From Jeff Goodman of FOXSports.com:
The Phoenix Suns training camp is a popular place these days.
Coaches from Ohio State, Oregon, Rhode Island, Wake Forest and UMass - and the North Carolina women’s team - flocked to Tucson, Ariz., to watch Mike D’Antoni’s practices on Tuesday.
"They are really ahead of the curve when it comes to spacing and penetrate and kick,” Rhode Island assistant Pat Skerry said. “We’re getting a lot out of it.”
“It’s intriguing the way they keep floor spacing,” added Arizona assistant Josh Pastner, who is also watching the Suns this week at the McKale Center and has ventured to Phoenix numerous times in the past. "Their system is pretty innovative, but it doesn’t hurt that they have Steve Nash running it. "
Rhode Island will be one of the favorites to win the Atlantic-10 this season after head coach Jim Baron returns just about everyone from a team that went 19-14 last season.
Skerry said that they watched two practices on Tuesday and then were invited into an X’s and O’s session later at night.
"This will help us a lot,” said Skerry, whose program has employed a fast-paced style recently with the addition of plenty of high-caliber athletes. "You think that they just let them go, but there’s a lot of organization to what the Suns do. It’s no free for all.”
Link: College Hoop Blog: Good 'N Plenty
I have been saying for years that our coaches need to do something like this to learn how to teach defense. They need to go to some team which always plays good defense (NBA or College), and have some real good sit down sessions with them to go over X’s and O’s, and film.
I have been saying for years that our coaches need to do something like this to learn how to teach defense. They need to go to some team which always plays good defense (NBA or College), and have some real good sit down sessions with them to go over X's and O's, and film.
they don’t play defense in the nba.
[QUOTE=ninerball49;261004]they don’t play defense in the nba.[/QUOTE]
If that were true, then Rodney White would still be there instead of playing for European teams like Victoria Libertas Pesaro and Lagun Aro Bilbao.
Now, it’s one thing to be waived by the Golden State Warriors and quite another when its Lagun Aro Bilbao! :huh: :rolleyes: 
they don't play defense in the nba.
The Detroit Pistons were an outstanding defensive team for years, plus I also said “or College”, so any defensively proficient team would also do.
Proper spacing, what a concept.
More on Travis Ford’s attending NBA training camp and the change of playing style at UMass now that Freeman and Lasme are gone:
AMHERST - With the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team scheduled to open its season a month from today, coach Travis Ford and his staff are in Boston for their annual preseason retreat.
Among the things Ford planned to discuss were the drills and ideas he picked up last week in Arizona. Ford annually attends an NBA training camp and he headed to Tucson this year to observe the Phoenix Suns. Coach Mike D’Antoni’s full-court, up-tempo approach is similar to the style Ford wants to use in Amherst.
‘It went great. I was interested in seeing how they implement that style of play and learning different drills,’ Ford said. 'This staff was the most genuine and accessible staff that I’ve ever been around.
‘We’re going to play very similar to how they play,’ Ford added. ‘We’ll put our own little tweaks to it, but we’ll be very perimeter-oriented, spreading the court, playing very up-tempo. It’s always good to go get new fresh new ideas, especially with the success they’ve had lately. It’s always good to pick up some drills and see what they emphasize for the way they play.’
UMass begins practice Friday night at Midnight Madness, which won’t quite reach midnight because this year’s event runs from 8:30 to 11 p.m. at the Curry Hicks Cage. The real preparation will begin Saturday.
Because of the frontcourt talent of Rashaun Freeman and Stephane Lasme, Ford put the brakes on his preferred up-tempo, pressing style his first two seasons at UMass.
But with those two big men gone, Ford is planting the roots of a system that he will use not only next month at the BTI Tip-Off Tournament in Cedar Falls, Iowa, but presumably years down the road as well.
‘The last couple years we played a different style to try to adapt to the personnel we had. But with the makeup for this year’s team I think it fits us,’ Ford said. ‘We’ll recruit more towards that. They young kids don’t know any different and the older guys have a good basketball IQ and it will fit their style as well.’
Link: DailyHampshireGazette.com
