot hit nothing but the bottom of the net.

   Just got back stateside on Monday night, from Barcelona, Spain. Went over with my wife for the NBA Basketball without Borders camp. The camp is sponsored by the NBA and NIKE. They both do an incredible job of running this camp. The coaches were Ron Adams, Dick Harter and Robert Werdann. The NBA players that were part of the camp Marcus Camby, Jason Terry, Marc and Pau Gasol, Rudy Fernandez, Vladimir Radmanovic and Serge Ibaka. The players attending camp were from all over Europe. There were some very talented kids at this camp. Basketball really is a global game, the rest of the world has caught up to us and they are developing good young players who know how to play the game of basketball the right way and are also fundamentally sound. At the camp it was great seeing familiar faces Marin, Rich, Chris, Kim, Theresa, Brooks, Travis and Doc. I am sure that I left someone out. The camp was one that I will never forget as it was not only fun but I will have lifelong memories of it. Thanks to everyone that was involved with the camp. Can’t forget our site the FCB football club of Barcelona let us use the basketball teams practice facility for the camp. A very nice facility. What made the camp so good was that the kids understood English and they had a very high basketball IQ, so it was easy to teach and coach them. There were no translators needed, so the camp moved along nicely. In all of my years of doing camps this was by far the most enjoyable camp that I have been involved in. You got a chance to interact with each and every kid. The only bad thing that happened during this trip was that my bags did not arrive on time, my wife Carole’s purse was stolen and my return flight was late leaving, the plane had to stop for gas in Boston and I had to spend some more time in Newark Airport waiting for my flight back to Maine. Traveling really is the worst and it isn’t getting any better. At least my bags made it back. I don’t understand why the bags take so long to come out at Portland Jetport in Maine, you wait forever there. It’s not like there are 100’s of flights coming in all at once. It’s great to be home with my daughter, missed her bunches. My heart goes out to Mrs. Clark in Keyport, NJ who lost her son and husband on the same day. You are in my thoughts and prayers as well as the rest of the family. Life is too short, enjoy every moment, every day, count your blessings and tell your loved ones how much you love them and how important they are to you. Remember to thank God for everything that you have and for all of your blessings.  Take care and God Bless.

Now is the time to really work on your game. Most kids play all summer long and don’t improve because all that they do during the summer time is play. Whether it is summer league or AAU basketball there is no drill time or time where a player makes 500 shots a day. Whatever bad habits the player has, he or she is not getting rid of them by just playing. If a player has a weak handle when is that player going to develop a better handle. While playing? It is essential that a player first realizes that he or she needs to get better and then it is just as important to go about and work on improving your game. There is always room for improvement. Don’t ever be satisfied with where your game is at. When I was younger and was not playing much it was tough to stay focused and to continue working on improving. By keeping track of my shots when I worked out, I knew I was improving even if the coaches didn’t. That’s why it is so important to log your shots. When you see yourself getting better you want to practice more and you gain confidence. That’s why when I was a kid I loved the summer time. Hooping it up out doors at Norwood Elementary School and Harbor View back in Baltimore. I couldn’t wait for school to start and show the coaches how much better I had become from the previous year. September was always a time to continueImproving, working on your own before practicing with the team. If you are in high school and you just played all summer long I urge you to make some shots and work on your game. If you are in college put in extra time because the NCAA won’t let your coaches work with you enough during the summer or the school year. If you are a professional put in some more time. The time you invest will reap huge rewards. Just by doing spot shooting and recording your shots you will see dramatic improvement. MAKE SHOTS NOT EXCUSES. Good luck to everyone in the upcoming season. I will be back doing my thing this fall and winter speaking engagements at corporate events, camps, clinics, etc.. I haven’t heard from Rondo or Howard this past year. Just think if they could only make their free shots. Have a blessed day.

