Coaching Lessons to Use Everyday (and a Must-See Video)

"Good artists borrow; great artists steal." - Picasso

Known or not, we train the technical, tactical, physical, and psychological life dimensions. 

Openness to ideas helps us in the classroom, the office, or on the court. Apply these to raise our psychology game. 

"Thanks is the cheapest form of compensation." - Robert Townsend, Up the Organization

Spread gratitude freely. As David Cottrell says, "People don't quit jobs, they quit people." Don't be the person who took the "five-minute course at Charm School" and left early. Coworkers, role players, and support staff deserve and appreciate thanks. 

Starve the flora and they die. "Water the flowers." 

"When you are positive, you not only make yourself better, you make everyone around you better." - Jon Gordon, The Positive Dog

Forging a positive life from a negative attitude is a tall task. Positive people boost energy and action. People yearn for positivity, explaining the popularity of Ted Lasso (caution, video contains harsh language).

"Humans are storytelling animals." 

Develop a portfolio of aspirational stories. 

Almost every day, I encounter the "make the bad man stop" scenario. Few deserve that moniker, bad character not bad choices. Many struggle with weight, alcohol, substance abuse, and other lifestyle choices. 

Forty plus years ago the Chief Petty Officer came in for a visit with a past history of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol. But that guy didn't walk through that door. He had lost 120 pounds to resolve those diagnoses. "How did you do that, Chief?" "Dr. Eisold ordered me to lose weight...and chiefs follow orders." 

Fifty plus years ago a rising soph, John Pacillo, approached Coach Lane, asking what he could do to improve. "Play basketball, a lot." He listened and steadily rose from the freshman 'B' team to become an All-League player, a 6'7" senior outplaying a future Celtics' draft choice in Boston Garden. His work ethic translated to an executive position in a major corporation. 

She always was the first one at middle school workouts and the last to leave. Tell her something once and it stuck. She became a three-sport captain at a private school, earning a coveted spot at Annapolis. Now she's a naval officer. 

"Champions do extra." - James Kerr, Legacy 

Unrequired work differentiates elite from average players. Making the team isn't enough. As a senior medical student, I thought like an intern. As an intern, I saw problems as a resident. And as a resident, I viewed complex problems as a staff physician. 

See yourself in a bigger role. As a reserve, make the starters better. Be ready for your opportunity when it comes. 

Follow Dan Pink's advice, "Do five more." 

"Always do your best." - Don Miguel Ruiz, in The Four Agreements

Our best won't always be great. Sometimes it demands extra and others it asks only silence. Coach Wooden would say, "Don't whine, don't complain, don't make excuses." 

"I don't need an opinion on everything." 

We may lack knowledge, correct information, or interest in many topics. An issue may be so contentious that we choose not to wade into the debate. If we must, "let me get back to you after I've looked into both sides." 

"I believe in you."

Confidence balances arrogance and doubt. If anyone you admired ever told you, "I believe in you," then you remember. Don't mislead people who haven't earned that. 

Lagniappe. I'm committed to sharing excellent content. My brand is sharing. Maybe a piece inspires some teenager to promise herself that basketball and commitment can make a difference. 

Lagniappe 2. From Kevin Eastman's "Why the Best Are the Best"

Willing: Everyone who aspires to greatness has to be willing to be teachable and coachable. Winners are open-minded. The biggest “willings” for improvement and accomplishing our goals are: 

• Willing to listen 
• Willing to work 
• Willing to learn 
• Willing to be a great teammate
• Willing to change

Lagniappe 3. Zipper Clear Iso (Horns like set) 

What's in Our Learning Culture? Plus Great Advice from Phil Handy

Make lifelong learning part of our brand. The ability to learn is a "soft skill" that pays long-term dividends. Kevin Eastman says, "be a learn-it-all." Remember David Mamet's advice, "do one thing every day for your craft and one for your business." 

Listen better to learn more. Give the gift of attention to others. Learn 'active listening'. "Even when good listeners have strong views, they suspend judgment, hold any criticisms, and avoid interruptions like arguing or selling their point right away."

