The other weekend we lost a close game, and my girls were down a little. I was too, but I didn’t want to show it at first, because I needed some time to pass and think about why we had lost. Thinking of how to cheer the girls up without putting fingers in wounds, I came up with a couple of thoughts on a Post Game Talk. Here they are:

• Post game talks are an essential and crucial part of game development. No matter the outcome of the game if you win, it’s a chance to praise hard work and … if you lose, it’s still a chance to praise effort. In either case it is a great time to point out areas that need some improvement, and also just to suggest something fun post game to blow off steam and have a little bit of fun. Post Game talks are not the time to point fingers, or assign blame, it’s the time to as a whole decide where improvement is needed, and act on it in the next practice. Personally, I always feel to gain more from a game we lost, than when won. By looking at the things that made you lose the game, you are on a good way to improve and minimize those errors.
• Post game talks will allow the coach and the team to go over some very important points. These talks do not need to be lengthy in duration, but they need to take care of the issues before they have a chance to repeat. You cannot just wait until practice to go over certain things, because the players will lose valuable time that could have otherwise been spent changing the situation for the better. Quick and honest to the point post game chats are very beneficial for everyone involved.
• Not all post game chats are about negative or improvement points. They can also be used to highlight positive, high performance areas, that otherwise may fall through the cracks and go unnoticed. If a player did some new personal best records, a quick way to go and pat on the back can go a very long way in improving team morale and sending the message, that hard work both as a team and on a personal level as a player pays off and doesn’t go unnoticed. Even a few kind words end up going a very long way.
• Post game talks should be held in the locker room and in private. It is still team business that is being aired and while a lot of folks may like to look in on things, team business in relation to game performance, positive or negative, needs to be taken care of by the team. Occasionally fans or parents can forget this and end up putting pressure on where it shouldn’t be. Leave the game business to teams.
• Post Game talks are like pep talks. Pep talks are used to rev up players, where post game talks are used to settle down players, take care of game spawned issues and go home. Without that quick wind down, players might take issues away from the court, that could have been dealt with in a quick and timely fashion. Unnecessary stress is avoided with a proper post game talk. Some folks undervalue the importance and function of it, but it has gained popularity in recent years due to many coaches revealing that it allows an open and honest forum either in private or with just the team listening. This allows coaches to take stock of the good and the bad of their teams and act upon it.

What do you tell your team after a won/lost game?

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What’s with the jersey number you might wonder, and why do players hold on to superstition? Superstition with numbers comes with any game, and you can’t leave basketball players far behind in this. The power of numbers is not known, but is somehow limitless. In the glamorous sport of basketball, referees, coaches, players, fans etc are all superstitious about jersey numbers. Infact, in most cases the player’s jersey numbers have become synonymous with the player’s themselves.

Although the NBA has never mandated the number ruling game like how it is outside the organization, it is primarily used to associate the player with the scoring tables. However, most players are superstitious about particular numbers, for instance they probably would have played their best games with a certain number and therefore make it a number through which they are associated with.

There have been several basketball athletes who have chosen certain numbers because they have been superstitious about them. Some of them even pick up numbers purely because of religious reasons. Not many know that some players find the task of picking up a jersey number very daunting, especially if they are arriving into a new team, since their preferred number could already be in use by someone else there. There have been several deals that have been broken and negotiations terminated because of the unavailability of a particular jersey number.

Numbers are important for athletes and fans recognize their favorite players through numbers. Dwayne Wade carries the No. 3 jersey on his back and it is synonymous with his life. He is superstitious about this number and has picked it because he is a staunch Christian and believes in the Holy Trinity. He even dribbles the ball thrice before a free throw. Let’s look at his No. 3 fixation. He joined the Miami Heat in 2003, led the Marquette to the ’03 Final Four with a Triple-double, and won the NBA championships and Finals MVP honors when he was in his third season. His score is the third highest with an average of 34.7 ppg, he is also considered to be a 3-time NBA All-Star.

Mark Krebs, the UK guard, had to say this about his fixation on superstition with the number 12, “You get attached to your number, you really do!” Mark gives a surreal explanation to his superstition with the number. Ever since he played in his high school days at Newport Central Catholic, the number 12 has been his favorite jersey. He goes on to give a viable explanation which is surely why most basketball players have a particular jersey number, “It’s hard to explain, but if you have to wear a different one, something doesn’t feel right.”

