Coaches make mistakes. We all do. It's inevitable as we make a firehose of decisions. We select the wrong player, don't develop an individual or team as well as possible, show poor body language, fail at self-control, neglect our families, and more. Stop and think.
Better coaches make better decisions. We coach great kids, smart, enthusiastic, hard-working players who want to improve. Who wouldn't want to be part of that?
Where do I need restraint? I'm sure more ways belong.
1. Mission creep ensues, a gradual change in objectives. Prioritize development, prepare young girls to play high school basketball through skill development and game understanding. Imperceptibly, competition and wanting to win affects decisions. Better becomes an enemy of good.
2. KISS off. Keep it simple, stupid. Put young players in a position to succeed. Fight the constant battle to install "a little more." We have two presses, full court man with entry denial (hawk) and 1-2-1-1 (eagle). I cut my teeth on the 2-2-1 and run-and-jump, but limited practice time, player illnesses, and the reality of "do more with less" keep echoing.
Basic spread actions.
Horns pick-and-roll and slip, run to either side.
Horns 45 combination actions.
Horns back screen.
Cross-screen mismatch generator against switch-everything.
Iverson staggered screen actions.
Even a limited number of actions always ends up being too many. In my dreams, I see DHO actions, Spain PnR, staggered screens, legions of backdoor plays...enough!
3. Control control. Where's the balance between freedom and control? The "prettiest basketball" comes from spontaneous multiple actions where players find opportunity and execute. Do "lines on the page" make writing better or just illusion? How often, how many, and when are set plays necessary? Remind me to control...control.
4. Is practice 'right'? What's the best allocation of practice time to fundamentals, offense, defense, conversion, special situations? The more I've coached, the greater the imbalance toward offense occurs. We've won 17 of our last 20 league games over the past two years...proving what? Not much.
5. "Pleased but not satisfied." Don't let it become an obsession. If it's never enough, that's too much. Remember, these are kids. To be your best, think about playing basketball not working basketball.
6. Bad body language. The other "Coach K" holds our clipboard. That prevents clipboard abuse. Abusing inanimate objects teaches everyone the wrong lessons about self-control.
7. Time out. Double entendre. You can't save timeouts for Christmas presents or next season. Similarly, time not used to sleep, to exercise, to eat right, and to invest in our better versions is time ill spent.
8. "Never be a child's last coach." Remember, teach players to see the game, to love the game, to care about each other.
Lagniappe: R-E-S-P-E-C-T the game by always respecting others.
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) February 2, 2019
