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Monday, October 14, 2024

Basketball - Why Hiring Me Would Be a Mistake

Would you start your interview with the reasons not to hire you? 


From "Originals" by Adam Grant

Why you shouldn't pick me to be your basketball coach:

1) I'm old (69). Worse still, I'm probably 75 in equivalent years awake, having been in medical school or a fully minted doctor for almost 48 years. It may take years to resolve sleep deprivation. 

2) I haven't coached since COVID. All I've done is studied the game, great coaches, great players, and written over 4,000 blog articles. 

3) I'm radically transparent. Parents can attend pre- and post-game meetings, practice, anything. Talk about a paper trail...it's more like the paper "Great Wall." No mystery remains. I believe in identity and performance. "This is who we are; this is how we play." 

4) I have dead friends to help. Who does that? Want immediate feedback after a game about playing time or strategy? I follow the Abraham Lincoln "Hot Letters" policy, I write 'em and file 'em, "never signed, never sent." Wait until everyone has calmed down. Dean Smith was burned in effigy and won two NCAA titles after that. 

5) Get a license. Everyone doesn't get a license to shoot threes wherever and whenever they want. Nothing but net? No, nothing but air. "But the Celtics do it." Does Susie play for the Celtics? Airballs are shot turnovers. Ever hear of a high school game where fifty percent of the shots didn't even catch rim or glass? It happens, but not to our team. 

Parents wear rose-colored glasses. Maybe the kids should be wearing shooting glasses. 

6) I don't claim to be the smartest guy in the room. I get it, that according to some, "any idiot with a whistle can coach." 

7) I wasn't the greatest player since sliced bread...that's a mixed metaphor for sure. That's okay, because I won't be playing. I am sympathetic to Juwanna Mann. 

8. I won't yell like a banshee or think fans come to see me. Maybe some people want a coach like "Bill the Cat" looks. And I won't tell kids that they let the team down by paying too much attention to academics or going to their sister's wedding. 

9) I don't abuse the refs from the opening whistle. "Keep the kids safe," and I'm good. Players play, refs ref, coaches coach. 

10) I don't celebrate 'margin of victory'. I won't run up the score or play my starters at the end down twenty to make a blowout more respectable. What's that about? 

11) Can't stand cliches? I'm not your guy. 

  • Win possession and possessions. 
  • It's a game of separation, a game of mistakes.
  • "Do well what you do a lot."
  • "There are no 50-50 balls." 
  • "It's not your shot it's our shot." 
12) "Everyone gets a trophy." More like "every day is player development day." You earn minutes, role, and recognition. Play basketball, not politics. 

I'm sure that you'll find even better reasons after you've talked to others. Thanks again. 

Lagniappe. 

Lagniappe 2. Lessons learned. 

Lagniappe 3. Implement back door plays to teach both offense and defense.  

 

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Sunday, October 13, 2024

Basketball: How Listening More Gets Us More

Patients teach me. One explained how he interfaces with customers using questions. His most important one, "How are you doing things today?"

Ask about some of the following: 

  • Teaching players to watch video 
  • Developing individual offense and defense
  • Building man-to-man offense
  • Implementing zone offense
  • Press and press breaking
  • Offensive and defensive delay game
  • Special situations (BOB, SLOB, ATO)
  • Game winning situations
  • Teaching, analyzing, and reporting analytics
One example, who taught us to watch video? Big picture - look at spacing and initial deployment, player and ball movement, including the help side, and how the "scoring moment" unfolds.

Defensively, what is the defense, how do they defend ball and off-ball screens? How do they shrink space, who are the stronger and weaker defenders? 

Does the opponent's offense use a lot of individual actions, two-man game, ball and off-ball screens, DHO, back cuts, complex screens (e.g. staggers, screen-the-screener, backscreen the roller - Spain)? Does ours? 

If our players struggle, watch and learn. Watch one-on-one, two-on-two, three-on-three...the game within the game. 