Even Michael Jordan who is a legendary icon in the basketball arena was well known as he always wore the no. 23 jersey. It its a coincidence that his dad was murdered on July 23, 1993. Tim Duncan is fixed on to the number 21 as his jersey number. The number is a tribute to his brother-in-law who taught him to play the game when he was only 14.

What is your jersey number and why did you choose it? Let me know.

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This is my first review out of a series of Basketball products for coaches and players alike. During my years of coaching I have gathered a lot of useful coaching equipment I’d like to tell you about. If you’d like me to review a product or if you have a suggestions, I’d be happy if you get in touch with me!

In this review I will be looking at a Coachdeck Basketball Drills for coaches. Here’s the product description:

What is it?
Basically, it is a collection of basketball drills to use in your practices or at home with your parents or friends. The interesting part is, that all of these drills can be performed by novices and without any special equipment besides … well, a hoop and a basketball.

How can you use it?
Using this deck of cards can be a great help especially in planning and conducting practices. Although as a coach you should always be prepare your practices well in advance, there will always be situations, when the Coachdeck Basketball Drills can come in handy. Sometimes your players will not master the selected drills, especially when they are starting out. Having the deck of cards at hand, you can quickly choose from a number of drills to go on with. I have come across situations, where I’ve planned with a certain number of players to run particular drills. The other day we were not enough players, so I had to switch and perform something else. These cards might come in handy, in such situations.

As a player, you can use the Coachdeck Basketball Drills for working out in the off-season. The number of drills make it easy to focus on the techniques you’d like to work on. For younger players these drills are a good help for parents who would like to assist their children in developing the needed fundamental skills. Currently Coachdeck offers drills for Basketball, Baseball and Soccer. Available soon: Football, Softball and Hockey.

Ordering
After I had purchased the Coachdeck Basketball Drills from Coachdeck.com it took about 10 days before the envelope arrived. As I live in the middle of Europe and have purchased a couple of instructional DVDs and Basketball equipment in the past, 7 to 10 days is a reasonable time for shipment from the US. I paid using my PayPal account and the transaction had been confirmed within a couple of minutes. You can also pay directly using your credit card. Totally hassle-free.

The sets of Coachdeck Basketball Drills is available at US$ 19.95. All in all I paid US$ 35.95 for shipping and handling, making it a bit pricey for foreign customers. For people ordering directly from the US the shipping is free.

Looking at the cards
After unpacking the envelope I found a delivery slip and the shrink-wrapped cardboard box with the cards. The cards are little bit larger in size than a regular deck of playing cards. The look and feel is great and the colors of the cards are well chosen. The paper used for the coaching cards feels solid, ideally for taking them with you in your pocket or bag.

Each card is dedicated to one drill. The drill name is specified on top of each card, together with a brief description of the drill, coded by a different color for each of the 4 categories. Some of the drills  can be performed alone, others need a group of people or an entire team to participate. To distinguish on how a drill can be used, you can find a reference in the upper left corner of each card, below the drill name.

»I« means, that this drill can be conducted alone.
»G« means, that this drill can be conducted in a group.
»T« means, that this drill can be conducted in a team of 5 and more players.

All drills in Coachdeck Basketball Drills are illustrated with pictures for easy reference. Below each diagram you will find a short explanation on how the drill is meant to be conducted. “Where they go” describes where the player starts and where he goes after performing a specific action.

Each card points out key elements on performing the drills. These “Key Points” are necessary for you and your players to know, to get the maximum benefit out of the drill. To add variation each card has a “Make it a game” part, which turn any drill into a competitive game, making it fun for your players.

In total, there are 55 cards in the set of coaching cards. For each category there are 13 cards with drills & instructions. Three cards are dedicated to tips on how to use the Coachdeck Basketball Drills, general practice tips, fundamentals, basketball terminology used in the cards, and a roundup of practice safety. The number of cards are divided into 4 categories and include the following drills:

Defense (Blue)
Stance and Slide, Slide and Talk, Zig-Zag Slide, Slide to Side, Slide and React, Deny the Ball, Post Defense, Close Out Contain, Deny to Help Side, Race to Defend, Slide and Attack, Defensive Boards, Catch-up Drill

Passing (Green)
Stationary Pass 1, Stationary Pass 2, Two Ball Passing, Man in the Middle, Three Against One, Wheel Drill, Middleman, Star Passing, Two Pass Lay-in, Pivot and Pass, 3 Player Weave, Four Pass Lay-up, Full Court Lay-up,

