Basketball: Silos, Shooting Setup, Set Play, and Swivel

 “The temptation to lead as a chess master, controlling each move of the organization, must give way to an approach as a gardener, enabling rather than directing. A gardening approach to leadership is anything but passive. The leader acts as an “Eyes-On, Hands-Off” enabler who creates and maintains an ecosystem in which the organization operates.”

― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

General McChrystal stamped his ethos on the War on Terror in Iraq. Abandon silos. Intelligence organizations underachieve by doing their own thing.

And that applies in sports, too. One team overachieves in our boys basketball league, Watertown. I think they've won three state championships despite a fraction of the enrollment of Lexington and have played Lexington even over the years. 

Why? The coach and program director, Steve Harrington, have an integrated program from youth to high school. There's no silo. "Harry's kids" play hard, move the ball, and because they're usually undersized, beat teams from the perimeter and with fullcourt defense. 

In our community, it's a checkerboard of silos on the girls side without acrimony between youth and high school programs. 

Development issues? I can't say that as we have a girl ranked 12th in the New England graduating class of 2022, a girl ranked 6th in the class of 2024, and an All-League point guard graduating this year. But none of them play for the local high school. It's one thing to develop players and it's another to keep them in the program. 

And it's not unique to basketball as hockey and other athletes find willing suitors in the prep/private universe. 

How could one eliminate silos? 

• Identify silos as a problem. 
• Have a program coordinator (could be a coach or not) with a collaboration mission.
• Bring people together with a common goal.
• Identify a curriculum (this is how we teach individual defense, pick-and-roll offense and defense, transition, shooting, etc.)
• Get feedback and revisions ("I need a better understanding of this") 
• Involve the community. 
• Have periodic (brief) meetings to assess progress and problems. 

Drill. Getting your shot off quickly requires optimal setup. Curry demonstrates.

 

Set play. Elbow get. We often see pick-and-roll with a guard or smaller player attacking off a screen from a big. Big on big screens can create confusion for defenses. 

Lagniappe. Study how players get separation. Nash opens his hips which defenders misinterpret as change of direction. Subtle but effective...

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Basketball: Fast Five Big Ideas from "Ego Is the Enemy" Plus Professor Pick-and-Roll

Success seduces us. We emphasize our wins and minimize setbacks. Life brings us both. Ryan Holiday, author of Ego Is the Enemy, cautions us to keep our ego grounded in process.  

1. Become a learning machine. Learn every day. Kevin Eastman says, "Don't be a know-it-all, be a learn-it-all." Grab information from mentors, from other domains, from daily reading. With investment in ourselves, our best version improves daily. 

2. Use time wisely. Holiday talks about Alive or Dead time. Malcolm Little went to prison and read himself into Malcolm X. 

It embeds the "five more" concept into something bigger. Five more pages, five more minutes, five more reps translates into aggregation of marginal gains. I watched part of a star pupil's AAU game recently. She was 12 for 12 from the line. That meant she attacked the basket and took advantage of fouls. 

3. Put purpose over passion. Passion is about us. Purpose is about others. Some people become a force of nature, like Dashrath Manjhi. He spent 22 YEARS from 1960 to 1982 literally cutting through a mountain with a hammer and chisel to create a pass for his village. 

4. Plus, minus, equals. MMA fighter Frank Shamrock preached the Plus, Minus, and Equals system. 

In medicine, we say, "see one, do one, teach one." 

5. Find balance. Aristotle preached finding balance in our lives. Find balance between work and home life. Balance training and rest. Is courage the opposite of fear or the balance between fear and recklessness? 

Summary: 

• Become a learning machine
• Use our Alive Time like Malcolm Little
• Put purpose over passion
• Plus, Minus, Equals
• Aristotelian balance 

Lagniappe. We have to be good in the pick-and-roll on offense and defense. Today's player development steals a look at Professor Pick-and-Roll, CP3. "He's not looking for open teammates; he's looking for rotating defenders." 

