Basketball - "Misaeng," A MasterClass for Coaches

Some have called Misaeng: Incomplete Life the greatest workplace drama ever made. Misaeng shares an abundance of coaching "dos" and "don'ts."

Here are translatable lessons for coaches.

1. Standards Define Culture

Culture isn't what we write on posters. Culture is what flows from leaders that gets embraced and internalized. 

When inappropriate behavior goes unchallenged, it quietly becomes the standard. "Dogging" younger players or "kicking down" has to be prevented. Hierarchy is not hazing. 

2. Master the Fundamentals

The most experienced employees and the best coaches never outgrow the basics. Ballhandling, passing, shooting, cutting and screening need attention daily. 

Communication and preparation get everyone on the same page and need emphasis and testing. 

3. Earn Responsibility

Misaeng rejects entitlement. Captains and seniors bring more experience and coaches expect a lot from them. Credentials, like previous all-star status don't 'mistake-proof' teams.

As Peter Parker's uncle said, "With great power comes great responsibility." 

Gregg Popovich told the Spurs, "Don't skip steps."

4. Separate Roles from Worth

"There is always a pecking order."  That doesn't entitle coaches or upperclassment to throw 'juniors' under the bus. 

Everyone deserves respect and compassion whether they're the stars or deep reserves. Lower position on the totem pole doesn't nullify human value.

5. Give Credit

Secure team leaders share credit generously. In Adam Grant's "Give and Take" he cites numerous examples where withholding credit cost leaders (Frank Lloyd Wright and Jonas Salk) dearly. 

Recognize the contributions of everyone associated with the program - including custodians, quality control assistants, public relations, and donors. 

6. Become a Teacher

Many high school coaches are also teachers. Teachers educate; education changes behavior. 

Player development shows in many ways, including language. Coach Mike Krzyzewski didn't call pick-and-roll defense "hedge" or "show." Instead he was descriptive, labeling it "fake trap." 

Great educators like Richard Feynman had a process: name, explain, research, and simplify. If we can't explain it simply, then we need to be better. "Run and jump" might be called, "trap and go" or "trap and rotate." 

Ball movement could be descriptive with "paint touches and ball reversal." 

7. Contribution Exceeds Recognition

One of Misaeng's recurring themes. "Who helped us succeed?" The player who comes in off the bench playing shutdown defense or pounding the boards getting extra possessions has great meaning. 

Winning depends upon more than "scoreboard" watching. 

8. Accept Responsibility

One of the strongest scenes in the series is Mr. Park accepting responsibility with the client. 

Coaches and players make mistakes. Leadership begins where excuses end. Coach Wooden's "Don't whine, don't complain, don't make excuses" is eternal. 

"Experience is the best teacher, but sometimes tuition is high." Mistakes become tuition when honestly acknowledged.

9. Learn Continuously

Geu-rae succeeds because he remains teachable. The best players in every sport are students of the game. They're in their notebooks and they study video.

Baek-ki struggles because he initially believes he already deserves more. When we show up to the court, we're entitled to nothing. 

10. Communicate Early

Most problems originate with relationships. Problems rarely improve through silence. Communication has to start at practice. 

Great teams communicate: Early. Loud. Often.

Misunderstandings compound when conversations don't occur, especially when hard conversations are needed.

11. Integrity Has No Small Situations

Warren Buffett says three ingredients for success are intelligence, enegy, and integrity. He adds that without integrity, intelligence and energy are dangerous.

Where does a lack of integrity show up? Moving screens. False hustle. Stat padding. Winners don't cut corners. Small compromises often become larger ones.

12. Build People

Championships, winning, and recognition matter. But another question remains: 

How differently do people leave our program than they started here? That's the mark we coaches try to leave. 

Studying Process

My study has focused recently on a "Unified Theory of Coaching."

• Howard Gardner asks: How do leaders develop?
• Alfred Adler asks: What relationships produce growth?
• Misaeng asks: How do people become professionals?
• Anson Dorrance asks: How do people continually ascend?
• Jocko Willink asks: Who owns the problem?
• Kevin Eastman asks: What standards separate the best?

Coaching helps craft competence, character, and ownership.

"Misaeng" takes place in a trading company, but it's about player and leadership development. 

Lagniappe. Where's the ultimate focus? 

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Basketball - Navigating Transitions

Life is full of transitions  between schools, jobs, teams, and locations. Successful transitions iffer another form of "reset," learning "this is how we do things here."

