Friday, September 30, 2022

Basketball: Moments of Quality, Crossing the Red Line, and Quadruple Lagniappe


 2006 Middlesex All-League team included future WNBA player Shey Peddy (far left) with Melrose teammates Paula and Karen Sen

Help make "moments of quality" for players, teams, and communities. They happen with and without us. They happen on and off the court. 

In Above the Line, Urban Meyer described "crossing the red line," onto the playing field. Be ready, fully engaged at practice or games. The "red line" exists everywhere:

  • Walking into the library
  • Entering the classroom
  • Opening a book 
  • Getting out of the car at work
  • Starting an audition
Cross the red line daily as coaches:
  • Write a gratitude note to a mentor, peer, subordinate. 
  • Share with other coaches.
  • Study video.
  • Read within and outside our specialty areas.
  • Revise and edit our drill book, play book, teaching files.
  • Mentor a young coach. 
Reinforce mental toughness for ourselves and others
  • Mindfulness builds learning and memory, reduces stress hormones
  • Reflect on identity. "This is who I am."  
  • Reflect on performance. "This is how we do it."
  • Cement confidence with a mental highlight reel. Visualize success. 
  • Teach others strategies like these for mental toughness. 

Make small moments of quality. 

Lagniappe. "I can do this." 


Lagniappe 2. Great players "draw 2" to free teammates. 


Lagniappe 3. Discipline defines destiny. 

Lagniappe 4. "Mouse in the house" from horns. 

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Thursday, September 29, 2022

Basketball: Sending Messages

"Stay on message." Coaches send messages with words, tone, silence, non-verbal communication, actions, and more. 

Simplicity is vital. Hemingway is famous for clarity and simplicity. Here's a passage from The Old Man and the Sea. 

"We're in man defense. Call out your player. Talk on D." Or "the best defensive player will always start." Put our minutes where our mouth is. 

Don't be misinterpreted. Hack Wilson's coach wanted to teach the slugger how bad alcohol was. He met Hack and dropped a worm into a glass of vodka. Within thirty seconds, the worm shriveled and died. "What does this teach you, Hack?" "Coach, I'm never going to have to worry about worms." 

Find the best way to deliver a message. I coached a dyslexic player who had issues with right and left. I'd tell her, "force the dribbler to the curtain" or "run the play on the side of the benches." 

Don't cut corners. Coach Auriemma set the team off the loosen up with a couple of laps. Nobody cut a corner. Champions don't skip steps. 

Use a high ratio of positive to negative messaging, at least three to one. Coach Wooden often 'sandwiched' a correction between two positive messages. 

Maintain focus. Pat Summitt's players were staying out late and drinking. She brought them in for a 6 AM session, installing trash cans at each court corner. "Run." They ran until they started vomiting in her version of "Four Corners." 

Set priorities. Bill Bradley's Princeton coach Butch van Breda Kolff thought players' priorities were off. On the chalkboard, he wrote: 

Winning Touch. Teams that touch win more often. "Touch can trigger the release of oxytocin in the brain, a chemical that induces trust. Researchers say anyone can use the power of trust in everyday life." Coaching girls, I confined that to "fist bumps" and "head taps." 

ROOTS (Royal Order of the Splinter). Few interventions say more than benching a player. Balancing that message brings problems. We can lose players, too. 

Feedback. "Trust but verify," said President Reagan. Sending a message doesn't mean receipt. At Lahey Clinic, the Transplant Nurse reminds the recipient about taking anti-rejection medication. "What happens if you don't take the medicine?" "I die." She repeated it twice more. Get feedback and readback. 

Summary:

  • Stay on message.
  • Keep it simple.
  • Don't be misinterpreted.
  • Stay positive.
  • Maintain focus (Four Corners)
  • Winning touch.
  • Set priorities. 
  • ROOTS (Royal order of the splinter)
  • Get feedback and readback.

Lagniappe. Find additional ways to send messages to our teams. 


The State Department learned that Russia had "bugged" our Washington headquarters. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright wore a variety of pins to express her opinions and moods, sending colorful messages. "Read my pins." When meeting with a Russian foreign minister not long after, she wore this oversize "bug" costume jewelry pin. 

