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Friday, June 13, 2025

Basketball Ideas Versus Suggestions

Ideas convey a different feeling than suggestions. For example, "I was thinking about" differs from "why don't you try this?" 

Another way to broach a situation is "How can I help?" Good coaches always seek edges. Others may choose to answer, "I'm good." 

The best coaches read, study, and weigh input from 'team members'. Steve Kerr reviewed input from video coordinator Nick U'Ren whose video evidence displayed the effectiveness of Andre Iguodala over Andrew Bogut. The Warriors lineup change helped defeat the Cavs.

Trailing 26-12 early in the second quarter, Coach asked for suggestions. "What do you guys want to do?" The point guard suggested "83," the UCLA 2-2-1 three-quarter court zone press. That launched a 23-0 run over 8:35, leading to an upset of the 22-0 top seed. 

Dean Smith famously would tell teams under pressure in big games, "Isn't it great to play in such a great game?"

Another approach is crowdsourcing, getting more accuracy from crowd input. Here's artificial intelligence from Claude.ai 

Crowdsourcing has found several valuable applications in basketball, leveraging collective intelligence to improve accuracy and insights:

**Statistical Analysis and Advanced Metrics**
Basketball analytics sites like Basketball Reference and FiveThirtyEight use crowdsourced data validation where fans and analysts contribute corrections to play-by-play data, shot charts, and player statistics. This collective verification helps catch errors that automated systems might miss.

**Player Evaluation and Scouting**
Draft analytics platforms aggregate evaluations from multiple scouts, analysts, and basketball experts to create more comprehensive player profiles. Sites like The Stepien and various draft databases combine professional and amateur scouting reports to provide fuller pictures of prospects than any single evaluator could offer.

**Game Strategy and Tactical Analysis**
Basketball communities on platforms like Reddit's r/NBA and specialized forums crowdsource film breakdowns, identifying tactical patterns and strategic insights that might escape individual analysis. Coaches and analysts sometimes reference these collective observations.

**Injury and Load Management Tracking**
Fan communities and dedicated tracking sites crowdsource player injury reports, minute restrictions, and load management decisions across the league, creating databases that help with fantasy basketball, betting analysis, and general team monitoring.

**Shot Chart and Efficiency Mapping**
Platforms like Cleaning the Glass combine official NBA data with community-verified information to create more accurate shot charts and efficiency metrics, with users contributing corrections and context.

The key advantage is that basketball generates enormous amounts of data, and distributed analysis can catch patterns, errors, and insights that centralized systems might miss, while also providing broader perspective than individual expert analysis.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Lagniappe. Horns sets. 

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Thursday, June 12, 2025

Basketball - Blogs Are Made of Books

"I learn from everybody, even if sometimes it’s what not to do." - Abraham Lincoln 

Learn across domains. Everything connects with everything else. 

In Show Your Work by Austin Kleon, he notes that "books are made of books." So are blogs. Sam Davies shares an excellent summary:

Book Summary: Show Your Work by Austin Kleon | Sam Thomas Davies
samuelthomasdavies.com
Book Summary: Show Your Work by Austin Kleon | Sam Thomas Davies
This is a book summary of Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. Read this Show Your work summary to review key takeaways and lessons from the book.    

On the cusp of summer, what books (or authors) are you reading?

I’m slogging through Elon Musk, by noted biographer Walter Isaacson. Musk could have become a great coach…until one of his players or assistants killed him.

Musk like some driven and highly intelligent people, has no patience for those whom he considers to be 'fools'. And fools can have a broad definition. He expects everyone ultimately to bend to his will and his authority, setting up inevitable conflict. Coaching is about relationships, adding value, and teaching. Doing that while living on a razor's edge can't be comfortable. 

Kobe Bryant’s The Mamba Mentality clarifies the secret sauce - outwork everyone. It's not just Kobe's opinion of himself, but the examples cited by Tim S. Grover in Relentless. 


Fundamentals provide players a technical and tactical advantage. 

Self-assessment and self-correction belong to success stories. Thumb through “The Tao Te Ching” to learn about self-evolution.

