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