“He expected players to know they were being paid to be pros.” - “Daly Wisdom” - Pat Williams
Education changes behaviors. Coaches are teachers. Coaches change behavior. The better we teach, the better the behavioral change as we enforce the standards needed to improve performance.
How do we teach better? We can examine topics and techniques for instruction. Share some examples.
1) Player development. When we're doing well, players acquire more skills and higher basketball IQ. We can do that directly or enlist a player development specialist. Even if we have access to talent, there is always value in superior training.
2) Explain better. For example, one important technique for defending the high ball screen is to 'hedge' or 'show'. Coach Mike Krzyzewski phrased that as fake trap. In addition to renaming, he includes a description of the action. Similarly, we could describe 'drop coverage' as "go under."
3) Use the Socratic Method. Measure the depth of players' knowledge by asking questions. "How might we defend the high ball screen?" If a player answers "trap the ball handler," ask whether that creates more options for the offense (e.g. short roll, pop). If the ball handler is a shooter, what coverage might be less desirable? E.g. drop coverage may open up the ball handler as outside shooter.
4) Use alternative techniques. Multiple techniques (e.g. visual, auditory, movement-based) may clarify. When we ask players "what happened?" they may misremember and benefit from video teaching.
5) "Change limits." Coach Krzyzewski also informs the importance of changing limits. The phrase often heard is "we get what we accept." So many aspects of basketball are subject to change - shot quality, pass quality, on-ball defense, off-ball defense, communication, fouling, etc.
Where do we start? Approach decision making from different angles. Teams can do self-examination (the inside view), bring in consultants (the outside view), or combinations. The inside view has the advantage of familiarity of the most detail. The outside view may have less partiality but can be seen as 'meddling' or a 'witch hunt'. Many coaches distrust the outside view. So there's no easy answer.
Lagniappe. This examines many flavors of the ball screen.
25 ball screen variations. Sets from the NCAA and NBA. https://t.co/pgQ03oWAaz
— Coach Brian Williams (The Coaching Toolbox) (@brianwwilliams) March 25, 2025
Lagniappe 2. Erik Spoelstra shares half-court offense development.