Shooting (Red)
Right-Left Lay-up, X-Out Lay-up, Form Shooting, Bank Shot Block, Elbow Jump Shots, V-Cut Jumpers, Pull-up Jumpers, Dribble Move Jumper, Jump Shots Defense, Spot Shooting, Post Moves, Bump Out, Foul Shoot Games

Ballhandling (Gold)
Wakeup Drill, Wrap-around Drill, Fingertip Control, Mach Gun Dribble, Crossover Dribble, Two Ball Slide, Down and Back, Knockout, Escape Drill, Dribble Weave, Zig-Zag Drill, Between the Legs, Behind the Back

Overall thoughts on Coachdeck Basketball Drills
With the Coachdeck Basketball Drills for coaches Coachdeck offers a great product for aspiring coaches, parents and players, at a reasonable price. This set of drills is a must-have for young coaches and volunteers taking over a youth team.

Most of the drills are not new to an experienced coach and can be found in most basketball drill books. Still, they can be a great help and, if you tweak the drills a little to match your coaching style and team’s skill level, will add value to your practice sessions. All drills are suitable for all players from age 6 to 16.

What I liked:

• Overall quality of the product.
• You can run effective practices and training sessions right away.
• All drills can be performed without special equipment.
• You can use the cards to teach yourself, for example during the off-season or with help of your parents.
• If you only have a small number of players, you can easily do station work in paractices or camps.
• Great help for volunteer and aspiring coaches and parents helping out at local clubs.

What can be improved:

• Drills & instructions are only printed on one side of the cards. My suggestion: Add more variations of drills on the other side.
• Missing “Sample Practice Plan” card. My suggestion: Propose a set of drills which can be used for learning a specific technique, like eg. the Layup.

On Layups.com I’ll publish articles on a daily basis. For those of you who do not have the time to visit daily, here’s is a good place to get a quick overview of the last articles. The Weekly Roundup will be published on each Sunday of the week. Please feel free to revisit and comment.

These are the topics for »Weekly Roundup #9«:

• Managing Parent Relationships
  For the last couple of years I have been coaching senior teams solely. When speaking to youth coaches our club, who usually are in charge of the majority of the youth teams, a couple of them have had a hard time in dealing with parents. Managing parent relationships can prove very draining for any basketball coach, but it is one aspect with coaching basketball teams which you cannot avoid.
• Thoughts on being a steady performer
  The other night, one of may players asked me, how he could deliver a steady perfomance in games. I’d like to share some of the keypoints from conversation. Please feel free to add your thoughts in the comment section.
• Basketball Idols: A Portrait of Wilt Chamberlain
  Wilt Chamberlain was considered to be one of the best offensive players of basketball history. His energy and force was unstoppable and is counted among one of the greats. He had to probably work a bit harder during his times as African Americans were not given many chances in the past.
• Keeping a positive attitude while Coaching
  Imagine being a player in practice and constantly being yelled at, insulted, made fun of and badgered. Would you respond in a positive way or would you lash out at the person that was bombarding you with negativity? On the flip side, if you were helped along with kind words and advice, and constructive criticism instead of insults, you are far more likely to respond in a better way than you would if you were hit with negativity. It is the job of the coach to not only set the pace of the environment surrounding his team, but to also keep tabs on the vibes around the team and ensure that as much of the negativity is kept out as possible.
• Skill Expectations on an Average Guard
  Guards are very important to any basketball team. It is my opinion that guards are even more important than the center of any team. Why are guards so important? They are the foundation of any great basketball team. Guards tend to become the leaders of teams with controlling the basketball as well as assisting other players to score.
Naming some of the Greatest Players of all time
One of the hardest and most fiercely contended subjects that come up happens to be that of the greatest basketball players of all time. It is hard to measure the players and the criteria will often vary from person to person, and from league to league. Various magazines and publications put forth lists often, and after debate and input these lists will change. While these lists change there is often a core of players that are recognized for their contributions to the game, and for their promotion of the game that they provide even after retirement.
• Thoughts on Mastering the Mid-Range Shot
  The mid-range shot can be something that gives you a lot of trouble. If you want to ensure that your overall basketball game is good, you have to master this technique. Not only are you shooting at a farther distance, you are trying to deal with game play in one of the busiest areas of the court. Your teammates are trying to make sure you are in a good position to score, and the opposing team is trying to close in before you get a chance to score.

