Small edges decide outcomes in sport and society. Warner Brothers got 50,000 letters protesting the selection of Michael Keaton as Batman.
Turnovers and shot quality often decide possessions. Turnovers hemorrhage opportunity as one of Dean Oliver's Four Factors.
How can we stop the bleeding?
1. Jawboning. Reduce turnovers as a high priority. "Value the ball." "Take care of the ball." Or as we heard over and over, "the ball is gold."
2. Tracking. When I was an assistant, I measured turnovers and reported them as team statistics. Thirteen year-olds didn't need personal blame. After tracking, we reduced turnovers about 30 percent.
3. Consequences. Some coaches exert running penalties or substitution during practice for turnovers. Habitual "bakers" lose minutes. "One mistake, bad play. Two mistakes, bad player. Three mistakes, bad coaching."
4. Teaching choices. Pivoting and footwork practice helps. Some coaches favor the permanent pivot foot to reduce traveling. But turnovers originate from poor decisions, poor execution, and lack of awareness. Driving or passing into traffic, ignoring help defenders, and not shortening the pass (going to the ball) contribute. There are no excuses for violations like three-second calls and catching the ball out of bounds.
5. Passing fancy. Sometimes showboating leads to turnovers. If you intend to throw behind-the-back passes or higher risk passes, you better not miss. Red Auerbach discussed the worse loss of his career, when a prep player inbounded a pass behind-the-back leading to a steal and final second loss.
IF and when I coach again, we need to do this drill more. Remember Carril's quote, "the quality of the shot relates to the quality of the pass."
