Basketball: Tell an Epic Story with Every Tool in the Box

"Know the story that you want to tell...the creative process takes place in your head." - Hans Zimmer 

One MasterClass theme emerges again and again, story. Whatever our role - player, head coach, assistant coach, skill trainer...work to elevate our game, to be at the top of our game to advance the story. 

We create a world on the basketball court. Build the story. We define the rules. Can our team thrive in that world, within that story and those rules? But...IT'S A GAME. But no committee ever informs basketball excellence of purpose and execution.

Conversations from sport, art, science, music, history, and more affect our world and us. "What do you mean?" 

The Red Line. Urban Meyer talks about "the red line" in Above the Line. When you cross the red line around the field and enter Meyer's world, be ready to go. He says every play is A to B, 4 to 6, as you move from point to point in a few seconds. 

Master your art. Precision and shading enter into execution. Da Vinci did 'drapery drawings', precision works using light and shadow to define dimension. Be where you're supposed to be and not where you aren't. Every stroke of the pencil matters. 

Science rules. Science informs physical training and conditioning, shooting (angles, backspin), sport psychology, nutrition, etc. Using the backboard isn't coaching preference; it informs makes or misses. 




Play on. Music creates advantage and invests students in the process. Music energizes the individual and the collective. Do everything to max out our advantage. If we leave a useful club in the bag, shame on us. 

There's nothing new. History teaches us to overcome disadvantage (David and Goliath at the valley of Elah, Lee at Chancellorsville), to lead (Arlene Blum and Annapurna, Gandhi and the Salt March), and learn (Professor Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain won the Medal of Honor at Gettysburg). The scholar became a decorated soldier. 



Tell a meaningful, epic story. Use powerful themes - transition offense, ball and player movement, help-rotate-recover defense, communication, and belief to translate themes into reality. 

Lagniappe: Wing ball screen/side pick-and-roll

The player's job is to create not to be a robot. 



If you have a hammer, then hammer. Hat tip: Radius Athletics


FSU likes to pick and pop, but also uses the screen-and-roll. 




USA Basketball puts it all together. 

If the ball defender wants to go over the top, fake, crossover and reject the screen.