Usually it's less complicated. Watch practice and/or film. 
  • Transition defense
  • Individual battles - offense and defense (e.g. ball containment)
  • Turnovers 
  • Shot selection - bad teams take and miss good and bad shots
  • Fouls - giving opponents the easiest shot
  • Rebounding - extending and ending possessions
Coaches are a lot like doctors - they evaluate and manage problems. If they can't, good kids on bad teams stay limited. 

Lagniappe. Read and beat. 
Lagniappe 2. The best players "win in space." What's our plan? 
Lagniappe 3. Are we getting enough from practice? 

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Saturday, October 12, 2024

Basketball: Reality Checking

BOLO... be on the lookout... for ideas, truths, analogies to help strengthen ourselves and our teams. 



From Adam Grant's "Originals," Brandon Tartikoff of NBC points out that "we" are overconfident in our skills and creations and often myopic in understanding why. We are better at assessing another's work than our own. It's more than "I don't know what I don't know."

Our past performance doesn't guarantee success. Grant points out that Dean Kamen, inventor of a portable dialysis machine, a technological revolution, later invented a technological flop, the Segway. 

Great players often do not become great coaches. Conversely, deep work in game study (e.g. video coordinators, low on the totem pole grunts) can produce elite coaches like Erik Spoelstra. 

We're not good at judging our own work. Blogger gives me feedback on article readership. Some articles get over a thousand reads, others a few hundred. I can't predict. A master composer, Beethoven, was wrong a third of the time about which pieces got picked or panned. And I'm no Beethoven. 

No 'cookie cutter' exists for success and innovation. One that matters is producing volume. Grant writes, "Picasso's oeuvre includes more than 1,800 paintings, 1,200 sculptures, 2,800 ceramics, and 12,000 drawings...only a fraction of which have produced acclaim." Even among the masters, "throwing a lot against the wall and finding what sticks," has validity. 

"Great stuff" gets rejected - James Patterson's early novels, the Harry Potter series, and of course Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. 

What does this mean for coaches? 

  • First impressions may be wrong, the early Michael Jordan. 
  • Failed copies. Pete Newell said copying your coach may "produce a poor reproduction of the original." 
  • "Kill your darlings." Our faves among drills and plays may not work. 
  • Find a mentor or "Personal Board of Directors" to critique us.
  • Don't succumb to overconfidence. The best coaches are open to considering new ideas and information. 
Be wary of making premature judgments without enough time or information. That will happen anyway. Take sample size into consideration. I say, "don't beat yourself up, there will always be someone to do that for you." 

Your experience and background might be a 1-4 offense, precursor to horns, and switching defenses. Our middle school team won't flourish with concepts they neither know nor understand. Seek Don Meyer's mature simplicity. 

The drills, sets, or sayings from our youth are as likely outdated as enduring. As better tools enter our toolboxes, don't fear to jettison the past. There are no layup lines during games. 

Consider the "Hero's Journey" and the presence of either sidekicks or mentors. Batman had Robin and Alfred; Skywalker had Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. Expecting to do it alone reeks of hubris and folly. 

Players think there are a few ways to win and coaches know there are almost infinite ways to lose. In fact, experts know what's most important among the many. “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”  

Lagniappe. Simplify. 

Lagniappe 2. Again.  

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Friday, October 11, 2024

Basketball: Work


From Beyond Basketball, by Coach Mike Krzyzewski

Nobody feels like working every day. Professionals, in life or sport, show up and work even when they don't feel like it.

Hard work improves and it calls attention to the worker. 


Jon Gordon shares examples of hard work in The Hard Hat. Great teammates are always hard workers. Hard work is the 'x-factor' that helps guys make teams who otherwise wouldn't. 

Players can benefit from examples of hard work. 

1) The chase down. LeBron James had a 'chase down' block in the 2016 Finals game 7. 


