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Wednesday, November 30, 2022

UCONN - Iowa Teaching Clips

Video study helps us understand where games are won and lost. "Possessions and possession." Get more possessions and don't waste any possession. These UCONN - Iowa clips express that theme. 

Iowa's game sophistication is a bit ahead of Duke's from the other day. 

Rumors of the demise of the post game are overblown. Hard work getting position pays off. 


Develop 'first step quickness'. Once women's basketball had far fewer players with athletic explosion who could attack from the wing. I have always sought to teach girls to score with one dribble from the arc. 

GREAT concept (multiple actions) as Iowa has a high ball screen and a "diversion" happening together. UCONN helps on the roller and the screener (backscreen never happened) comes wide open as a result. 


Coaches emphasize "eliminate bad plays." Caitlin Clark has long-range skill and Muhl commits a cardinal sin. "Never foul a three-point shot." Yes, it happens at every level and I'm sure Coach Auriemma let her know about it. 


Turnabout is fair play. Freeze the initial frame. You can see the 'stagger' setting up for a Fudd jumper. Iowa rebounds and throws the outlet away. 


Dr. Fergus Connolly emphasizes offense-conversion-defense-conversion. Here, Iowa commits a live-ball turnover and watch the Iowa conversion. UCONN has a 3 on 0 because players are ball watching. Remember, we're here to teach our players to CARE - concentrate-alert-react-execute. 


Iowa BOB. It looks as though Iowa wanted to run a version of "America's play" for a corner three. Muhl is having none of that. Then, you'll see at least one of these turnovers every game, the wing-to-top pass. Griffin makes the Hawkeyes pay. 


Get your best shooters the shots they want. It looks innocent enough with mediocre spacing. UCONN sends a cutter through, then the staggered screen emerges with Lopez-Senechal curling off the screen for two.
 

Billy Donovan talks about the '95', what you do without the ball. UCONN stacks and gets post entry. Iowa doubles and the open player makes the '45' cut for a layup. When bigs can pass, double teams serve 'the stock trader's breakfast' - egg on the face. Also, "the help can never get beaten." 


Another great play by Clark as she rubs Muhl off the passer, cuts hard, finishes and gets an ill-advised foul. 


Skill. There is no substitute. Edwards works from the high post, can't finish the drive, but elite footwork with a back pivot and front pivot creates space and hits the mid-range. 


Five guys play defense. Note that UCONN elects to front the post. They don't get exposed as they give reasonable ball pressure AND backside help. Iowa moves the ball well but misses the short corner jumper. 


Iowa plays classic modern basketball. Attack the paint and pitch for the three. 

Lagniappe. 

Lagniappe 2. Fake handoff opens a layup.  

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Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Lessons from Saban

Few figures conjure polarizing emotions as much as Alabama Coach Nick Saban. It's hard to know where to start.

As a child, he helped his father run a service station. Washing cars was one of his jobs. After completion, Nick, Sr. inspected each car. If imperfect, the boy had to rewash the whole car. That attention to detail stayed with him.

Some label his pro coaching career a failure. As defensive backs coach with Bill Belichick in Cleveland, he helped forge one of the best defenses in the NFL. Things went awry during his brief head coaching career in Miami. 

Here are excerpts from "How Good Do You Want to Be?" particularly Chapter 4 on Teamwork. 

"Often the best teams are not made up of the best individuals." 

Saban discusses the 2003-2004 Lakers, starting Shaq, Kobe, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton and coming up empty. 

Of his 1998 Michigan State team he remarks, "distractions and personal agendas crippled the team concept." 

He shares the three I's:

Intelligence - playing smart 

Immediacy - urgency

Intensity - desire to be the best at all times

1. There is no 'i' in team but there is an 'i' in win. "Individual responsibility...recruit with an eye on character.

2. Everything you do, you do to the team. "Will my actions hurt the team?"

3. Get out of yourself and into the team. Put the team first. Popovich-like

4. Don't forget the fundamentals. "Most plays that fail do so because of a mental error or a lack of fundamental execution." 

5. You can have no flickering lights. One failure can sink the team.

6. Do not allow mistakes to go uncorrected. The first 15 minutes of Monday practice are devoted to correcting mistakes. "Teachable moments"

7. Having skill is not having talent. Talent is translating skill. He notes that in his fourth year at MSU, his team had lots of skill, but couldn't put into use as talent with toughness and togetherness.

