"Good artists borrow, great artists steal." - Picasso
Guy Molloy has coached in Australia and coached both men and women. Chris Oliver interviews coach Molloy in podcast number 3. This is a lengthy podcast (over an hour). Here are some highlights:
Coach Malloy divided shot clock segments into first, mid, and last eight seconds. He found that emphasis on the first eight seconds improved their transition game. This impacted their spacing as well.
In the final eight seconds, he likes middle pick-and-roll and isolations at the elbow (hard to guard and leads to fouling).
Preparing for international competition, he advises be good at transition offense, half court defense, and applying pressure.
Even at national team level, players still need roles. With very talented players, they may find themselves in different roles.
"No fluff." Be specific in your preparation (with less time to prepare, players need concrete planning, e.g. how we defend screen-and-roll).
"Robust style." Need to be able to play against a variety of styles. But for him ROBUST implies physical and mental toughness.
"Eyes down game." Many guards are impatient in using the strong post player.
Coaching women versus men...coach as teacher, leader, CEO, motivator..."teaching is the heavy emphasis." He felt coaching women had fewer distractions and were more willing students. Also he felt that women were more willing to sacrifice for the team.
"How do coaches improve?" We ask players to improve...he saw areas that he lacked and came up with eight areas...he found reading central to improvement
- Personal philosophy (most people haven't thought that through, personal values, read Stoic philosophy, self-reflect, hard to ask players to be under control when coach is out of his mind, Coach Molloy records his voice every session because he found that his language was not good enough-useless phrases, lack of specificity, verbosity)
- Leadership and culture...ABC (always build culture/confidence)..."culture is the sea that we swim in"...123...know your priorities ("you can't do it all"). Players have to want to come back to the gym.
- "Signature style of play." Defines how you play...need consistency...wants to coach fewer parts of the game exceptionally well...
- "What's your game knowledge?" Learn something new regularly. Study decision making. Can you coach "rank beginners?" Can you function in an interview, individual coaching, and team coaching?
- Teaching method. He studies his teaching (via recordings). To be a teacher, you need teaching methods. Discusses part-whole approach..."prompt, praise and correct, leave." Chris Oliver adds, "keep and add."
- Practice planning. First draft and edit. Have a core curriculum. "If it can't fit on one side of a paper then it's probably too much."
- Game coaching. "What's your plan B?" Plan A will fail. Find out how to be aggressive with different styles.
- Scouting. How much? What do you focus on? Core concepts...Coach Oliver asks how much does scouting matter? As a young player, I found it really helpful re: opponent (individual) tendencies. I've also seen inattention to scouting and game planning lead directly to defeat in a championship.