Lagniappe 2. Defenders must establish intent. 

Lagniappe 3. Are you ready to impact winning? 

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Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Fun Game: If I Ruled the Basketball World

Fun game, "If I ruled the world." So what changes belong in my basketball world order? Mom had a saying, "who died and made you king?" Nobody. 

Consider frameworks of: Structure, safety, philosophy of game play, officiating.

Structure: 

Youth basketball. Limit the amount of zone defense per game. Let's say the final five minutes of each half.

Shot clocks. Universal shot clock starting with the high school level. I don't see that happening, for economic reasons and tradition.   

Three point line. Move the high school line out an additional nine inches. Increasing the difficulty might dissuade some bad shots. 

Safety. There's nothing wrong with aggressive basketball. But I'd like to see two things:

  • Eliminate moving screens. Make it a point of officiating emphasis.
  • Call fouls for the brutality in the girls' game in the post. 

Philosophy of game play. Return more teaching and development of the post game. I'm not saying anyone will become the next Hakeem Olajuwon or Kevin McHale, but there's beauty in the well-executed post game.

Prioritize better passing. Talk it up. Passing is teamwork. Fancy slogans? Don't think that would help. 

Officiating. Let's encourage more respect for officials. Officials aren't getting rich and are tired of abuse from parents, players, and coaches. It happens because we accept it. I don't suggest creating a fiefdom of arrogant officials. But guys who start screaming at the referees at the opening tap and protest every call and every non-call? They need to be reined in. 

Sportsmanship. Encourage sportsmanship by rewarding it. Disrespectful gestures and standing over players have no place in basketball. Call attention to excellence by modeling it. Running up the score against reserves? Playing 'dirty' basketball? Habitual trash talking? Just stop. Have leagues reward a sportsmanship trophy to one team. There's nothing that excludes excellent teams from sportsmanship. It's not awarding participation trophies. It's rewarding excellence. 

What are some of your ideas? 

Lagniappe. Fix something. 

Lagniappe 2. Sounds interesting.  

Lagniappe 3. The Wright Stuff.  

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Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Basketball Movement: Know Where to Go and Where Not

Hamlet’s ‘To Be Or Not To Be’ Speech, Act 3 Scene 1

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;

"Basketball is a game of cutting and passing, of creating and denying space." 

If that is true, how do players learn where to go and not to go? Truths:

  • Movement destroys defenses. 
  • The ball is a camera, it can't find you unless it can see you. 
  • "Help your teammates." Sometimes you help by coming and other times by going.
  • "Spacing is offense and offense is spacing." - Chuck Daly
Return to the core of movement sports - spacing, player and ball movement, and the 'scoring moment'

As players, create advantage. Be specific.

  • Separation is advantage (e.g. dribble penetration into draw 2)
  • Mismatches (size, speed, or skill) are advantage
  • Creating space is advantage. Great players win in space. 

As players or coaches, our job is to help teams get scoring opportunities and to limit opponents' high quality scoring chances. Those are Pete Newell's dicta, "more and better shots than our opponents."

All movement is not positive. 

  • "Never cut to an occupied post."
  • "Don't get in the way of a driver." 

Players need to read defenders...setting up back cuts, lifts into space, and catch and attack options. I stole the slide below from Marc Hart's Zoom presentation on Dribble, Drive, Motion (DDM). 

Maintaining 'filled corners' pressures defenders into no good choices. 


Lagniappe.  

Lagniappe 2. Stop, shake, and bake. 

Lagniappe 3. My protege Cecilia continues to grow her game. The two-time All-Scholastic led her team to the state Final Four last season. She impacts defensive possessions with ball containment, help, altered shots, and rebounding and scores inside, outside, and in-between. She's only a junior and is the top student in her class. 

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We Know This. Does Every One of Our Players?

Maybe your coaches shared this with you. Rewatch it. 

Lives well-lived come with the cost of handling adversity. Few have an 'anteambulo', someone to clear the path for them. 