Reading exposes coaches to examples of success and failure beyond basketball. Abraham Lincoln's political career ran the gamut from his Presidency to earlier losses and decades of depression. General "Fighting Joe" Hooker had early major battlefield successes, but diluted by liquor and wandering eyes, he suffered a catastrophic defeat in May 1863 to Lee at Chancellorsville. 

Extract the lessons:
  • Failure is not final (Lincoln).
  • Distractions will be held against you (Hooker).
  • Beware the 'numerical' underdog with an effective plan (Lee at Chancellorsville)
Coach Kevin Eastman commits to reading two hours a day, citing the advantages of 180 hours of professional reading a quarter. 

Lagniappe. Dos and Don'ts. This is who we are and that is who we are not. 

Lagniappe 2. As an individual we set our standard of performance. That was a key to Bill Walsh's success with the 49ers as well as Kelvin Sampson.  

Lagniappe 3. Reread great books and abandon bad ones. It is better to read a great book multiple times than to read ten bad books. Wooden, Dean Smith, Krzyzewski, Newell, and Knight all wrote great books. Other famous coaches wrote less highly recommended ones. 

 

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Wednesday, June 11, 2025

What Makes Good Writing? It's not Unique to Basketball

 

"Hey, nobody is above being coached." Written work matters. Everyone can write better, just as we can coach better. Good writers are informed and inform readers. 

Coaches are teachers. Teachers change behavior. Teach good writing as part of teaching communication.  

Sharing our writing is thinking out loud. Sometimes it works...not always.

Capture the reader's attention. The average reader devotes 36 seconds to a column. Author Matt Haig writes, "every story is about someone searching for something." What is your reader searching for? 

Add value. Bob Woodward provides a minimum of six pieces of information that he wants readers to know. Readers should leave saying, "I didn't know that" or "I hadn't considered that," and want to learn more. 

"Don't be boring." Shave syllables. "Brevity is the soul of wit." In The Friction Project, Sutton and Rao emphasize reducing friction including red tape and unnecessary meetings. 

Accuracy matters. As President Ronald Reagan quipped, "Trust but verify." Write for a local paper and misspell a Biddy Basketball player's name and there is hell to pay. 

Revise. Few columns, game plans, or 'campaigns' are winners out of the box. General Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War, "Every battle is won before it is fought." Author and humorist Anne Lamott says to get it down, "shi**y first drafts."

If unable to avoid jargon, explain the basketball terminology. 

Provide supporting evidence such as quotes, data, and images where applicable. "Bring the receipts." These sometimes include analogies. How often an athlete will describe their 'organizational DNA'. After Game 4 against the Knicks, Pascal Siakam said, "we have to stay on an even keel," a nautical analogy. Mike Breen described Siakam as an "unappreciated" superstar, part of the 2019 Raptors title team. 

Be impactful. Drop knowledge that readers can use to change their belief, practice, or management. A recent column shared a Mike Neighbors quote, "Practice chaos equals game calmness." 

Use influence tools. Learn and apply Cialdini's six "Principles of Persuasion." Start with these:

1) Authority - Knowledgable? Act like it. 

2) Liking - Be likable, the author worth sharing a coffee with. 

3) Social Proof - "Lots of people read this person." Maybe there's something there.


Your readers deserve excellence. Deliver. 

Summary:
  • Help readers find the story. 
  • Share information within your piece. 
  • Don't be boring. Shave syllables. 
  • Be accurate. Bring receipts. 
  • Don't hesitate to produce a "****** first draft."
  • Use proven influence tools. 

Lagniappe. Many young players are not "shot ready." One told me, "But I'll look funny." 

Lagniappe 2. Need a three. Use this "screen gem."  

Lagniappe 3. Musical (no chairs) free throws? Try this. 

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Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Basketball - There Is a Place for Enthusiasm

“Raw enthusiasm is contagious.” - from Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

"Nothing great is ever accomplished without enthusiasm." Remember the sixth grade tryout where young Naomi approached me. "Coach, I am really excited to be here." Nothing more profound was spoken before or since.

Bring enthusiasm to our work daily. In the Navy, the saying was, "Another Great Navy Day."