Understanding the dynamics of each 'workplace' may not be obvious. In a new position, think about how to navigate 'uncharted waters'. Among the "Hierarchy of needs" is the need to belong. 

Impression 

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression." Bring a positive attitude, humility, and consistent effort. 

Examples: be on time, prepared, attentive, making eye contact

Expectations  

"The main thing is the main thing." Identify expectations when possible as you seek to elevate both team and personal performance.

Example: "Advance the story." Be easy to play with, hard to play against.

Assistance 

"Look for the helpers." - Fred Rogers  Most new positions don't ask you to be the "lead dog" on the sled. Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence. Find a mentor and become a mentor. 

Example: Ask, "How can I help the team?"

Team Player 

"Team first." Being a team player is a choice. Think about the best team player with whom you've played. What made them a great teammate? As James Kerr wrote in Legacy, "Leave the jersey in a better place." 

Example: Embrace doing the little things including helping with equipment and cleanup of the bench area. Nobody is too big to do the small things.

Skill development

"Every day is player development day." - Dave Smart  Development includes skill, strategy (BB IQ), physicality, and psychology (resilience and mental toughness).

Example: Stay in condition. Watch video daily. 

Leadership

"Everyone can lead." - Jack Clark, Cal Rugby   Leadership includes always being on time, prepared, coachable, and never a distraction. Legendary Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich told players, "Get over yourself." 

Example: Keep a leadership diary. Track leadership opportunities and how you responded. 

Prevailing Current  

"Do not attempt to reverse the flow." Joining an organization offers a chance to add value. Remember the words of Coach John Wooden, "No progress occurs without change but not all change is progress." Be an oar not an anchor. 

Example: The surest way to ruffle feathers is to come in with a "this is a better way to do it" attitude. There's time to make suggestions if you survive the transition. 

Deployable skills 

Skills exist beyond tangible abilities. Hard to quantify skills include preparation, attention, and perseverance. Hard work is a skill. Toughness is a skill. 

Example: "Never cheat the drill." 

Doing things "the right way" includes making everyone around you better and impacting winning. You can impact winning during games, on the practice court, and supporting teammates and coaches. 

Lagniappe. Decision making is a skill. 

Lagniappe 2. Show strength via body language. 

“Body language. That’s the one thing where you don’t have to say a word, that you say everything,” Kelvin Sampson

Your body language often speaks the truth about your character. pic.twitter.com/pQ2imN6Yzc

— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) August 1, 2026

  

Basketball - The One-Minute Message, A.K.A. the "Elevator Pitch"

Be prepared to sell. Chuck Daly said it best, "I'm a salesman." Craft a 'pitch' for yourself. "This is why you need me on the court." 

We all are. If we get one minute to sell, sell our beliefs confidently and concisely. Some call a one minute presentation an "Elevator pitch." 

1. "The Lasso Way." 

We're here to help these young people become the best version of themselves. Adding value is the mission. 

2. "Character and competence." 

More than basketball. "Excellence is our only agenda" - excellence at home, in the classroom, and on the court.

3. "Every day is player development day."

Development comes in four spheres - skill, strategy, physicality, and psychology. "How can I get better today?"

4. "Basketball is sharing." 

Every great accomplishment in human history occurred through collaboration and teamwork. The 'smallest team' is "you and I" which progresses through family, school, community, and beyond. Share something great. 

5. "The game is about the player."

Michelangelo said of a block of marble, "My job is to find the statue within." What's the track record? Student-athletes who have have a doctoral degree, have succeeded in Business, Education, Medicine, and more - parents, valedictorians, state champions, Hall of Famers, All-Scholastics. 

Anything is possible. 

Lagniappe. Sport rewards athleticism. Do the work. 

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Lagniappe 2. I asked Claude.ai to survey the blog and extract ten lessons. Here is what it derived.

Ten Lessons from RonSenBasketball

1. The pecking order is earned, not assigned.
Every team has a hierarchy — official and unofficial. Healthy teams build it on competence, trust, and sacrifice rather than ego, so that "who takes the big shot" and "who sets the tone" never need debating mid-game.

2. Learn from the past, don't live in it.
The Stoic line holds: the past isn't subject to your control. Use it as a resource, not a residence — the players and coaches who keep glancing backward at old glory lose ground to the ones adapting forward.

3. Read the whole board, not just your corner.
Court awareness — seeing help defenders, cutters, the full possession — separates players who react from players who anticipate. Tunnel vision on one local fight loses track of the game.