Application: start active listening with one conversation today.

Learn better with proven techniques. 

• Pomodoro technique - Study 25 minutes on, 5 minutes off
• Spaced repetition - circle back to material studied previously
• Self-testing - what key points have I learned? 

Application: Repetition is key to retention. Special situations practice allows us to work each practice on BOBs, SLOBs, ATOs. 

Use analogies. Thomas Edison valued imagination, persistence, and analogies. 

I figuratively chased a lightning quick guard in practice every day one year. You know the scene in Karate Kid where Daniel uses chopsticks to catch a fly. 

Application: Increase player elusiveness with dribble tag inside the arc or capture the flag. It's a game.

Assign a topic. Throughout the season, ask a player to present a brief (e.g. 2 minutes) basketball topic. It could be anything from offensive rebounding to drills to increase vertical jump. 

Application: assign an assistant and/or player to run a drill

Give a pop quiz. Coach Knight allegedly would build a timeout into practice, draw up a play, then ask players to reproduce it with paper and pencil. You'd better pay attention. 

Application: a coach was unhappy about player inability to run their offense. He gave a written test as a requirement to start. "We can't run what we can't run." 

Read a book as a team over the year. Our local volleyball coach had his team read and discuss Jay Bilas's Toughness, chapter by chapter. 

Application: It paid dividends...the team rallied from a final set 3-10 deficit (game to 15) to reach the Final Four. 

The capacity to study and learn well carries over to every aspect of life. Be accountable to players and ourselves. 

Takeaways:

• Listen better
• Learn better
• Use analogies
• Assign a topic 
• Pop quiz
• Read a book as a team

Lagniappe. "Make the big time where you are." Phil Handy says, "start with a simple template." 

Simple Actions Emphasizing Off-Ball Screens (Xs and Os Smorgasbord)

Team success mirrors player success. Success follows separation with or without the ball. Few players have athletic gifts allowing separation with speed and quickness alone. Other rely on guile and skill. 

Skilled 'screen teams' present a myriad of defensive challenges. No brief article offers more than a survey. 

Fundamentals backstop successful screens. Xs and Os without execution are just art. Useful consideration for screeners and cutters:

• Screen the body ("head hunt")
• Sprint to the screen
• Deception (angle into the screen) helps
• Know what angle you're looking to screen
• Be stationary (legal)
• Cutters, say "Wait, wait, wait" for the screen. Better late than early.
• Set up your cut. 
• Read the defender - will you curl, back cut, or bump off? 
• The screener is the second cutter. Screen for opportunity. 

Off-ball screens come in a variety of flavors:

• Cross screens
• Down screens (pin downs)
• Back screens
• Flare screens 
• Flat screens (often drag screens in transition)
• Diagonal screens

Examples: 

Cross screen

Pistons 15 (1-5 cross-screen, ideal to create 'switchmatch'. 

Diagonal screens: 

Sequential screening (GSW) with corner rip action created so many great scoring chances for us. 

Combination (Flexish):

BOB with flex action with pindown for inbounder. 

Flare screen with combination:

Celtics' initial flare screen option with second chance for shooting guard off stagger. 

5 Out with ball screen and off-ball hammer 

Flat screen: 

"But UCLA cuts never work." If cutters don't read the defender and don't cut urgently, then it never works. And when you call the play UCLA, every decent coach knows what's coming. 

Phoenix (old video) running through a UCLA set. Hard cuts or casual cuts? 

Back screen: 

Iverson cut back screen. 

NBA teams love backscreen lobs. 

Lagniappe (something extra). 

The action at 0:37 is particularly beautiful. 

The Power of One - Every Player Is not the Same

Herb Welling shared something profound, "When you get that once in a lifetime player, you have to take care of her." When players separate themselves with commitment, size, athleticism, skill, and emerging instincts, they need extra training and minutes.  