8. You must trust, not just believe. Trust to Saban means putting your fate in others' hands. 

9. Sometimes what is best for the individual is not what is best for the team. That can mean letting go of a valued assistant or player. 

10.Teams must take ownership of themselves and their personalities. At LSU they had a Peer Intervention Group. Players enforced the rules. 

11.Teams that play together often end up lucky. Officiating, health, and how the ball bounces matter. 

12.With your "A" game you can beat anybody; anything less and they can beat you.

13.Create a nightmare for your opponent. Dominate.

14.If you think you are dominant, you will be. 

15.Dominant people enjoy going onto the opponent's turf. Great teams win on the road. "Get to" don't "have to." 

16.Dominant individuals and teams only beat themselves. Dominant players like Serena Williams lost at their peak only by their own errors. 

17.Very good teams make others quit. Coach Dave Smart says great teams play "harder and longer" than opposition. 

18.Dominant people don't care what the score is. "Keep doing what you've done to be successful.


He also discusses Pat Riley's "Disease of Me" (selfishness). 

- Inexperience in dealing with sudden success

- Chronic feelings of underappreciation (neediness)

- Paranoia over being cheated out of one's rightful share (credit)

- Resentment against the competence of partners

- Personal effort mustered solely to outshine a teammate (be concerned about being on the best team over being the best on the team)

- Leadership vacuum resulting from the formation of cliques and rivalries

- Feelings of frustration even when the team performs successfully

Lagniappe (something extra). Jump ball play. 

Lagniappe 2. "Every day is player development day." 


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Monday, November 28, 2022

UCONN - Duke Women's Teaching Clips

"Practice what you preach." Study and share video to help young players and coaches embrace concepts.

Both UCONN and Duke women are among the top programs in the country, with top coaches Geno Auriemma and Kara Lawson. Duke is young. The clips are extracted from YouTube video using YouTubeTrimmer.com. 

UCONN's general plan is to score a third in transition, a third off sets, and a third on three-point shots.

Consider showing your players these brief clips and asking 'what's right or wrong with this picture?'  


Duke sets a legal screen and then an illegal one as the screener leans into the defender with a shoulder. 


"The game honors toughness." A UCONN defender impacts the game by changing possession by taking a charge. She is set and not flopping, absorbing the hit. 


"Great offense is multiple actions." Griffin gets a backscreen and then gets great position in the mid-post, sealing her defender and earning a layup. 


Make defenses pay for allowing advantage. UCONN sets some weak pressure and Duke gets a 4-on-3. They're young and they don't try to break the defense down. "Press your advantage."


UCONN sets a high ball screen out of a spread offense. The on-ball defender drops off Azzi Fudd and she makes them pay. 


I think Duke was trying to run Spain pick-and-roll (backscreen the roller). I'm concerned that the offensive player in the corner doesn't look "shot ready." The play breaks down and UCONN turns a live-ball turnover into another layup.
 

UCONN runs off a made basket. Duke is not alert and Muhl finds a runner and "waters the flowers." Teams get caught celebrating or inattentive and great offense capitalizes.
 

Spacing - ball/player movement - scoring moment. UCONN sets up a wing ball screen for Lopez-Senechal. Note the footwork. She catches without establishing a pivot foot. She rejects the screen and buries the jumper off one dribble after a 'shimmy'. It's like watching a Jay Wright Villanova video. 


Conversely, Duke is sloppy on offense. They set up a staggered ball screen and the on-ball defender (Fudd) goes under with a switch. The ballhandler didn't come off the screen tightly. UCONN is talking on defense. The Duke cutter is called out of bounds on the catch.

It's early in the season and the execution will improve. But players should learn on film rather than a myriad of mistakes. 

Lagniappe (something extra). Habits matter. 

Lagniappe 2. Matt Turell with "the Rondo" with some extra mustard. 

 

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Sunday, November 27, 2022

Basketball: Getting Hired (Clip and Save Post)

Many young coaches here look to advance in the profession and navigate the interview process. Consider possible questions that share insights into your experience, philosophy, and goals.  

The process won't always be fair or impartial. There's a word for that, "LIFE." Regardless, bring our best version. 

This Twitter post includes significant questions and suggestions from the investment community.   

What sets you apart from other candidates? (Here's a sample of the author's suggested answer.)

• Use this question to highlight your top 5 strengths directly related to this role. Look at the the job description to see which strengths they are looking for, and give examples of you possessing these traits in prior roles. 