 

Basketball: Sharing Video with Players

 

What video should we share with players? Starting with The Four Agreements makes sense. 

Be impeccable with your word. Coaching is not criticism but correction and teaching. Excellent players want coaching. We coach truth. Video is the truth machine that polishes superior execution and exposes a mediocre patina.  

Don't take anything personally. Finding better pathways means suppressing ego. Breaking down a player's film shows them more possibilities, how to get more meat off the bone. Excellent players leave fewer chips on the table. 

Don't make assumptions. Use "Beginner's Mind" for openness to new ideas and improvement of existing ones. Student-athletes are busy, so showing clips saves them time. 

Always do your best. Our best commitment, discipline, and engagement won't always be enough to win but should become enough for us. Replay reveals where we can grow our vision, decisions, and execution. It also shows success because of our athleticism, skill, and knowledge. 

A few perspectives:

• Doc Rivers believed in never showing the team more than thirteen clips. He doesn't want players to become bored. 
• UNC soccer coach Anson Dorrance (21 of 31 NCAA Women's soccer titles) believes in showing women only positive actions. 

This video provides detailed breakdown of four Rockets-Lakers possessions, the good and the bad of it. 

Overview: 

• How does each team intend to wear you down? 
• What are the individual players strengths and weaknesses?
• What is each team trying to accomplish offensively/defensively? 
• What is the mix of defenses? 
• Do they play tight or loose? 
• What is the defensive proximity on the catch? 
• What is their pick-and-roll coverage? 
• How is the spacing? 
• How committed are they in offensive and defensive transition?
• How many do they send to the offensive boards? 
• Do they cut hard and pass crisply or is it pass and shoot? 
• Four factor evaluation - shot selection, turnovers, rebounding, free throws
• How well do they penetrate with the dribble, pass, reverse the ball? 
• At every level players make mistakes. Train them to make fewer. 

Pet peeves: 

• I don't enjoy watching teams who have no plan. 
• Worse yet is watching players I've coached play aimlessly. It reflects poorly on the coaching!
• Not much worse than watching a third of high school shots being threes, with half of those airballs or 'glassballs' 
• Fine to play analytics, but don't take a lot of "in-between" shots, low percentage runners and long twos. 
• Don't dribble the air out of the ball. YOU are not James Harden. 
• Don't play "Dead Man's Defense" (six feet under the ball). 

Summary: 

• Video is the truth machine 
• Leave fewer chips on the table. 
• Showing clips saves them time. 
• Grow our vision, decisions, and execution
• Assess the spacing and defensive proximity
• Don't play "Dead Man's Defense" 

Lagniappe. Conversion-transition drill from TeachHoops.com

Basketball: Relationship Science (Yes, It Is a Thing) and a Killer Shooting Drill

"Everyday experiences matter a great deal." 

What we see, what we say, how we say it, all matter a lot. Coaching is about relationships. 

Harry T. Reis described the triad of understanding, validation, and caring. Relationships need nurturing. 

The Heath Brothers discuss this in The Power of Moments. They inform the transformation of a failing urban school via teacher home visits to their students. Teachers shared scripts with parents. But teachers weren't allowed documents. 

"Tell me about your child's experiences in school. Tell me about yours." Understanding

"Tell me about your hopes and dreams for your child's future." Validation

"What do you want your child to be someday?" Validation

"What do I need to do to help your child learn more effectively?"  Caring

Coaches have parent meetings to share our purpose, philosophy, intended culture, and special requests (e.g. let us know if your child will be unavailable). I have gone to meet with a player's family at home on rare occasions. But few coaches make routine home visits. Maybe we should.

A few points on the athlete-coach relationship:

• "The practice of coaching in the UK will be elevated to a profession acknowledged as central to the development of sport and the fulfillment of individual potential"
• "Effective relationships include basic ingredients such as empathic understanding, honesty, support, liking, acceptance, responsiveness, friendliness, cooperation, caring, respect and positive regard
• "Sports coaching implies an achievement situation, where the performance of both coach and athlete is evaluated."

