Study and Present Alternatives (The Cupcake Problem)

Ideas compete. Personal freedom competes with collaboration. Mankind's great leaps occurred via collaboration not individual achievement. 

Nobody sends five guys out and says, "do your own thing." Yet, we see players who represent their interests first... unwilling passers, low shot quality, disengaged defense. That dog won't hunt. 

Find alternatives. Coach Dave Smart reminds us that highly engaged, improving reserves force starters to up their game. Coach Anson Dorrance calls it the competitive cauldron. I call it the cupcake problem. How do we make and sell the best, the most cupcakes?

Consider technique and tactics. Should we teach individual development with three level scoring or adopt current analytical fancy of layups, threes, and free throws? What are the pros and cons? 

Have a contingency (backup) plan. If you were the Celtics in the 2018 Eastern Conference finals Game 7, what happens if you shoot 7 for 39 (EFG% 26.9%)? You lose. Even if your midrange game is 40% (EFG% 40%) that increases your chance of success. When teams sell out to stop threes, it should open up drives and basket cuts. 

Or if we lack three-point shooting (the default middle school state), should we take low quality shots as if we had quality shooters? Of course not. 

Consider some of the myriad of alternatives:

• Man-to-man versus zone, hybrid, and changing defenses
• Pressure extended versus half-court defense
• Denial versus sagging half-court defenses
• Transition-based offense versus mixed 
• Screen-focused offense versus others
• Trapping versus non-trapping defenses (plus whom, when, where to trap)
• Pick-and-roll defenses (show, switch, drop, etc.)
• Concentrated versus distributed minutes 
• "System" coaching versus adjusting to personnel
• Choosing experience or "blended" talent
• Motion, sets, structures (Princeton, Passing Game)
• Division of practice time - fundamentals, team offense/defense, scrimmage
• Salary cap (how valuable is the "middle class")

Simplify, articulate the analysis, the pros and cons. At some point, we are called to defend our choices. 

"Figure it out." 

Lagniappe. "Every day is player development day." 

Develop a few actions to get dribble separation. I believe young players are best served by developing three strong actions first...hesitation, crossover (on the shoe laces), and combinations of the two. The hot dog is about the dog first then the mustard.

Defensive coordinator Bill Belichick dissected the great Joe Gibbs Washington teams by understanding they had three runs and about ten passes, all disguised by formation and motion. Learn from both.