Sophomore Year Highlights (2021-2022) 18.2 PPG 12.0 RPG 3.7 BPG @MAHuskies https://t.co/Xs9CRT5rXi #hudl

— Cecilia Kay (@cecilia_kay5) March 18, 2022

I've had few players that met that description - Cecilia, and Samantha Dewey who begins her D1 career at Illinois this summer. 

Be specific. Telling players to play hard or to watch video means well but isn't enough. Explain concretely what playing hard is - setting tough screens, finishing through contact, taking charges, first to the floor. Share video highlights, teaching film, and an occasional 'negative' clip. Inform the 'why' actions excelled or could improve. 

Keep it in perspective. The 'special player' is still a child or adolescent. Family and school still take priority. I'm the coach, not the parents and what they say, goes. 

Keep two commandments. Superior players make teammates better and impact winning. Although a player has skill, if she doesn't pass, set screens, get back in transition, talk on defense, help, block out, and do the little things, people won't want to play with her. 

Promote a winning culture. Skilled players attract attention and media. Stay humble and credit teammates. Share the spotlight to help others feel better about themselves and avoid the sin of envy. 

Never leave the fundamentals. Footwork. Balance. Maneuvering speed. When great minds like Pete Newell teach you something, listen. Master the microskills. 

Execute your plan. I'm all in on Dr. Fergus Connolly's (Game Changer) T-T-P-P (technical, tactical, physical, psychological) training framework. For example, work on attacking off the catch (Stampede), negative step drives, float dribble options, side step threes, and combination moves like hard crossovers with hesitation. Five minutes with twenty reps won't get you there. 

Balance structure and creativity. Get input from players and don't build robots. Elite players create, separate, and draw help to which they must respond. Players must practice against defense and ideally play competitively, especially two-on-two and three-on-three. Play better competition and offer to mentor younger teammates. 

Elevate vision, decisions, and execution. Solo practice won't reproduce game conditions. Plan both individual and group practice. Make Small-sided-games the scaffold for growth. 

Avoid the dreaded S's. Don't be labeled SELFISH, SOFT, or SLOTH (lazy). Feel free to disagree with my coaching but recognize the time, effort, and resources.

Keep learning. More than one way often exists. Draw from different sources... I discussed Coach Obradovic's suggestion to set some screens with the backside (for better vision); I saw my protege' apply that in a game. 

Lagniappe. Play with deception, force, and creativity. 

Lagniappe 2. Accountability. 

"Coach the Person Not the Problem" - Coaching Applications

Be more efficient. Nobody has time to read everything. "Coach the Person Not the Problem" appeared on the radar. Author Marcia Reynolds designs this book ifor life coaches, but much applies to sports. She unpacks the coaching dynamic. We coach people, not robots. Here are annotated highlights from an extensive summary:  

• Coaching should be a process of inquiry and not a series of questions – the intent of inquiry to provoke critical thinking. Coaches don't load software into a computer. Work to upgrade the mental and physical hardware to allow the person to figure it out and execute. 
• The goal of coaching is to get clients go stop and question the thoughts and behaviors that limit their perspective so they can see a new way forward to achieve their desires. Establish what the player wants. Will their current approach advance those desires? Help them engage a success plan. 
• People need to feel seen, heard and valued to have the desire to grow. Is it about me or the player? Give the player a chance to express their concerns.
• When we tell people what to do, we access their short-term memory in their cognitive brain where, the learning is least effective. Advances in neuroscience belong in our arsenal. When players 'automate' actions, it frees up working memory for decision-making and execution. There is no "muscle memory" as everything originates in the brain. 
• You influence a change in behavior only when you activate people’s creative minds instead of their survival or analytical mechanisms. Many people 'flee' or shut down (disengage) when events go against them. That hurts their and our desired outcomes. 
• A good way to engaging people is to be curious about what they want for their futures or ask what they need right now to overcome challenges and then listen to their responses. Coaching builds relationships based on communication leading to trust and loyalty. Everyone thinks they're a good communicator. All of us fail sometimes. 
• What is more useful is to look at what is making the situation a problem they cannot sort out on their own – and more importantly how is their thinking contributing to the dilemmas they are facing. Help players build skillsets to solve problems. "What options might you consider if you were the coach?"
• Many coaches struggle with shifting focus from the problem to the human. There's less 'my way or the highway' but it still exists. 
• Set the expectation for coaching - It is important to let them know that you are their partner not their advisor. In medicine we call this "mutual participation." Docs need our partners (patients) to 'buy in' to the solution...lifestyle changes, medications, etc.
• Maintain your belief in the client’s capabilities – you are there to help people see a way forward they couldn’t see on their own. When clients know that you believe in their capabilities, they will be willing to accept the discomfort of vulnerability when admitting to their gaps, biases, fears. Players need to hear that we believe in them and intend to help them execute their strengths and lessen their weaknesses. 
• Although summarizing may seem simplistic, when people hear their own words spoken, their ideas and beliefs are laid out in front of them to examine. They then go inwards to reflect – and from that point see a blind spot or inaccuracies in their belief. "What I'm hearing is that you lack confidence in that part of your game. How do you think we can get past that?" 

