GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Bobby Nash is a work in progress. He's constantly trying to improve as a basketball player.
One thousand shots a day. Rigorous work paying
Iolani gets top seed
dividends for Iolani’s Nash
By Tim Crouse
tcrouse@starbulletin.comIolani senior Bobby Nash figures that's how many shots he takes on a regular basis. And even when he puts down the basketball, he doesn't forget about his art.
"I shoot all the time," Nash said. "I shoot in my sleep. I shoot while I'm at the dinner table.
"Repetition is the key to getting better."
The lanky 6-foot-7 forward, in the final week of his high school basketball career, has come a long way since he was a freshman. The son of Hawaii great Bob Nash, Bobby has worked hard to find success on the court -- the Raiders have been to two straight state title games, winning last year -- and off it -- he sported a 4.0 GPA last quarter.
Nash has been able to meet superstars like Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant because of his father's NBA connections, and the senior remembers watching Bryant several years ago when the Los Angeles Lakers trained in Hawaii in the preseason.
Nash said he watched Bryant take 500 jump shots to begin practice, go "full tilt" during practice, then shoot another 500 jump shots -- "to get that complete thousand.
"Then he would go and lift (weights), then come back and shoot another 500 shots," Nash said.
Nash -- who will play basketball for the Rainbows in the fall -- starts his shooting practices working on his rotation and form. He then spends the next hour, hour and a half shooting.
"Repetition and all that dedication to what you're doing is really key," he said.
Bryant provided that particular lesson, but much of what Nash has learned, he's learned from his father.
Bobby doesn't get to work out as often now with his father, the longtime assistant coach to Riley Wallace at UH. But Nash views that as a positive.
"My father has always told me you have to be self-motivated, not only in basketball but in life," Nash said. "If you can jump-start yourself and get up in the morning and make your bed, just those little things, they'll be good habits that you acquire. That's how you'll succeed."
YOU CAN'T talk to Bobby Nash for very long before he mentions his parents. Bobby has obviously watched how his father has handled himself, and appreciates the lessons he's been able to learn from his father and his mother Domelynne.
"Every day I wake up I feel blessed to have two parents who are extremely supportive and just all-around beautiful people," Nash said.
"(My father) doesn't mind driving in the middle of the night, 12 o'clock, one o'clock, to go and shoot when I'm restless and thinking about my shot," Nash said. "He says 'OK, if you want to work on it, let's go work on it.' "
And Bobby obviously admires what his father achieved during his basketball career.
"No. 7 to Detroit -- that's a great accomplishment," he said, referring to his father getting picked seventh by the Detroit Pistons in the 1972 NBA Draft.
"He knows what it takes to get there and how much effort and work you have to put into it," Nash said. "I can only imagine how brutal his workouts used to be just to get ready for preseason. He's always told me to keep that mindset ... to keep plugging away and get better every single day."
And that's what Nash has tried to do in four seasons at Iolani.
"He's a competitor, he wants to win," Raiders coach Mark Mugiishi said. "He takes losing just as hard as anyone can take it."
Nash hasn't had to suffer very many losses in his four years. The Raiders always play a rigorous preseason schedule -- with games against nationally ranked teams during the Iolani Invitational -- but during the regular seasons and state tournaments, the team has gone 52-7 since Nash played his first game.
The Raiders have made the state tournament all four years and have won three Interscholastic League of Honolulu championships and one state crown. And Nash and Co. still have one more challenge this week at the state tournament.
Nash was second in the ILH in scoring this season at 14.6 points a game, right above teammate Derrick Low.
Nash had days and nights when he scored a lot of points -- including games of 27 and 25 -- and he also had matchups where he focused on other areas and let his teammates do the scoring. That's all part of his maturation process.
"When he first came to us his freshman year, like a lot of younger players, he defined how good he was by how many points he could score," Mugiishi said. "Over the course of the years he's come to realize that the game of basketball is so much more diverse than that.
"He's improved in all aspects of his game. He's by far and away our best rebounder and he plays great defense. For a big guy, he moves his feet extremely well. He's a very good passer. He sees the floor very well and he's an unselfish player."
Mugiishi thinks he'll fit in well at UH.
"The type of offense they run suits him well because he's an elbow jump shooter, and a mid-range shooter," Mugiishi said. "It's perfect for him because he'll get his shot off because of his size and he'll be very accurate."
And someday he may be taking 1,500 shots a day like Kobe Bryant -- just trying to get better.
Hawaii School Web Sites