At the local Hall of Fame induction recently, Coach Serino explained the success of Frantzdy Pierrot. He always works at his game. He never tires of doing whatever it takes to become elite, to become a professional. That's how he earned the right to compete against Lionel Messi and other top footballers. 

Pierrot was also one of the best high school hoopers I've seen. A football player challenged him to a field goal kicking contest. They stopped at 45 yards. Then Pierrot kicked a 45 yarder...left footed. 

South Carolina and USWNT Coach Dawn Staley didn't immediately prosper in college at Virginia. She realized that to earn success, she had to study as hard as she worked at basketball. 

Coach Doc Rivers remembered what his parents taught him during the Donald Sterling racism scandal with the Los Angeles Clippers. "Never allow yourself to become a victim." 

Assistant Coach Roy Williams asked Michael Jordan at UNC, "How hard are you prepared to work?" Jordan answered, "I will work as hard as any player ever at Carolina." Williams answered, "you have to work harder than that." 

Master pizza chef Chris Bianco said that when he relocated to Phoenix from New York City, he knew two things. "I could be kind and I could work as hard as any person I ever met." 

"The magic is in the work."  

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Monday, September 26, 2022

Soft Skills Translate to Process and Results

Focus on the process of leadership. Leadership matters when it translates into results. I shared lessons from the local athletic Hall of Fame dinner and induction where my coach, Sonny Lane was inducted for his service as Athletic Director. 

He embodies critical elements of leadership:
  • Vision. This is what I see we can be. 
  • Management. This is how we do it. 
  • Reproducing leadership. "Leaders make leaders." 
Vision. When Coach came to Wakefield in the 1970-1971 season, one of his first actions was sprucing up the local outdoor courts. Included was a small sign, "Tech Tourney 1973" the Massachusetts version of March Madness. He inherited a weak program. I think his first year was 3-17.

Management. He knew player development is the linchpin of success. And "back in the day" that meant playing at the park. It was a different time before "Car Athletes," where kids played where parents drove. He helped me get a summer job as a Park Instructor, at the park which had the premier outdoor basketball court. 

It meant 'figuring it out' for players, before the Internet, before AAU for the masses, before trainers and sport specialization. His vision translated into refinement of pressure defenses (man, run-and-jump, 3/4 court 2-2-1 and 'diamond'), falling back into a kaleidoscope of zones or sagging man. 

Reproducing Leadership. After the induction dinner, I sent Coach and his wife Paula a brief thank you for a lifetime of friendship. Here's part of her reply:

"We are in tears again...Coach's teams won several state sectionals & Eastern Mass championships, all Class B, and 5 league titles. But he always said to the family that the 1973 team was the best, only team in school history to win a Class A sectional - stunning Andover & St John's Prep (22-0). He said you were the greatest leader the school ever had."

If there's anything the Lanes excel at, it's hyperbole. Coach churned out players and leaders - Roger Lapham (drafted by the NBA and NFL), Dr. Tom Russo, United States Senator Scott Brown, Mark Plansky (1984 Villanova National Champions). The point is that "distributed leadership" is the process. 

What is distributed leadership? "Increasingly, that agility requires a shift from reliance on command-and-control leadership to distributed leadership, which emphasizes giving people autonomy to innovate and using noncoercive means to align them around a common goal."

When teammates voted me 'captain' for the 1972-1973 season, I explained to Coach that I didn't deserve that honor. But I could fill a role as the "Team Representative." Leadership is about leading, not titles. 

Coach taught us teamwork, unselfishness, and sacrifice. And at our best during a thirteen game winning streak, he told us he was "pleased but not satisfied." 

As a coach, I'm as proud of the women who earned advanced degrees as the All-Scholastics or Division 1 talents. Vision, competence, and leadership development elevates our players. The game is about them. 

Lagniappe. 'Spain' creates variations. 

Lagniappe 2. The whole package matters. 

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Sunday, September 25, 2022

Change of Pace - Finding Your Target, the Auerbach Way

Where do you find high end talent? And what are the dealbreakers? 

Red Auerbach wrote an autobiography with Joe Fitzgerald, "Red Auerbach." 

