Basketball: Bad Coaching, Better Coaching

A guy picks up his morning newspaper off the walkway and sees a snail. He picks it up and tosses it across his yard. Two years later, there's the snail again. The snail looks up and says, "What was that about?"

Bad basketball reveals no offensive and defensive scheme. We become the snail, "what was that?" 

Good basketball has rhythm and symmetry borne of practice and experience. Good teams display offensive and defensive identity. Princeton was more than the Princeton offense but it had their DNA. Syracuse is more than a electric 2-3 zone but that's our first association. 

I haven't taught players well enough how to watch the game. If they had a better idea of what to see, would game structure be more apparent? Would that extend the "be easy to play with and hard to play against" mantra?



Back of the envelope "first impressions" include spacing (offense) and proximity (defense). Does the offense get paint touches and ball reversal? Can the defense pressure, contain, and move on the pass? Do they communicate? Do off-ball defenders cover "one and a half?" What is their preferred tempo? 

We played a team with better athletes yet got off to a good start. But extending the defense was bad coaching. Mea culpa. Our opponent also shot really well and we got behind by about fifteen in the first half. Delayed adjustments buried us. A more compact defense and better ball movement got us as close as six (?) in the second half. I wouldn't call it good coaching as much as stopping bad coaching. 

What defines better coaching, especially in the COVID era? I don't have a current team, but lots of time to think. Here are a few ideas:

- Syllabus with offensive and defense themes and "common language." For example, how we would defend the high and side pick-and-roll? Theory is limited without practice.  
- Specific shooting program, individual drills and warmups (see Lagniappe 2 for example)
- Strength, conditioning, and flexibility suggestions
- Track progress (e.g. monitor free throw percentage, shooting workout success)
- Off-season reading (e.g. James Clear's Atomic Habits)
- Opportunities (e.g. zoom meeting(s) with feedback/ development Q&A sessions
- Introduction to Mindfulness (used by elite professional and Olympic athletes)
- Core video teaching (see Lagniappe) 

Lagniappe: "Technique beats tactics." - Gregg Popovich


Kevin Eastman shows separation technique. 

Lagniappe 2: Carousel shooting (from @Coach_DeMarco)

Lagniappe 3 (another 100 bagger - 100 times more video likes than dislikes) - "ball screen corner screen" simultaneous screening