What do you consider your greatest weakness?

What is your greatest strength?

Tell me a time when you made a mistake? How do you handle it?

Tell me a time you couldn’t meet a goal/deadline & how you handled it.

Tell me about some of the most difficult problems you worked on and how you solved them.

What have been your most significant accomplishments?

Describe a time when you successfully balanced several competing priorities

Describe a time when you disagreed with your supervisor or peer and how you resolved it.

Why do you want to work for us/ this company?

None of these are trick questions, unfair, or irrelevant. They remind me of a few quotes.

1. "I'm a salesman," from Chuck Daly in Daly Wisdom. We are always selling ourselves, our skills, values, and trust.

2. "It's always showtime." We are always being evaluated, being judged. You might argue that many of those judging us have fewer qualifications or experience than we. That doesn't matter.

3. "The main thing is the main thing." - David Cottrell, in Monday Morning Leadership What is the main thing? Maybe it's development or winning or something else, depending on the job. It's always about 'adding value' although to whom can be nebulous.

Summary:

  • Bring our best to interviews through authenticity and preparation. We are selling ourselves.
  • What is our biggest strength?
  • What is our biggest weakness?
  • Share how we used conflict resolution with a superior.
  • Why do you want THIS job?

Lagniappe. "...a game of passing and cutting."

Lagniappe 2. Are our players "shot ready?"



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Saturday, November 26, 2022

Scalabrine Insights (Celtics - Kings)

Celtics broadcast analyst Brian Scalabrine had a long NBA career as a reserve, has coached, and is a veteran analyst.

He tends not to be repetitive and is reasonably objective for the genre. 

Pre-game. "Can the Kings take their high-powered offense on the road?" (Implied...at the top of the food chain are teams that beat good teams away from their barn.) 

  • Attack the paint (Celtics stopped in the second quarter).
  • Don't lose the cutters.
  • Pressure Sabonis (Sabonis prospered in the second quarter). 


Jayson Tatum attacks the paint with Iverson-like wide cross. 


"The ball has energy." 

(Coaching) - "First you have to decide what you're going to be."

"Every player is a threat to do everything - shoot it, drive, pass..."

"Sabonis doesn't have a ton of lift...but is very good at keeping the ball high." 

"A trip is supposed to be an automatic foul in the NBA." 

"Jaylen Brown just overpowers Kevin Huerter."

"It is different (offense) when you go on the road." 

"You can take up the space (with your shoulder) but you can't extend the arm."  

"What makes them good is spacing, shooting, passing, and cutting." (on the Kings)

"I'm surprised Joe didn't burn a timeout. That's three bad defensive possessions." 

"You gotta right the ship on your own." (instead of relying on timeouts)

"Attack, move, extra pass...(Sacramento)"

"Outscored 18-2 in the paint in the second quarter." (SAC comeback)

Lagniappe. Crean on making teammates better. 

Lagniappe 2. Footwork 


 

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Friday, November 25, 2022

Basketball: Xs and Os Core Offense - Versatility of Horns (Plus horns extras)

Teach players to execute from different initial setups in the stages of:

  • Initial setup
  • Creating advantage
  • Exploiting advantage
"Horns" offers good initial spacing, no natural "weak side" initially, and opens the lane. 

Last night, the UCONN women ran some Horns sets. Simple works with urgent cutting and talent as UCONN hammered Duke.


Left, staggered screen. Right, I call this "Bucks action" because Jason Kidd ran it some coaching the Bucks. 


It doesn't take unusual imagination to generate core actions (Harken back to the Joe Gibbs Washington Redskins offense - 3 runs, 10 passes with variations based on formation and motion. 
  • High ball screen (runs to either side) 
  • Elbow get (post-post screen) 
  • Duke Elbow series with clear out 
Establishing the set from a 4 low BOB offers attractive options. 
  • Pressure the middle with a screen and overload 
  • A variation on "America's Play"
  • Another look for a three pointer using multiple screens
Lagniappe. The 'keys' to successful offense are fundamentally sound players capable of spacing, cutting urgently, screening and making proper passing and decision reads. When we have those players, the choice of offense makes less difference. 

Horns variations... 

Horns into Flex (from GSW) 

Lagniappe 2. Horns versus zone defense (emphasis on ball screens) 



Lagniappe 3. Horns versus box-and-one. Options from HoopTactics.net

















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Thursday, November 24, 2022

Giving Games Away

Holiday season or not, coaches hate giving games away. Let's list and then 'reorganize' some. 

