He's scoring more, although that's not typically Joe's game. He's stepped his intensity up a notch, which has improved his defense. He's rebounding more which is tough, because he vertically challenged, so to speak. Still, he's probably the only player on his team that boxes players out - actually puts his body on them - and consistently fights for rebounding position. His ball handling has improved, although his left hand needs work. He's turning the ball over a lot less. Most importantly, he runs the offense with confidence and continues to be an excellent passer, which is helped by the fact that he sees the basketball court so well.
After last night's game at Murfreesboro Riverdale H.S. - a 10 point loss to bigger, more athletic team - I talked to Coach Street for a few minutes. Laughing, he told me it was hard for him to take Joe out for the game, because Joe always makes the right basketball play.
Joe always makes the right basketball play.
As a father, as a coach, as a sports fan, there's probably nothing a coach could say that would make me prouder than that. That's especially true because what Jude and I are trying to do is raise two boys who "always make the right play." In basketball, in baseball, academically, but more importantly, in life. What more can a parent want than a child that "always makes the right play."
Last night, off the opening tip, Joe drove the lane and got fouled on a lay up. He hit both free throws, although the second was disallowed when a teammate hopped in the lane too soon. A minute or to later, he hit a three pointer, which was big because Joe has struggling this season with his outside shooting. He finished with seven points and should have had nine, after missing a chippy in the lane on a nifty drive in the second half.
What was most impressive, though, was all of other winning basketball plays Joe made throughout the game. On offense, he penetrated into the lane several times, then kicked the ball out to a teammate for an open three. He played unselfishly, because that's who Joe is on and off the basketball court. He guarded one of the other teams big men with an unmatched intensity, bodying him so much when he was fronting him in the paint to deny him the ball that the boy shoved Joe. This happens once a game, actually, because Joe is not afraid to be physical with a player bigger than him. It gets Joe fired up. It gets his teammates fired up. It gets the parents fired upon. Hell, it gets me fired up, to see Joe fight and battle, in the post, undersized every time.
After the game, one of his teammates' parents pulled me aside and complimented Joe on how hard he played on defense, particularly on how he defended bigger players in the post. I beamed with pride. Not because Joe's the most skilled, most talented, or most athletic player. He's not. But no one on this team works harder, plays with more intensity or with more confidence, at least not as of late.
When you think about it, there's a life lesson in there, too. Defense the post. When you're outmanned, outgunned, out-talented, defend the post. Inspire others with how hard you work, with how hard you defend the post.
There was one play last night that, for me, encapsulates where Joe is a basketball player at this exact moment in time. The pace had become a bit frenetic, up and down the court. Our boys were pressing in the backcourt after a made basket, which resulted in the other team running a modified fast break. As a guard passed a ball to the middle of the court, Joe, in a dead spring, got his hand on the ball as the player started to dribble and tipped it away from him for a steal. The trailing referee called a foul, although he was out of position to do so.
As play stopped and our parents grumbled, Joe reacted with a concentrated fury, throwing his hands up in the air but walking away as he did so, careful not to show up the referee. I loved the intensity. That's Joe. He didn't complain after his brief outburst. He just walked down court and got ready to play defense. He was so into the moment, the competition, and that's what I loved the most, I think.
I called my friend, Isaac Conner, on the way home. Ike played basketball in college at UTC and is an outstanding basketball coach. I've coached his boys, Cyrus and Elias, in baseball. When JP was about the same age as Joe is not, he played a season for Ike. Ike is intense and he coached JP hard, which I absolutely loved. It completely changed the trajectory of JP's baseball career, such as it was. He got more confident, played better defense, and rebounded better. I think that season playing for Ike is why JP played, and stared, on the MBA basketball team in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grade.
The spring basketball season has been a similar experience for Joe, I think. Coach Street is a lot like Ike. Intense. Focused. Demanding in a good way. Joe has thrived in much the same way JP did at the same age.
I'm just so damn proud of Joe. It's not always easy, it seems to me, to be JP Newman's little brother. Still, Joe is making his own way, carving out his own identity. That's what I want and that's what he seems to be doing.
Joe always makes the right basketball play.
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