A Hall of Fame coach recently shared, "I am really looking forward to having daily practices to teach and watch them grow."

Recall the mental model, "Invert, always invert." What opposes enthusiasm? Indifference and complacency. Those dogs won't hunt.

Take enthusiasm in context. Legend Don Meyer explained three types of coaching - blind enthusiasm, sophisticated complexity, and mature simplicity. Simplify enthusiastically.  

Anne Lamott is one of the most energized writers around. She emphasizes writing it down, celebrating $***** first drafts.

Enthusiasm benefits teams and players. 

  • Enthusiasm energizes. 
  • Enthusiasm shows up as hard work. 
  • Enthusiasm manifests as extra effort, hustle plays. 
  • Enthusiasm is preparedness. Be "off book," knowing the team philosophy, offense, and defense. 
  • Authentic enthusiasm beats 'false hustle'. 
Competitiveness is enthusiasm. Share video of competitors.
 



Lagniappe. "The ball has energy" but only if you share it. 

Lagniappe 2. Making everyone better also makes us happier. 

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Monday, June 9, 2025

Basketball - "It's Time for Jeopardy" Quotes Edition

As a coach, keep a portfolio of quotes. That will give us something to do when we're looking for our next job. 


What's a good score? I have no idea. 

Lagniappe. Great leaders have things in common. 

Lagniappe 2. Control what we can control - attitude, choices, and effort. Coach Berge examines choice. 

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Sunday, June 8, 2025

Basketball - What's in Our Wunderkammern?

"If you happened to be wealthy and educated and alive in 16th- and 17th-century Europe, it was fashionable to have a Wunderkammern, a “wonder chamber,” or a “cabinet of curiosities” in your house—a room filled with rare and remarkable objects that served as a kind of external display of your thirst for knowledge of the world." - from Austin Kleon in Show Your Work

Once we called these "prized possessions" collected over a lifetime. Basketball fuels our memory machines, the sum of our experiences. No two are alike. 

This is not Jason Selk's "highlight reel" in 10 Minute Toughness. What artifacts might we unearth along our wunderkammern memory lane? 

  • Scrapbooks
  • Books
  • Trophies
  • Videos and CDs
  • Photographs 
  • Cards and letters
  • Awards and honors 
The contents hold unique value to us. Imagine having your picture on an SI cover...like Butch Lee. 


I speculate that Brett Vroman has a net 'clipping' from the 1975 National Championship at UCLA and a plaque commemorating being a Parade All-American. 


Treasures like those make our collections seem small.
 





                              Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli
 
Our craft never springs full grown like Botticelli's "Birth of Venus." Our work emerges after painstaking practice and preparation over a lifetime. My first exposure to art history was Fine Arts 13 at Harvard. Learning about the craft of masters matters as much as hearing Newton's Laws. 

Our next basketball memory might spring from hearing Mike Breen's "Bang" or seeing a wondrous drive from SGA. Or watching Drew Hanlen or Chris Brickley train stars and wannabes. 

The blog originates in books read, videos, sports, and interviews watched, and the shots taken against the wooden backboard nailed to a tree, with eight year-old me imagining that I was Sam Jones off the glass. 

"Show your work." Build connections with others. 

Lagniappe. "There’s a healthier way of thinking about creativity that the musician Brian Eno refers to as “scenius.” Under this model, great ideas are often birthed by a group of creative individuals—artists, curators, thinkers, theorists, and other tastemakers—who make up an “ecology of talent." - from Austin Kleon, "Show Your Work"

Lagniappe 2. Flip the switch. 
Lagniappe 3. What defines your experience? 









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Saturday, June 7, 2025

Basketball - Design and Implementation

Learn across domains. First, a quote from Walter Isaacson's biography, "Elon Musk." 

"It was a philosophy that he would carry through to Tesla, SpaceX, and then Twitter. Separating the design of a product from its engineering was a recipe for dysfunction. Designers had to feel the immediate pain if something they devised was hard to engineer."

Understand the possible linkages between your basketball design (e.g. ideas, program building) and engineering (implementation). 

