We talk about "Basketball IQ". What is it? When do you demonstrate it? How do you improve it?
Basketball IQ isn't scored off a standardized test, it's a quality that players show day-to-day, moment-to-moment playing the game in a way that makes their team and their teammates around them better.
Players demonstrate basketball IQ by concentrating, seeing the game (vision), by making the right decisions, and through proper execution. You can have a complete understanding of the game yet execute poorly and fail.
How does a team inform basketball IQ? Smart teams are ready to go (mentally ready, physically stretched) the moment they get on the floor. They aren't leaving wet spots stretching each other out on the floor. During warmups they're attacking the basket at game speed. They're warming up their shot, not firing up threes before building form and confidence.
Smart teams are always communicating verbally and non-verbally. They signal setting a screen, set up their cut, and wait for the screen. They let teammates know where the help is and when it's leaving. They take quality shots, avoid dangerous passes, and improve passing angles. They cut with a purpose, sometimes not for their benefit but to move the help defender. They set legal, tough screen and block out assiduously, even when that means taking on a bigger player.
The "smart" player always knows her assignment "I've got ball" but also knows when off the ball that "the ball scores". Stopping your player means nothing if you don't react to whom is scoring when they're defender gets beaten.
How do you elevate your basketball IQ? First, pay attention during practice, during games, and when you're watching games. Focus on why good teams flourish and the mistakes that struggling teams make. When you see "stand around" basketball, it's no wonder that teams fail. How does a player get separation with (quickness, change of pace and/or direction) or without the dribble (spotting head turning defenders, clever cuts, using screens)? See "both sides of the trade." Do more of what is working and less of what isn't.
Use the assets you have around you, your coaches, the Internet (Youtube.com educational sites, high quality podcasts, blogs, information sites, comprehensive teaching sites like FIBA.com). Develop and refine your process while you are developing your skills. Make your workout simulate game situations.
Basketball IQ. You know it when you see it.