2) "Champions do extra." Kobe Bryant's grueling off-season workouts were shared in Tim S. Grover's Relentless. The numbers that stick - 100 days, 1,000 shots per day, 100,000 shots in a summer. 

3) Fighting through screens. NBA guards can get screened 25-50 times per game. "Switch everything" defenses can lighten but not remove the load. 

4) Cut urgently in "a game of separation." Thresh.

5) "Pressure the ball." With the athleticism, skill, and deception of modern offensive players, ball pressure and containment has never been harder. 

Lagniappe. Play with joy. 
Lagniappe 2. Celtics 5 out player and ball movement. 
Lagniappe 3. Players must move on from mistakes and refocus for the good of the team. 














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Thursday, October 10, 2024

Basketball: Knowing Jack (Part I)

We don't have to know a person for them to be a mentor. Jack Clark, Cal Rugby coach, is a mentor. How? Clark shares extraordinary understanding of coaching. 

Here are notes from the first half of a podcast (the meat starts at about five minutes):

Clark began rugby coaching in 1982. "I felt like an apprentice."  

He brought in more experienced coaches, "you don't know what you don't know." Many coaches are not ready. Playing is not the same as coaching. 

As a young boy, he wanted to learn more about players and coaches. George Plympton was a model, "a look behind the curtain." 

Mike White was his football coach at Cal. Clark felt that rugby blended football and basketball. "Rugby was a more free-flowing sport" 

"You've got to be able to make decisions with the ball in your hands." Everyone has the ball sometime. 

"Make informed decisions." 

"Everyone has to do their share of the dirty work." 

"All skills, all players..." a correlation to life.

Sport is not family, which is supposed to be unconditional love. You should care about one another, empathy and kindness...high performance teams are highly conditional. "Those conditions help this organization operate and succeed."

"Everyone is putting everything they have into it."

"I've had the most wonderful coaches...qualities worth emulating"

Coaching priorities, "willingness to tell you when your best could be better." 

"Happy to be coached..."

"They understood my strengths."

"Learn...the mentality of an individual...build playing the game based on their strengths...building a blueprint...based on what they do well." Make lists of what the player does well. 

"70-30 percent" maintaining strengths, working on weaknesses

"I shouldn't draw a paycheck unless I can develop players..."

Too much emphasis on weaknesses results in less confident players...

"Program and train optimism." (the host, Dr. Michael Gervais)

Identity - "I don't want to put people in boxes...influence people to be their best self...help people get from where they are to where they want to be..."

"We're always chasing...a level of play...that's going to be difficult." 

"What did we do well? I want that collaborative discussion...what do we have to work on?" 

"Identify what we can do well..." team buys into that deeply. The team understands performance...

(Gervais questionaire): 1) What went well? 2) What do we have to work on?"

Lagniappe. Control. 

Lagniappe 2. Great teammates. 


 







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Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Basketball: The First Penguin Award

Have you received a "First Penguin" award? In The Last Lecture, Professor Randy Pausch explains. "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."

The "first penguin" jumps into predator-infested waters, well, because somebody has to in their search for food. "Sometimes we're the windshield; sometimes we're the bug."

Failure is our companion on the success journey. Edison didn't stop at one, ten, a hundred or even 999 tries to invite the lightbulb. Lincoln lost most of his elections before winning the Presidency. John Wooden won a title in his 16th season at UCLA. Nobody gifts us overnight success.

Kara Lawson tells players to "handle hard better." Coach Gregg Popovich reminds players to "get over yourself." Kevin Eastman says, "get past mad; get past hard."

The "First Penguin":

  • Becomes comfortable with being uncomfortable. 
  • Works harder than you can imagine. 
  • Does five more, the 'extra', the unrequired work. 
  • Lets everyone sees them sweat. 
Lagniappe. Shooting practice. 

Lagniappe 2. Ball sticking means low scoring. 

Lagniappe 3. Great players are detail oriented. 