Implementation could include:

  • Player acquisition (e.g. recruiting, youth programs)
  • Player development
  • Offensive and defensive systems 
  • Budgeting/fundraising/compensation
  • Coaching staff 
  • Compliance 
  • Public relations
My high school coach, Sonny Lane, explained that a coach proposed an offensive system to him, saying, "I understand it perfectly." Coach Lane answered, "Your players will never understand it." The 'engineering' mismatched the design. 

Coaching youth players, I considered a "run and jump" ("trap and go") secondary defensive system and it became clear that our players or my teaching would not work. The engineering failed.

Design counts and practical engineering, the 'nuts and bolts' of implementation, absolutely matters. Thus, the popularity of 'five-out' and 'horns', as well as conceptually simple actions like 'zoom' (downscreen into DHO) and pistol. 

Believing that NBA actions readily translate into youth and lower level play recalls Pete Newell's warning, "copies are generally poor reproductions of the originals." 

The take home should be to invest time to consider how theory will transfer to practice. 

Lagniappe. Quote from Kobe Bryant's The Mamba Mentality, "What separates great players from all-time great players is their ability to self-assess, diagnose weaknesses, and turn those flaws into strengths."

Lagniappe 2. Short-lived edges...from 49ers executive Kwesi Adofo-Mensah "You think you have an edge—now, that edge goes away in this business, just like that. Every year you have to tweak, evolve, adapt.”" - from "The Why Is Everything" by Michael Silver. 

Lagniappe 3. Playing Time 

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Friday, June 6, 2025

Basketball - Teaching Video Points

"The biggest element that changed over time, however, was I went from watching what was there to watching for what was missing and should have been there. I went from watching what happened to what could have and should have happened." - from The Mamba Mentality, Kobe Bryant

Basketball is a game of ________ (mistakes, advantage, mismatches, cutting and passing, etc.) 

I hoped to find the good example of a "Gortat Screen" where the screener screens high and then rescreens in the paint but it wasn't available. 

Siakam gets a size advantage, the pass is true, and he finishes. 


Speed kills. Blown assignment. OKC is known for its suffocating halfcourt defense. Pacers attack a confused OKC defense with a "lone corner" three. 
 

Less common PnR action as SGA's brilliance allows for a cutback and finish. 


The "help dilemma..." Caruso penetrates and Pacer helps exposes an open Dort for an uncontested three. "Draw two" defenders.
 

Increase points/possession with paint touches and ball reversal ('one more' passes). Teach 0.5 second decisions...
 

Head turning, penetration, and a corner cut yield a dunk.
 

Basketball is a game of deception. McConnell drives baseline and a subtle fake opens another open corner three. 


"A great shot fake is a shot not taken." Turner called that bank?
 

Lagniappe. Chris Oliver shares a great example of the sequence of spacing, player and ball movement and the scoring moment. 

Lagniappe 2. Kelvin Sampson's "unscripted points." 

Lagniappe 3. From "The Why Is Everything" - Do players respect and buy in? "You wanna know the best thing we do in L.A.? It’s not scheme. It’s not Xs and Os. It’s emotional IQ. That’s the f***ing challenge. The challenge isn’t Matt getting Aaron to respect him as a football mind. It’s connecting. You’re still in the selling process of getting guys to buy in and believe. This guy is so smart. He doesn’t respect anybody unless they’re on his level. But if you’ve got the ability to challenge him, on a level where he respects you and you’re not infringing on Aaron Rodgers the person, it can be amazing.”"

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Thursday, June 5, 2025

Basketball - Ten Points to Ponder

Changes can improve, worsen, or lack an impact on our process. Change for change's sake seldom works. 

Radical transparency. Do we need more or less transparency? That depends on the baseline situation. 

Embrace positivity. Positivity doesn't preclude coaching or correction. But negative approaches rarely lead to positive lives. 

Simplicity. What can we simplify or eliminate to improve? Is everything that we teach, drill, and practice impacting results? How many BOBs, SLOBs, sets, ATOs, and defenses are enough? Too much can create confusion for our team. 

Respect. Coaches coach, players play, officials officiate. Make it clear that disrespecting the officials is unacceptable. The coach will interface with the officials. Don't tolerate poor body language toward officials. 

