What makes a good basketball player? This is a question that I thought about rather intensely in the past week or so as my high school team under went tryouts. A person who plays basketball will often times tell you that they want to become a better player or want to be seen by their peers as a good player but have you ever sat down and mapped out what you need to do to become a good player?

What I want to address to you now is what I believe makes a good individual player. When I look at a player I want to see how they perform in five major aspects of the game. Those aspects are shooting, passing, dribbling, rebounding, and defending. In my mind an above average high school player will excel at two of those five facets that I previously listed. A good high school player will excel at three of the five areas I listed and a great player four or more.

As your season starts sit down and write down your individual goals as well as the goals that you have for your team. Write down what you believe to be your strengths and what you believe your weaknesses to be so that you can focus on playing to your strengths and improving your short comings. List the five aspects of the game as I have typed above and give yourself an honest assessment of where you think your game is compared to other players of your age. Don't be discouraged if you are only good at one aspect of the game. Each basketball team has their own personality and make up. A coach can always find playing time for a player who is good at one aspect. There is always a spot on my team from a player who is a great spot up shooter, a savvy ball handler, or someone who can get a tough rebound.

Make sure that as your season progresses you look as your goal sheet and are charting how you are doing compared to your individual and team goals. Let us know what your individual and tam goals are now before your season starts and then in March lets see how you all did.