Saturday, November 16, 2019

Basketball: Doing Your Best Thinking



Where do you do your best, most creative work? I'm a fan of 0,0,0,0. 

David Mamet wrote in a Vermont cabin. Sara Blakely, Spanx founder, drives around in her car before going to the office. Hans Zimmer gets inspired in front of his workstation. 



The environment becomes part of our muse. For many, committing to a time, place, and atmosphere unleashes original thinking. 



Unanticipated mixes may produce winning themes. As a twenty-something English teacher in rural Maine, Stephen King asked the custodian about the girls locker room. King had yet to enjoy commercial writing success. The janitor shared that it had some privacy but not much. King wondered to himself what might happen if a girl began puberty there and got bullied. He submitted the novel Carrie to his publisher and months later got a check for $200,000. He knew he was going to make it as a writer. 



August Rush drew inspiration from everyday sounds.

What resources inspire you?
  • Reading - leadership in business, sports, military
  • Video - especially Youtube compilations, coach presentations, FIBA
  • Online seminars - MasterClass, Coursera.
  • Study - biography; what made Leonardo, Ben Franklin, Lincoln great? 
  • Watching games, youth to pro, reveals new combinations. 

A pair of ideas lifted from Carla Berube (former Tufts now Princeton coach)

Anticipate, practice, and record situations (not an all-inclusive list, it's endless)
  • Comeback game (personnel and style of play) 
  • Close and late (best BOB, SLOB, ATO, zone play, 3-point play)
  • Offensive and defensive delay game (we won't have time before preseason games)
  • Free throw defense and offense 
  • Will you foul up 3 late? 
  • Scoring plays from half and full court late without timeouts
  • Intentional miss off free throws late
  • Tap plays
  • End of half, game. Automatic switching? (Take advantage of this offensively)
  • Two for one possessions
  • Playing with foul trouble
  • Junk defenses? 
  • Same formations with differing actions
  • Different formations to run same actions
Lagniappe: like Box sets? Simple UNC set produces an inside and an outside threat. 



Lagniappe 2: 2 man Shell Drill