Does he share anything that can help us? 

Do your homework. "He has to be my type of kid." Explain. In another era, Auerbach called up small town chiefs of police and principals asking about character and trouble. "The selection of material is more important than the handling of it." 

When Mike Lombardi was an NFL assistant, he kept numbers of SEC sororities to check on player character. If a player mistreated women, the Patriots wanted no part of him. 

That reminds me of Nick Saban cautioning players to be an AND guy not a BUT guy. No "buts" about missing class, late for meetings, bar fights or failed drug tests. It also recalls Chris Bianco saying that great pizza comes from great ingredients. 

Is a player all in on the team or on themselves? Is she a leader or a loner? 

Network. Auerbach landed Sam Jones via Bones McKinney. "You've got to know whose advice to take." Do you recommend a player with questionable character or whose style is over the edge? Information is widely available, but coaches' recommendations still matter. I'd rather recommend fewer players but be trusted than lose credibility. Also, it may help to have a "comparable" player in mind when describing a player. Subconsciously, we 'anchor' on information, not always accurately. 

Impact winning. Auerbach found players that he believed would add to his team - Wayne Embry, Paul Silas, Don Nelson, Bailey Howell. The players thought Auerbach looked for players who wanted to win, badly. 

Desire. When asked why the Celtics won more often, Jerry West said, "The Celtics were just a cut above in their desire to win...totally prepared to sacrifice whatever was necessary in order to win." Having a critical mass of winning players matters. 

Pedigree. "I also liked the idea of getting kids who had played on championship teams...I want a kid who was great, but who never stopped being nice. Many recall that while at Loyola of Chicago, Porter Moser often chose players from state championship teams. Winning breeds winners. 

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. The player who has always gone the extra mile in preparation is likely to continue to do that. 

Summary: Find great ingredients.
  • Do your homework.
  • Network. 
  • Find players who will impact winning in your system. 
  • Seek guys hungry to win. 
  • Look at the pedigree. 
Lagniappe. Great outcomes for both individuals and teams relates to improved systems. This video explains one process. 



It would he hard to develop unified systems in a broad way without unified goals. 

Lagniappe 2. How many players on our clubs have we developed who can execute this consistently? 


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Does It Matter?

Why basketball? Ask ourselves, "does it matter? If so, how much?" 


What really matters? Phil Jackson's "basketball is sharing" and Pete Newell's "a coach's job is to help players SEE THE GAME" are two of my favorites. 

If a magic genie could grant me a wish, I'd ask to "help others become the best version of themselves." That's a big ask, because each of us has 'free will'. 

What stands out on the list? 

1. "Taking care of business" at home and in the classroom defines players' lives. I love to hear parents say how their child is just as special at home as they are on the court. If you learn basketball details you can grasp grammar and master math. 

2. Be a great teammate. Everyone has ego and ego helps us through challenges but undermines us when placing us above the group. 

3. "Never take it personally." Media and other "noise" is just that. Legendary baseball coach Earl Weaver said, "you're never as good as you look when you win or as bad as you look when you lose." 

4. Be coachable. Listen, bring and spread energy. Know your responsibility and others' as well. 

5. Be "professional." Be punctual, be collaborative, know and execute your role to the best of your ability. You won't regret bringing professionalism to school, the workplace, or the arena. Leave the gym as a better person and leave it in better condition than you found it. 

6. Toughness is a skill. Nobody cares about "fugazi" toughness, the glaring, staring, and posing. Are you "first to the floor," taking charges, blocking out, and doing the grunt work?

If it doesn't matter, ignore or abandon it. 

Lagniappe. Cutthroat Excellent presentation including video from Coach Michael Lynch

Lagniappe 2. Coaches adapt/borrow/steal from each other. 














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Saturday, September 24, 2022

Lessons Shared at the Hall of Fame

Coaches develop relationships over a lifetime. When asked about his players, Coach Amos Alonzo Stagg answered, "Ask me in twenty years. I'll be able to answer better." 

I attended the Melrose Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Dinner and Ceremony. How had relationships turned out? What lessons were shared? 

