Players often don't see how the pieces connect - how players work together, how a drill intersects offensive or defensive structure, how specific actions affect the likelihood of success, or how culture defines us.
When assembling a puzzle, we start at the corners (cornerstones) and the edges. Then we fill the puzzle. What identity defines you - a corner, an edge, or the working class pieces? We can't construct the puzzle without every piece. Everyone knows the frustration of missing a piece or two that prevents completion.
The organization builds personnel, strategy (tactics), and operations (technique).
Day-to-day, players need to know how the pieces intersect. What is my role? Why are we doing this drill? Why play this defense? Can we fit pieces together?
Teams have a wealth of analytics - what's our defensive 3 point percentage, defensive efficiency (points per possession), perimeter defense?
Do we allow points on offensive rebounds, in transition, in the paint? Define the problem; find the solution.
The 2008 NBA champion Celtics employed a strategic tradeoff, fewer offensive rebounds to reduce opponents transition offense. If you're weaker in one area, you better overcompensate with strengths.
Basketball and military offensive domains overlap...infantry, cavalry, artillery. Infantry is the power game, cavalry transition, and artillery the ever-evolving perimeter attack. Rarely you have teams ('86 Celtics - Bird, McHale, Parish, Johnson, Ainge, Walton) who excel at each. Some coaches suffer the fooldom of having none.
The puzzle pieces apply to all three dimensions of execution - personnel, strategy, and operations.
Corners. Do you have foundational players? How will you employ them? Among the triad of size, athleticism, and skill, if size dominates, then you will try to control the ends of the court. If you lack size but have athleticism and skill, a sensible philosophy seeks hegemony over the middle of the floor. Was the Triangle Offense the difference or Jordan and Bryant?
Edges. Dean Smith employed the blue and white teams as an 'edge' at Carolina. Roy Williams "green lights" shooters who can make sixty percent of threes in practice. Nolan Richardson preached "forty minutes of hell" at Arkansas. Pete Carril's Princeton Tigers foreshadowed contemporary play with perimeter shots and backdoor cuts.
The Proletariat. Excellent leadership requires great followership.
The "deep bench" guys especially have to buy in to their roles of service and support. They have to practice hard to temper the 'rotation players' and maintain positive attitudes with limited minutes. If they don't want to be there, then we have to oblige them. You won't find problem children (a.k.a. knuckleheads) at the end of the bench. Headaches go away.
Bobby Knight believed in flexibility when it suited his needs. If players had preferences about practice time or meals that don't impact core values, he threw them a bone.
Technique bonus:
When the post is doubled (and the defense knows what they're doing), she should look weak side high for the open player.
