Basketball: Write and Edit Ruthlessly (Junk the Junk)

The coach is the keeper of the story. Excellent teams get on the same page. And the coaches edit the narrative and continually rehearse better possessions. Our script must: 

• Edit out poor shot selection (quickest path to improvement)
• Reduce turnovers
• Stop fouling bad shots and perimeter shots (no free stuff) 
• Minimize transition points    

Find your voice as a team. Developing an identity is a must. 

The Avengers are a team not a "hub and spokes" design around one character...although Captain Marvel stands out.  

Unexpected combinations leave an impression in many domains - writing, art, or sport. For example, in Firefly, Joss Whedon combines cowboys and space. What if we reconfigured Hansel and Gretel as the predators and the witch as the victim? 

Blend unexpected fabrics as "great offense is multiple actions." NBA teams can struggle defending the pick-and-roll. It gets harder defending screen-the-roller action below (Spain pick-and-roll). 




Art teaches us to expect the unexpected. 




Deliver unexpected twists to our story (e.g. backdoor cuts, slips, screen-the-screener)

Screen-the-screener lob SLOB. 

Junk the junk. When stuff that doesn't work, abandon it. Along the way this season, we've shown that extending our defense has often hurt more than it helped. 

Summary: 

Find better offensive and defensive possessions. 
Make excellence the only agenda.
Build unexpected combinations. 
Deliver the unexpected.
Junk the junk (kill your darlings).

Lagniappe: Basketball maturity isn't only about age. 



Happy Valentine's Day!