How do we unpack the core of these statements? Separate the "liking" component and "production". 

1. Open lines of communication give us a chance. 

2. Positives and media affirmations provide validation. 

3. Opportunities for growth and failure get counted as caring. 

Summary:

• Coaching is about relationships.
• Everyday experiences matter.
• A role for home visits? 
• Tell me about your hopes and dreams.
• What can I do to help? 
• Both the athlete and the coach are under evaluation.
• Separate the liking and the production components of relationships. 

Lagniappe. Player development...

Training decisions requires options and defense. 

Lagniappe 2. Track your personal best, percentage, fewest misses. 

One of my favorite shooting drills

“6 minute shooting”

One ball, one rebounder

Elbow to elbow (2 minutes)
R elbow to R corner (2 minutes)
L elbow to L corner (2 minutes)

6 continuous minutes - no break

Below average shooter = >40
Good shooter = 50+
Great shooter = 70+

— Anthony Pugh (@Anthony_Pugh2) April 26, 2021

 

Basketball: Are We Leveraging Hard to Defend Actions?

Have a process to score. The UCONN women find points one-third in transition, one-third on threes, one-third running sets. Yes, Coach Auriemma backstops it with high level talent, but eleven titles show he doesn't just roll the balls out there. 

"Great offense is multiple actions."

Even top professional players have limited points per possession isolation. And they're great. 

NBA leaders, isolation by PPP (minimum 1.5 isolations/game). If the top players in the NBA struggle to generate 1 point per possession in isolation, why expect young players to be better?

What are some actions that are hard to defend? 

Pick-and-roll. The challenge is always twofold, the read and the execution. Mason Waters shares the long version. If you want, put it in your teaching file and come back to it. 

Shorter version but excellent, brief review for teachers and students. 

Give-and-go. "Movement kills defense." 

Jokic is the best since Bird, Sabonis, and Walton at the give-and-go. Even if you only watch fifteen seconds, it's great. Give defenses a chance to make mistakes. 

Screen-the-screener forces more decisions and reaction. 

Great actions to free GSW's elite shooters. Throwing back against the grain adds even more deception. 

Screen-the-roller. The downside is the implementation time for younger players. 

You know it as Spain pick-and-roll but teach it as screen the roller.

Staggered screens. I've shown this before and the beauty of this Iverson action was how Pentucket used it to break open a game in the fourth quarter of a post-season game. 

They ran this twice and scored five points in a couple of minutes. 2.5 points per possession.

Back cuts. "Counter overplays with screens and back cuts." Simplify. 

I grew up in a 1-4 high offense which is why I have some love for horns actions. Charlotte implies DHO action and scores off the back cut. This is another great reason to install DHOs to impact defensive decision-making. 

Summary:

• Be hard to defend. 
• Have a concrete plan to mine points. 
• Master the pick-and-roll.
• Leverage give-and-go.
• Exploit complex screening - screen-the-screener, the roller, the stagger
• Defeat over play with back cuts
• Hold something back for crunch time. 
• A few possessions decide many games. 

Lagniappe. Spread twin downscreens into give-and-go. 

Lagniappe 2. Preach the primacy of process. Pick, stick, and check our process. 

- Become a learning machine. Read, think and think again, ask better questions.

- Study player development - build athleticism, skill, and game knowledge. 

- Study great teachers - Aristotle, Feynman, Doug Lemov, Wooden, Newell, Knight. 

- Be positive. 

- Share. 

 

Basketball: Rethinking The Game and No Payne, No Gain (Curry Workout)

How do you know? Know what? 

Hold certain truths and values dear. Like what? Excellence, integrity, fairness. "Fairness" to one may not seem fair to another. 

On a talented team of twelve players, everyone can't start...by rule. Red Auerbach coached by choosing the five whom he thought played best together, not always the five best players. Red inspired the 'sixth man' role that became synonymous for early-career John Havlicek. 

