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Sunday, October 10, 2021

Teaching Core Components of Basketball Offense

"And another thing..." ends up overwhelming young players. Take an index card and write down your five most important concepts.  

Restrictive? Exactly. 

1. Spacing. "Offense is spacing and spacing is offense." - Chuck Daly   The three point line is the spacing line
- Violation: "never cut to an occupied post"
2. Skill. "Technique > Tactics." - Gregg Popovich   Corollary: "Every day is player development day (skill)." 
- Violation: "shooting is a perishable skill
3. Separation. Basketball is a game of cutting and passing. "The quality of the pass relates to the quality of the shot." - Pete Carril   The 'ten passes before shooting' drill teaches quality cutting and passing. 
- Violation: "if you don't water the flowers they die"
4. Shot quality. The quickest path to improvement is taking better shots.  Every player should know good shots for teammates. 
- Violation: "shot turnovers = bench turnovers"
5. Story enders. Become a positive possession ender. That could mean an effective passer, rebounder, or shooter. 
- Violation: "do not rebound with alligator arms"

Player development. To become the closer, develop GO TO and COUNTER closing moves. Invest 5-10 minutes/session on your closer actions. 
  • What are your scoring moves from the wing?
  • What is your scoring portfolio from the elbow (e.g. box drills)? 
  • What is your repertoire in the post? 
Player development 2. Become a better ball handler. 


Caution: the off arm is an antenna not a lever. A foul is what the officials say it is.

Free throw shooting reminders:
  • Do not 'rush' to the line and freeze. Step to the line once you receive the ball.
  • Never leave it short. It's like putting as a putt left short has zero chance.
  • Practice free throws in-between other actions (breathing hard)
  • Deep breath, exhale, and shoot. A relaxing breath helps. 
  • Steph Curry finished free throw practice with 5 consecutive swishes.

Summary:

  • Spacing
  • Skill
  • Separation
  • Shot quality
  • Story enders (be a positive possession ender)

Lagniappe (something extra). NBA teams commonly enter the SLOB off zipper action. The Celtics generated a quick 3 for Payton Pritchard or Bully Ball with Tatum in the post. 


With about two minutes in the first half, 57% of the Celtics' shots have been 3s. 

Lagniappe 2. Use the powerful mental model of inversion. If we wanted to lose, what would contribute? Poor preparation, lack of conditioning, poor decision-making, not having everyone on the same page, laziness. 


Lagniappe 3. Iverson action can yield a variety of shots.