I helped coach a couple of basketball athletes years ago. Meg Shea made her bones in field hockey as a league high scorer in both high school and college. Now she's Associate Head Coach of Field Hockey at UNH. I know NOTHING about field hockey, but she is doing well. She credited much of her success to her family and to her partner. Gratitude counts. 


Colleen Hanscom (above) played both basketball and volleyball at high levels and is doing well with family and life. I had a tiny role in coaching her in a few summer games and broadcast both sports when she played. I've previously shared some of her father's fundraising magic. She stressed how she remains close to teammates from over a decade ago. Relationships matter.  

Football Class of 1999 Captain Patrick Kent shared thoughts about how their team went undefeated only to lose an ill-fated coin flip to go to the State Championship. The team was celebrated for its sportsmanship and maturity. He recounted that the seeds of success were planted late in the 1997 season, a 2-8-1 campaign. Coach Morris told them, "great things can happen" with commitment. The team competed to get to and succeed in the weight room and beat teams by an average of twenty-one points. Commitment and sportsmanship matter. 

Former Athletic Director Sonny Lane emphasized this was a WE award not a ME award. He's already in the New England Basketball Hall of Fame. He thanked the student-athletes and coaches that he worked with as AD. He was emotional discussing all that his wife had sacrificed in missed family meals and activities over the years. The team surrounding you, both personally and professionally, matters. 

None of the inductees came to sing their praises. All freely shared credit with family, teammates, coaches, and the community that made their success possible. When you make it about others, others can help you make it. 

Summary: 
- Legacies are complex stuff. 
- Gratitude matters. 
- Relationships matter.
- Commitment matters.
- Sportsmanship matters.
- The personal and professional team surrounding you matter. 

Lagniappe. 

Lagniappe 2. We can always learn something, even from an OG. Training techniques cross domains:

  • Advantage-disadvantage
  • Competition
  • Constraints 
  • Experience 
  • Introduce the unexpected

 

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Friday, September 23, 2022

Teaching Professionalism

Coaching responsibilities cross areas. Sum them under the mantle of professionalism. Be specific. 

Pete Newell said, "teach players to SEE THE GAME." 

Phil Jackson taught, "Basketball is sharing."

Bob Knight advised, "Basketball is a game of mistakes." His warning was to reduce them. 

Dean Smith's primary lesson was CARING. 

Bill Walsh coached to his "standards of performance." 

We could go on, listing great coaches in different sports. And each, in her or his way showed players the value of professionalism. If we asked players what 'learning professionalism' means, we'd get another list. Let's lay out common ground. 

  • Be on time. Phil Ford set his watch 10 minutes early (Dean Smith time)
  • Be coachable. You cannot 'go your own way'. 
  • Be prepared. Know your job AND those of your teammates. 
  • Take care of your body (conditioning, rest, sleep, nutrition, sobriety). 
  • Impact winning. 
  • Improve yourself and teammates. 
  • Maintain a 'sense of urgency' while knowing on a given play, patience or speed becomes the urgent need. 
  • Be a great teammate. Team play is a choice. 

Lagniappe. Bill Walsh had a laundry list of standards. These top ones carry a much weight. 

Bill Walsh’s Standard of Performance:

  1. Exhibit a ferocious and intelligently applied work ethic directed toward continual improvement.
  2. Demonstrate respect for each person in the organization and the work he or she does.
  3. Be deeply committed to learning and teaching which means increasing our own expertise.
  4. Be fair.
  5. Demonstrate character.
  6. Honor the direct connection between details and improvement.
  7. Relentlessly seek improvement.
Lagniappe 2. I highly recommending reading Fergus Connolly. 

Lagniappe 3. 

 

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Relational Awareness: Raising Our Relationship Game

"The apple never falls far from the tree." What makes us tick? Each of us carries history, baggage to embrace or to change.

Within a team, that means lots of stories, some of which we know and others we do not.

Master therapist Esther Perel encourages us to look within to understand our stories better. Chuck Daly said, "I'm a salesman." We are also psychologists. 