For example, how do we start a possession - freelance, set play, spacing concepts motion (e.g. five-out), pistol offense, and so forth? According to Adam Grant in "Think Again" we PREACH, PROSECUTE, or POLITICIZE arguments. 

Preaching... we sell. 

Prosecuting...we attack. 

Politicize...we seek approval for personal benefit. 

Grant argues a fourth approach, the scientific method. Set up an experiment or observe what we're doing and track the results. That's analytics... "do more of what works and less of what doesn't." Do we stubbornly press or play one defense proven empirically less effective for our team? 

Ask not "why am I right?" but "where am I wrong?" A bad loss for my daughters in high school from doubling the post irrationally affects my views on this. 

The Triangle Offense won double digit NBA championships. Proponents value the concepts (including pinch post on the help side) and detractors praise the talent (Jordan and Kobe). 

Many social media basketball groups challenge us to rethink our ideas to find a better way. If I read something "oppositional" to my beliefs, I reevaluate in light of the evidence. Be open to disconfirming evidence.  

We're always learning or we're falling behind. 

Here are a few Grant quotes:

• “When it comes to our own knowledge and opinions, we often favor feeling right over being right.” 
• Changing your mind is a sign of intellectual integrity and a response to evidence.
• “In theory, confidence and competence go hand in hand. In practice, they often diverge.”
• "Actively seek out reasons why you might be wrong. Even a single idea can curb overconfidence. Listening well is more than a matter of talking less. It’s a set of skills in asking and responding. It starts with showing more interest in other people’s interests rather than trying to judge their status or prove our own.”

Summary: 

• Do we preach, prosecute, or politicize arguments about basketball & life?
• Do we have an open mind to disconfirming evidence?
• Where am I wrong? 
• Do more of what works.
• Changing your mind informs intellectual integrity (and gets better results)

Lagniappe. "Player development is the Holy Grail." Steph Curry trainer Brandon Payne shares tips. 

Lagniappe 2. The learning never stops. Returning from injury against three top 25 area players, my mentee, Cecilia, had 31 points and 8 blocks to lead her AAU team to a win. 

Coaching Advice: "I Got Two Things for You"

Tony La Russa approached Red Sox manager Alex Cora saying, "I got two things for you," ideas on how to better the club. What advice would you share with a successful club, a struggling team, a veteran team, a young team, any team?

Successful team.

• "Don't become complacent. Stick with what made you successful."
• "Player development is the cornerstone of success." It's our job to improve player "hardware" (athleticism) and "software" (skill and decision-making). Overinvest in development. 

Struggling team.

• "Earn the right to believe in yourself." Outwork leads to outperformance.
• "Focus on doing well the few things that you do most." 

Veteran team.

• "Never leave the fundamentals." We don't return to basics.
• "Put winning ahead of personal agendas." 

Young team. 

• "Be detail-oriented." Give and get feedback to assure everyone is closer to being on the same page. It's asymptotic (above). We never get to 100%. Departure from detail is costly. Not knowing your assignment, not covering your player, not blocking out, not communicating on defense are critical errors. 
• "Good teams learn to apply and withstand pressure." 

 Any team. 

• Two or three possessions separate winners from losers. "Be here now." 
• Pressure degrades performance. Be excited about what you do. Excitement leads to greatness. Anxiety degrades performance. 

Good advice is good advice, regardless of the level of play. 

Lagniappe. "CUT HARDER." The best player I ever coached went hard on every rep. 

Lagniappe 2. "Be curious not judgmental." 

Lagniappe 3. Why do we coach? 

Basketball: What Hinders Us? Friday Concepts, Drill, and Set Play

What hinders me? Author David Mamet reminds us that "a man distracted is a man defeated." 

Systems are the processes we use to get thing done. Great process favors better outcomes. 

Ask three questions...from James Clear...