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Tuesday, October 8, 2024

"Beyond Basketball" - Fundamentals

When it comes to basketball, don't go back to the basics; never leave them.

From "Beyond Basketball," by Coach Mike Krzyzewski

Fundamentals, the nuts and bolts of on court actions, help players win the one-on-one, two-on-two, and collective battles.

1) Bad execution loses. Bad teams have bad execution. Bad coaches accept it. 

2) Bad execution begins with poor spacing. Teach the 3-point line as the 'spacing line'. Even a cursory look at NBA or Euroleague video shows elite spacing. 

3) Basketball is a game of separation. Separate with speed, change of pace and direction, deception (e.g. bursts), and screens. 

4) Cut hard. Poor offenses have poor cutting. 

5) Ball movement creates edges with paint touches and ball reversals. 

6) There is no substitute for quality shot selection. Teams should have shot charts to help guide better shots. 

7) The first defensive fundamental is ball containment. 

Lagniappe. The versatility of horns.  

Lagniappe 2. Finding a layup.  

Lagniappe 3. Process above goals. 

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Monday, October 7, 2024

Basketball: Have You Watched Practice?

Direct observation confirms or rebuts our ideas about players, teams, and coaches.

Investigative journalist Bob Woodward tells a story about the Mayflower Coffee Shop. He received information about health code violations and wrote an article based on them. His editor asked whether he had been there. He had not. Woodward went to the Mayflower Hotel and asked to meet with the manager of the coffee shop. He learned that they had no coffee shop, that it was an independent operation blocks away. Woodward said if his article were published, it could have ended his career before it began.  

Opinions can arise from insiders or less-informed outsiders. Deion Sanders points out the value of seeing practice.

  • How attentive is a player to coaching? 
  • How does she interact with teammates? 
  • Does the player lead? 
  • What is the effort and compete level in practice? 
  • What is the structure and tempo of practice? 
As evaluators, learn how hard it is to play with or against the player.

What kind of person is the player? Former Patriots' assistant Mike Lombardi had contacts within SEC sororities. The college women did not hold back about the character of potential draftees.

Make better evaluations with better information.

Lagniappe. Another backdoor action... 

Lagniappe 2. Simplify.  

Lagniappe 3. Practice.  

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Sunday, October 6, 2024

Basketball - Buy, Sell, Hold Items Under Consideration

"All stocks are bad, only the good ones go up." - Wall Street adage

Many basketball absolutes change. The width of the lane changed. The time required to take a shot changed. The value of a basket changed. Rules change regularly.  

Consider any risk asset, our choices are to buy, sell, or hold. Price is a snapshot; value is the underpinning factor.

Within our basketball ecosystem what belongs on buy, sell, hold? Choose three in each category. 

BUY - Add if we don't already have

1. Kara Lawson's monologue on "handle hard better." The "easy bus never comes around."

2. Buzz Williams "Bedtime Audit" via Bob Starkey


Impact winning. Impact others. Impact ourselves. 

3. Possession enders. Possession enders get stops and scores. When a player scores, assists, rebounds, or defends as "best in class" they're a possession ender. Find those "guys." Cultivate those guys. Possession enders occur in other sports, too. 

Honorable mention: watch more practices. Learn from other coaches. Watching Geno Auriemma's four-peat team was a privilege. So was watching Brad Stevens prepare the Celtics for Toronto. 

HOLD - have these and don't surrender them. 

Toughness. Jay Bilas's Toughness book is his legacy, above his Duke career or broadcasting. Toughness, real toughness, makes good teams better, and excellent teams exceptional. 

Efficiency. Squeeze every drop of benefit from practice. Every activity should have a purpose and impact development and winning. Revise our portfolio of drills and "kill your darlings," stuff that you might love but realistically doesn't help. Think about Brian McCormick's "fake fundamentals." Condition within drills. Abandon punitive actions that don't elevate guys. 

