Training Camp Day 3 Practice 1

Posted on September 29, 2008

10:30 AM Good morning from Richmod.   Dave Johnson here.My sincere thanks to all who jumped on over the weekend and even if you can't jump on during practice, I   go back and look at all the posts so feel free to post a question anytime. Count down until the officially start of practice at 10:45 AM....but everyone has been in the gym here at the Siegel Center for some time. "Coach Arenas" as Eddie callled him has been bringing guys over early to shoot. By 9 AM there is usually   14 or more players here shooting. 10:45 AM...Center court for thew huddle...here we go..in case you missed some of Eddie's comments about yesterday On today’s practice: “I saw a lot of great effort from Dee Brown, Dominic (McGuire) and Andray Blatche. Andray is playing better and at a higher level consistently so far in training camp.” On Dominic McGuire: “He is almost a different player (than last season). He understands what we are doing. He understands his role and he is playing at a very high level. You can see the seriousness in him. We saw his improvement in summer league and he has been on pace to improve from the end of the last season until summer league. We now see his improvement from summer league to the beginning of training camp.” On Dee Brown: “He is doing a great job of pushing the ball up the court. He is a tough Chicago guy that is relatively young. He does a good job of talking on the court. He also gets into you defensively. He shot is a whole lot better than we saw two years ago.” On Antawn Jamison: “He did a lot of shooting before practice. He did some walk through drills and that was it for precautionary measures.” 10:47 AM…drills underway…igoing over offense…. 10:59 AM..the offensive walk through done…strength coach Drew Cleary now takes over for stretching and warm up 11:07 AM in groups of three.Randy Ayers leading a drill on defensive footwork…help on close outs 11:15 AM..we have two floors to work from…in fact the wizards brought down their own floors…the main floor and the pratice floor….two groups..looks like same drill… two guys running the floor and then a coach serves as a defender on 2 v1 11:19 AM …cones on the foor.. 2 groups going one one one..cones limiting where they can dribble 11:22 AM..now the offense player coming down a lane outlined by cones…purpose is for the defense not to get beat….dee brown does not give an inch on D 11:26 AM…now cones gone…working in transition up and down the court 4 on 3 11:31 AM..now five on 3 starts with a rebound..want to see four or five passes 11:41 AM now 5 v5 rotating players 11:52 AM...now half court 5 on 3 11:55 AM... Dave Hopla on court instructing 3 man weave up   and down..loking for pass pass layup NOON..now 5 on 5…not scrimmage…eddie and mike o koren working with one group..randy ayers and phil hubbar another 12:07 PM 3 referees have been introduced 12:30 PM...alright 4 on 4..working on ball denial 12:40PM...5 v 5..first team to 7..each basket counts as one..need to make two free throws   to get one point at the line