1. How can I remake my environment?
2. How can I remake myself?
3. What bad habit(s) needs reform? 

Environment. Fewer distractions (Internet, email, cellphones/texting) favor more productivity. A computer 'multitasks' by rapidly switching from one set of calculations to another. People lack the "processing power" to do the same. Build in breaks (on 25 minutes, off 5 minutes) for work and study. Even professional sports teams use this method.

Identity. Be the change. Become the person you want to be. If you envision yourself as an "A" student, assume the habits of one. Overweight but see yourself as a healthy-lifestyle person? That impacts our diet and exercise choices. Want to be a more impactful player? Work your practice, strength and conditioning, and video study. Make our habits consistent with our self-image.

Want to be a writer? Write every day. 

Erase bad habits. If we're too much of a couch potato, chocoholic, or video game addict, make bad habits harder. Uninstall time wasting apps. Limit the time allotted to "goofing off" and substitute time better invested. 

Drill. Add degrees of difficulty in setting your personal best.

Set play. Horns, pick-and-pop, into nail pass and backdoor cut.

Summary: 

• Distractions defeat us. 
• Great process improves outcomes.
• Build in breaks. 
• Be the change. 
• Make our habits consistent with our self-image.
• Make bad habits harder. 

Lagniappe. A look at one of my childhood idols, Pete Maravich. Sam Jones was my favorite player growing up. 

*More Is More: The Power of Repetition and Training

"More is more." Academic excellence, athleticism, and skill improve with deliberate practice.

I congratulated a former player on her all-scholastic selection. Her reply? "Thank you Coach! I’m so glad I have the opportunity to play and get better!"

You want success? Outwork the competition.

Warren Buffett invests half his workday reading. Kevin Eastman reads two hours a day. 

How good is Buffett? If we scale down to the past 25 years, Buffett has outperformed the S&P500 "only" two-and-one-half times. Over the life of his company, it's multiples higher. "$100 invested in Berkshire stock at the end of 1968 would have grown to more than $850k by the end of 2018, while a similar investment in the S&P 500 would have grown to just under $11k." 

When Chuck Daly said, "I'm a salesman," he means that we coaches sell WORK. John Wooden had his EDIR5 - explanation, demonstration, imitation, and repetition times 5. Kobe Bryant took a thousand shots a summer for a hundred days, 100,000 shots. Larry Bird took five hundred free throws before school. Do 5 more. Outwork the competition. 

You may know the Marshmallow Challenge. Build the tallest structure from eighteen pieces of spaghetti and marshmallows in eighteen minutes with a marshmallow on top. Kindergartners outperform MBAs. Why? They focus on prototypes not power struggles. Teams can't lecture our way to outperformance. 

Unleash the power of iteration. Embed the story of the pottery students graded on the quantity of work. "Focusing on creating as many pots as possible without fixating on perfection, the students in the second group were no longer handicapped by the fear of failure. Instead they had the freedom to experiment, make mistakes, iterate, and develop their creativity and intuition — a concept so foreign in our education system." 

Unpack a consistent workout to believe in. 

Or steal one from Steve Nash. 

Summary: 

• More is more.
• Outworking the competition pays.
• We sell WORK. 
• Unleash the power of iteration. 
• Unfold or STEAL a workout. 

Lagniappe. Player development minute...read the defender. "Shoulders game." 

What’s Going On (The Help Side?) Six Examples

The emphasis on small-sided games may seem to minimize "what's going on" the help side. And that's nobody's intent. 

Let's discuss help side offense. This isn't "all-inclusive" as it's not like I'm an NBA video coordinator. Add your favorites - parts of Flex, Chin series, pinch post, whatever. 

Spacing. First, without spacing on the help side, there is no offense. We use the term "spacing line" to describe the three-point arc. Having a shooter in the corner adds "gravity" for the defense. 

Ball reversal. Reverse the ball in three ways - via the perimeter, over the top, or through the post. Kirby Schepp explains that paint touches and ball reversal increase the percentage of scoring possessions. That includes "drive and kick" to the help or "weak side." 

Player exchange. Help side players exchange via flare screens and down screens. 

