Basketball Friday: Tears, Drills, Set Plays, and More

How many season have I seen end in tears? It happens when excellent teams lose the final game of the season. Low expectations don't rain tears. 

Some teams seem snakebitten, followed by disappointments, injuries, and bad luck.

"Just another teardrop in an ocean of sorrow." 

No matter how affluent one might be, you can’t dry your eyes with money.

Tears wash the soul. George Patton clarifies how to avoid defeat. 

Drills. In "Game Changer" Dr. Fergus Connolly emphasizes that effective drills produce results on the scoreboard. 

Jumping rope increases stamina, speed, coordination, weight loss, and vertical jump. It takes minimal training and inexpensive equipment. 

Ladders. Shooting drill using "ladders" with varied sequences of spots. Add competitiveness by adding time constraints. Track shots, percentage, personal best, consecutive makes. 

Set play. Chefs and painters have a palette from which they craft. Regular readers know my love of cooking. So let's cook. 

1. "Basketball is a game of separation." 

2. Screens decrease separation as a means to increase it.

3. "Great offense is multiple actions." 

Since we're preseason, let's display palette elements. If ball screens are our first spice, then perhaps off-ball screens are next. A few generalities:

• I don't want kids setting moving screens. It's not the NFL and I've seen too many kids get injured or concussed. Yes, it's not black and white. 
• Sprint to screen. 
• I teach "head hunting" (screen the body not an area)
• It's helpful sometimes to screen off an angled cut for deception
• "The screener is the second cutter." Screen greedily. 

Here's an excerpt (17 seconds), but watch the entire (brief) video. Screen, pass, penetrate, and assess opportunities. 

Or we can use the off-ball screen to establish a ball screen with penetration and dish options. 

Lagniappe (something extra). Self-examination. 

Lagniappe 2. "Relationships are the roadmap."