Video. "Video is the truth machine." Doc Rivers believes thirteen clips is the maximum. Video coordinators become the rising stars as they learn the nuances of the game. Erik Spoelstra was a pioneer. Video accelerates player development. 

Honorable mention: fun. Play the game. Warming up with "dribble tag" inside the arc is just one example of blending fun with skill development. 

SELL - absolutely extinguish these brushfires. 

Turnovers. Turnovers are zero percent possessions. Even worse, live-ball turnovers become opposition hoops with high points per possession. "Turnovers kill dreams." 

Selfishness. Selfishness manifests in 'credit hogging', ball hogging, shot selection, refusing to pass to teammates, and other nefarious ways. A parent told their child, "for every shot _____ takes, you get one." Selfishness includes playing one end of the court. Basketball is not a one-way street. 

Dogma. The word "dogma" comes from a Greek root, "dok" to seem good. Hard-headedness, stubbornness, and "we do it because we do it" aren't winning arguments. Read and reread Adam Grant's "Think Again." Keep a "rethinking scorecard" of mind changes. "Jaylen Brown will never play on a champion." 

Honorable mention: Analytics help, but don't apply NBA statistics to our high school teams. Shooting three-pointers works when you have 'guys' who make them. Teams whose three pointers are "shot turnovers" deserve condemnation not unconditional love.  

Lagniappe. Extra possessions win. Think UCONN or Jrue Holiday against Dallas. 

Lagniappe 2. Fleshing out "movement kills defense." 

Lagniappe 3. Paying attention is the first price paid. 






  

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Saturday, October 5, 2024

Becoming a Better Coach

“Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.” - Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5, Shakespeare

Most coaches want to be better. Not everyone has the will, knowledge, or time to do so. Here are a few ideas from one who worked at it.

1. People skills. Coaching is a relationship business. First cliche' - "players don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Listen. Give and get feedback. 

2. Framework for improvement. Dr. Fergus Connolly has a great structure:

- Skill (technique)

- Strategy (tactics, game knowledge)

- Physicality (athleticism, strength, and conditioning)

- Psychology (the head game, resilience)

Effective coaches have at least partial mastery of all the above. "Every day is player development day." 

3. Philosophy. Have one. Make it authentically yours. Mine was TIA - teamwork, improvement, accountability. Players and coaches should understand that value arises from making those around us better. 

4. Mentoring. Find a mentor. "Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence." They don't even have to know. 

5. Study greatness. Greatness traverses domains. Greatness occurs in coaching, playing, literature, leadership, other sports, you name it. Director Werner Herzog says, "Read. Read. Read. Read. Read." Here are a few recommendations:

Legacy, James Kerr (about the New Zealand All-Blacks) 

Leadership in Turbulent Times, Doris Kearns Goodwin (Presidential leadership - Lincoln, the Roosevelts, LBJ)

The Legacy Builder, Rod Olson ("Speaking Greatness")

Leonardo da Vinci or Benjamin Franklin (Walter Isaacson)

The Leadership Moment, Michael Useem (assigned reading, UNC Women's Soccer)

Toughness, Jay Bilas

6. Make friends with the dead. Over 93% of humans ever alive... are dead. If we don't have 'dead friends' we ignore Dean Smith, Wooden, Newell, Auerbach, Don Meyer, Knight, Carril, and so many more.  

7. Video. "Video is the truth machine." Learn how to watch basketball and break down the details. Adam Spinella and others...

8. Watch other coaches practice. If you ask politely, most coaches will agree and be flattered that you asked. I feel incredibly fortunate to have seen Geno Auriemma and Brad Stevens. 

9. Attention to detail. Be detail-oriented. Players won't know what you know. You won't know what they know unless you quiz and verify what they know. Everyone must be on the same page. Good teams find ways to win. Bad teams find ways to give games away. 

10.Revise. Director Ron Howard says, "the movie is made in the editing room." Everything is subject to revision - drill book, play book, etc. 

