Access podcasts to grow our knowledge. Zak Boisvert is one of my favorites for his passion, knowledge, and great questions.
He asks graduating seniors (after the season, so no agenda), "what do I need to improve at?" How are you dealing with anger? We've all seen the destructive effects of broken people. He recommends Brene Brown books and "Season of Life." Be aware of your emotions and have an idea of the relationship and role you want. Operate with intent.
Joe Maddon Scorecard: DBAFF ("Don't be a frickin' fan")
He thinks "old school" leadership evolved post WWI and WWII. Many good coaches figured it earlier, e.g. Dean Smith and weren't negative.
Watching film (he says he's not efficient)..."be curious for curiosity's sake." Tom Crean told him to "watch an hour of film every day." He used to glue sets into notebooks.
Off-season projects. "I want to get better at this." E.g. get better at zone offense.
"Why are these guys good?" Recommends a book Playmaker's Advantage. "Watch a play, close your computer, and try to reconstruct." That moves focus off the ball. "Pause the film when you think advantage is coming, what is the play."
Chunking. He doesn't reference chess, but this is very chess-like.
Look at things through the prism of what you do. (Coaching girls, I'm not looking for lobs.) "If I got a chance to run my program, what would I do?"
"Why does that work?" Break it down. E.g. he noted Davidson's break worked well because of hard cutting.
"What drives winning?" Coaches develop a philosophy and identity. He said last season he had a great PnR guard but this year will have different personnel. "Are our best players getting enough shots that are their shots?"
Some coaches intuit what's great by vision not analytics. Shot quality... can we measure it? Great shots can overcome shooters as they have off days. Is sample size adequate to trust?
Belichick, "analytics are for the 49-51 decisions." For some, this recalls Bayes' Theorem.
Coach to your level. NBA players are so good they can't be given separation (e.g. the short roll).
"What is our solution to that coverage (offense) or their action (defense)?" He mentions football using 'pre-snap' movement to change coverages.
Brad Stevens, "when our PnR defense isn't good, it usually starts with not being good on the ball."
Effective coaches can sequence plays to the advantage of their personnel. @PickAndPopNet posted about the beauty of the Bilbao action. Here is how the Lakers used it in the 2nd half to occupy the help for a Lebron low post iso. #NBAFinals #NBAPlayoffs https://t.co/qlZLiigvPo pic.twitter.com/R7Tpr6fCB6
— Chris Oliver (@BBallImmersion) October 1, 2020
European basketball sometimes leads US in developing new actions.
He sees more stuff trickling down from the NBA down these days to college.
"Overrated or underrated" (Concept)
2-3 defense. He argues overrated because it's not always well-coached, but might still work. The value can come from making offense less aggressive.
Rebounding drills in practice. Overrated. Does it make us better or promote injuries? Rick Majerus did 3 rebounding drills at beginning of season - Friday, Saturday, Sunday and never again but talked about it.
5-on-0 run-throughs. Underrated. Should have conditioning and crispness. "Huge fan of 5 on 0." (I have to think on this...we have so little practice time)
Vanilla shell. Overrated. "I don't think basketball is played that way."
Flex offense. "It's an action that NBA teams score off of." There's some value, especially Flex into something else these days. He thinks you have to be attached to cover the downscreen.
Giving players scouting reports. Overrated. Players need to know 'what' and favors sending specifics over their phones not tomes...but he says he could be wrong. KYP (know who you're playing).
Leadership books. Underrated. He's a book guy. The Score Takes Care of Itself (Bill Walsh)
"Are you doing something because it works or because it makes you feel better?" This challenges us to self-assess.
Obsessed with core values? Dean Smith did it sixty years ago.
Special value? Watch your own film and practice and watching other's practice.
