Basketball: Help! A Concept on Many Levels

"When I was younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody's help in any way
But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors"

– “Help!,” Help!, 1965 

Remember what Fred Rogers advised, "Look for the helpers." Help has a myriad of basketball implications. 

• Mentoring 
• Assistant coaches 
• Player development 
• Organization and fundraising 
• Networking 
• Defensive help systems 
• The Future?

Mentoring. Every profession values mentoring. It takes humility to acknowledge we benefit from mentoring. Surgeon Atul Gawande shared the value of having a senior surgeon oversee his technique. When I left the Navy in 1991, I had wise counsel from a number of senior physicians about the transition to private practice. 

Basketball is no different. Two eyes and ears are never enough to process the pulse of our team. We also need team leaders to share information below the surface. 

And regardless of our age and experience, we can't know everything. 

Assistants. I spent more than half my coaching 'career' as an assistant. I focused on player development and tracking, preferring riding shotgun to game management. As a head coach, I relied on assistants for player development assistance and help with  input on game management and substitution. 

Player development. With the trickle of players leaving the system becoming a stream, I found peace with developing players for private schools or sometimes an exodus to other sports. "Control what you can control." With advancing age, I find I'm incapable of adequate skill demonstration in the EDIR5 (explanation, demonstration, imitation, repetition x 5) rubric. 

With the extent of video available on the Internet, share the wealth.

Organization. For high school coaches, organization of activities off the court and fundraising challenges them. Our community has proven exceptionally supportive, especially of the girls program, through the years. Winning helped, as "victory has a thousand fathers and defeat is an orphan." I shared this article on fundraising opportunities. 

Networking. "Find canvas for others to paint on." Be an anteambulo, clearing the path for players to help them with jobs, recommendations, and exposure to potential opportunities and 'fits' for education. Cracking open a door may help the motivated student-athlete find portals to success. 

Defensive help systems. "The help can never be beaten." Help concepts have changed through the decades with the twin threats of superior ball penetration and kick out threes. 

Tensions exist, as they should, because individual opponents should dictate closeout policies more than rules. There's less urgency to stop threes by non-shooters. 

Defending the helpside begins with loading to the ball. 

3) The helpside (here x4 and x2) loads to the ball and creates 3 on 5 offense (Ernie Woods 101). This demands they see the ball, deny cuts to the ball, and be capable of reacting to skip passes with closeouts under control. 

4) Choose your poison. Defensive coaches take away what offenses do best...and understand the angles that offensive players prefer. This extends the concept from the recent "Open Court" discussion...the "great" players DRAW 2. 

x2A affords the best help against the drive of 1. 
x2B (one foot in the lane) balances help middle versus skip passes.
x2C has worse vision (see both) and can expose back cuts from 2, but eliminates the immediate pass to 2. 

How much help to provide off corner threes? "Helping the helper" is another key element for team defense. 

With fewer highly skilled post players, there's less doubling and digging on the post. 

Triangle protections are discussed in this piece from 2016. 

Future Help? Establish your brand. Make it meaningful. Make it authentic. Make it yours and get help to build it. 

Lagniappe. What's your skill that gets you minutes, role, and recognition?