Sunday, March 27, 2016

What's the goal?

Federación Costarricense de Baloncesto – Sitio Oficial

As a new governing board takes over for the FECOBA (Costa Rican Basketball Federation), my thoughts turn over to what their objectives are for this upcoming period.

What is the objective and how do you measure progress towards those objectives? Is it to qualify for the Olympics or FIBA Worlds? Is it to be champion of Central America? Is it to have a strong professional league? Personally, I think all of these are misguided objectives. The Federation can squander an incredible amount of resources pursuing those goals, and never improving on our current position. Our qualifying region is too strong to think that the current way we do things will find a way to qualify for anything more than the Centrobasket. The results of Costa Rican teams in Centrobasket are not very encouraging once we have to face Caribbean teams.
So what should the objective be? Participation. How many people play basketball in Costa Rica in a registered league? I will go out on a limb and say that the Federation has no idea. It might have a basic idea of how many people participate in its current tourneys, but that doesn't encompass the basketball-playing universe in Costa Rica. The first obvious step is calculate how many players you have currently.  For the sake of argument, let's say that number is 4,000. Put a goal that by 2020 you want to double that number to 8,000.  Once you reach that goal, double it again in five years.  Many people feel that basketball has been slipping in popularity...putting hard numbers is vital to understand this phenomenon. We need a visible, tangible goal to track participation.

The first step is getting all leagues under the Federation umbrella. Don't make it complicated, don't make it expensive. There are too many rules designed to omit people from basketball in Costa Rica. (Exhibit A...coaching licenses).  The goal is inclusivity. If theres a basketball league anywhere, let's get it under the federation umbrella. Give every player a Federation carnet, that way we can generate a database of basketball players in Costa Rica, that way we can track young players and keep adult players engaged. Make the carnet have some value (negotiate with store that the carnet gives you a discount at Extremos, GNC, gyms, etc). The important thing is that it has to be easy and fast to get a player carnet and provide an incentive so players use it.

Getting existing leagues under the Federation umbrella won't be enough. The Federation should be in the business of helping organise leagues. How about some regional leagues (Limon, San Carlos, Perez Zeledon, Guanacaste, etc)? How about creating some school leagues, similar to what the private bilingual schools have done? How about bringing the very popular maxi-baloncesto into the fold? How about blowing out the professional leagues? How about helping out large companies and enterprises organise their intra-company competitions? What does help mean? Put their results on the federation web page. Put the finals of some of these leagues in the large gyms. How cool would it be to have the finals of the judges Laborales in the National Gym?  Players of all skill levels want to play games...let 'em play. 

Increased participation has all sorts of collateral benefits. First, it reverses the aforementioned trend of basketball sliding towards obscurity behind soccer and other sports. Second, it makes it a more attractive product for sponsors and media (and if the media doesn't cover it, go direct). Third, more players means more resources, more facilities, more refs, more coaches. Third, a larger player pool eventually helps out in national teams, providing more players to choose from. Increased competition is good for the system as a whole.  Finally, and personally the most important reason in my book, as a nation, Costa Rica has a huge challenge in reversing sedentary lifestyles; its vital to promote an active lifestyle. Basketball is an ideal vessel for that mission. We need to get people off their ass.

Escazu 81 San Ramon 90




Our first road game of Clausura brought the same result as  our previous trips to San Ramon: a loss. After a close first quarter, San Ramon used a three point barrage in two minutes of the second quarter to break out a double digit lead, an advantage that they protected for the rest of the game.Marco Castrillo had a strong shooting night; in Apertura he spent long stretches on the bench, but Jorge Arguello started him and gave him important minutes. The change worked, as he was aggressive offensively all night, shooting form the outside and taking the ball to the basket.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Grecia 83 Escazu 94

After a two week hiatus, it was time to get back to the court for the beginning of Clausura. Costa Rican basketball has this funky setup where the winner of the Apertura tournament plays the winner of the Clausura tournament in a National Final. If the same team wins both, they are automatically the national champions, a feat San Ramon accomplished last year in a near-perfect season. Its a format that they have borrowed from soccer. One of the positives is that the mid-season reset gives teams new hope to stay in the hunt. This year, Ferreteria Brenes Barva won the Apertura tournament. Now we have several teams that hope to win the Clausura tournament, including Barva so they can win things outright.