Hard to believe that it is already August. Just sitting here at the airport killing time because of a missed flight. It seems like every time that I fly there is a problem. Should be in Milwaukee right now working Brandon Jennings out but I’m in Cleveland waiting for a flight that doesn’t leave until 9:00 PM. Time management is key, I have already written to Continental and voiced my opinion (like they really care) and now I figured I would update my blog. First of all I would like to thank everyone that reads it. August has been very busy for me and I have been able to spend time with my daughter McKenna as well. The month started off at Championship Basketball Camp in Buzzard’s Bay, MA. This camp is at a beautiful location and the coaches all come back every year to coach. I have been to 100’s of camps over the years and the turnover rate with coaches is worse than Yinka Dare’s assist to turnover ratio. Here at Championship some of the coaches take vacation time so they can come back and coach and spend time with other coaches. I have been coming here for close to twenty years and have made a bunch of friends. My daughter made the trip with me and we spent the night in the dorm. She loved it and thought it was really cool. I then went up to Colby College and spoke at Pine Tree Basketball Camp. Coach Whitmore does an outstanding job there and I think every kid that plays basketball in Maine has attended his camp. We figured out that I haven’t been there in about twenty years. I can’t believe that I have been speaking at camps as long as I have. Many camps have folded over the years or their numbers have dropped off significantly because of the economy? coaches running their own camps and making their players work the camp? AAU ball? I think it is a culmination of all of these things. My daughter then joined me for a trip to the Pocono Invitational Girls Camp  along with Sarah Caron of Boothbay Harbor. It was great having some company on the long trip. Mckenna was not the least bit interested in basketball but she loved the pool and the candy at the canteen. She wants to move to the camp and spend the rest of the summer there. Hopefully she will return for my boys week in August 26-30. Heading to California on Saturday and will attend Dana Pump’s wedding on Sunday. Looking forward to spending time with my beautiful wife, Carole. My thoughts and prayers to everyone that are having a difficult time with the economy. Keep your faith strong in the LORD and may your love grow stronger every day. Take care and God Bless.

    It has been a very busy few weeks for me, seems as if I haven’t seen my beautiful wife and beautiful daughter in ages. I can’t wait to get home on Monday night to see them and spend some quality time with them in Boothbay Harbor. The traveling has been crazy. I left for Spain on the 27th of June and returned stateside on the 4th of July. As soon as I landed I headed up to my weeklong overnight camp for boys.My trip to Spain was an unforgettable one. Jose Calderon and his family, staff, coaches and everyone involved in the camp were great hosts. They made me feel welcome and were beyond friendly. Jose does an outstanding job with his camps and he is there at camp everyday spending time with the kids. Anthony Parker was at Jose’s camp as well. It was great catching up with AP. He was over there with his wife and two boys. Jose now has a son as well, his name is Manuel. They are great guys both on and off the court and I am lucky to have had the pleasure to have coached them. The one year that I was in Toronto was a special season because of the players on the team. Everyone on that team got along so well. The guys were all good guys, we didn’t have any knuckleheads on that team. We also had a bible study that was regularly attended by AP, Joey Graham, Kris Humphries, Juan Dixon, Luke Jackson and myself. After spending time at Jose’s camp I went to Madrid for a few days. Tried to hook up with Jorge Garbojosa who was also with the Raptors and is now playing in Madrid. Spoke to “Garbo” but unfortunately did not get to see him.Landed stateside and it was close to a 100 degrees. It was very hot the entire week with the temperatures in the upper 90’s. On Wednesday it was 102. The kids were great, they worked hard and they all got better. Now they have to take what they learned at camp and continue to work on it. On Wednesday I drove over to Eastern Invitational at Albright College with Thomas J Cirincione or as he is widely known as “Tootie”. Tootie worked the camp with me the entire week and he gave one of his world famous lectures on Thursday night for the staff and campers. If you know Tootie you know that there were a bunch of highlights at camp. Eastern is an unbelievable camp with close to 800 kids and all the coaches come to evaluate the talent that is there. Saw a great number of coaches that I haven’t seen in years.Now I am at the airport getting ready to head out to the West Coast All Star Camp. I will spend two days there and then fly home on the redeye. Once I land I will pick up a rent a car and drive up to UCONN and speak at Coach Calhoun’s camp. I will get home later in the evening, can’t wait.I am so happy that this whole LeBron stuff is over with. I cannot believe that people didn’t have anything else to do than worry about where he was going to play. With all of the media coverage I thought that he was going to announce to the world that he and his “team” came up with the cure for cancer, AIDS and had brought world peace to us. I am glad that it is over with.Thanks to everyone who reads the blog. Take care and God Bless. Count all of your blessings and always give thanks to GOD in all that you do.