Ask ourselves, what can I do better? How can I communicate better, listen better, and add more value? 

Keys:

• Inspire critical thinking.
• Ask players, "what do you want from this experience?"
• Muscles have no memory. We're brain trainers.
• Getting buy-in needs input from both coaches and players.
• Examine how well we communicate and teach.
• Shared vision and shared sacrifice allow shared belief. 

Lagniappe. Take a hard look at our organization. Are we developing players and keeping them home? 

Random Thoughts on Basketball Truths That Might not Apply

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - United States Declaration of Independence

All men might be created equal (women being superior), but all basketball players are not. That raises questions, what self-evident truths are not?

1. A Boston sports radio announcer once said, "three out of four football games are lost not won." I think that's true...as turnovers or bad decisions multiply in close games with fewer possessions. I don't think the same percentage of basketball wins occur because of opposition giveaways, but stealing from Camelot, "if charity means giving I give it to you." 

2. Don't extrapolate too much from professional sports to lower levels. The games are so dissimilar. We scored three consecutive plays on elbow PnRs as U12s that the opponent switched to zone defense. 

3. The NBA truth is that threes, scoring at the rim, and free throws are analytically sound plays. Watch a lot of youth and high school games and see cheap imitations. Less talent and long-range shooting foster bad possessions and low scoring losses. Don't be the dad yelling, "nothing but net" while your kid shoots airball after airball. Nothing but air. 

4. Assists don't show up directly in the 'Four Factors' (effective field goal percentage, rebounding, turnovers, and free throws). But assists appear indirectly with both higher shooting percentage, fewer turnovers, and probably more free throws. When teams can't, don't, or won't pass they won't be fun to watch or coach. Pete Carril said it well, "the quality of the pass affects the quality of the shot." 

5. It's hard to quantify decision-making. But if you want to look, examine shot selection, fouls, and help defense. Shot turnovers, bad fouls, and lack of help and rotation reflect recognition and reaction. It's analogous to Patton saying you don't win a war by dying for your country but by making the other guy die for his country. 

6. If "winning is the only thing" why practice anything that doesn't impact winning? Examine everything and eliminate anything that doesn't matter. Some will quarrel with Brian McCormick's Fake Fundamentals but fewer with his 3 L's to avoid - laps, lines, and lectures. If sarcasm started with an L, maybe he'd call that out, too.  

7. "She's great. She led her team in points again." Points matter but evaluate the total contribution. Were the points scored efficiently or through high volume shooting? Does she also lead the team in turnovers and missed blockouts? And can she cover your grandmother? 

8. Do your job. Defend, rebound, screen, facilitate. Remember Bob Knight's quote, "just because I want you on the floor doesn't mean I want you to shoot." 

9. Toughness is a skill. True. But maybe she's Roberto Duran, with 'hands of stone'. Doing anything with the ball starts with the ability to catch it. Don Meyer said that sometimes you can't put something in a player that isn't there. Be open to fixing the fixable. 

