A few years ago, I was coaching a 12 year old youth basketball team. Today, three of those players are now playing Division I basketball, including Omar Samhan of the 2010 Sweet Sixteen team, St. Mary’s. At the time, one of the players complained to me that I needed to understand that Big Men are different. Basically, he pointed out that Big Men have a different mentality. Obviously, though being only 12, he was big and he eventually grew to be over 7′. My problem with this player was that he liked to clown around and didn’t like to work as hard as the other kids. I pointed out to him that all players, big or small, need to develop a good work ethic in order to improve. I also pointed out that I had worked with many Big Men, such as Hall of Famer Dan Issel, Rik Smits, Rony Seikaly, Antonio Davis, Christian Laettner, Dale Davis, Eric Montross, and Ben Wallace to name a few. I also had worked with some other young, big people when I coached AAU teams in Indiana who had gone on to play Division I. So, I felt I had a good understanding of the “Big Man’s Mentality”.
However, what he did say actually did have plenty of merit. Working with big people is different from the other players. In some ways it is more difficult, in other ways it is more enjoyable. Regardless, I have found that the majority of big guys will work hard and they are used to physical and uneven play, so they don’t pout if play is aggressive. Since skills are not as easily learned, Big Men are accustomed to giving more effort. Of course, there are the exceptions.
On the other hand, it may not be as much fun teaching and coaching the Big Man. Generally, they do not learn things as easily and most are not as skillful as their perimeter counterpart. They are more restricted. As a coach, you have to be more patient and big guys are often not appreciated until coaches and fellow teammates learn to value them.
As a coach, try and think about growing up big. Think about it, as a kid, big men are probably a little clumsy, slower than the rest of their peers, and not as coordinated–as their body is trying to catch-up with itself. Bigs may be embarrassed because they are not as skillful and embarrassed because it’s harder for them to learn and execute the different basketball skills. Then, they are told at an early age, away from basketball, to be careful around others. “Don’t hurt them, you’re bigger.” “Don’t be a bully!”
Then, as coaches, we tell them they need to be more physical. Because they are bigger than the rest, their first coaches in youth basketball make them be centers. They are not allowed to dribble the ball up the court, but instead are to pass the ball to the guards when they get a rebound. They get stuck down on the low blocks, because the offense that is being used needs someone down there and they are not allowed out on the floor. Then, they get older and their coaches get upset because they can’t dribble or they can’t be used to beat a press. The coach wants to run a more fluid offense, and these big guys can’t go out on the floor.
I remember when I was with the Indiana Pacers we drafted a young, 7′- 4″ center Rik Smits. Rik was skilled for a big man. He could shoot and he could pass, while being fairly athletic. But our players and coaches didn’t really know how to use him. In fact, some of the players didn’t particularly like playing with him because he clogged things up and he was a little slow to the boards after helping out. Some didn’t like the fact that they should throw him the ball because he could score. These players felt he stagnated the offense.
Then, Larry Brown came in as our head coach, and he got the players to understand Rik’s value. The players started to understand that by throwing the ball inside, the defense suppressed and they got easier shots when Rik passed it back out. When they drove and dished, and Rik hit a couple of shots, then Rik’s man wouldn’t help. The lane opened up. And now, they didn’t always have to double the opposing team’s center because they no longer were trying to guard him with a power forward. As a team, we were a bit more limited in what we could do, but we also were a lot better. It wasn’t quite as pretty at times, but the score board was much prettier.
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