And yes, a lot of the skills needed to coach better are the same ones needed to play better. 

Lagniappe. The life of Riley. 

Lagniappe 2. More education.  

Lagniappe 3. "The apple never falls far from the tree."  

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Friday, October 4, 2024

A Dozen Thoughts on Basketball Shooting

Players have access to a wealth of information on shooting. Why do we see many games with low percentage shooters?

1) The quickest path to better shooting is better shot selection. Do the math - shots*points/shot*percentage equals points. If you took 50 shots x 3 points shot x 0.20 you only get 30. Remember that possessions minus turnovers impacts outcomes dramatically. 

3/10 on 3s yields 9 points. 5/10 on 2s yields 10 points. "Do well what you do a lot." Many teams shoot below 25 percent on threes. #Inefficient 

2) Get more shots and opportunities for our best shooters and scorers. Yet, balanced scoring forces opponents to defend everyone. 

3) Quality shots also include shots appropriate to the time and score. 

4) Every player should know what a good shot is for themselves and each teammate. Coach Bob Knight said, "just because I want you on the floor doesn't mean I want you to shoot." 

5) “The quality of the shot relates to the quality of the pass.” - Pete Carril

6) “Think shot first.” - Don Kelbick  

7) All shots are not created equal. Catch-and-shoot generally outperforms shooting off the bounce, off screens, and off of a shot fake.

8) “Free shooting” usually underperforms competitive shooting, training with defense, and shooting with time or other constraints.

9) Shooting practice without using the glass is incomplete.

10) Devote a small segment of shooting practice (a few percent) to emergency shots - fallaways, runners, and off-balance shots.

11) “Winners are trackers.” - Darren Hardy.  Constantly seek improvement within both trends and setting personal bests. 

12) Shooting with a partner improves two players and add efficiency by having a rebounder.

Bonus ideas:

- Be shot ready (on the catch)

- Work to quicken your release

- Work on ‘pickups’ off the dribble 

Lagniappe. Remember strength and conditioning. 

Lagniappe 2. Occupy the help side.  

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Thursday, October 3, 2024

Getting the Most from Our Players

"Coaches take teams where they cannot go alone" and "coaches put their teams in the best position to win." Both sound easy.

These remind me of this Kipling poem. 

I Keep Six Honest Serving Men

I keep six honest serving-men
  (They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
  And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
  I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
  I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five,
  For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
  For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views;
  I know a person small
She keeps ten million serving-men,
  Who get no rest at all!
She sends em abroad on her own affairs,
  From the second she opens her eyes
One million Hows, Two million Wheres,
  And seven million Whys!

Kipling reminds us about the value of curiosity. Curiosity rewards us as we ask how to do something better. 

Digression to ChatGPT:

Kipling’s poem "Six Honest Serving Men" celebrates curiosity, learning, and the importance of questioning to understand the world. The "honest serving men" Kipling refers to are six fundamental questions: What, Why, When, How, Where, and Who. These questions symbolize the core tools of inquiry, which allow individuals to dissect and comprehend the various aspects of their environment and experiences.

At a deeper level, Kipling presents a framework for intellectual engagement. The poem emphasizes that learning doesn’t happen passively; it is driven by the active pursuit of understanding through questioning. Each question plays a role in helping to unravel different facets of life. “What” refers to the identification of things; “Why” seeks purpose and motive; “When” and “Where” help place events in time and space; “Who” looks for identity; and “How” explains process and methodology. Together, these questions guide an individual in uncovering knowledge and truth.

Kipling also contrasts the insatiable thirst for knowledge in youth with the complacency that can emerge with age or routine. As people grow older, they sometimes stop asking these essential questions, satisfied with what they already know. Kipling gently critiques this stagnation, encouraging a lifelong engagement with curiosity. The poem’s tone is both instructive and empowering, promoting inquiry as a way to live a fuller, more thoughtful life.

