The movie had a great potential to do wonders but the director, and writer didn't do justice to the movie and cast. There are so many sports based movies that have done well. Champions didn't look like a sports movie at all. The actor didn't do justice as a basketball coach. The script could have been so different had it shown how coach taught those kids to play. No strategies, no motivation speeches...In one shot, coach joins the time, in next shot we see the players dunking balls through the basket. There was no bridge between how players became good players after he joined as a coach.
Then, his appearance, attitude was not like a coach at all. Director should have hired a real basketball coach to train the protagonist, act like a coach, should have brought in some strategies to teach kids...Example: The kid who threw the ball facing backwards could have been coached to still throw backwards but do it right...but it was a missed opportunity.
Sadly, a great cast was under utilized because of careless director and writer. This movie had a great potential to become an inspirational movie.