4. Show up on the days nobody's watching.
The unglamorous middle — a Tuesday in December, a rep with no scoreboard — is where the season is actually won or lost, long before March.

5. A won position can still be lost.
Complacency turns leads into losses faster than almost anything else. Up six with two minutes left is a position, not a victory — it still has to be finished.

6. Correct without discouraging.
Wooden's "sandwich" — praise, instruction, confidence — and the "you did well, and..." framing build players up while still holding the line on standards.

7. Trust, not just talent, earns the floor.
Reliability, discipline, and good decisions determine who plays when it matters. Ability, reliability, durability, dependability — that's what coaches actually notice.

8. Negative plays lose more games than positive plays win.
Bad shots, turnovers, poor rebounding rates, and undisciplined fouling compound quietly. Winning the "differential" often matters more than any single highlight.

9. Sacrifice the small stone to save the group.
The dive, the extra pass, the senior absorbing blame in film session — losing something small on purpose isn't losing. Isolated stars get exposed; connected teams survive.

10. Coaching is a privilege, and the hardest question is the honest one.

"What does it feel like to be coached by me?" Players remember how they were treated far more than the final score — which is the whole point of doing this daily. 

 

 

 

 

 

Basketball - “Unplayable”

What makes someone “unplayable?” None of us are perfect and all of us are not actualized, 'misaeng', the stone which has not yet come into play. 

Coaches encounter players whom we cannot play or cannot use in certain situations. That includes both "tangibles and intangibles." Here are just a few that show up. 

Intangible 

"Fold under pressure." Some players struggle to play under duress.

"Blindspots." Tunnel vision is a real phenomenon where pressure causes perception failure. Open players and opportunities literally become invisible. 

"The Killer S's." Players are "equal but not the same." Selfishness results in bad shots, stat seeking, and players who won't share the ball. Softness equals lack of toughness, an inability to engage physically or mentally, the player who won't battle through screens, cut hard, hit the floor, or take the open and meaningful shot. Sloth is laziness, the player who won't pressure the ball, compete in conversion and transition, or practice hard. 

"Mentally challenged." As Brad Stevens told my wife, an aerospace engineer, "Basketball is not rocket science." Some players can't find their cover, can't make quick decisions, and don't know where to be, when to act, or just "don't get it." 

Tangibles

Four Factors. Dean Oliver's landmark early analysis of statistical difference makers - shooting, turnovers, rebounding, free throws. Statistics don't show everything but they often link concepts to performance. Geno Auriemma says that you don't have to fill up the stat sheet but you have to contribute something. 

Plus minus. Coaches ask ourselves, "are we better off with her on the floor?" Players 'reveal' impact for what they bring or what they don't. Coaching developmental players, I constructed lineups to include at least two potential scorers, rebounders, and ball handlers. Often one player impacted all three. Also, you find that you cannot play two "soft players" together. When lineups don't fulfill these needs, it shows. 

Fouls. Poor technique or undisciplined play result in "bull in a China shop" fouling. It can look like this. 

Turnovers. Poor decision-making, execution, or both produce turnovers. I had a player commit 14 turnovers in a game once (developmental). Teams cannot compete while self-destructing. Turnovers kill dreams and keep players on the bench. 

If you want to get more minutes, role, and recognition, understand that it's both what you contribute and negative impact.

Lagniappe. Who doesn't like a good BOB? Here's a box set into an elevator screen. 

🏀 🪄

*BLOOB*

BOX: ELEVATOR SCREEN THE SCREENER pic.twitter.com/ILl9PLsCZv

— The 🏀 Playbook Wizard (@PlaybookWizard1) August 1, 2026

Lagniappe 2. And another from the same source. Floor balance could be an issue. 

🏀 🪄

*ZONE BLOOB*

PIN AND LOB pic.twitter.com/toZvxJAIyF

— The 🏀 Playbook Wizard (@PlaybookWizard1) August 3, 2026

 

Basketball- Post 4800 - Enduring Lessons

Life and basketball reward character and competence. Coaches who learn to communicate, to add value and get buy-in change lives. 

1. Coaching is about relationships. As Alfred Adler teaches in The Courage to Be Disliked, all problems are relationship problems.

Stories have emerged that last season's Celtics team leader Jaylen Brown was upset when Jayson Tatum returned and received the coveted last player announced. Nothing matters until it does. 

2. Establish clear priorities. Coach Ellis Lane (New England Basketball Hall of Fame) taught family, school, basketball.

Coaches get what we accept. Some college coaches say they will not sign players who disrespect their parents. 

