By Alan Lambert

There is not a player alive who doesn't want more playing time. The problem is that not everyone of you is or will ever be a "Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, or Grant Hill". In reality at least 50 percent or more of a team gets less than 10 minutes playing time per game. I've heard it all before. "Coach, I'm better than Billy" or "I'm working hard and, doing everything you ask, and still I'm not playing. I can't decide you playing time or can anyone else outside of your team. Only your coach decides and disperses playing minutes. However as a coach of many years, I can honestly say it is not just the points, the rebounds, or the athletic ability that gets you prime time minutes. They are important, no question about it. Today's Playground Pointers© are my tips for getting the coach to sit up and take notice, and believe me, they will, if you can improve and consistently produce in these area.

1. Develop Rebound Radar- There is absolutely no reason in the world you cannot react and go to the basket to put yourself in rebound position every single time a ball is shot. It has nothing to do with size, speed, or jumping ability. I have seen many average players who, with a limited number of minutes, consistently produce 2 or 3 rebounds. Now imagine that you have finely tuned that skill. I honestly believe you will more attention and get more playing time. Get PT by consistently pursuing the ball.

2. Get Back - It is impossible to succeed as a team if you do not have the mentality of getting back every single time your team loses possession of the ball. You must be obsessed with not giving up easy baskets. It is a pride thing and demonstrates your commitment to playing both ends of the floor. You can take this even further by saying "if my player is ahead of me in transition, I'm going to chase them down and get into position. If I am back and ahead of my player, but a teammate isn't, I'm going to help until they can recover. Get back, and you are more likely to get in the game.

3. Help on Defense - I know, my teammate didn't help me, so why should I help them. If you haven't experienced it yet before, you will only understand how important this selfless mentality is to a team's success, when you play on a team where you have confidence that every time you get beat someone is coming to help you out of trouble. This in turn leads to a "you helped me..now I'm going to help you even more" attitude. A coach and every teammate wants to know with full certainty when they are in trouble you are going to make an effort to help. Not some of the time, all the time. Helpers get PT.

4. Deliver Your Passes Consistently on Target -With so much emphasis in today's game on one-one-one play and scoring it's no surprise at their is a lack of players who can consistently pass the ball to a teammate in perfect scoring position every single time. You don't even have to be an assist man in the purest sense. But when a teammate is open and you throw the ball low, or somewhere that takes their high percentage open shot or pass opportunity away by forcing them to recover the ball to a safe position, you are lacking a fundamental skills required to get PT. As a young player I had a coach tell me that enthusiasm for a teammate to score from your pass if determined by where and how you deliver the ball. You should almost be disappointed if you don't hit your teammate in their "ready-shoot" position when they are open. Get on target and get playing time.

5. Communicate to Your Teammates on the Court - You and your teammates can often recover from mistakes if you talk on the floor. For some reason some players are intimidated in terms of telling their teammates what's coming. Call the screens, tell them where your help position is, call out I've got yours, call the shot, talk and keep talking. Basketball isn't a game for the meek. Your voice is a vital skill to becoming an efficient player. However, yelling at a teammate isn't necessarily communication an important piece of information. Communicate things vocally that help your team, not tear down your team.

6. Hustle When It Hurts - On my teams I often called these hero plays and we even charted them so that players could see over a series of games who these exceptional effort hustle players were. It might be sprinting past 3 offensive players on a break-a-way to deflect a ball out of bounds preventing a lay-up. It might be smart and exceptional defense to stop a 3 on 1 fast break as as defender. It might be rotating over and taking an offensive foul from a player who has broken down the defense. Or it might be simply getting back in transition when you have no more gas to give. This could also be called mental toughness. A coach who knows you go to the gas when there is no more to give, is more likely to have confidence to play you at critical moments when the game is on the line.

7. Have a Better Than 3:1 Assist to Turnover Ratio - Coaches can always find playing time for someone who creates more scoring opportunities for their teammates than commit passing mistakes. You might say, I'm not a great passer, then work at become a better one. The truth is, you don't have to be a great passer to keep your turnovers down. You can do that by passing only to open players. Never force a pass where the defender can get a deflection. It is better to hold the ball even if it results in a a 5 second count violation than to give your opponent a "fast break assist" off your turnover. Reduce your turnovers as well, by learning to see open passes and complete them without looking directly at your teammates. Finally, play percentage basket. Hero passes result in turnovers 90% of the time, Safe passes to open players are less spectacular but result in scores 90% of the time. Better to be a "safe player" with PT than a "dead hero on the bench".

8. Be The Best Role Player You Can Be - No team can be successful unless each player on the team knows their role, and performs it consistently to the best of their ability for the team. Even if you are an extremely talented player, if you chose your own way, your team cannot win with you in the game. You may not like your role, but there are numerous examples of average to slightly above average players at the professional level who have made a healthy living, rebounding, running the lane every time, or being the stop gap defender. Whatever your role is, strive to be the best at it you can be. My championship professional team had the best inbounder after a made shot in the league. It doesn't sound very glamerous but we have a championship trophy, and to this day I swear he is the best inbounder I ever coached. We also had a pair of brothers who were probably the best trapping duo in the league. Their abilities to be the best in their roles as trappers allowed me to play them in many more circumstances than if they had performed their role underneath their ability. Take pride in your role, even if you are the last man on the bench and your role is to create a war like atmosphere in practice to keep intensity high. Great role players get PT.

9. Be Loyal to Your Coach and Teammates - Two-faced players, no matter what their reasons, will never get playing time. I don't care how angry you are, how disappointed over poor play, or a coaches decision, nothing will cost you playing time faster than going behind someone, who must trusts you to be there when you are needed. Put yourself in the shoes of the coach, would you substitute in a player who doesn't believe in your systems, teammates, or organization. I have unbelievable respect for a player who hits rock bottom by a bad performance or mistake, but overcomes it by their commitment to the team through positive actions. I might not be able to play that player the next game, or the minutes they would like, but I have a great memory for those human things.

10. Practice to Improve Every Single Day - I have often experienced a young player who comes to me and one a given day gives a great performance in a game or practice, and then disappears for a few days. You may not lose PT because of a poor performance, but you will eventually lose your playing time to someone who has this attitude. Improvement can only occur through daily effort. Your skills are sort of like weight training. If you don't life you don't get stronger. If you don't stretch you lose flexibility. If you don't strive to improve every single attempt you make at a skill, you will never string together the large number of small but significant steps necessary to make giant leaps in your skill level. I find playing time for players who are improving daily. I notice skill improvement, it's my job. Actions to improve speak much louder than words and get you PT.

BONUS TIP
Make it Tough Every Single Time for Your Player to Catch the ball- Success in the game of basketball is predicated on getting better shot, and more of them than your opponent. Conversely, to be a consistent winner you must make it extremely difficult in all situations to for the offensive team to advance the ball toward your basket. If they don't get close they can't score. If you are lazy at times and don't make this kind of effort how can a Coach give you more time. It can be as simple as playing good position and keeping your hand and arm in the passing lane with good vision. If you consistently can perform that skill you will get some PT.

So now you have my secrets. What are you going to do with them. Some of you will go out and work at them a few days and then forget them. How about printing out this list, making a chart or calendar and marking off each day how many of these pointers you paid attention to each day during the season and see if you your playing time doesn't improve.
Check back next month for more Playground Pointers© courtesy of The Basketball Highway®.