What do you consider the low hanging fruit or the Pareto "20% of the problem with 80% of the benefits?"

Turnovers - "0%" possession

Bad shot - "prayer", selfish, situationally inappropriate shot. Continual attention to shot selection is the quickest path to improvement. 

Bad foul - fouling opponent low percentage shot

Blown defensive assignments - "My bad" 

Lack of help - "the help can never get beaten"

Poor transition defense creates buckets and momentum shifts via runs. 

Bad tempo (too fast or too slow)

Failed block outs 

Poor free throw shooting undermines championship aspirations. 

Lack of communication/talk


Reorganize using the framework of Dean Oliver's Four Factors - score, protect, crash, attack. 


Players execute the game. Teach the symmetry of:

1. Getting great shots and allowing opponents "one bad shot"

2. Value the ball and get more possessions by forcing turnovers

3. Win Coach George Raveling's "War on the Boards"

4. Get and make our free throws and avoid sending opponents to the line

Each new season teams have new players without perspective on what loses games. 

Lagniappe. No coach ever believed her team shot too well. 

Lagniappe 2. Learn to use the body better. 














 

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Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Basketball: Force Multiplication, Second Chance, and a Duke Shooting Drill

Put our teams in the best position to be successful. Coaching goes by other names as well.

  • Editing - "The movie is made in the editing room." - Ron Howard
  • Player development 
  • Using tools of refinement
  • Opposition research
  • Opponent and self-scouting
  • Mentoring 
  • Force Multiplication
Here's a military force multiplier list from Wikipedia:


Let's examine a few simple force multipliers we can use. Find something that works for you. 

Recruiting. At a public school, recruit within the community. Make connections with youth coaches and young players to build bridges. Make tradition and community pride real. Keep stars home. 

Mindfulness (mediation). Among the "big 4" of technique, tactics, physicality, and psychology, mindfulness boosts psychology. Mindfulness reduces stress hormones and increases brain density in memory and learning areas. Less stress, more brain...

Technology. 
  • Video study - consider keeping a diary of what you learned. 
  • Shooting machines 
Simplification. 
  • Drill book modification
  • Playbook reduction - the analogy of the Joe Gibbs Washington Redskins, 3 running plays and 10 pass players with variation in formation and motion to make it seem much larger. 
Training. 
  • Upgrade practice tempo (tempo links to efficiency)...make it the norm and players adjust to it
  • Share drills and ideas with players via blogging, spreadsheets, email
Coaching clinics/online education. 
  • Wealth of online info (YouTube, FIBA, CoachTube)
  • Attend other practices (UCONN women's was fabulous)
  • Paid video/seminars
Notebooks. Commonplace book, blogging. Many of the thought leaders of history kept journals...Marcus Aurelius, Montaigne, Jefferson, Bill Gates. Write stuff down and go back to it. 

Lagniappe (something extra). Duke high volume three-point shooting drill. 
Reduce the distance and the target for younger players. 









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Tuesday, November 22, 2022

The "Fundamental Truth Hypothesis" from a GOAT Podcast

Ask players how they intend to win. Coach Lane taught us that teams could win with fundamentals or try to use trickery. The latter doesn't work.

  1. Be good at what we do a lot. 
  2. Choose a few areas of excellence. 
  3. Do more of what works and less of what doesn't.
  4. Focus on player development. 
  5. Find and train players willing to play "harder for longer." 

As for playing the game, excel at:

  • Half court offense
  • Half court defense
  • Pick-and-roll defense
  • Pick-and-roll offense
  • Transition defense
I don't think it makes sense solely to scrimmage at breakneck pace if you end up playing at a deliberate pace.

The analogy to Brady's observations are: play sound defense, take care of the basketball especially under pressure, rebound at both ends, and space-cut-pass-screen to get and make quality shots.

If we accept the "fundamental truth" hypothesis, then our coaching "behaviors" both in practice and during games should be consistent. That aligns with Coach Knight's philosophy about the priority of the mental to physical predominance and the need to eliminate mistakes. Don't give games away. 

We 'give games away' with bad shots, turnovers, fouls, bad transition defense, and uncommitted rebounding. "Everyone knows that." If it's so obvious, why do we see so many poorly played games? 

Lagniappe. What is the First Commandment of Basketball? Do what is in the best interest of the team. What is the Second? Be a great teammate. 