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For the last couple of years I have been coaching senior teams solely. When speaking to youth coaches our club, who usually are in charge of the majority of the youth teams, a couple of them have had a hard time in dealing with parents. Managing parent relationships can prove very draining for any basketball coach, but it is one aspect with coaching basketball teams which you cannot avoid. You must understand that interacting with parents of your players is a very important aspect of your coaching profession. You must set the goals early in your season, because establishing the goals head-on will reduce (notice I did not say get rid of) emotional conflict while maintaining your team’s positivity.

There are many reasons why conflicts occur between coaches and parents. I want to touch on the most common reasons why conflict occurs. Sometimes parents feel their children are not getting enough “playtime” on the court. Parents will challenge your coaching skills as well as your coaching decisions. No matter how great of a coach you believe you are, these conflicts mentioned will almost always have to be addressed between basketball coaches and parents.

You must minimize these conflicts by investing into yourself. What do I mean by this? You need to contain the self-esteem needed when dealing with these situations. You must know that you are making the best decisions for your team as compared to what the parents demand. You must also ensure that your players have self-confidence in not only themselves but their basketball abilities, too. Try to sympathize with the parents for they are only looking out for their children, however, the parents have to understand that your basketball team consists of many players, not only their child and you are running a team, not a personalized team for their child.

You must establish the ground rules from the beginning of the season. Inform not only the players of these rules but the parents. Let the parents know the expectations for playtime and you are emphasizing the goal to win for your basketball team. Allow the parents to know of your coaching style and how your style will allow your team to hopefully have a winning season.

You must communicate with your players and their parents. This of course is no guarantee that there will not be conflicts, however, this can minimize the conflict if the parents and players know the expectations early on, before the season starts.

Instill an “open door policy” for your players in order to squash conflicts early on. You want to ensure that you are available for your players as well as parents in order to answer questions as well as solve conflicts. This can prove to be an effective method in keeping negativity to a minimum. Do not have meetings before or after your basketball games for your mind as well as your player’s minds needs to be focused on the game.

No matter how good at communicating you are, conflicts are going to arise. You must ensure that you are prepared while making it your goal to work through it with your players and parents effectively. In the future, you will find that you will be able to deal with these conflicts with a calmer manner while leading your team to a successful season.

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The other night, one of may players asked me, how he could deliver a steady perfomance in games. I’d like to share some of the keypoints from conversation. Please feel free to add your thoughts in the comment section.

Before you become a steady performer, you must know your own strengths as well as weaknesses. To be successfull have to be dedicated to a lifetime of learning in the game of basketball and through this mentality you will continually develop, not only as a basketball player, but also as a person.

Self-confidence
Self confidence is a “must-have” for a good basketball player. You must be confident of your abilities and talents. You should always work to broaden your mind while increasing your playing options in the game of basketball. This will aid you in becoming a steady performer in basketball.

Weaknesses
Focus on your weaknesses as well as strengths, for this will greatly affect your game. This will ensure that you will make good common sense choices. Broaden your horizons while accepting the fact that there is always room to learn, no matter how talented you are. If you are a great steady performer, you will accept this fact while always striving to be the best you can be.

Potential
Realize your potential while making learning a lifetime activity which you should engage into. Do not fall into bad habits. Bad Habits always encourage you to repeat bad behavior while not learning new things.

Strive for continual improvement
Focus continually on personal improvement. Find out, if any of your habits are hindering to your game. If they are, this can become a blockage therefore not allowing you to always be a steady performer in basketball. when you find a habit or habits are hindering your game, you should drop that habit while moving on from it.

Energy and determination
It takes great energy and determination in improving your skills. Ask yourself one motivation question: Do you want to be the best or just average? If you want to be the best you can be, then you must focus your energy on continual improvement. Work on giving more than you are able to, even if it sometimes seems impossible. If you do not perform this, you are condemning yourself to a lifetime of wasted efforts as well as wasted dreams.

The “how” and “what”
Focus on the “how” not the “what”. The how is what determines whether you can do the “what” to particular standards. “How” enables you to expand your talents as well as ensures you will always be a steady performer in basketball. You want to be satisfied with the “what” however, focusing on the “how” is the first step in achieving the “what”.

Summary
You always want to be a steady performer in the game of basketball. This will force opposing players to take you seriously when you run up on the basketball court. You want to be the best basketball player you can be, not only for yourself but for your teammates.

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Wilt Chamberlain was considered to be one of the best offensive players of basketball history. His energy and force was unstoppable and is counted among one of the greats. He had to probably work a bit harder during his times as African Americans were not given many chances in the past.

