Thursday, December 27, 2018

Basketball: How Can We Simplify the Game?

"Simple is hard." Verify that players understand what we want and check it...twice. 

What's the message? Explain how we play. Forget absolutes, demands, mandates, goals, values, standards. Stick to basics. Symmetry. What we want offensively we want to prevent defensively. 

Get good shots. How? 

-Sprint, don't run. Basketball is a sprinting game.
-Space the floor. Don't get magnetized to the ball. 
-Cut and pass. Players and ball move. 
-Screen (especially against pressure defense). 
-Take OUR shots - layups, open mid-range, free throws
-Rebounders get second shots. 

Allow one bad shot. How?

-Get back to stop transition points. 



-Shrink the floor by loading to the ball. 
-Pressure the ball; take away give-and-go and back cuts. 
-Know how WE defend screens. 
-Deny the shots they want. No layups, no middle, challenge shots without fouling.
-Clean the defensive boards.
-Talk (ELO - early, loud, often)

If we do everything above, we still have to make shots. Tons of talk won't make shots. Practice volume shooting with pressure constraints of defense, time, competition)

Shooting drills (over a 1000 visits to this link): 



Spurs Shooting



Score "OSCAR MIKE" (On the move)...offense, defense, constraints (two dribbles)

Lagniappe: via Radius Athletics. Use deception.