"My Philosophy"

and I'm not talking about Boogie Down Productions...

I have received a ton of e-mails and comments about the blog lately in regards to more in depth analysis of what we do on and off the court. What makes us such a successful program? What do we look for when recruiting players? Why do we only play a 2-3 zone instead of man to man defense? So here it goes, a little behind the scenes on the what?, where?, why?, and how on the Clip Joint. This post will focus mostly on what we look for when putting our team together each season.

First of all, when we look for players to come in and contribute to the program we look for the complete player. Sure, being a talented hoopster is most important and we are always on the lookout for that superstar to add to the roster. That doesn't mean we discount the less talented or one dimensional player. If you cannot hit a jump shot to save your life but you are 6-5 220 and can rebound like nobody else then you might have a spot on the team. Maybe you have handle like Philip " Hot Sizzle" Champion, well then you could be a part of the program. The point is this, championship teams need all types of players, not just superstars. This seperates us from most of the other teams in the league. Teams want to load up on individual talent who are poor team players whereas we focus on building a true "team" on and off the court.

Consistency is also a major key in keeping that winning tradition alive from season to season. I like to keep our players well taken care of so that they want to play for our team. Building that foundation and keeping a core group of players together allow us to maintain that atomosphere of winning.

Up next, a look at how we prepare for each game.