1. Lagniappe: "Great offense is multiple actions." Got a post player to isolate on the wing? FastModelSports.com shares double downscreens to set up ball reversal isolation.
2. In his podcast with Chris Oliver, coach Dave Smart explained that despite shooting poorly, their team earned a chance to win the Canadian national title by competing defensively every possession. We cannot overstate a team's 'defensive will.' Defense is determination not desperation.
The neighborhood of know how defeats the universe of know that.
3. Elite finishers score with either hand off either foot on either side of the basket. It's tougher for younger players developing coordination and players with less lift. Do the work.
4. Want more shooting drills?
Sideline volume free throws. Take 3. Sprint to sideline and back. Take 3 more. Repeat.
Track makes in five minutes. "Winners are trackers."
One-on-one. There's no substitute. From wing, top, elbows, post up game.
Spin-backs. Back to basket...self spin-back...quick pivot...emphasize quick release alternate with one-dribble shooting (insist on getting separation with the dribble).
Beat the pro/Bill Bradley. Must make 11 shots before miss 4. Hardest version, make 15 before missing 2.
One-dribble floaters from each wing and top of key.
251 (above). Track consecutive 3s without missing two in a row. At the corner (turn) make two before advancing to next spot. Pressure from having not to miss two consecutive shots. Track your record...add time limits to add more pressure. Much better with rebounder.
5. Read. Very few jobs require no reading or continuing education. Reading takes us to other fields, other worlds, other times. Do you know about the General Who Never Lost? Against superior numbers he said, "we are here to fight, not to count."
6. Advanced ideas from Dave Smart with Chris Oliver with big doses of psychology...Smart's teams won 13 Canadian University National titles and have beaten numerous US Division 1 teams.
"Coach human beings to be better."
"It's impossible to be special...if you're not having fun..."
"Fun is competing...and winning." Acknowledges that playing time enters into it.
"Be successful...in the moment." (He's not a big process guy, IMO it's semantics.)
"...creating conditions where you're going to fail...in practice." But he doesn't want the same people to struggle all the time.
Oliver argues that it's psychologically driven...players live in the deep end of the pool.
Teach “what do you see?” Coach authentically, logically (the why behind action), and empathetically ("We know it's not easy.") are important.
7. Shoot better. Nothing works without shooting. For example, pick-and-roll (below).
Spacing only works if perimeter players constitute threats. Space into a high ball screen (left). Notice that when replace other players with "turtles", there isn't any place for either 1 or 5 to operate. "Non-shooters are always open" or "playing in traffic leads to bad results." Work on shooting off the catch, coming off screens (trash barrels in the driveway), and off the dribble.
Find a teammate or a sibling as a rebounder and you both improve faster. That's the Urban Meyer 10-80-10 principle - as a top 10 percenter, drag teammates in the middle up into the upper echelon.
8. Respect Pete Newell's emphasis on "footwork, balance, and maneuvering speed" to create separation. While each player spends 90 percent of the game without the ball, the offseason helps develop ball skills (dribbling, shooting, passing).
Spacing only works if perimeter players constitute threats. Space into a high ball screen (left). Notice that when replace other players with "turtles", there isn't any place for either 1 or 5 to operate. "Non-shooters are always open" or "playing in traffic leads to bad results." Work on shooting off the catch, coming off screens (trash barrels in the driveway), and off the dribble.
Find a teammate or a sibling as a rebounder and you both improve faster. That's the Urban Meyer 10-80-10 principle - as a top 10 percenter, drag teammates in the middle up into the upper echelon.
8. Respect Pete Newell's emphasis on "footwork, balance, and maneuvering speed" to create separation. While each player spends 90 percent of the game without the ball, the offseason helps develop ball skills (dribbling, shooting, passing).
Teach “what do you see?” Coach authentically, logically (the why behind action), and empathetically ("We know it's not easy.") are important.
Find entrees from your menu of value drills.
9. Optimism informs control of a positive future. Use biology. George Everly, Jr. wrote Stronger: Develop the Resilience You Need to Succeed. "The bodies of resilient people are supercharged with moderate increases in hormones such as adrenalin, noradrenalin, gamma-Aminobutyric acid, neuropeptide Y and cortisol, which allow you to do “superhuman” things for short periods of time. When these hormones surge, your strength and perception increase, your memory improves, your eyesight may get better, your tolerance for pain increases, and you react to stimuli faster. In other words, you’re better prepared to meet any challenge successfully."
In 1908, Elie Mechnikov won a Nobel Prize for his studies and book, “Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies.”
We know that optimists have better physical and mental health, better marriages, and better grades. Positivity pays.
Optimism also fuels persistence.
10. From Coaching Angels, how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
When someone asks, “how does it feel to play for me,” what range of answers do we expect? If the answers are unexpectedly harsh, are they wrong?
Seeing dancing angels, do fans know the dance and marvel or ask, “what was that?” When the angel falls off the pin, was it inevitable or preventable?
Lagniappe: "Offense is spacing and spacing is offense."
Seeing dancing angels, do fans know the dance and marvel or ask, “what was that?” When the angel falls off the pin, was it inevitable or preventable?
Lagniappe: "Offense is spacing and spacing is offense."
Don't play in the traffic or bring traffic to the play.I try and explain this concept all the time to youth players so this edit will hopefully help me. Simple rule is don't run through the path of a teammate in transition. pic.twitter.com/EPtAMEd6c6— Chris Oliver (@BBallImmersion) May 15, 2019