Missing Dunks

[Reality]

I'm not talking about when you get the board, go up strong in heavy traffic so as to avoid getting blocked.  Simply can't quite muscle it above the rim.  It happens.

I'm talking shots where you could easily lay it on the rim or backboard, but instead you go for the dunk for showboat effect, and miss the shot.

I'm talking about A Stoudamire last night with 1:45 to go in the game.  Left the pick n rolled towards the hoop.  Nash threw the oop right on q.  Stoudamire was a little too far from the basket to catch n slam, but caught the oop and could have easily just layed it off the glass or smooched it into the rim.  No.  He tries to do the macho oop-dunk.  Misses badly.

I'm coach you're getting reemed.
You're the coach what are you gonna do?

[rickortreat]

Use a little humour to defuse the situation.  I know that players feed off the emotion of a slam, but in going for it, they sometimes kill that emotion with a miss of an easy bucket.  You know the player feels embarrassed, so you suggest that it would have been better if he has settled for a lay in instead of a dunk.  They both count two points, so what's the difference?

That's the difference between a pro who gets the job done no matter what, vs. a player who does it thinking style over substance.  You've get to get them to think like pro's.