3. "Every day is player development day." Study it. Learn it or outsource it. Never ignore it.

A minority of coaches are "talent aggregators." Most have to "grow their own." Have a plan shared with all players, even if you are not allowed to coach them out of season (e.g. Massachusetts). 

4. Stories are powerful. People remember a story better than a string of facts. Become a storyteller and assemble a portfolio of stories.

Spencer Haywood tried out at Detroit. The college coach told him to make 15 consecutive free throws and he'd get a scholarship. The rest is history. 

5. “Get more and better shots than opponents.” - Pete Newell  The quickest path to improving is better shot selection. Use shot charts, analytics, and video to teach. A player must backstop her “shooter” claim with numbers.

I hear stories about how so and so is a great player or a great shooter. Then reality hits. As Dizzy Dean said, "If you can do it, you ain't boasting." 

6. Analytics- “begin with the end in mind.” Design practices to transfer actions that impact games. Teacher’s pets use SPCA - shooting, protecting (the ball), crashing (win Coach Rav’s “War on the Boards”) and attacking the basket (get fouled). 

Dean Smith sometimes scrimmaged UNC using "shot selection" scoring. 

7. Tell the truth. Elite players want to be coached. 

“Turnovers kill dreams.”                                                                  "Fouls negate hustle."                                                              “Video is the Truth Machine.”

8. Teach leadership. Everyone can lead. Model excellence. Use storytelling examples. 

Arlene Blum led an all-woman team to ascend Annapurna, one of 14 Nepalese peaks above 8,000 meters. Two women summited and two died trying. "Women can be every bit as bold and fearless as men, and face the same consequences of their actions."  

9. Win this possession. Each possession distills the game to its essence. A turnover is a zero percent possession. 

A “$h*t shot” is a turnover                                                                                          Live ball turnovers are the worst, becoming high points per possession chances.

10.Use Coach Knight’s “Power of Negative Thinking.” 

Ridding those 10-15 bad possessions a game changes everything. Show players examples on video. They need to see the infamous Michigan timeout or the Princeton upset of UCLA using a back door cut. Good teams do not give games away. Lesser teams find ways to lose. 

Lagniappe. Force turnovers. When we forced a "dead dribble," the team called "pinch" and other defenders went into full denial. It caused more than its share of turnovers. 

When a player picks up their dribble, we don't just pressure them. We try to kill their pivot foot pic.twitter.com/VxIGa6S0gt

— Mike Jagacki (@Mike_Jagacki) July 30, 2026

"What Is this Behavior Accomplishing?"

The book The Courage to Be Disliked shares unconventional wisdom. For example, instead of asking "why did she do that?," the authors suggest asking, "What is this behavior accomplishing?"

I don't remember ever asking that question.

Let's assemble a few possible situations:

1. Backup point guard "dominating the ball..."

The established starter was the star, an unquestioned elite player. The "why" could be seen as selfish or at least self-serving in the "dog marking territory" sense. Perhaps the motivation was just, "I want to be in the conversation, too."

2. Young player "jacking up shots" like there's no tomorrow...

The behaviors made no sense in the context of either the offense or the hierarchy. Perhaps the statement was (before correction by the coach), "I've always played this way and I'm not stopping now." The response was, "This is not your team."  

3. Another ball-dominant player embarked on 'extreme usage.' 

The coach preached "teamwork" from day one. The coach couldn't understand the behavior. She removed the player from the game and made her point, "That is not how we play." She got the coach's attention and received immediate feedback. 

4. A young player seemed skittish on the court. 

All the players were young (maybe 12) and one wonderful kid seemed timid and deferential beyond what I had seen. I approached the mom and said, "Your daughter looks afraid, physically afraid of the size of the opposition." The mom answered, "She is." Sometimes, behaviors aren't anti-team, they're self preservation. 

5.  An elite player with 30 points as the third quarter ended, was signaled out by the coach as he prepared for his second free throw. He calmly took the ball at the stripe, slammed it off the backboard and walked off. 

The player, a future D1 talent, was obviously perturbed by being removed. 

I don't know if any college coaches were in the building. If so, he signaled to them, "I am a great player...and a headache." Was the message to his coach, "I am big time, I don't need you?" 

Few young players are physically or emotionally mature. Working to understand "deeper messaging" behind their actions might help us. Emphasis on contribution to the team, the 'community', can help some people think less about themselves first and work to add value to the group.