Ultimately, "Six Honest Serving Men" reflects Kipling’s belief in the power of curiosity as a driving force for growth and wisdom, urging readers to maintain an inquisitive spirit throughout their lives.

Our tools: 

Who? We have teams at home, school, work, on the court, in the community. Decide whether it's about "we" or "me." Choosing selfishness or selflessness is an active process. 

What? Richard Feynman's process for learning included name, explain, research, and simplify. That could include a discussion on gravity, shooting free throws, serving a volleyball, or jumpstarting a car. Broadly apply simple concepts. "Hemingway" it. 

When? The best among us make everyone around us better every day. Our morning routine helps us "win the day." A friend and colleague shared what I taught him decades ago, "learn five things a day and pretty soon you know a lot." 

Where? Use "the butterfly effect." Our actions create ripples around the world. Someone hears or reads our words and says, "what if?" The Sesame Street song, "I wonder. What if? Let's try" might change the world. 

Why? Care about our fellow traveler...our players and their families, our assistants and our bosses. Especially our families. Care about balance, or The Force, or Karma or Mana or whatever you call it. 

How? If someone asked what we needed most in the world, what might we say? Information? There's already a lot. Clean energy? That would help and the purveyors of existing resources might argue against it. Kindness? I haven't been kind to everyone, every day. We have a deficit, not an excess of kindness. That doesn't mean we can't demand high performance. 

Curiosity helps us become our better selves. Model excellence, lead, communicate, problem solve, prepare, and adapt...all high level skills that make teams and individuals around us better.

Lagniappe. Bob Starkey shares a "copy and print" idea.  

Lagniappe 2. Choose one to work on at a time. Praise over criticism is a great place to start. 

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Wednesday, October 2, 2024

"Beyond Basketball"

Coach Mike Krzyzewski wrote Beyond Basketball and elaborates on key words from BELIEF, to CARE, and EXCELLENCE. 

He shares examples of the words. For example with EXCELLENCE, he discusses how Elton Brand and Shane Battier were different players but excelled in performance and recognition and each won National Player of the Year in different seasons. 

Coach K advises players to become the best version of themselves by always doing their best. This reminds me of Don Miguel Ruiz and his 4th agreement in The Four Agreements, "always do your best."  

These are some examples of the words Coach K discusses:

Passion
Poise
Pressure
Pride
Respect 
Selflessness
Standards
Talent
Trust 
Will 
Work 

It's easy to dismiss "soft skills" as not 'executable' as clearly as ball containment, court communication, rebounding, screening, or shooting. It's easier to dismiss claims that "I'd take a 2-star recruit with a 5-star work ethic over a 5-star recruit with a 2-star work ethic any day."

Without soft skills such as belief, commitment, focus, resilience, and selflessness, the chance of success for players and coaches is negligible. 

It's not either, or. Players require measurables - athleticism and skill, and intangibles - game understanding and resilience. Inspiration and aspiration alone can't compensate for preparation and perspiration. 

The challenge is to identify and to develop the high character, elite athlete. 

Lagniappe. "How you practice is who you are." 
Lagniappe 2. How much does it mean to you? 
Lagniappe 3. Find concepts to borrow. 
    






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Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Basketball: In Group Projects, Are Players Pulling Their Weight?

Coaches have many tasks, including as 'judges'. In The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch, dying of cancer, explains some of his methods. In group projects, peer feedback explicitly told students where they stood. 

Here are the three questions they graded each other on: 

1) Did his peers think he was working hard? Exactly how many hours did his peers think he had devoted to a project?

2) How creative was his contribution?

3) Did his peers find it easy or hard to work with him? Was he a team player? 

Pausch hoped the feedback would make students more accountable to the projects. He wrote, "Wow, I've got to take it up a notch."

One smart but arrogant student was told he ranked in the bottom quartile. He was not moved. Professor Pausch told him, "out of 50 students, you are number 50. You have a serious issue. They say you're not listening. You're hard to get along with. It's not going well." 