Born Wilton Norman Chamberlain on 21st August 1936 in Philadelphia, he was one of nine children. His mother Olivia was a homemaker and worked as a house worker outside. His Father William worked in one of Philadelphia’s publishing companies. While still in school he made it to the Junior High School basketball team, and when practicing on the grounds often played with older players. This was what framed his style and game as he learnt to play tough games right from an early age. In 1952 Wilt attended the Overbrook High School and he towered the others at 6’11” and his love for the game grew stadily.

Wilt’s game was astounding and during his high school basketball days his point surpassed 2,200 in just three seasons. This resulted in almost two hundred universities that offered to recruit the legendary great. He, however, chose to move to the University of Kansas as he preferred smaller cities and most importantly wanted to play for the Midwest. Another reason was because he wanted to be coached under Phog Allen. During his college days he was selected twice to the All-Americans team and his average was over thirty points. However, Wilt decided to quit college and play professionally, unfortunately he wasn’t accepted to join the NBA because he left Kansas before the final season. His next move was to join the Harlem Globetrotters, and as a Globetrotter he travelled all around the world and entertained everyone with his overall game skills.

The legend was so impeccable at his game that he never fouled-out during his 14 year career as a basketball player. In 1959 Chamberlain joined the NBA’s Philadelphia Warriors. His game was so aggressive and goal oriented that the opposing teams could hardly stop him, and took to easier tasks of just containing him. In 1959-60 he had the highest average of 37.9 points per game which was 8 points higher than the other players in the league. During that time he earned the distinction of being the first person to receive two awards in the same season, “The Most Valuable Player” and “Rookie of the Year” awards.

He earned the name “Wilt the Stilt” and “The Big Dipper” because of his abilities and skills in scoring as well as rebounding, although the opposing teams resorted to fouls to stop him. He scored big in the record books which are, until today, unbeatable accomplishments. Wilt managed to score 4,000 points in a single NBA season. He also holds NBA single game records for the most points (100), most rebounds (55), and highest consecutive field goals (18), the 50.4 average points in a game during 1961-62 and in the same year the 48.5 minutes per game average.

After retiring his career points totaled to 31,419 and were improved on by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar later down the years. He was also considered to be one of the leagues best rebounder for 11 of the total 14 seasons played. Some of his honors include, NBA champion (1967, ’72), elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, NBA Finals MVP (1972), All-NBA First team (1960, ’61, ’62, ’64, ’66,’67, ’68), One of the 50 Greatest Players in the History of NBA (1996).

Chamberlin died in his California home on October 12, 1999. Although he is remembered to be a noted dominant player on the court, he never was a revenge seeker or enforcer, and controled his emotions and body on court, being the sportsman he was.

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Imagine being a player in practice and constantly being yelled at, insulted, made fun of and badgered. Would you respond in a positive way or would you lash out at the person that was bombarding you with negativity? On the flip side, if you were helped along with kind words and advice, and constructive criticism instead of insults, you are far more likely to respond in a better way than you would if you were hit with negativity. It is the job of the coach to not only set the pace of the environment surrounding his team, but to also keep tabs on the vibes around the team and ensure that as much of the negativity is kept out as possible.

While a coach may not always have the most positive responses or opinions, it is the coach’s job to ensure that the players get along and that the feedback given to them from the coach is constructive and not negative or destructive. It may be hard, and occasionally a coach will have to take a personal time out and blow off some steam to ensure that the frustration doesn’t blow over and end up affecting the team.

The coach’s attitude affects the team, but the coach also has to control the attitudes within his team. Sometimes this is hard to balance, and negativity from any direction can cause some big issues. This can disrupt your team and cause very big and long lasting conflicts. Anything that arises that causes disagreements or fights needs to be dealt with swiftly, and if anything happens to erupt into a fight, immediate action and response needs to be undertaken by the coach to ensure that repeats don’t happen, and that the situation concludes in a fashion that ensures all parties walk away with positive resolution.

Any actions, responses, or moves by the coach can affect the team, which means in the end that the coach ends up being watched nlike under a microscope and has to pay attention to even the most microscopic details. Coaches cannot afford to yell, scream, or punch someone because the affects are a lot different than if a player were to act out against another player. Negative actions and attitudes from a coach can cause the team, fans, or parents to lose confidence in the coach, and therefore the damage would be absolute and irreparable.

