Tim "The Target" Sullivan
News
By Bill Bruton Jr.
Sports Editor
Batavia Daily News
2 Apollo Drive
Batavia, NY 14020
585-343-8000 ext.136
http://thedailynewsonline.com/sports/article_cf77df6e-daf1-11e2-a509-0019bb2963f4.html
Tim “The Target” Sullivan thinks he’s found the secret to shooting a basketball. Long known as a top professional shooting instructor, the Batavia native claims that a little more than four months ago he figured out a way to make anyone a great shooter. In the past, he could get players to put their shots on line but couldn’t control for distance. He thinks he’s solved that. “It’s time for recognition. The thing I wanted, I said people need to learn how to control distance. It’s not that way anymore. I can get someone instantly,” said Sullivan, 53, a 1978 Notre Dame High School graduate. “Right now. And when you miss, the amount of times you’re able to balance and (control) your motor memory, your torque, is going to increase, but you never have to change your frame of mind.” Is shooting a basketball an art or a science?
Most basketball experts would tell you it’s a little of both, but Sullivan leans toward the science. “The validation of a machine is to alleviate variables,” Sullivan said. “I’ve done all that.” Sullivan has done work for Attack Athletics for the past five years, analyzing NBA players and prospects. “He’s got a system that’s different than everything else that’s out there,” said Tim Grover, Michael Jordan’s longtime trainer and the owner of Attack Athletics in Chicago. Grover is working on putting out products involving that knowledge. “We’re putting it together where we can put it out on the mass market,” Grover said. “(To show) why what we’re doing is different than what’s out there now.”“I consult with (Sullivan) quite a bit. I’ll have him watch film of a guy that’s not shooting right,” Grover said. “We try to figure things out.” Mike Hopkins, former Syracuse University guard and longtime Orange assistant coach, has seen Sullivan’s work first-hand at the Big Orange camps. “He’s an amazing shooter, but more than that he’s an amazing teacher,” said Hopkins, widely believed to be the next Syracuse head coach when Jim Boeheim finally steps down. The SU assistant recalled Sullivan working with Hopkins’ 9-year-old son, Grant, who could barely get the ball to the rim. Soon enough, Grant made five shots in a row. “He’s got that unique ability to transfer his knowledge to kids,” Hopkins said. “When he gets you rolling, he gets you rolling.” Buddy Brasky, longtime varsity boys basketball coach at Batavia High School, has been working on hoop camps with Sullivan for almost 20 years. At one time they ran the YMCA’s Camp Hough basketball camp. They now do a six-week Basketball Training Camp in July and August at Batavia City Schools that emphasizes offensive skill development. “I’ve seen Sully progress in his craft. I saw the stuff he was teaching the kids. ... I told him ‘You should try to pursue going national.’ I encouraged him maybe 10 to 12 years ago,” Brasky said. One of the reasons Brasky started the six-week camp was so players could be exposed to Sullivan’s skills for more than an afternoon or two. “I noticed that way back when we ran the Y camp together. He was just at the beginning of figuring everything out. He’d make 50, 60, 70 shots in a row,” Brasky said. “The kids were mesmerized. He’s narrowed it down year after year. Right now he thinks he’s really got it. He’s finally got his schema down. It was like trial and error for him.”
Shooting Star Sullivan has won shooting competitions against former NBA stars like Hersey Hawkins, Dale Ellis and Glen Rice.Five years ago he captured the 35-and-over division title at the Still Hoopin’ 3-on-3 Classic 3-point shooting contest, which took place near New York City. Sullivan, 48, at the time, made 21 out of 25 attempts in the finals. “He’s (Sullivan) phenomenal. He’s a great technician,” Robert Marder, Still Hoopin’ founder, said at the time. “In these contests, he’s tough to beat.” Watching Sullivan shoot in a gym can be an amazing experience. At a photo shoot at the YMCA for this piece, Sullivan picked up a ball and started shooting with no warmup. Everything he put up swished. Everyone who’s worked with him seems to have an anecdotal story or two. “I saw him make 299 out of 300 3-pointers rebounding for himself. I witnessed that at the YMCA,” Brasky said. “ I can’t believe there’s a better shooter in the country.” Sullivan’s personal record is 293 3-pointers in a row, a stunning accomplishment. “He’s one of the best shooters I’ve ever seen,” Grover said. “If he was in a shooting contest, I’d take him against almost anybody.”