Teams don't regret losing the bad teammate, the lazy guy, the uncommitted player. You know the expression, "don't let the door..."

Part of being great teammates is modeling excellence and holding each other accountable to hard work. 

The old saying goes, "be easy to play with and hard to play against." On defense that means pressuring the ball, denying penetration, and shrinking space. On offense that means helping teammates with spacing, screening, player and ball movement. 

Lagniappe. Footwork and separation. 

Lagniappe 2. Less dribbling demands player and ball movement.  

Lagniappe 3.  What are good shots for your program? 

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Monday, September 30, 2024

Basketball - Become a Storyteller

"Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own story." - John Barth

Humans are the 'storytelling animal'. We're wired to believe what we hear and sometimes people take that as license to exaggerate or misrepresent their skill or achievement.

Basketball brings us unimagined joy and indelible grief. Strong emotion imprints forever memories upon us. And it's impossible to forget stories worth sharing. 

The 1972 Olympic Gold Medal game between the US and the Soviet Union put permanent scars on US Olympians. They never accepted the Silver Medal and some even wrote into their wills that family members were never to accept them. I heard Doug Collins say that the last song he heard leaving the locker room was Jimmy Ruffin's 1966, "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?"  


Paul Douglas Collins was voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024. 

Coach Mike Krzyzewski coached multiple Olympic teams. At the end of one practice, he asked players to think silently of the one person who had done the most to help them fulfill their basketball dreams. He dismissed them to their rooms. They returned to see their USA uniform laid out on their bed. Many said that moment brought them to tears. 

Coach Lane asked us, "Who are those guys?" We didn't know the reference. 


We had never won anything and were never expected to win anything. We overachieved, going 21-4 until losing in the Massachusetts Division 1 semifinals by three. We had beaten the top seed and the defending State Champion during the playoffs. 

A now-retired fabulous colleague, Dr. Harris Gibson, was eating dinner with Celtics GM M.L. Carr at a now-closed restaurant, Weylu's. Customers stopped by looking for Carr's autograph. Carr told the Chest Surgeon that it was ironic that Harris spent his day saving lives and he had a basketball job, and that everyone wanted his autograph. 

Exceptional wasn't a word used to describe my basketball resume' in high school. But at Sam Jones's camp, they hold an outdoor free throw shooting contest. No garbage rims. Sam asked, "who wants to go first?" I am up as though shot of a cannon. My rationale? If I make ten, it's almost impossible that another kid will make ten having to make ten. I sank ten. It's not the Olympics where judges leave room for a ten. Still have that trophy somewhere. 

Henry Finkel was in our office building to see his friend and my colleague Dr. Haynes, who suggested he come over to say hello. Imagine my surprise seeing the former Celtic and All-American. "Wow, Mr. Finkel, I have never met an office furniture magnate." The big guy laughed heartily. Everyone loves office furniture, right? 

In Beyond Basketball, Coach K shares some of his experiences and stories. While an assistant at Indiana under Bob Knight, he asks Knight why the Hoosiers don't do "Zig Zag drill" that they did every day at Army. "Michael, there is a big difference between you and Quinn Buckner." Adapt to your players and situation. 

Years ago I went to the local YMCA to shoot a few hoops. I walk into the gym and there's a guy teaching his daughter to shoot. I think, "that looks like JoJo White." He shoots the ball. "That is JoJo White." I leave because I think he knows he's JoJo White and I want him to have a private moment with his daughter. Years later my twins will play his daughter's team in the Sectional Finals at Tsongas Arena. I don't remember whether his daughter even got in the game. Melrose wins big, led by future WNBA player Shey Peddy. 

Share your stories. 

Lagniappe. Excellence. 

Lagniappe 2. It's always about the many not the few. 

Lagniappe 3. Cross-screen clearout to set up a back screen cutter.  

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