10. There is a time for everything. Different people and different ideas flourish in differing environments. Sam Jackson says about acting, "sometimes a job isn't for you." A medical colleague reminded me decades ago, "even the Lone Ranger runs out of bullets." 

Lagniappe (something extra).

ATO: 5 Out - Carolina 'clear and slip' 

Stack, fake America's Play, Baseline Rip 

Lagniappe 2. Build your separation arsenal. Detailed video on float hesitation options. 

Underrated Actions for Ambitious Young Basketball Players

Maximize your value. Solve the paradox between individual excellence and team play. 

Start with the TTPP framework - technical (skill), tactical (strategy), physical, and psychological - develop to impact winning. Give your coach reasons to get and keep you on the floor. 

Use the window. Learn how to use the backboard to increase shooting percentage. Make the square your ally. Become "Glass Masterson."

Become more efficient. Adding a workout partner boosts efficiency and competition. With a rebounder you can get up many more shots while searching for your personal bests. As the passer focus on finding your partner's shooting pocket with each pass. Habits matter. Drag a 'middling' teammate into the upper echelon of skill. 

Attack off the catch. You are 'most open' on the catch. Leverage that advantage with a 'STAMPEDE'. Disallow defenders time to adjust.

Grow athletic explosion. Separate as a better athlete. Unrequired work in the weight room, with your jumprope, and plyometrics pay you in minutes, role, and recognition.  

Become a versatile finisher. Finish with either hand from either side off either foot or both feet. A good place to start is 'box drills', back to the basket, pivoting into explosive attack with one dribble moves.

Track everything. "Winners are trackers." If you take a hundred free throws, keep seeking your personal best. 

These simple shooting drills raise your accuracy and conditioning. 

Study your mentor's mentors. As a player, I idolized Sam Jones and Pete Maravich. Sam was king of the bank shot. 

Self-assess with a 1-minute checkup. What do you need today? Do you need rest or to go hard? Is it more skill day or strength and conditioning? Do you know your strengths and weaknesses and how to improve both? 

Find a mentor. You don't need a personal relationship with KD to learn from him. 

Study how he lowers his center of gravity to change direction and pace. Even as a big guy, he plays low to high.

Takeaways:

• Use TTPP to impact winning.
• Become 'Glass Masterson'
• Get a partner
• Winners track and seek personal bests.
• Build your athletic explosion.
• "Stampede."
• Become a versatile finisher.
• Find a mentor (even if you never meet them)

Lagniappe (something extra). Book summary from Kevin Eastman's excellent, Why the Best Are the Best. "He believes that clarity and simplification are increasingly becoming important. His philosophy has been: “success lies in simplicity, confusion lives in sophistication”. He knows that if he simplifies his thoughts, philosophies and strategies he can call on them when he needs them the most and get into execution mode without hesitation."

"You get better by doing. You don’t get better by talking about doing."

Lagniappe 2. "Champions do extra." - James Kerr, Legacy

Lessons from MasterClass

Be inspired by legends with lessons in their fields. Use the influence of others. Draw inspiration from our experiences. 

Usher

"A thief steals but a genius borrows." Picasso's original, "Good artists borrow, great artists steal." 

"There was something amazing about Gene Kelly." Usher also counseled to study our mentor's mentors.

"Be inspired by what you see." Michelin 3-star chef Thomas Keller says that true inspiration is rare. 

"You don't want to be a cheap imitation." Basketball legend Pete Newell explained that most attempts to use your mentor's system become a "poor copy of the original."

"A lot of Michael Jackson's ideas were inspired by Gene Kelly, Bob Fosse..."

"What is new is your perspective." Make a process, drill, or concept your own.

Armin van Buuren

Watch how van Buuren engages and energizes young people. Who wouldn't want that transformative power? 

"Some of these chords...were invented hundreds of years ago." The Flex Offense was developed over fifty years ago. As written in Ecclesiastes I, What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

"I'm using Erik Satie's two chords to write new chords."

"Top melodies are...important." What are our core values and themes? 

