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Sunday, December 6, 2015

Getting Things Done

Legendary Coach Don Meyer wrote about three phases of coaching - blind enthusiasm, sophisticated complexity, and mature simplicity. Often the greatest challenge to getting things done is restraining yourself from putting too much on players' plates.

I know a few coaches who seem content to do ten things in a mediocre way rather than a couple really well. We can't allow that to happen. 

Again referencing Brian Hines' magnificent First, Fast, and Fearless, I share his approach to accomplishing the mission. 

  1. Establish a clear purpose. We play the highest quality basketball that we can. We commit to playing one style of play. We get more and better shots than our opponent. 
  2. Establish intermediate tasks. Stay on task. We pressure the ball everywhere. We attack the basket offensively. We convert immediately from defense to offense and offense to defense. 
  3. Clarify the 'end state'. We play fast. We move the basketball. We pass and cut. 
  4. Give guidance but encourage initiative. "Basketball is about making plays, not running plays." Take intelligent risks. A high-risk pass should lead to an easy basket. A high-risk defensive play should lead to a steal.  
  5. Define priorities. This is what's important. What we do a lot, we must do well
Catch players in the act of doing things right. Yesterday, we had a player who does a lot of things well score two baskets simply because she passed, cut, got return passes (from two separate players), and finished with a layup. It's far easier and more productive to make a give-and-go basketball play and a layup than drain eighteen footers. Simple is better. 

The efficient basketball play (such as the give-and-go) makes three people happy - the scorer, the passer, and the coach. 

In the first half yesterday, we put up forty-one shots and (because of pressing rules) we had sixty-six for the game. When we can play our game for thirty-two minutes, I see us getting eighty shots and making over thirty. I want every action in practice translating into game play to meet that vision.