That reset allows teams to make adjustments. Our big adjustment is the incorporation of Amaurys Ripoll into our squad. Originally from the Dominican Republic, Ripoll has lived in Costa Rica long enough to be a nationalised Costa Rican. Amaurys played for us as a foreigner last year. We had been waiting on his paperwork to clear all during Apertura, which was tough for Amaurys, to practice not knowing what your status will be is a tough task. His papers cleared just after the deadline; we actually had his citizenship before but there was one more document necessary for his registration.

Amaurys Ripoll

Our first game of Clausura was against Grecia. The schedule flips automatically, so this time our season opener was at home.  Our games against Grecian were very close in Apertura. Their veteran squad has the capacity to score a lot of points. Going into the game I was a little concerned about integrating Ripoll into our rotation without messing up chemistry. Thing is the season has so little games that you almost need to force things and hope they work out.




Herny Forester and Michael Jackson

By bringing in Amaurys, we needed to make adjustments to our rotation. for this game we went with a smaller lineup, moving Michael Jackson to the 4 spot. The first half was an up and down affair. every time it looked like we were set to make a run, Grecian would answer with a big basket or we would make a careless turnover.  We finished the first half with 13 turnovers and clinging to a one point lead.

In the third quarter we played around with our rotation a bit, putting both Amaurys and Michael on the wing. Amir Alvarado had a strong quarter for Grecia, keeping the score in the quarter close. Then right before the end of the third quarter, Diego Loria got called for a foul on Henry Martinez, and then got called for a double foul and a technical foul; three fouls on the same play, though to be honest the double foul should have been called on one of our other players! San Ramon got three free throws and the ball, a three pointer that Henry converted. Suddenly, Grecia closed the quarter up by five points.
Michael Jackson and Nick Leon took over in the final quarter. We erased Grecia's lead in the first two possessions and never looked back. Clifford Smith hit some long threes to break the game wide open and we never looked back, cruising to a comfortable lead.



Clifford Smith and Henry Martinez squaring off. 
Notes

  • Michael had his first career double that didn't include turnovers with 26 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists. Amaurys Ripoll added 16 points, with Nick Leon chipping in 15 points. 
  • Amir Alvarado had 26 points while Korey Fisher added 16 points and 7 assists. 





Super fan in the stands.

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Apertura Semi-Final: San Ramon 2 Escazu 1

I still can't sleep right.




We lost to ARBA San Ramon in the Apertura Semi-Finals 2-1. I refrain from posting during a playoff series because a) it's a very busy week where time is best allocated elsewhere and b) I want to limit the information the other team gets (what up SR peeps 👊). 

So here's what you missed:

Game 1: Escazu 68 San Ramon 91

So far this season, the vast majority of our games have been close games. Not this one, a blowout loss is not the ideal way to get the playoffs started. Just a week earlier we had played San Ramon well on the road, but it was evident that they came out with some adjustments to change the tone of the game. Nino Williams came in hitting his shots and establishing his authority on the offensive glass, but the scoring attack was balanced with Giorgio Milligan chipping in 17 and Marcos Castillo adding 14.  San Ramon placed a high emphasis on containing Nick Leon, trapping him on all ball screens and limiting him to just 12 points. The San Ramon defence forced us into our worst shooting night of the season. The final score says we lost by 23, but really it wasn't that close.

Blowout losses are the trickiest outcomes in coaching. Doubt creeps in, making you question things. Left unchecked, you can end up questioning every thing. Person, systems, lineups, decisions, routines; it all comes into play. The most frustrating aspect is that in a lopsided loss, you see your team at its worst. Is that really my team? You always know your team is capable of a stinker...just like you also know that you're capable of the perfect game.