Take a few moments to examine our upbringing? 
  • Were we raised to be self-reliant or more interdependent?
  • How important was loyalty to us?
  • Were we adventurous or inclined to stick to the safe path?
  • How did these styles affect our relationship expectations? 
  • Did they affect our choices and results?  
If we think a player is "selfish," how can we reach her and help her change. Some players may not be selfish enough. Do we know our players well enough to tailor our communication to their style? Are they conflict avoiders or conflict avid? 

Players aren't made from cookie cutters. Some are "high maintenance" and need more attention. Understanding our and their relationship style might help us help them. 

We don't need to know everything about everyone. But sometimes we benefit by knowing more and being curious. Players may not want to reveal more, but they may thank us for caring enough to ask. 

Lagniappe.
Lagniappe 2. What do you see? What could it be?


After you've decided, consider clicking through.




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Thursday, September 22, 2022

Don Meyer (Cross-Posted from My Volleyball Site)

Some of you have never heard of Don Meyer, former basketball coach at Northern State. At one time he held the record for men's basketball coaching wins. He won the ESPY "Jimmy V Award" for courage. He used to have a spot on his website where you could ask a question and he was always generous with his answers. 

Here are a few points worth noting:

1. Coach Meyer kept three notebooks, one for basketball, one for general knowledge, and one for appreciation for his wife, that he gave her at the end of each year.

2. He had many sayings, like there are three phases in coaching - blind enthusiasm, sophisticated complexity, and mature simplicity.

3. He had few rules: 

-Everybody takes notes.

-Everybody says "please" and "thank you".

-Everybody picks up trash. 

4. He was a big believer in "servant leadership." 

5. The relevant quote for today, "It doesn't matter who you play; it matters how you play." 


Some teams waste energy overthinking the opponent and underestimate the importance of doing they you do well. Invest time and energy doing more of what works and less of what doesn't. 



And a story





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Wednesday, September 21, 2022

"The Four Agreements" - Don't Make Assumptions, Plus Basketball Movement Drills

"The Four Agreements" by don Miguel Ruiz provides a simple template for self-improvement. I've previously shared the first, "Be impeccable with your word." 

The third agreement is "Don't make assumptions." This works off the cognitive bias of "Fundamental attribution error." This says that we often judge others based on presumptions about character and judge ourselves according to circumstance. 

 Think how this could 'show' at practice or in games.

  • Susie is always late for practice. She doesn't care. Susie depends on parents for a ride. She has no control over this. 
  • Mary isn't giving great effort at practice. She doesn't care. She stayed up late working on school work. Or she has minor injuries, illness, or is having her period. 
  • Joan isn't a team player. She's selfish. Joan is being bullied in school. Joan has an unstable home situation. 
Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale shared a story from her team about girls confronting a player, "you're not happy unless you're scoring." The girl broke down and said that her father wouldn't talk to her unless she was playing well, including scoring. 

Relationships come first. We need to see inside players' lives. We only learn that by better communication with players. 

Ruiz says, "Assumptions are nothing more than lies that we are telling ourselves. This creates a big drama for nothing, because we don’t really know if something is true or not."

"If we don’t make assumptions, we can focus our attention on the truth, not on what we think is the truth."

Summary:
  • Human nature leads us to make assumptions. 
  • Assumptions are "short cuts."
  • We expect the benefit of the doubt but often don't give it.
  • Improved relationships give us information to access the truth. 
  • Getting the truth helps us avoid making bad judgments. 
Lagniappe. Find 'guys' who put winning first.

Lagniappe 2. Coleman Ayres teaches basketball movement. We've often started practice, "dribbling the lines." 

 

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Attacking from the Elbow

Even in a 'three-point world' find ways to attack from the elbow. Defenses can't stop everything. When they sell out to stop threes, they open attacks from the blocks and elbows. 

Develop players who can score off the bounce with elite footwork, fakes, and athletic explosion.  

Here are a few ideas.

Elbow get.

Corner rip. 

Back cuts with other options.

Elbow handoff and fake handoff (Duke series)

BOB. 

Complex PnR

SLOB Spain. 

Isolation.


Lagniappe (something extra). Ido Singer is the King of the BLOB. 


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