"Trust but verify." Get feedback on anything that we feel is important. For example, what three ways (more or less) do we defend the pick-and-roll? For example, when would we use drop coverage? Kobe Bryant asked Gary Payton for advice of defending ballhandlers on picks. Payton advised him to get up on the dribbler and imagine getting 'thin' like a playing card. 

Perspective. Emphasize what a player can do, not what she can’t do. Players can respond better to assignments matching their skills. 

Editing. Use analytics to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t. Do players understand how to create and limit advantage on offense and defense? 

"The 95." Billy Donovan taught players that the 95 percent of the time without the ball often defines who you become. Ask players for specifics. What does this mean to you? 

With and without. Work on reacting on the catch, not mostly what comes off the dribble or with a ball screen. The quick shot or the 'stampede' attack on the catch help you draw first blood.

Complacency. "The wind blows hardest at the top of the mountain. It's hard getting to the summit and harder staying there.

Lagniappe. Our 'R' > Your 2T. Can we rebound well enough to limit opposition transition?  

Lagniappe 2. What do we have to be good at?  

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Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Basketball Success Isn't Random


"Shanahan and Lynch had constructed a talented, well-rounded team whose players valued attention to detail, selflessness, and relentless physicality and effort." - The Why Is Everything, by Michael Silver

Teams with specific processes built around detail, discipline, decision-making and force have a chance to win with 'enough' talent. 

Force shows up in rebounding, defense, Transition, and hustle plays. 

A lack of force shows up as 'softness' and lack of effort.

Attention to detail shows up virtually anywhere but particularly in:

  • Shot selection
  • Turnovers
  • Communication
  • Player and ball movement
Cal defensive back coach discussed Patriot draftee Craig Woodson, via ESPN Boston's Mike Reiss. "I think the biggest thing is the hard work and character of the person," Watson said. "His diligence to be a pro. His ability to tackle in open space. Just physicality and finishing. I think he exemplifies what the Patriots organization has always been as a competitor, as a human and as someone blue-collar who is going to show up day in and day out."

Demand more. 

Lagniappe. Form begets function. 

Lagniappe 2. Be true to ourselves. "For Shanahan, the goal was to coach without regret. If he prepared as hard as he could, and, on game day, stayed true to his plan—and his instincts—he could live with the result, even if it tore him up." - from The Why Is Everything



 

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Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Basketball - SIgns of a Healthy Program

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast."

What elements indicate a healthy basketball program? 

Winning can't be the sole determinant of the health of a sports program. A program may not have the youth program in place or competes against a same season sport with an elite program which siphons off the best athletes. Some area communities are "hockey towns" where basketball plays second fiddle. 

What signs are favorable? 

1) Positive culture. Even if a program hasn't enjoyed sustained success, the players turn out because of the basketball experience. That's the global ecosystem from offseason training, practice, community investment, and the inevitable management of minutes, roles, and recognition. 

It mirrors the difference between reputation and character. Reputation is what people think you are and character is who you actually are. 

2) Stable leadership. The best organizations tend to have stable management. Continuity matters. Consider the Miami Heat with Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra. When leaderships comes through the revolving door, it hard to maintain a stable philosophy and identity. Players need to know "this is who we are" and "that is how we play." 

Leadership includes modeling excellence and communicating organizational priorities and values. 

3) Enthusiasm. Player participation and community engagement both serve as measuring sticks. With participation fees, players and families literally have to buy into the program. To some degree, established programs also have fundraising advantages. 

4) Youth programs. "As the twig is bent, so grows the tree." No coach wins big without sustainable competitive advantage via a youth program that turns out several successful prospective contributors each year. COVID was a setback for everyone, so it's hard to blame that. 

5) Public relations. Hall of Fame Coach Chuck Daly said, "never get in a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel." Good press can't shine a lackluster performance but everyone likes to read or hear positive reporting. 