Deadmaus

"You get on the map by following." True originality is rare. 

"Draw on what works." Do more of what works and less of what doesn't.

"It's very uplifting..." Inspire. 

Frank Gehry

"There's something magical about exploring that idea (folds) in a building." The Bilbao Museum above...is there anything magical or transformative in our coaching? 

Malcolm Gladwell

"I'm aware of my shortcomings...because I'm old." Gladwell is 58. "Youth is wasted on the young." Most young players don't know what they don't know. 

"I consciously tried to write like him (Michael Lewis)." Gladwell explained that he could never write as well as Lewis, but writes better by trying to write like him. What coaches do we want to be more like? 

"His examination of character was amazing." Transform players.

"That was a shortcoming that I chose to address." Use our strengths but address weakness.

"I wanted that feeling in my writing." Does practice convey 'feeling' for us?

"Everyone wants to hang out with Michael Lewis." Be the guy that others want to spend time with. 

Takeaways:

• Study your mentor's mentors. (For me those are Wooden and Dean Smith)
• "Top melodies are important." What are our core values?
• "Draw on what works."
• Improve by wanting to be as good as someone we admire.
• Use strengths and address weaknesses.

Lagniappe. Study your shot with cellphone (or other) video. Is it repeatable? Are you 'shot ready' on the catch? Can you make your release quicker? 

Drawing Up a Winner, Xs and Os That Worked in Crunch Time

Drawing up a potential game tying or game winning play has limitations. For young players. issues include concept, understanding, and execution. Having coached U14s and U12s, I’m a skeptic but had players who executed. 

If they haven’t practiced a play, can they execute? These plays inform what is possible and what worked. 

LION (Above, video below)...the video shows the SLIP. 

Winner (below) is designed for a three point shot from the corner but has more. 

Fence (below) honors the action from Hoosiers. The original is the screen for a shooter coming around. The options may be better. 

4 (Four, below) uses screen-the-screener action. It worked five times in one game. It works better if you've set it up with backscreens first. 

Loop (below) helped win us a game in overtime where we were heavy underdogs. The 7th graders ran this 'cold', never having seen it. 

Golden State (GSW, below) is a straight copy cat from the Warriors "corner rip" action. Run it as an ATO set, a SLOB, or a BOB. 

With about one of three games decided by two possessions or less, training our teams for "gotta have it" situations is worth the effort. 

Lagniappe. Not every guard develops a post-up game, but guards and bigs can learn a lot from the craft of Jalen Brunson. Study his footwork and build strength to play with force. 

Basketball: When Less Is More

Make 'less' more. Reduction analogies lift results in many settings.

• Chefs reduce sauces to concentrate flavor. I've discussed cooking and basketball "tools of refinement" here. 
• Comedians 'shave syllables' to improve jokes. What were Washington's final words before crossing the Delaware...(pause)..."get in the boat." 
• Editors know, "the film is made in the cutting room."
• Students process multiple choice questions using elimination.
• Weight loss decreases blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. 

1. Too many plays. Just because we have more plays doesn't mean we should use them all. I probably have a hundred BOBs in my FastModel playbook. In some games, we used one again and again because the opponent couldn't stop it. 

This "inside pick-and-roll" action pressures the defense. 

This SLOB uses a cross screen for entry then, instead of a diagonal screen for 3, an elevator screen frees the point guard for a three. 

Keep lists of your 'best' actions, tracked by effectiveness, e.g. points/possession. 

2. Too many moves. Have players explain their "GO TO" and "COUNTER" moves while they add more tools. Scorers need "FOUR WAYS" to score among the many - three level scoring, offensive rebounding, transition, PnR, free throws, etc. 

Get an edge. Teach the ability to read the defender quickly and attack. Learning microskills (playing low, protecting the ball, explosion) separates elite offensive players.  
 

3. Too many voices. The primary voice comes from your coach. I heard someone tell a player before a key game, "you're every bit as good...get your shots." Turning off distractions from the mission matters. 

