Saturday, April 16, 2022

Basketball: "We Believe What We Think." Should We?

“I think a lot of people dream. And while they are busy dreaming, the really happy people, the really successful people, the really interesting, powerful, engaged people? Are busy doing.” - Shonda Rhimes

Some suffer the curse of objectivity...seeing what is. Eighty percent of drivers say they are better than average; the other twenty percent have a higher rate of depression. We see "our team" through Shallow Hal eyes seeing more skill and drive than usually exists. 

Where does basketball reality confront fantasy? In our minds, of course...

1. "Defense wins championships." Say goodnight, Cleveland. 


Seek balance. Yes, "stops make runs" but you need to score to come back and for those "need a hoop" moments. If we need a hoop, do we want a better set or a better player? 

2. But Steph Curry... I favor the pass first point guard, the 'coach on the floor', leader, and distributor who gets everyone involved. Too many young players see themselves as something they are not. Who wouldn't want to coach Curry? But there aren't many reasonable facsimiles. It's the hardest position to develop (in my opinion).

Teach Curry methods:

  • Explosive attack off pick-and-roll 
  • His warmups using shotmaking radians (below)
  • Practicing pickups into the shot pocket from different dribbles (including crossovers, between the legs, behind the back)

3. Old School or New Age? Attend the 'Church of Whatever Works." If Old School is Pete Newell's "Get more and better shots than our opponents," I'm all in. Get players to understand and buy into "more and better." Teach and emphasize shot quality. 

4. "There can't be a next time if there wasn't a first time." - Julia Child  

Nobody can succeed time after time without the first opportunity. If we're in the development business, develop. 

5. "Water the flowers." Analogies cross numerous disciplines. 

  • Teach. Teach. Teach.
  • Be positive. 
  • Share the ball. 
  • Spread the credit around (everyone likes to be appreciated).
  • Teach alpha players to share credit with teammates.
  • Get buy-in by explaining 'what's in it for me?" 

6. Question everything. Is what we're doing increasing efficiency? Is an activity changing the score or changing lives? Game Changer informs that paradigm. "Connolly’s book is not the first to appeal to coaches and support staff to “start with the end in mind,” but it does add growing weight to that particular argument."

7. More spacing or more screening? Preference matters to the extent of execution. With elite talent, I'd prefer spacing. Use the football analogy...if teams have a great wide receiver, they usually send him down the field not on wide receiver screens. 

8. What's our metric? Measure our performance by the lives enhanced, the lives changed. 


Lagniappe. "Get off my lawn." 

Lagniappe 2. Xs and Os. 

 Against the zone, Coach K teaches:

  • Drive into gaps
  • Reverse the ball
  • Flash to open spaces
  • Post up
  • Screen 
This action uses ball reversal and a screen from the baseline

Lagniappe 3. Everyone knows to "limit what the other team does best." That's well and good, but elite talent overcomes planning. 

Lagniappe 4. "Huerter (not Havlicek) Stole the Ball." 57 years to the day, Huerter saves the day.

 

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