Coach’s need to ensure that they go into each and every practice upbeat and ready to go, and leave anything from the outside world off the court. On the other hand this means, that everything that happened in the gym should also stay there. Letting non-basketball situations affect the team is something a coach needs to not only teach his players, but has to practice himself. Outside the court, situations are a big issue in the sporting world as they affect the attitudes of coaches and players. Coaches need to ensure that they do not contribute to the issues, and if a certain player or game is causing an excessive amount of frustration, the coach needs to learn to deal with it on the spot, and blow off steam and frustrations later when it won’t affect the team.

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Guards are very important to any basketball team. It is my opinion that guards are even more important than the center of any team. Why are guards so important? They are the foundation of any great basketball team. Guards tend to become the leaders of teams with controlling the basketball as well as assisting other players to score.

Guards are the core of any basketball team
The skill expectations of any average guard are very high. Guards are typically the smaller players on the team therefore; they must be able to handle the basketball. Guards must be team players as well as good shooters. Guards typically shoot outside of the box therefore, if a guard cannot shoot, they are not much of an asset to any basketball team. Show me a guard on any basketball who cannot shoot the basketball and score and I can guarantee that particular guard will be sitting on the bench.

Point guards are the leaders
There are different positions guards can play. One is the very important position of “point guard”. This is the position which is given to a player who can do it all. The point guard brings the ball up the court, calls plays as well as proves their speed capabilities. Point guards must be able to dribble the basketball as fast as they can run. Not everyone can perform this feat which is why the position of point guard is very important yet hard to fill sometimes for coaches.
Wingmen and their importance to the team

The other positions associated with guards are the position of “wing”. Wingmen are the other two guard positions and its imperative the wingmen can shoot. Unfortunately, for any position associated with guards, one cannot be average. These positions are literally “high-speed” and “low-drag” with the game of basketball.

Work with what you have
If you find that you are having a hard time filling the position of guard on your team you might need to work with some of the players who show talent for this particular position. Focus initially on ball handling with having the players simply perform dribbling exercises. Set up obstacles for them to dribble around while protecting the basketball. Another great exercise for increasing speed and confidence with ball handling is having your guards dribble up and down the court with someone on defense. This ball handling exercise not only builds up endurance but confidence.

Average and guard are two words which cannot go together
Coaches will find that they cannot settle for “average” guards because this position is very important to any basketball team. There is literally no room for “average” with guards and it is imperative that coaches work with their guards in improving not only their ball handling skills but their shooting skills.

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One of the hardest and most fiercely contended subjects that come up happens to be that of the greatest basketball players of all time. It is hard to measure the players and the criteria will often vary from person to person, and from league to league. Various magazines and publications put forth lists often, and after debate and input these lists will change. While these lists change there is often a core of players that are recognized for their contributions to the game, and for their promotion of the game that they provide even after retirement.

The name that frequently is at the front of lists from magazines to websites worldwide is Michael Jordan. The contributions that he made to the game aren’t limited to just his statistics, which to this day are regarded as some of the best ever put up by an individual player over a career. Michael Jordan provided the game with much needed publicity. He made basketball seem cool, he made it worth watching with the dazzling moves he made not only while playing offense, but the great moves he also made playing defence. Basketball is occasionally painted with a brush in the media and by people as being boring and Michael Jordan erased preconceptions about basketball and rewrote the whole game and how it was viewed in the public eye.

Another name that is frequently at the top of those lists is Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He led the league in almost every statistical category, and gave the people something to watch every single time he set foot on the court. He was an ambassador on and off the court for the game of basketball and was one of those players that people will always remember when they are thinking of basketball.

Wilt Chamberlain is another name that goes hand in hand with basketball. People will frequently mention and suggest that he is one of if not the greatest NBA player of all time. His speed that he showed on the court was unmatched and only rivalled by his love for the game. He was one of the leading rebounders of the NBA, and one of its most heralded players of all time.

One other name that frequently enters discussions when you are talking about top players of all time is Kobe Bryant. While his career isn’t over yet, he has dazzled and entertained fans for many years, and has set records and won many championships. He continues to this day being a positive force and ambassador for the basketball world despite his off the court troubles. While some people exclude him from lists simply because he is still playing, he is included here because his contributions to the game align with some of the greatest players mentioned above.

While you could continue on in great debate about the greatest players of all time, simply it comes down to the lasting impact that the players have had on the fans, and the league itself. Putting up great statistics is one thing, leaving a lasting positive image of the sport in which they played, is a whole other often forgotten criterion.

Who are your greatest players of all time? Tell me!

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