Johnny Biegas has known Sullivan since he was a kid. He is one of Sullivan’s biggest backers, and thinks his life story is worthy of ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” which is something he is pursuing. “I’ve been involved in basketball all my life. He’s the best shooter I’ve ever seen in my life. If you went to any coach around here, these coaches know him. He’s a freak of nature because of his ADHD. He has a system. Nobody’s ever done this before,” Biegas said. “I don’t think he even realizes he’s basically the best shooter in the world.” When he talks about shooting in the abstract, Sullivan uses words and phrases that can go over the head of even knowledgable basketball people. Terms like “propietal septive muscle motor memory” and “exact dissected deveation tolerance” come at you at a rapid fire pace. “He’s like the mad scientist. But when he gets on the court, then players can understand it. He does a good job of that,” Brasky said. “He has simplified it. (I told him) ‘Simplify it so I can teach it for the kids.’ He’s been working with my players all these years. I give him credit and one of the reasons we’ve been so successful.” Brasky has led Batavia to five sectional titles and four Far West Regional crowns in his tenure. His squads have also won nine Monroe County League titles. Grover can relate from his talks with Sullivan. “I said ‘No one’s going to understand where you’re coming from.’ I said ‘You have to simplify it, you have to really simplify it,’” Grover said. But when Sullivan shows you what he means on the basketball court, he keeps it simple and easy to understand. “Just make sure your thumbnail and elbow are in the basket at the end,” Sullivan said. “He’s made a science out of it,” Hopkins said. Sullivan is starting to make a name for himself around the country as well.
Earlier this season, he worked with Los Angeles Lakers star Dwight Howard on his foul shooting. After one session, Howard’s shooting percentage improved dramatically, which was mentioned in an article in the Los Angeles Times.
Men’s Health magazine ran an article in which it asked Sullivan to analyze Mario Chalmers’ dramatic 3-pointer for Kansas near the end of regulation that sent the 2008 NCAA title game into overtime against Memphis, which Kansas eventually won. Chalmers’ form utilized everything Sullivan teaches. It’s all validation for what Sullivan has preached for a long time with little recognition outside basketball circles. “There were times that if I didn’t come up with that (four) months ago, I was seriously considering getting out of it and going back to teaching,” Sullivan said.
Struggles
Sullivan isn’t the same person he was a few years ago. He’s got a little harder edge to him. “‘Don Quixote’ you called me years ago. I was, but I’m not that guy now. I am but I’m not,” Sullivan said. “I’m not a romantic shoot in the gym till you bust your (butt). (Four) months ago I discovered it. Tim Grover, next year, is breaking this out full bore. That’s the story.” It’s been a long road. Sullivan has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and figures he’s always had it. “To the max.
A lot of folks that have disorders like this, for their shortcomings, they almost have to find something that they can hook on to. Because it’s hard,” he said. “I couldn’t walk or talk until I was 4 years old. I spent time in summer schools. I’ve suffered a lot. “I was a teacher. I got fired (at Perry) because I couldn’t pass the test because I could hardly read. I took it nine times and I finally passed it. I’m not a teacher now, but I finally passed that certification test. I was not going to stop until I got that.” He still struggles with ADHD. In his apartment in Perry, he has various
cupboards and compartments marked so he knows where to find things. When he was coming in for a photo shoot at the studio at The Daily News, he was asked if he could bring a basketball with him. “Sure,” he said, but when he arrived and stepped out of his car, there was no basketball. “You told me to bring one, didn’t you?” he said sheepishly, requiring a change of plans and a quick trip to the YMCA.
More than a decade ago he came up with a shooting device called “The Release” that he received a patent on. He invested a lot of time, effort and money. But the product never came out. There was a disagreement over money, and the product sat. Sullivan had already quit his teaching job at Notre Dame High School, thinking he would be earning his money promoting the product. At around the same time, there was a fire at the apartment he was living in in Bergen that forced him from his home. He had no insurance.
“I lost everything,” Sullivan said. With no money, and no place to live, things got bad. “I was homeless, 2004, 2005, totally homeless, living in my car. I had absolutely nothing,” said Sullivan, who would sometimes also stay with friends. He kept doing clinics to get back on his feet. “When my family split, I honestly and sincerely have been able to strike up clinics and stay alive because my daughter and I are so close. It sounds maybe a
little fishy, but it’s definitely not,” Sullivan said.
