Welcome again to the Coach Godwin show, I’m your coach Koran Godwin, all time leading scorer of the University of North Florida, also author of the great new book “Everyone Hates a Ball Hog, but They All Love A Scorer”, the complete guide to score in points on and off the basketball court. All brought to you by JumpStartHoops.com.
One of the things I want to get into today is the Mid-Range Game and as you all know this is one of those lost arts. It always perplexes me because when you look at Michael Jordan, who most people would agree is the best basketball player who has ever live. He will find that he mastered the Mid-Range game. It always seems it come in the later part of your career, when you’re young and athletic, like Michael or Kobe or most basketball players going to the league, its either a three point shot or a dunk. I mean that’s just majority, when you come into the league and you’re athletic, I mean you just want to get to the hole, you want to get big buckets, those big time endorsements and put on the show for the crap. But as you become more seasoned, in the game of basketball, you get to the point which really about winning and making you teammates better, show that you can win. This eight to 15 foot area on the basketball court, now what we call the mid-range game because more and more important, when you look at guys like Sam Cassell, who I’m actually really love because when you look at him he is a older guys and he is able to play point guard position which is very, very hard to begin with and he is able to play it. His athleticism with dwindling, he mastered the mid-range game. At any point in time, Sam Cassel can turn it on. He’ll give you that 15 to 25 points that you need to win that game, and guys sit back and say, “How does this guy doing it, you know 36, 37, 38 playing against teenagers and guys that are 22 years old more athletic than him come out in college,” its because he mastered the mid-range game and he knew the importance of it. Just becoming a professional, I can say that most of these guys can hit down a 15 point shot. I mean if you can hit a 15 point shot and you are in the NBA, I mean this is a tough situation, you have to be a big guy, somebody just dominates down low, but if you are a guard, how can you be able to knock down that 15 foot to 25 foot jump shot?
Sam Cassell used the move that I absolutely love and this is my favorite mid-range move. If you got to my website and check it out, the step back move. It’s a move that I detailed in my Fundamentals of Scoring DVD, and it’s a move that you have to master for that mid-range game. And it involves you dribbling the ball, going towards the basket and being able to push off just a little bit lightly not enough to get a foul and step back until you jump shot and knock down a shot.
Like I said, if you can knock a 15 foot shot, its just a matter of positioning and you get yourself open and get a shot off, and that’s what the guys like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant now have found. I mean Kobe Bryant is absolutely unstoppable. Why? Because a lot of times he gets the ball, he’s already in that mid-range area. He is either opposing you up or running that triangle offense from Coach Phil Jackson and he gets the ball, he is already in that fixing for the range. So all he has to do is get a shot off, and the closer he is, like say he is six feet from the basket, eight feet, you know he can always fade away and that could jump shot down and you know just a mastery of that area.
I look at another guy, Karl Malone. I mean just coming down the stretch of his career, I mean he was the origin, I mean 20 25 points a game. Even as when he was getting older, he can put it on and turn it on anytime. I mean he had a great point guard of course John Stockton can’t take that away. But Karl Malone’s mastery of the mid-range game. I mean he would push you up on the block, the ball would come, he’d take one step out, which would put him eight feet from the basket, turn around, he’s right over the top.
If you are over the list as a defender, you can go ahead and go pass you and draw foul or dunk the basketball. But just his mastery of the game, just stood out to me because I was always been enthralled and always liked seeing players that don’t have that athleticism or seeing those season vets on how they get it done because they are so, so efficient. And that’s what the mid-range game is all about.
So you young players out there and coaches that are coaching players, you’ve got to let them know that everything is not about the ESPN highlights. ESPN is going to see you the three point shot, great move to the basket for a dunk, or maybe sometimes a drive draw and dish for dunk, but mostly, I mean , it’s the three point shot or the dunk, and I’m here to tell you folks. I mean , the game is much more than that. Never neglect that mid-range game. I know coming in college after I pushed around a little bit, coming in college as a freshmen, you’re not as big and your body is just developing, and you got these older guys that maybe four years older than you, but you’re competing for a spot, and sometime you get pushed around going to the hole or trying to get a rebound is tough. I know I was in the MAC conference and I’m playing for the University of Buffalo at that time before I transferred to the University of North Florida and it was tough down there. And one of the things that I had to do is to figure with the score because in high school, we used to do crossover and dunk . In college it was a crossover and me on the ground and then I’m going down the court, because they really don’t call foul on practice.
So to force me to become more efficient is, okay and instead of completely go and pass the guy and try to dunk every time, I’m going to go ahead and get pass him and get him out of position and then pull off for the jump shot. It took my game to the next level. And when I transferred down to University or North Florida, I mean I already had that mind set. I remember my second game playing around 32 points. It is just one of those things where I understood the value of the mid-range game.
It also is good for your longevity and as what the guys in the NBA found out very, very quickly, it’s a marathon folks, its not a race, not at all. I mean at the end of the day, your stat sheet is going to say whatever it is going to say, if its 25 points, its 25 points. Me reading the stats I’m not going to know how you get that 25. 0713 percentage, and how many points you ended up with, and I’m a judge of the game based on that. These guys took me to hall of fame and comparing the stats, I mean that’s what you look at. How great was this player, how efficient was this player compared to who they played against in history and time.
So the mid-range game is something that I always respect. I encourage everyone to go out there and get the moves and as you know of course my Fundamentals of Scoring DVD, have great moves step backs, crossovers, it has something what I call my NBA step. It’s also in YouTube too. You can Google that or search that. It’s a move where you’re actually in the triple position and you’re looking for the person lead foot to attack. Once you find that lead foot, you explode pass them, get them out of position, only to pull up right there in their face and it’s a move that I use and it was a great move for me because a lot of times you have these athletic guys, they pride themselves on defense and you have to know how to get your shot off. But when I was in that mid-range game, I mean that’s an easy shot for me as it is for a lot of you out there. If you seen foot being on that foul line area, and I’m going below that, eight to 15 you should be able to knock down that shot.
So that’s it for today’s show. Make sure you’re out there practicing hard in your mid-range game. Don’t just go to the park and launch three, you should go to the gym that’s why you want to shot as threes. Make sure you’re around that foul line area. Make sure you catch the ball to three point line, you’re taking two dribbles to the foul line, pull that jump shot. Make sure you’re working on your step back. Make sure you’re working on your crossover and pull up, all right.
So until next time. Work on that pull up jump shot. Don’t let the mid-range game continue to be a lost art. Go ahead and master that, put it on your arsenal and take your game to the next level. Until next time, JumpHhotHoops.com. I will see you then.
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