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Friday, September 25, 2020

Basketball Friday: One Drill, Concepts, One play. What Makes Offensive Efficiency?

"You have to love coaching, not just winning." - Kevin Eastman 

Kevin Eastman is a lifelong student of basketball and leadership. And he's a spectacular teacher and sharer in demand on the corporate lecture circuit. 

Here are a few Eastman quotes from a Basketball Immersion podcast




Building relationships is critical to earning trust, loyalty, and influence. Reciprocity (quid pro quo, tit for tat) is a key to getting and maintaining influence.

Drill: "16" Shooting Drill


Goal: Score 16 Shots, multiple ways to play. 
  • Score one at each spot, out and in (like golf). You can time yourself, count the number of shots needed to score 16, or score 16 within a defined time limit (e.g. 90 seconds). 
  • Must make 2 consecutive at each spot. How many shots are required or complete the course (16 shots) within 90 seconds? Without a rebounder, you have to hustle. 

Concepts: What is offensive efficiency? Offensive efficiency means scoring the most points possible through a combination of executing high quality possessions and not turning the ball over. 

1) Dean Oliver described "individual offensive rating is the number of points produced by a player per hundred total individual possessions. In other words, 'How many points is a player likely to generate when he tries?'"

The formula is ghastly, ice cream headache-worthy and available here...incorporating makes, misses, assists, offensive rebounding, and turnovers. 

For our purpose, efficiency occurs with shotmaking, assists, and avoiding turnovers. 


NBA 2020 Playoffs, minimum 75 field goal attempts. Danny Green is the leader. 

2) Doris Burke regularly reminds us that the highest field goal percentage occurs within the first eight seconds of the shot clock. That makes intuitive sense, because the reason to shoot early is a high quality chance. This isn't Goldilocks where the middle is the sweet spot. The tables are sorted by EFG%. Bad shooters can still take early shot clock shots. 


First, from 22-18 seconds remaining, top ten teams in the playoffs. The Clippers were the kings of early shot clock EFG%. 


Last, final four seconds of the shot clock. Big drop off for most teams. 

EFG% (shotmaking and quality of shot)

3) How do players improve efficiency? 

  • Take better shots.
  • Pass better to create better quality shots.
  • Get offensive rebounds. 
  • Value the ball. Turnovers are killers. 


A combined rating system for one game helps account for non-scoring contributions, both offensively and defensively. Missing a lot of shots and turnovers are the bad performance markers. 

Play: Louisville Basketball, 1-4 Elevator (would adapt well to a Horns set) from Louisville basketball newsletter. 

Lagniappe: SLOB, fake DHO into Hammer

Lagniappe 2: Sniper?  

Lagniappe 3: Mason Waters teaches screens using Jokic as his model. Coach Waters' videos are outstanding.