4. Too many turnovers. Over and over we heard, "the ball is gold." Turnovers cancel winning.

5. Too many bad shots. Take ROB shots...range, open, balanced that are situationally appropriate. Match shot selection to time and score. Use clock to our advantage. No "my turn" shots...

6. Too many minutes. "A man has to know his limitations." Players get worn down and need rest, recovery, and sleep. Muscle recovery and healing of minor injuries take time. 

7. Too many players. Minutes don't grow on trees. Dissatisfaction with minutes, role, and recognition fractures teams. 

8. Too many dribbles. Be economical with the dribble. Make it take you somewhere. "Good players need two dribbles, excellent players one, and great players sometimes need none." Teach players to attack the basket from the 'spacing line' (three-point line) with one dribble. 

9. Too many priorities. Focus on too many, lose sight of the most important. If development is our top priority then winning can't be, too. To win, teams shorten rotations, reducing minutes and roles for some. Dissatisfaction over minutes, roles, and recognition fuels frustration and anger. 

We can't have too much skill, too many rebounds, too much effort, or too many great teammates. 

Key Takeaways:

• Reduction works across domain.
• "One band, one sound." (Avoid too many voices.)
• Too many plays reduces efficiency.
• Too many moves reduces quality. 
• Too many turnovers cancel winning. 
• Too many bad shots kill offense. 

Lagniappe. Skills for small guards (good for others as well). 

• Good with contact
• Defense
• Decision making
• Shotmaking
• Mentality 

Your Coaching Clinic - Make a Difference with Humor, Knowledge, and Truth (and Xs and Os)

Invited to speak at a clinic? What's next?  Rule number one, "don't be boring." Your audience wants help and entertainment. 

Use stories. Abe Lemons shared this, "We went to Alaska once and they made us honorary Alaskans. Then we went to Hawaii and they made us honorary Hawaiians. We're going to the Virgin Islands this year."

What is our audience thinking? "Who is this nobody?" Give us something. Content is king.

Give us something. ABCs...always be concrete. 

1. "Make practice harder so games are easier." - Don Meyer 
2. "Play harder for longer than your opponent." - Dave Smart
3. Use constraints. During an intrasquad scrimmage, make all shots start in the paint. Warmup dribble tag inside the arc, dribble with the non-dominant hand. Play 4 on 4 half court without dribbling to teach spacing, cutting, and passing. 
4. Make drills competitive. "Winners" confirm with a made free throw. 
5. Practice special situations using three possession games/O-D-O (offense-defense-offense) starting with a BOB, SLOB, free throw, or ATO.
6. Share from the legends. Bob Knight preached 'advantage-disadvantage'.
7. Coach and trainer Don Kelbick reminds us, "think shot first." 
8. Dean Smith tried to save three time outs for the final four minutes. If it's good enough for Coach Smith... 
9. Use a quotation. "Make every day your masterpiece." - John Wooden 
10. Share something new. Doug Brotherton had the clock call out-of-bounds plays, even-odd-zero. If there were 2:14 on the clock, the play call was "even." 

Make them want more. Pat Summitt's Lady Vols were staying out late and drinking. She brought them in for 6 A.M. running, deploying a trash can at each corner. That was her version of "four corners." 

BOB versus 2-3 zone (Across) second option is ball reversal back to 3. 

SLOB - staggered backscreens  "Boomerang"

Score off a tap play...easiest assist ever...off the lonesome end. 

Key Takeaways:

• Don't be boring. 
• Make practice competitive. 
• Use constraints. Make the rules in your world. 
• Practice special situations. 
• Share something new. 
• Steal from great coaches. 
• Use the clock in creative ways.

Lagniappe (something extra). "Great offense is multiple actions." Video from Pascal Meurs.

Lagniappe 2. Why should a player want to play for me? Do more of that. Why should a player not want to play for me? Do less of that. 

Lagniappe 3. Give and get feedback. Players are not mind readers. Neither are we. 

Lagniappe 4. Reminder from author David Mamet. "Each day do something for your craft and something for your business."