Lagniappe. Track "kills." I've worked off the 3-7-2 rule. Three consecutive stops, seven times a half, two halves will equal a win. 

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Basketball - Shining a Light

"It's dark at the base of a lighthouse." - Japanese Proverb

Self-analysis presents challenges. We overlook our flaws or deficiencies and miss opportunities for high performance. 

During Community Health classes in medical school (fall 1977), I constructed an acronym about what keeps us from doing the right things -

BESS 

BESS works well for coaching. 

1. Barriers (e.g. cost, time, availability)

What limits player development? Players have summer jobs, go on lengthy vacations, don't play summer ball, or have other distractions (texting, electronics, relationships). Basketball is a cruel mistress. 

2. Efficacy (what works)

"It doesn't matter. I'm a starter and better than who's coming along?" That may or may not be true. Do you believe yourself invulnerable to internal competition? If so, do you believe that your opponents are 'holding back', deferring to your magnificence? 

3. Severity (meaningful consequences)

What's the worst thing that could happen? You don't improve, you lose your edge, you get 'beat out', you lose strength and conditioning, and your next season you become, "El Busto." 

If you're lucky, then you get one shot at relevance, being part of something special. Look at it another way. You're developing character and competence. Who wants to hear, "If only..." 

4. Susceptibility   

We had an expression in the Navy - DATU (doesn't apply to us). We skipped past mercury spill training and fire safety training, but random drug testing applied to everyone. I asked (rhetorically), "maybe if you're negative 15 times, it means that you don't use drugs?"

Coaching and correction applies to everyone. If there are curfews or strength and conditioning requirements, you get no exemption. 

Overcome barriers. Be aware of effectiveness, the consequences of failure to advance, and rules that apply for everyone. 

Lagniappe. Additional defensive strategies. 

14 Defensive Wrinkles to Consider

1 - Come out of timeouts, quarter changes, and even free throws with a different defense. Opposing coaches will often call timeouts or start quarters with their teams talking about how to attack your defense - switch it up on them.

2 - When… pic.twitter.com/bocHkb6xz4

— Hoops Companion 🏀 Resources for Coaches (@Hoops_Companion) July 30, 2026

 

 

Basketball - A Physician's Take on "Chemical Health" - User Beware

Image adapted by ChatGPT Plus from an older blog post

What keeps coaches awake at night? Coaches don't control what happens when players leave the gym. Chemical health is an oxymoron like "jumbo shrimp." 

My mother "offered" me alcohol when I was thirteen. I didn't know much then, but I could already see how it was affecting her. I declined. 

First, there is no "stay in your lane." As a physician who practiced for 44 years, I've seen the acute, chronic, and mixed effects of alcohol. I've seen dual diagnosis patients (mental health plus alcoholism) and patients commit suicide related to alcohol. I've seen alcohol-related cancers. I trained with a Navy doctor who had to have his ship's Captain "relieved for cause" because the CO came back to the ship intoxicated on multiple occasions. 

Every story was tragic and preventable. 

• Patients who showed up in acute liver failure and died in days
• Alcohol withdrawal - "DTs" - "shakes, horrors, and fits"
• Patients who had organ-specific toxicity (heart failure, pancreatitis, cirrhosis, dementia - "wet brain"). None of them started to drink thinking they'd end up with the "glass holding them" instead of the other way around.
• Secondary effects like "aspiration pneumonia"
• Patients with DUIs or vehicular homicides

I've heard again and again, "there's nothing else to do here."

I've seen a teammate show up intoxicated for a game - and play poorly. The coach said, "What's the matter with you today?" 

The simple answer is "alcohol impairs every thing about you." It degrades memory, concentration, strength, endurance, recovery, and sleep. 

Here's a list of prominent NBA players (AI can make mistakes) whose alcohol issues impacted their careers. 

If being your best is your brand, alcohol is one way to subvert that intention. 

Lagniappe. You don't need a "deep bag" to enjoy success early. But you need to have these. 

A lot of the basketball training you see for kids heading into their freshman year of college simply doesn’t translate to the college game. Freshmen need to be elite at the basics: catch-and-shoot, scoring in two dribbles or less, defending at a high level, and being physically…

— Andrew K (@CoachKurzawski) July 28, 2026

Basketball - There Is a Time for Everything

Role conversations shouldn’t happen:

After a bad practice.
On the bus.
Immediately after a substitution.
In the heat of emotion.

Have them in “air-conditioned rooms”—calm environments where both sides can listen, process, and speak honestly.