Summer has arrived and it is already very warm. Even in Maine the temperatures have been above normal. Global warming in full effect. Arrived home from China last Monday afternoon, should’ve been home late Sunday evening but there was another delayed flight and I missed my connection. It’s always great to get home, even if it was for a day and a half. On Tuesday night I flew to North Carolina and spoke at Wake Forest’s Basketball Camp. Dan Ficke is one of the assistant coaches there and is just starting out in the coaching business. It was my first time at Wake and I was impressed with the campus and it’s beauty. The entire coaching staff was great, they let me use the facilities to get in a workout before speaking. I wish you guys the best of luck. While at Wake I got to see an old friend of mine Bob (Archie) Clark he is an assistant coach with the women’s team and he was the first person to send my daughter a recruiting letter when McKenna was a couple months old. It was great seeing Bob but my visit was a short one. Once camp was over I drove to Lake Gaston to spend some time with my wife’s family who were vacationing at a lake house there. It is always good to spend time with the family. My daughter was happy to see me as we hadn’t seen each other since before my trip to China. It was great to relax for a couple of days and get over the jet lag. Thursday night was game seven of the finals. I was pumped up to watch game seven Lakers and Celtics. It doesn’t get any better than that. I had not watched one second of the finals up until game seven. I ended up going to bed at halftime the game was so poorly played, it was a huge disappointment. Guys just were not playing the game the right way, forcing shots, throwing the ball away, etc.. I thought I was watching an AAU game. Can’t believe Rondo can’t make a free shot. Rajon give me a call, a point guard has to be able to make his free shots. Now that summer is here my schedule gets busy with summer camps. I will be going to Spain to see Jose Calderon and speak at his camp. I am looking forward to this trip and I am excited to see Jose. He is a great guy and Anthony Parker will also be at Jose’s camp. Two of the nicest people that you would ever want to meet. Once I get back stateside I have my first week of camp in the Pocono Mountains. Looking forward to getting back and teaching the kids. Everyone enjoy the summer, be safe, help others and tell your loved ones how much you love them and how much they mean to you. Carole and McKenna I love the both of you and miss you dearly when I am away, but you are always in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you Lord for blessing me with two beautiful women in my life.

Greetings from Beijing, China. I have been over here since June 3rd doing camps for NIKE. Last week we did a camp for 26 Chinese girls and this week NIKE is doing the All Asia Camp for boys. This was the first NIKE girls camp and it was very well done as all the NIKE camps are. I am sure it will become a staple for NIKE. The All Asia Camp has been going on since 2000 and it has gotten better every year. The talent, coaching, competition seems to improve each and every year. This year the NIKE pro athletes that are here are Andre Igoudala and Tyreke Evans. In the past NIKE has brought over Rajon Rondo, Aaron Brooks, Paul Pierce, Ben Gordon, Jason Richardson and Nate Robinson. Basketball is HUGE in China and it continues to grow. It is amazing how many Chinese play basketball. The coaching staff consists of Tates Locke, Dave Severns, Miles Simon, Jarinn Akana and myself. This is the first time to China for Dave and Miles. Needless to say they are very impressed by the Chinese culture. Dave Severns was over early too, for the girls NIKE camp. The camp starts off each day with Blair Donovan putting the guys through stretching and warmup drills, from there the kids break up into their skill work. Jarinn takes the bigs, Miles the point guards, Dave and Tates the wings and I have the shooting guards. The kids drill for two straight hours and then they split into their teams. There are six teams and they will play three sixteen minute games against different teams. Then it is time for lunch. After lunch the kids come back to camp and Blair loosens them up again. Then we put them through shooting stations and shooting competition for a half hour. Then the kids break up to their teams for a team practice/team concepts. The one thing that we all try to emphasize  is to pass the ball and after passing cut hard or set a screen. Every kid here loves to dribble the ball, drive the ball out of control. (N0t much different than the kids back in the US). They do not know how to play without the ball. (Just like the kids back home). After the team practice it is time for another set of three sixteen minute games. The kids love to leave their feet when passing and don’t seem very interested in defense. The coaches all have translators and we don’t have a clue as to what they are telling the kids. We have to trust that they know what they are doing and that they are telling the kids the same thing that we are telling them to say. Camp ends on Saturday and then I will head home on Sunday night. I love China, but I am looking forward to getting back home stateside and seeing my daughter McKenna. Talking on the phone just doesn’t do it for me. Thanks for reading, may the GOOD LORD BLESS YOU, YOUR FAMILY and FRIENDS,