For the Northampton boys’ basketball team, the summer is a time to tone things down.

The Konkrete Kids once again began play recently in the Lehigh Valley Summer High School Boys’ Basketball League. The Kids are coming off a 10-14 season that ended in an opening-round district playoff loss to Parkland.

Second-year head coach Matt Scholl sees the summer as a time to experiment.

“So far, it has been a great opportunity for some of our younger guys since we’ve been missing a lot of the older guys due to track and baseball,” said Scholl. “So, we don’t put too much into wins and losses at this point.

“The summer is really our time to try new things and ask players to extend beyond their comfort zone, and that doesn’t always equate to positive outcomes and headlines initially.”

Scholl will look to returning starters J.J. Kolumber, Brody Graff and Tristen Pinnock to help set the early tone for the club. Graff and Pinnock are still sidelined with injuries from baseball and track respectively. Kolumber recently scored 20 points in a 52-34 victory over Saucon Valley.

However, the head coach still keeps everything in its proper perspective. A visit to Rutgers University also helped define the program.

“Our goal right now is to simplify things and stress the fundamentals throughout the summer as well as help each player to work on developing their individual skills.

“We had a great opportunity at Rutgers University to observe and talk with their coaching staff. It really reinforced our focus on fundamentals and the weight room. If every player gets stronger, faster, and develops the knowledge of their game, we will have more to work with come next season when we start putting the pieces together.”

Scholl expects his players to recognize the skills they can contribute.

“We have challenged our players this year to identify what they can bring to the table for us,” he added. “Are they a shooter, ballhandler, a back-to-the-basket big? Ideally, we want well-rounded players, but we think it’s important to give players goals so they can see that hard work pays off.

“Even as we strip things down, we will stress that anyone can play hard, box out, rebound, and play good help defense. We are focusing on commitment this summer, and so far, we have seen that from the players who have consistently showed up to our spring workouts are making big gains in the weight room and on the court.

“We’ll continue through the summer and fall, and I expect us to be a tough opponent for anyone come next winter.”