Grace and truth both matter.

— Hoops Companion 🏀 Resources for Coaches (@Hoops_Companion) July 28, 2026

Every coach, every boss has hard conversations. Sometimes the coach initiates them and sometimes the player or her allies. 

Develop guidelines. 

The Place 

Have some privacy (with a caveat). 

I have arranged the conversation at the player's home "kitchen table conversation" including parents. 

Documentation

Always have another adult present. No "he said, she said."

Be prepared to take notes, which are optional.

If you expect problems, notify your supervisor in advance. 

Get feedback. "Please share your thoughts." 

Exclusions 

Not a conversation about minutes or strategy

Never discuss other players on the team. 

Time 

Have a "cooling off period" - let everyone calm down. 

This also allows for a more thoughtful conversation.

Never during the heat of the action.

Remember Colin Powell's first rule - "It will look better in the morning." 

Don't expect these conversations to always birth "sunshine and rainbows." Leave room for followup conversations. Situations change, which is why the conversation was needed to begin with. 

Lagniappe. Strong defenders and strong defenses make life miserable. They pressure the ball handler, make penetration and passes difficult, are physical, contest shots, and make contact. Ask whether our defense consistently shows these traits. 

On defense we:

- make life absolutely miserable for you
- impact the ball at all times
- refuse to allow you to run what you want
- keep you off balance with new looks
- force tough 2s
- make you want to go home and get on the bus ASAP
- make you say “this sucks”

— Hoops Companion 🏀 Resources for Coaches (@Hoops_Companion) July 28, 2026

 

 

 

 

 

Basketball - "Extreme Ownership"

Part of one summer I worked as a counselor at Sam Jones' basketball camp at Stonehill College. I focused on helping the young kids improve as my "basketball playing career" was done. Without a doubt, amidst a bunch of D1 players, I was multiple cuts below their athleticism and skill. 

That didn't prevent me from adding value, owning my role. 

Image created using Chat GPT Plus

Former SEAL commander Jocko Willink shares leadership principles in his book Extreme Ownership. Here are a few to prioritize that work for sports and life:

1. "You own your paycheck." 

Our input translates to results. The results may not always be what we want, but we own our process. 

2. Don't traffic in excuses. 

Basketball courts have no place to hide. Bad shot selection, "Dead Man's Defense" (six feet under the ball), and unengaged transition defense stand out like a sore thumb. Coaches see it real time and "The Truth Machine" (video) exposes the guilty. 

3. Believe in something bigger than ourself. 

Put the team first. Model excellence in all things whether it's practice, pregame, live action, or cleaning up the bench area and locker room after the game. Nobody is too big to help with the small things. 

4. Focus. 

Few things in sport are more painful than mistakes made through lack of attention. Missed assignments, failed blockouts, unawareness of situation (time, score, plan), and frustration fouls arise from lack of focus and lack of mental toughness. Be in the game whether on the court or on the bench. 

5. Set the standard. 

"Ability and reliability." Be the "foxhole guy" that coaches and teammates can count on to outthink, out hustle, and outfight the other guy. Be different to make a difference. "We make our choices and our choices make us." 

Lagniappe. Be hard to guard. 

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Lagniappe 2. Lloyd Pierce explains what it takes to play NBA defense. 

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Basketball - Summer Gets Us in the Laboratory to Raise Production

A volleyball mother explained the season well. "In our family, there are two seasons - volleyball season and offseason volleyball."

Winning requires balance and there's no balance without both offense and defense.

Danny Hurley and Geno Auriemma shared an interview where they explained that they recruit players who can score and then demand that they play defense. 

Watch your local teams. 

- How do they plan to win on offense?

- How do they plan to win on defense? 

- Can they create separation? 

- Can they limit separation on defense? 

- Do they run plays or do they make plays? 

- Do they use "hard-to-defend' actions? 

Have a conversation with your team. Ask them tough questions. 

• Where do we expect our points to arise? 
• Do we get "more and better shots" than our opponents?
• Do we compete at home, on the road, against teams with winning records? 
• How many 'hard-to-defend' actions are in our offensive array?
• Do we talk on defense? 

Good teams have answers. Mediocre teams have fewer. Poor teams often have blank expressions. 

Lagniappe. Make commitment and consistency our brand. 

“Without commitment, you will never start. Without consistency, you will never finish.”

— Denzel Washington pic.twitter.com/uQf5cMUTj4

— Reads with Ravi (@readswithravi) July 26, 2026