Coaching is connection. We engage other people to elevate their performance on and off the court. When Amos Alonzo Stagg was asked about his team, he said, "I'll let you know in twenty years."
Here are a few basketball and leadership points from recent posts AND drafts. It takes awhile for ideas to be threshed out.
1. Kevin Eastman's Why the Best Are the Best shares 25 words informing excellence, including URGENCY. He begins, "The best of the best understand the importance of the now - this possession, this repetition, this drill, this report, this action, this phone call."
2. Quarterback layups (snatch and go).
3. Moral Leadership for a Divided Age shares biographies of impactful lives, including William Wilberforce. "Outwork your adversaries" as did the British abolitionist. "The magic is in the work." Human nature compels us to seek comfort and find complacency. "Good is the enemy of great." The exceptional person finds the will to do more, to become more.
4. Etorre Messina shares insights at a CoachingULive seminar. Big picture is whether priorities align with actions (e.g. value spacing yet see scrimmage with bad spacing). Details matter only if big picture works. If you have no gas in your car, fixing the mirrors makes no difference. Defensively...Messina asks, "is the (color) defense arriving close to the arrival of the ball?" When it is, result the offense gets pushed away from the basket.
5. How do we build our offense? Find offense that create separation for your finishers. Force opponents to defend hard-to-defend actions.
6. Rebound from ROCK BOTTOM. "It's not how many times you get hit; it's about how many times you get up." The Astros rebuilt from three consecutive last place league finishes to win the World Series in 2017. Lance Armstrong recovered from advanced testicular cancer to win the Tour de France, albeit in a sport fraught with cheating. The 2008 Celtics captured Banner 17 after having their second-worst season.
7. From observations on tryouts, Be That Guy. Your tryout is your signature. There is no such thing as a 50-50 ball. Run every drill as though it's your last chance. Sometimes it is.
8. From Knight Teaching...
Take away what the offense wants.
- Make the offense uncomfortable.
- Challenge the passing lanes.
- Contest shots with the hand on the ball (not the face)
- Deny second shots.
9. From Celtics-Raptors observations by Brian Scalabrine. "If you're going to switch, you've gotta to switch up, high, and to the body." Switching means more than exchanging assignments. It requires sustaining pressure. The Celtics didn't do that enough.
10. Quin Snyder says that pick-and-roll defense often decides whether you keep your job. He emphasizes the VALUE of GETTING BACK early as a NO MIDDLE team. "Clarity is the most important thing."
11. Overcome failure. Use a three-step program to overcome failure:
Begin the day: How can I improve today? Be specific. (What will I read, do, study?)
Close of business: WILT. What I learned today.
Before bedtime: Appreciation trio (3 things I'm grateful for today) of Shawn Achor. Use a 21-day program of appreciation using three unique items daily.
12. All scoring types of plays are not created equal.
13. Defensive mistakes.
-Play in a stance. Play low. Low man wins.
-Get back on defense. Failed transition D equals defending nobody. Be back engaged.
-See the ball. "The ball scores." If you don't see the ball, you cannot help.
-Communicate. "Silent teams lose." We have to practice this more....lots more.
-Pressure the ball. "Don't back down." No dead man's defense (six feet under).
14. Consider using a practice template to design workouts.
Have great ideas, drills, culture builders. Share them to grow the game.