Engage the truth across domains. Legendary Washington Post report Bob Woodward teaches reporters to get the best available version of the truth. Coaches "get the juice" by revealing the player inside the block of stone.
In his book, The Brethren, Woodward revealed the Supreme Court. A court clerk denied a quote attributed to him. Woodward told him to come to his home. He pulled out a handwritten note from the clerk with the exact quote. Woodward reports the facts and separates facts from opinion.
Part of his process includes a "Big 6" facts in each piece, unpacked truth.
The "Friday 1-3-1" reports a drill, three concepts, and a play that worked.
Drill: Celtics 15. One-minute shooting to make 15. The Spurs do something similar with groups of three, where each player must make five, then rotate spots.
Concepts:
1) Study coaches you admire. What makes Dean Smith, Pete Newell, John Wooden, and Bob Knight great?
Dean Smith: shot quality-based scoring in practice lead UNC to high ACC field goal percentage.
Pete Newell: teach the primacy of footwork, balance, and maneuvering speed.
John Wooden: the ultimate "attention to detail" example... Practical Modern Basketball spends pages on the roles of managers.
Bob Knight: in a positive world, he wrote The Power of Negative Thinking. Here's a quote, “Before you can inspire your players to “win,” you have to show them how not to lose.”
2) Study great players. What separated them from their peers?
Billy Donovan describes the 95%, owning your play without the ball 95% of the game.
3) Study great leaders. Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote Leadership in Turbulent Times, focusing on Lincoln, the Roosevelts, and Lyndon Johnson. "Leadership is elusive because one size does not fit all." How did they overcome setbacks and leave legacies? Lincoln embraced empathy.Teddy Roosevelt had great curiosity. FDR bathed himself in optimism. Johnson mastered legislative process and outworked everyone.
Great communicators work to become relevant. Great communicators share credit. In his Coaches Clinic, Billy Donovan emphasized leaning on players' expertise. NBA players have a wealth of knowledge to be tapped. Similarly, in his podcast Brendan Suhr shared the amazing collaboration between professional coaches and players.
Play: David Blatt, Hammer
"Great offense is multiple actions." Opposite the ball screen, the helpside flare screen sets up a corner three.
Lagniappe: Judd Apatow (Trainwreck, Knocked Up, Bridesmaids) describes the grind of writing jokes that he learned from Jerry Seinfeld.
Apatow says you have to write a lot of jokes to find good ones. Young coaches discover that. A lot of stuff doesn't work. The best coaches constantly evolve.
Lagniappe 2: Study the world. Spend five times as much time looking as we do teaching and writing.
Lagniappe 3: "You've seen yourself holding up that trophy." Becoming a champion.