Pro Dreams
Even into his mid- and late 40s, Sullivan thought he could still play professional basketball, despite being just 5-foot-9 and having been only a walk-on at Canisius College, where he graduated two decades before in 1982. At age 42, he had a tryout with the Adirondack Wildcats of the United States Basketball League. He trained 5 to 7 hours a day for several months with shooting, ballhandling, layups, jumping rope, weightlifting and conditioning. He got his weight down to 167 pounds and his body fat between 5 and 8 percent. He would work out at the Y, and later shoot hoops in the gym at Notre Dame until 1 or 2 in the morning, catch a few hours sleep and be back at school teaching.
In 1991, Sullivan turned down a chance to play in an NBA Summer League on a team with friend Mike Smrek, a former NBA player and fellow Canisius alumnus. Sullivan was working toward his master’s degree at the time while working as a physical education teacher for the Perry Central School System. “I didn't get my master’s in time anyway, and I lost my job,” said Sullivan. He refused to let that dream die. In 2004 he attended IBA tryouts and was one of the last cuts. About seven years ago, he was signed by the Buffalo Rapids of the American Basketball Association. He suited up for a couple of games, but didn’t get in any.
He was still pursuing that dream a few years ago until he had a rude awakening. He had atrial fibrillation already, and pushing himself to make the team exaserbated the problem. “I made the Rochester RazorSharks and I almost died, because of my heart. You’ll see I made the training camp and I was doing really good. Then on Dec. 15, 2009,
my heart started to go, and I almost bought the farm.” He was rushed to Strong Memorial Hospital.
“I had my last rites because they couldn’t stop my heart,” he said. He didn’t go into cardiac arrest, but his dreams of playing pro ball were finally over.
Father First
Over a decade ago, Sullivan said he wanted to coach in the NBA. But that was before his family split up. Besides basketball, the other love in Sullivan’s life is his daughter, Hannah, 13. He claims he turned down a job as an assistant coach in the NBA in 2006 because he didn’t want to be away from her. “If my family was together, I would be gone. My family would probably go with me, but we’re not,” says Sullivan, who is divorced from Hannah’s mom. “I’m part of her life every day. Will I someday want to do that in the NBA? I would love to do that. But there’s nothing more that I treasure than my daughter, and the time that I’ve had,” Sullivan said earlier this year. Since then, he is startng to feel differently. His daughter is older now, and her encouragement has led to a change of heart.
She recently gave him permission to try and get an NBA job. “I’ve got this stuff down, and I’m finally in a position to accept this job,” Sullivan said. “I’ve got to get in the NBA, and I’m going to. I’m going to be applying for jobs as soon as the season’s over.” Besides his daughter, his focus is on shooting. He admits he’s obsessed with it. He’s hoping to help others with Attack Athletics and its products, as well as a video Tim and Biegas are trying to sell but need investors. To help with the marketing They feel with God’s help someone will step in and help “(Four) months ago Attack Athletics discovered quadradic function guarantee make. The guarantee make, the cure. It’s the cure.
Someone can say ‘What do you mean?’ Because I guarantee any Jimmy or Johnny that goes out to shoot indoors — not outdoors, because of the wind — if at the end of their shot they can somehow manage to get the thumbnail and elbow in the basket, that’s it. They have endured all the (baloney),” he says. He also hopes to pay back those who invested in him and his ideas over the years. “There’s guys in Batavia who stuck with me financially, that now are going to enjoy what is happening. And it’s Kenny (Mistler), Johnny (Biegas) and others,”
Sullivan said.
Tim’s Time
Sullivan feels that this is now his time. “Tim Grover listened to me for years. He brought me up,” he said. “We sat in gyms. We looked at videos. Tim and I, we’ve labored. And (four) months ago, I got it, I got it.” But listening to him talk, you get the feeling it’s not about money or recognition with Sullivan — it’s about helping people shoot better for the pure joy of it. If those other things come with it, that would be gravy. “I’m idealistic as heck,” Sullivan said.
He’s hoping this is his big shot. I can make anyone a great shooter. Sullivan also said, all you have to do is write or call me