Basketball: Fall in Love with Easy Shots, Top Performers Translate Video Study (VDE)

Turn the page. Happy New Year to fellow coaches, players, and fans. 

The basketball community showed strength in 2020 with immense selflessness and willingness to share. Let's be even better in 2021. Ideas are the currency of the future. Challenge ourselves to find concepts to revise and implement for our teams. 

"The mental to the physical in basketball is four to one." Why not invest more time to identify and teach using video? 

I'm reading The Playmaker's Advantage which advocates the 'search-decide-execute' triad that I call VDE, vision-decision-execution. 

Because youth (U14) basketball is shutdown locally, I'll use some examples from a  former player who is an outstanding high school fourteen year-old freshman, straight A student. The clips come from the first quarter of a varsity game two days ago. 

Attack Space. Excellent players win in space and this translates across sport domains. In soccer, it's the 'through pass'. In football, think about crossing patterns or delay routes from stack formations. In baseball, it's the hit and run. "Hit 'em where they ain't." 

Cecilia (#45) attacks the middle and gets to the rim to finish with her non-dominant hand. 

"The screener is the second cutter." Screening is opportunity, not grunt work. Pandemic Massachusetts has no BOBs allowed and SLOBs from foul line extended are the default inbounds. 

Cecilia sets a back screen and then rolls to the open middle with excellent body position. This might work as a "ghost screen" with basket cut against sleepy defenders (below).

Cut urgently. Cutting hard creates an edge especially when a defender has lost contact. 

The low post is open but the ball is reversed. What does your search reveal? I see several options, 1) hard cut to opposite elbow for individual action or high/low action. 2) Hard cut to the corner off the opposite low post screen opens the short corner or a three.  

Attack the rim. Defenses teach "no middle." Historical and contemporary 'analytics' favor attacking the rim which scores layups and free throws. Find at least four ways to score - among transition, catch and shoot, off-the-bounce, cutting, offensive rebounds, free throws. 

She attacks the middle and gets fouled. She can finish with either hand on either side of the basket. She also finished second in the Massachusetts Elks Hoop Shoot making 22/25 in the finals. So there's no Hack-a-Shaq. 

Have a variety of finishes. Learn to finish with either hand off either foot from either side. "The magic is in the work." 

Cecilia works from either side of the rim with either hand. 

Summary: 

- Attack Space.

- The screener is the second cutter.

- Cut urgently.

- Attack the rim.

- Have a variety of finishes.

Lagniappe: Zipper actions initiate many SLOB entries from Chris Oliver.

This clip (from within) illustrates how "great offense is multiple actions."