What 'rules' can we practice?
Know your craft. Knowledge is power. Most young players comprehend less with lower basketball IQ than we think. Teach more and coach less. "Trust but verify." Create a performance-focused, feedback-rich culture. "Explain this to me."
Initial pass and stagger.
Screen-the-screener action.
Develop functional habits. Charles Duhigg discusses "The Habit Cycle" (above) in The Power of Habit. Coaches or players, we can improve our study habits, diet, practices. Urban Meyer preaches the 10-80-10 principle. Ten percent of players are overachievers, eighty percent average, and the percent underachievers. He demands that the top ten percent raise the standard by bringing some of the eighty percent along. If an elite player wants to work out, insist that they bring a teammate or teammates.
Fantastic happens when team leaders raise the "rank-and-file", joining them with elite preparation.
Be a team player. The best teams have leaders who are great teammates. Teamwork begins with accountability. Brad Stevens references QBQ. Repurpose your play, refocus your inner voice to "what can I do now for us?" Encourage better support for the group and specific actions.
Appreciate opportunity and service. In Up the Organization, Robert Townsend writes about Thanks - "A really neglected form of compensation." Thank people regularly who help us. I've written coaches and authors I'll never meet to thank them for their contributions. No reply is needed.
Savor the chance to say "yes". Share something great. Pay it forward. "Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days." Jerry Tarkanian was a coach who boldly went where no one looked before for players.
Make the game for the players. "Don't hate the players, hate the game." Rephrased, "are we building a program or a statue?" The success of our programs depends on relationships between coach and players, among coaches, and among the players. Our business is relationships. Collaborate to get synergies. Make it we not me.
