Express yourself. We call it the "offseason"...a misnomer. Use the opportunity season, the time when players make or reinvent themselves. As a coach, I don't care what your friends or your parents say about your game, I rely on my lying eyes. Take a charge, pressure the ball, block out, set brutally clean screens, hit the open man. Show me.
Choose success. Charles Barkley recently said, "what is your NBA skill?" Dumb it down. Rick Pitino's book title described it as "Success Is a Choice." As a player (or student, musician, entrepreneur, et cetera), what are you doing to earn the right to succeed?
Here's an excerpt from Pitino's book:
"I listed four categories on the blackboard: basketball, school, work ethic, family. The four supposedly most important parts of my new players' lives. "How many of you want to be professional basketball players someday?" I asked. Virtually every hand in the room went up. "Well, since you've had a losing season last year and there is no one here in this room who averaged at least ten points a game last year, it's obvious you are not a success in the basketball part of your lives," I said, erasing one quarter of the blackboard. "And since I've seen your grade point averages, it's also obvious you aren't successful in school either." The room was silent as I erased another quarter of the blackboard. Then I turned to the trainer and asked him how many players had been in the gym every day since the season ended. I wanted to know how many had been working on their games. "No one, Coach," the trainer said. "So it's obvious you don't work hard either," I said, erasing another quarter of the blackboard. Then I started raising my voice. "Let's see," I said. "You aren't successful in basketball, you aren't successful in school, and you don't work hard. What's left?" I paused for emphasis. "Well, hopefully, you're a close team," I finally said. "Hopefully, you care about each other." "Oh, we do, Coach," said a player named Harold Starks. "We're a close team." I pretended to think for a minute. "Okay, Harold, how many brothers does Steve Wright have?" Starks slowly shook his head. "What does Billy Donovan's father do for a living?" Harold now looked like a deer stuck in the headlights. "So you really don't know anything about each other, do you?" I asked. No one spoke."
Be aggressive. John Wooden had many maxims, including "be quick but don't hurry." There's defensive truth embedded. Excellent defenders force the action. Force the offensive player to hurry. Force a hurried player to make bad decisions, poor quality shots, to drive into traffic, throw an errant pass, or travel.
Compete. Leave no doubt. Give them nothing. Win this possession.Stop your assignment from scoring while defending in a team concept. Remember, the ball scores...not just your player. Clair Bee wrote that defense "comprehends a personalized duel". Have the mindset to succeed mano-a-mano.
Communicate. Talk. Talk. Talk. I coach middle school girls. They love to talk...except on the basketball court. Truth be told, I don't have the answer. Call screens, cutters to be 'tagged', dead dribble (pinch), announce the help and help leaving ("empty").
Draymond Green says he hates losing more than he loves winning. He communicates...and competes.
Basketball owes you nothing. Truth announces what kind of player, what kind of coach, what kind of student we are. Your narrative is biography, truth, or dialogue, fiction, like the movies. You choose.
