Young coaches may seek guidelines to share with players. These may help.
Players, embrace these principles.
1. Great players make the people around them better. That applies across team domains, such as Larry Bird and the Celtics, Freddy Mercury and Queen. Are my choices making others better? The core of Metallica has lasted forty years. How? They agreed to choose whatever is best for the group.
2. Sweat the small stuff. Great teams and players handle the details. Coach Lane always shared "three keys to victory." Simplify and clarify expectations.
3. Always do your best. It won't be perfect. It isn't the same daily. It may not be great. "If you just do your best, there is no way you can judge yourself. And if you don’t judge yourself there is no way you are going to suffer from guilt, blame, and self-punishment." - don Miguel Ruiz in The Four Agreements
Being your best means being prepared, practicing fully focused, knowing and doing what you can do in the moment.
4. Excellent players limit mistakes. Great players and teams do not give away games. They take away games with aggression, intelligence, and execution.
5. Be a great teammate. Anyone can be a great teammate. We control our attitude, our choice, our effort. Bring positivity and energy.
Select key responsibilities for coaches.
1. Help players "see the game." Micro and macro game details require learning and teaching structure. Spacing, player and ball movement, and finishing/defending don't come naturally. Teach basketball symmetry - apply and handle pressure, force and avoid mistakes, get/prevent quality shots.
When you watch basketball with intention.. you learn a lot
— Anthony Pugh (@Anthony_Pugh2) September 10, 2022
Watch off the ball (screening, moving without the ball, getting open, etc)
Watch defensive rotations
Watch footwork (on offense and defense)
Watch how players score most often
Look for details, not just highlights
Lagniappe 3.