Specialty basketball camps offered by former NBA coach

High school players looking to improve on guard and post play can receive instruction by a Utah native who has taught the game at the highest level. Barry Hecker, who coached in the NBA for more than two decades, will run a camp Aug. 1-4 at Albion Middle School, located at 2755 Newcastle Drive in Sandy, for boys and girls entering ninth through 12th grades.

A guard-specific session will be held during those days from 9 to 11 a.m. with a forward/center session scheduled from 1 to 3 p.m.

“For those who are serious about improving their skills and knowledge of playing the perimeter, we will cover creating shots, penetration skills and shots, creating for others, pick and roll, turnouts and using screens to get shots, entry passes to the post, pushing the ball on rebounds and the proper way to run the fast break while also emphasizing fundamentals of footwork, dribbling, passing and shooting,” said Hecker, who coached guard play during his time with the Los Angeles Clippers.

“For the forward and center positions in the post and facing the basket, we will teach footwork, fundamentals of getting open in the post areas, creating a target for the passer, locating defense, executing the proper move, the drop step, jump hook, running hook, jump shot and counters,” he said, bringing his knowledge from his most recent coaching stint at the Memphis Grizzlies where he coached the forwards and centers.

The cost for each session is $160. To register, visit www.sandy.utah.gov/735/Basketball-Youth.

Hecker, who lives in Murray, said the values he has learned from his basketball coaching journey—beginning at Oxon Hill High School in Maryland and spanning through Salt Lake Community College and stints with the Clippers, Grizzlies and the Cleveland Cavaliers—are invaluable. Being able to share those principles of hard work, teamwork, unselfishness and persistence, along with the physical skills of the game itself, with others thrills him.

“I don’t care who I coach or when I coach,” Hecker, who has worked with former Jazz players Mike Conley and Rudy Gay, said. “I simply enjoy teaching the game. It’s great to see a smile on someone’s face as they experience success. If you help somebodHecker has conducted clinics all over the world for more than 40 years, including many since his retirement from coaching in the NBA. He said he particularly enjoys working with the youth.

“If you teach skills, that leads to confidence and that confidence can allow anyone to do anything they want,” he said. “I have more fun with young kids than with the pros. In the NBA, you have guys who are making millions and they don’t listen. These kids are making nothing and they’ll listen to you.” λ