Examples help us visualize some opportunities. 

Drive and weakside kick. Probable the sine qua non of today. A.k.a. the power of the draw 2 and pass. 

Hammer action. Baseline drive and "sink" with a screen was a Spurs staple. Yes, it helps to have knockdown shooters. 

Corner rip. Even with middle schoolers, this generated layups. 

We used a cross screen to enter the ball on the SLOB, and then a diagonal screen to free the help side cutter. 

Short roll to flat corner. 

Good ball reversal through the middle. 

Weak side basket cuts (with or without screens). 

Zak Boisvert with magical video with weak side cuts. 

Our middle schoolers used downscreens from horns to generate weak side action. 

Players on the weak side shouldn't feel like the right fielder in Little League, hidden to reduce opportunity. Spacing creates opportunity, especially combined with aggressive driving, cutting, and passing. What's your weak side favorite? 

Summary:

- Drive and kick

- Hammer

- Corner rip 

- Short roll 

- Basket cuts

- Horns downscreens

Lagniappe. Development. Not having enough shooting success. Reimagine your shot. Coach Nick goes through the hop method. 

Lagniappe 2. Is the weak side the far side? 

Basketball: Five Contemporary Scoring Skills To Acquire

Necessary skills evolve with the times. Separating to drive and to score on the  perimeter inform next level success. 

"Every day is player development day." Kevin Eastman reminds you that, "your paycheck is your responsibility." Practicing skills earn payoffs in minutes, role, and recognition. 

DHO downhill drive. Play with force off the DHO. 

Attack off the catch. Coach Castellaw shows how to get past defenders with momentum. "Explosive athleticism" catches eyes. 

Give-and-go out of pistol action.

Catch-and-shoot 3s off screens. Having your feet set is a luxury. 

Short roll passing. Players look to create advantage by drawing two defenders, finding a teammate, and exploiting "numbers." Teammates must relocate to make passes available. 

Summary: separate and finish. 

DHO downhill

Attack off the catch

Early offense give-and-go 

Catch-and-shoot 3s off screens

Short roll passing 

Lagniappe. Finding solutions often means we have to revise our thinking.

Screen capture from video book review above. "Do we want to be right or to feel right?" 

The RIT (Real Important Together) Imperative: Making the Impossible Happen

Find a better way to coach collaboratively. Twenty minds should outperform one, the "get a lifeline" approach. It's not "my way or the highway" or "only I can solve this." We're all in this together. Usually, there's untapped local talent and experience available.

How would you "on-board" local coaches (imagine the combined boys and girls hoop coaches in your community)? An all-hands meeting called by someone with no authority? It could even be virtual (Zoom). Who "moderates" and what is the agreed upon agenda? 

What is your shared vision? Mine would be a better basketball experience at every level and more success for the high school teams. Ask each coach to bring ONE or TWO IDEAS ("I've got two things for you") and the coaches discuss the ideas (don't make it personal). 

What it isn't? 

• Not a primarily social gathering
• Not a grievance session about facilities and resources
• Not networking to 'sell something'
• Not a hatchet job on existing high school coaches or athletic director (not implying an existing problem)
• Not a full-on coaching clinic
• Not a fundraising vehicle

What are primary goals?

• Improve the "player experience" at each level
• Improve the basketball integration between youth and high school
• Make retention of elite players more likely (a major issue)

Potential topics for discussion?

• Pooling coaching resources (setting up teaching clinics and coaching clinics)
• What do "legacy program" models look like?
• Basketball curriculum from youth to high school
• Off-season programs at community facilities  
• Off-season strength and conditioning opportunities
• Collaboration to unify philosophies across the system
• Problem solving (e.g. Zoom sessions) 
• Building momentum for change in a community
• What makes sustainable competitive advantage? 
• Improving access without high costs

Are these outcomes a worthwhile goal?

Lagniappe. Expose players to possibilities and let them figure out what can work for them. 

 

Coaches Help Players Hack Life

Hack life with memories. The Power of Moments (Chip and Dan Heath) informs specifics about making memories. 