Let's digress to an AI consult from ChatGPT: 

You're right—assessing the health of an athletic program isn’t precise, but certain indicators consistently point to strength and sustainability. Here are five top factors that signal a healthy athletic program:

1. Strong Culture and Core Values

  • Indicator: Coaches and athletes consistently model the program’s values (e.g., accountability, respect, hard work).

  • Why it matters: Culture drives behavior, which drives performance. A shared sense of purpose creates alignment from the bottom up.

2. High Athlete Retention and Engagement

  • Indicator: Most athletes return year after year, and underclassmen are eager to join.

  • Why it matters: When kids choose to stay, it signals a positive experience. Engagement also predicts effort, improvement, and loyalty.

3. Competitive Improvement Over Time

  • Indicator: The program shows consistent skill development, more competitive results, and increased performance, regardless of talent fluctuations.

  • Why it matters: Win-loss records don’t tell the whole story. How the team improves relative to its potential is often more revealing.

4. Quality of Relationships (Coach-Athlete, Peer-Peer)

  • Indicator: Coaches earn player trust, and players support each other. Conflict is addressed constructively.

  • Why it matters: Psychological safety fosters risk-taking, accountability, and honest communication—vital for growth and resilience.

5. Sustainable Systems and Leadership

  • Indicator: The program doesn't collapse if one coach leaves. Systems for communication, training, and leadership development are in place.

  • Why it matters: A healthy program outlasts individual personalities. It’s a structure, not a solo act.

Lagniappe. There was one Pistol Pete. 

Lagniappe 2. Scorers have at least four ways to score. Developing finishing versatility is key.  

Lagniappe 3. The inside-out dribble is a valued tool for separation. 


 

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Monday, June 2, 2025

Basketball - The Idea Machine

"Everybody says they have a system, but to have a system and then to be a systems thinker, those are two different things. There’s an intention for why their system exists, why they do things. Then, how they tweak within that system, how they understand the interconnectedness of all those things—that’s what makes them unique and separates them from everybody else. It’s asking, ‘Can we do it a different way?’ That, to me, is what makes them special.”" - Michael Silver, in The Why Is Everything

David Mamet explained that there's no "Idea Food Truck" that sells ideas for public consumption. For sure.

Generated, stolen, or inspired ideas, often by analogy, pose opportunity and questions. That's an advantage of reading a lot. Filtering the firehose of ideas poses a disadvantage. 

Not scoring enough? Why? 

  • Talent matters. Better teams have more talent. If you can't recruit it, then you have to develop it. 
  • Does our system match our players? If a team had strong, physical bigs, that might not work well with a five-out system with players away from the basket. 
  • Where do our points arise? Do we score in transition, in the half-court, perimeter scoring, off sets? 
  • If turnovers are a problem, is it mostly decisions or execution? 
  • Where are our 'failed possessions' - turnovers, bad shot selection, inability to finish? 

"Turnovers kill dreams." The Celtics have relatively few turnovers as a team with a high percentage of three-point shots. You might wonder whether transition teams have more turnovers. 


Both Indiana and OKC had lower frequency of turnovers in transition. As Stan Van Gundy says, transition depends less on philosophy than on your point guard. 


These five teams all took north of 45 percent of their shots as threes. 

Applying professional statistics to lower level basketball is a fool's errand. The math depends on your players and team. If you have 70 possessions and an unacceptable 20 or more turnovers, you can score on 50 possessions. If you take 20 threes (making < 25%, yes, we see that) then you get a maximum of 15 points from threes. If you take 30 twos and shoot 40 percent, then you add 24 points. That doesn't quite get you to 40. 


In our area girls' basketball league, it's had to win more than half your games without scoring at least 45 ppg and having a positive point differential. So more wins require specifics to get more and better shots than opponents. 

It's all easy in theory. 

Lagniappe. Ray Allen shooting drill 
Lagniappe 2. Mike Shanahan quote after son Kyle's Super Bowl defeat (edited for language) from "The Why Is Everything" by Michael Silver. 

"“You keep fighting,” he said, his voice hoarse. “That’s *** life. I don’t care what job you’ve got. When things happen, you’ve got to fight through it. You want to get to the mountaintop—what, you’re gonna feel sorry for yourself?  *** You get back up and you keep climbing.”"









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