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SHOOTER’S MENTALITY
NILES
Pull it — two words every shooter wants to hear from a coach. In most cases it requires a level of consistency that’s exhibited over time. A trust factor between the player and the bench.
Cameron Kane has developed all of that.
The Niles junior has been given a green light this season and as a result, leads the area in scoring with 25.8 points per game.
The undersized 5-foot-8 guard is shooting 47 percent from the floor, including 44 percent from the 3-point line, and is a 75 percent free throw shooter.
He’s had eight 30-point games this year and averages more than four 3-pointers per contest.
It’s that type of consistency that’s given Red Dragons head coach Ron Price trust in his guard to fire at will.
“It’s what hard work does,” Price said. “There’s not a lot of kids that do that anymore, as many shots as he shots a day.
“He’s just totally committed.”
Thing is, Kane says he wasn’t even a good shooter a few years ago. But he’s had a growing aspiration to improve that part of his game.
“I used to shoot with the ball behind my head and everything was all messed up,” Kane recalled. “I’d say around ninth grade is when I really started focusing on shooting.”
“Everybody else, they started getting taller. I wasn’t really getting taller [in middle school], so I tried to focus on shooting to open up more.”
The transformation didn’t happen overnight. From the conclusion of his sophomore year to the start of this season, Kane estimated 10,000 practice shots in the gym. But it had to have been more. His summer regimen was 850 shots — daily.
“It was normally two to two-and-a-half hours with my trainer,” he said. “Practicing all kind of jumpers. I didn’t want to limit myself to just being a spot up shooter or a pull up shooter.
“I tried to practice everything with just lots of repetitions.”
It’s paid off in the form of big-time scoring numbers this year. Kane hasn’t had a single-digit scoring output this season and it wasn’t until halfway through the Red Dragons’ schedule that he was held to less than 20 points.
He also benefits from playing in Price’s shoot-first system. The 10th-year coach often finds himself yelling “pull-it” three to four times a game for his young shooter, no matter the spot on the floor.
“Sometimes he’s probably saying, ‘Geez oh man, where am I at here,’ but we have all the confidence in him,” Price said. “When you’re a good shooter, you’ve got to have short-term memory.”
If there’s one part of Kane’s mindset that needs fine-tuning, it’s that, says Price. He’s sat down with his guard at various times this season and talked about tying to become less of a perfectionist during in-game situations.
Last year, Price said he would see Kane hang his head after a missed shot. This year, he’s worked a lot with him on body language and has seen great strides.
“I told him being a perfectionist is OK in practice, but in a game you gotta let it go,” Price said. “If you miss one you gotta forget about it.”
Price still sees an occasional grimace across Kane’s face when he misses a shot he feels he should make, but it’s that type of psyche that keeps him shooting for improvement.
“I definitely want to get better at shooting still,” Kane said. “Even though I’ve made a lot, I’ve missed a lot of wide-open ones.”
For those looking for a scouting report on the Niles guard, good luck. He says his favorite spot is at the top of the key, behind the arc. But he’s also been know to let it go from five-feet behind the 3-point line. A lot of teams try to play a zone defense on the Red Dragons, with height up front to bother the shooter’s sweet spot.
The junior can still be considered a volume shooter — he’s taken 360 shots in 21 games this season — but he also leads his team in assists (4.2) per game. Kane says he’s not afraid to move around and his coach is never afraid to give him the signal.
“He has the green light, as a lot of our kids do,” Price said. “His is probably a double green. Some other kids might be green-yellow, but he’s a double green light, without question.”
Kane and the rest of the Red Dragons (12-9) will try and play spoiler in this year’s Division II tournament. Sixth-seeded Niles hosts Salem in a first-round match-up tonight with a date at No. 2 Canfield on the line.
“One good thing about this team is we’re never out of a game,” Kane said.
Sounds like a shooter’s mentality.