Game 2: San Ramon 101 Escazu 105 (OT)

The second game was back in Escazu in the friendly confines of our gym. The greatest advantage to playing at home is familiarity with the rims. During our Thursday practice before the game we shot...a lot. That extra emphasis was quickly evident as our guys were hitting their shots from all over the place: Dave Milliner and Clifford Smith had a hot first quarter, sticking their early jumpers. San Ramon also came out firing, resulting in a high-scoring first half with an edge for the home team 47-40.



Things cooled down in the second half. San Ramon chipped away at our lead. Every time we would break out a two possession lead they would make a big basket. Giorgio Milligan shouldered the load, eventually scoring 35 points. On our side, Michael Jackson took over, scoring 39 points on a variety of dunks, jump shots and cutbacks. It would have been a lot more enjoyable if it weren't our playoff lives on the line. With 18 seconds to go, we called a play for Nick Leon to attack the basket on the final possession, but apparently muggings are allowed in our league on final shots. Fortunately, we were able to recover in overtime and pull out the victory.



 Game 3: San Ramon 93 Escazu 91 (OT)

Thanks to the advantage in tiebreakers, we had the third game at home. It was a game worthy of a deciding game. Both teams had big runs, trading the lead over the course of the game. We took the lead in the first quarter. San Ramon took the lead in the second. The hot shooting from both sides in Game 2 was replaced by a much grittier encounter. What stayed the same was the duel between Giorgio (31 points)  and Mike (36 points). Our offence stalled in the third quarter and SR was able to capitalise, stretching out their lead to eleven. To make matters worse, Clifford Smith aggravated a leg injury forcing him to the bench.
Not a foul, obviously.
There are times when you just have to go with your gut. One of our bench wings, David Gourzong, hasn't played a lot this year. David has a demanding job as an engineer which affects his availability for practice. It's hard to get in the flow of things, both from an individual and team standpoint without court time. However, David is a good defender and a heady player, so I decided to roll with him and put him on the blazing hot Milligan. Another key development was Nino Williams picking up his fifth foul early in the quarter, which allowed us to do a better job of helping on penetrations to the basket. A string of defensive stops allowed us to quickly erase San Ramon's lead and tie things up with five minutes to go. Nick Leon was struggling with his outside shot, but he was able to get inside on dribble penetration, hitting some big shots and feeding Juan Carlos Rosich. There we were up six point with a little over a minute left.

Now look, I don't like to harp on refereeing. There is big room for improvement in this league. The bad officiating affects all teams, and I'm fully aware that San Ramon got some horrible calls as well. What is tough to digest is when all the calls go against you in the deciding moments of the game, and there were four tough calls in the last minute or so, including a phantom foul on a three-point shot (Gourzong on Milligan) and a very quick five second count while we have the ball with ten seconds to go, up three. San Ramon got the ball in the hands of Daniel Simmons for a three point shot, which our shot blocker decided to challenge. Unfortunately, he came down on the shooter, giving him three shots at the line. Simmons...this clutch motherfucker hit all three free throws to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Gourzong on Milligan

Unlike Friday's night game, my team was very deflated that the game went to an extra period; we had let the game slip through our fingers. The refs blew three fouls on San Ramon on our first three possessions in OT, as if they felt guilty about those questionable calls to end the game. Things got tough when Michael was called for his fifth foul. San Ramon took a quick three point lead, but we were able to tie the game with two big free throws from Juan Carlos Rosich. With 18 seconds to go, San Ramon had the final possession to win the game. Coach Jorge Arguello put the ball in Giorgio Milligan's hands. Giorgio  was able to turn the corner and get close enough to the basket to hit the game winner over our help defenders as the final whistle sounded. Game and series over.

Notes

  • We had back-to-back 30 point performances form Michael Jackson and Giorgio Milligan in this series, despite each defence's best attempts to slow them down. Michael also added in 16 and 18 rebounds in those games.
  • The refs decided to start calling technicals on flops in the playoffs, something they had not been doing during the regular season. It's like the exact opposite of what they should be doing. Those technicals were brutal for San Ramon in Game 2 and crucial for us in Game 3 (technical on a jumper in the fourth quarter? C'mon, get serious). 
  • Barva and San Ramon will square off in the finals of Apertura. Coming up next, Clausura.