"There are three practical principles that we can use to make more moments of pride: 1) Recognize others, 2) multiply meaningful milestones, 3) practice courage. The first principle creates defining moments for others; the latter two allow us to create defining moments for ourselves."

The Heath Brothers also wrote Made to Stick, about the power of stories, and a critical acronym of powerful stories - Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Story. 

Combine the two, shared memories and powerful stories to hack life. 

The earlier we save, the more likely we benefit from the power of compounding. Compounding character works the same way. Working on character (and basketball) has the greatest potential when we start young. The greatest senior citizen basketball player ever? Uncle Drew? 

Recognize others. People mock "everyone gets a trophy." What if everyone deserves one? 

• Find positives to praise. "First at practice, last to leave" and Lauren graduates from the Naval Academy this spring.
• "Catch people in the act of doing something right."
• Remember, "thanks is the cheapest form of compensation."
• Correct with the "sandwich technique." Sandwich correction between praise.
• "Speak greatness." 

Was our favorite coach the most knowledgeable or the coach who added the most value to us? He or she made us feel valued. 

Was our least favorite coach ignorant or incompetent or the one who had the worst relationship skills imaginable? 

Multiply milestones. Dean Smith understood the contributions of role players to wins. Making highlight tapes is a form of milestone for players. Kevin Sivils' idea of the "Team Award" for being a great teammate is another excellent milestone. I've awarded sports memorabilia to mark end of coaching a player. 

As an anteambulo, help student-athletes fuel their dreams. Write the letters, emails, supporting documents for schools. Send the letters and highlight video to the coaches and copies to the players and their families. They earned the right to experience pride in that milestone. 

Show courage. Players show courage by doing hard things on the court - setting and fighting through screens, taking charges, hitting the floor, blocking out. Show courage by standing up for our players (practice time, facilities, resources) and by emphasizing doing the right things - academics, sportsmanship, healthy lifestyles. 

At our best we support the growth and achievement of our student-athletes long after they've moved on.  

Lagniappe. Work on additional types of pick-and-roll passes. 

Lagniappe. Looking for innovation. Check out Pedro Martinez from Slappin' Glass. 

Basketball: Level Up, Become a Better (Fill in the Blank) by Specific Training and Tracking

Who doesn't want to become king of the hill? 

In The Power of Moments the Heath Brothers discuss Steve Kamb's ambitious journey to play the fiddle. A video game aficionado, Kamb created "levels" of proficiency to mark his progress until he could play full songs. 

Measure progress in athleticism, skill, and knowledge on your basketball journey to "level up." 

SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. 

Athleticism: 

• Increase repetitions of specific weight, exercise (e.g. pushups)
• Increase duration of exercise (e.g. treadmill, jogging)
• Increase quickness (e.g. three cone drill)
• Increase fitness (maximal oxygen consumption/VO2max)
• Improve consistency (of workouts). Track performance...

See performance gains by graphs or spreadsheets. 

Skill:

• Prepare your MUST, NEED, WANT list
• For example, improve free throw shooting, three point shooting, attacking the basket with either hand, "game winning one-on-one actions"
• Interrupt free throws with sprints for realism
• Include multiple actions of three point shooting (e.g. catch-and-shoot, side dribble, off the dribble in transition)
• Start basket attack multiple actions off the cut, back-to-basket (e.g. Box Drills), and against a defender (one-on-one). Include non-dominant hand. 

Knowledge: expand your horizons with video study of individual actions and team play

• Early offense (e.g. pistol, Obradovic)
• Choose an elite player to study (e.g. Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Hakeem Olajuwon)
• Generic offense (e.g. 5 Out)
• Transition defense

Mastery takes time, repetitions, and work. Coach Popovich reminds us, "pound the rock" to break it. 

Lagniappe. Shooting range with Coach Drew Hanlen. Arc, load, flow, forward...

Tip: Get cellphone video from a family member or friend. See yourself changing.