Lagniappe 2. Coleman Ayers shares tips to deal with contact, especially from stronger players. 


 

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Monday, November 21, 2022

What Should We Do More? Steal Ideas

The "right" answer is the right answer for us. This is more "throwing some against the wall" and seeing if anything sticks. Second, everything we do more means doing something less or more actions combining offense, defense, decisions, competition.  

MUST handle pressure defense. Inability to handle pressure means turnovers, especially live ball turnovers leading to high opponent points per possession. It also create late shot clock situations.

Options to do more. 

  • Advantage-disadvantage with no dribbling forces a pass and cut mentality. 
  • 10 passes before shooting forces moving without the ball and encourages spacing to open passing lanes. 
  • Competition against superior players or girls versus boys. 
MUST reduce fouling. Fouls create easy shots and bonus situations for more easy shots. 

Options to do more.
  • "Show your hands." If it looks like a foul, expect a foul.
  • "Don't swat down on blocks." Verticality is vital. 
  • Move your feet. Get and keep legal guarding position. 
  • Better communication - give more help, rotation, and help the helper. 
MUST take better shots. Better shot quality is easier to get than better shooting skill. 

Options to do more. 
  • Share shot charts. 
  • Eliminate bad shots - e.g. tweeners, off-balance, threes by non-shooters
  • Analyze where points arise - e.g. types of shots (layups, midrange, threes, free throws) and play types (transition, pick-and-roll, isolation, cutting, pull-ups, etc.) 
MUST shoot better. 

Options to do more. 
  • Practice with purpose. Free shooting is not the answer. 
  • Practice under fatiguing conditions. 
  • Limit dribbles. You are not James Harden. 
  • Add defense. Just having a defender in front of you decreases percentages. 
  • Variety. Catch-and-shoot, wing attack, one-dribble shooting, etc. 

MUST improve game knowledge. Poor knowledge leads to poor decisions leading to poor shot quality and poor defensive choices. 

Options to do more. 
  • Video study. 
  • Develop a file of teaching video
  • Involve players in teaching (assign brief presentations)
Summary: 
  • Handle pressure better.
  • Reduce fouling.
  • Take better shots.
  • Shoot better.
  • Improve game understanding.
Lagniappe. Add value to the team. 

Lagniappe 2. Basketball is art. This BOB is art. 

 Lagniappe 3. Start. Stop. Stay the course. 

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Sunday, November 20, 2022

"What We Don't See" Might Define the Solution

Poker players look for tells. Coaches look for 'tells' that reflect a thoughtful process.

I recent watched a Netflix series, "The Inside Man" starring the estimable Stanley Tucci. He pointed out that answers arise not only from what we see, but what we don't.

In other words, we have expectations, Bill Walsh's "Standards of Performance." The following is lifted from the reference:

  1. Exhibit a ferocious and intelligently applied work ethic directed at continual improvement.
  2. Demonstrate respect for each person in the organization.
  3. Be deeply committed to learning and teaching.
  4. Be fair.
  5. Demonstrate character.
  6. Honor the direct connection between details and improvement; relentlessly seek the latter.
  7. Show self-control, especially under pressure.
  8. Demonstrate and prize loyalty.
  9. Use positive language and have a positive attitude.
  10. Take pride in my effort as an entity separate from the result of that effort.
  11. Be willing to go the extra distance for the organization.
  12. Deal appropriately with victory and defeat, adulation and humiliation.
  13. Promote internal communication that is both open and substantive.
  14. Seek poise in myself and those I lead.
  15. Put the team’s welfare and priorities ahead of my own.
  16. Maintain an ongoing level of concentration and focus that is abnormally high.
  17. Make sacrifice and commitment the organization’s trademark.
All well and good, but how does that apply to watching a basketball game?

1. Is there 'ball pressure' or dead man's defense, six feet under the ball?

2. What individual or team actions do we see to create separation? Do we see on and off-ball screens, DHOs, urgent cutting, or does the action seem random and casual? 

3. Are teams denying transition, stopping the ball, and denying dribble and pass penetration?

4. Are multiple defenses present or absent? 

5. Does the team "give up the body" setting and fighting through screens, blocking out, going to the floor? 

Expect to see elements of "toughness" and 'playing the right way'. If not, we make negative inferences about the players and/or coaching. Somebody still has to win, reflecting the talent disparity or relative poverty of coaching. 

The next time we watch a game, look for both the seen and the unseen. 

Lagniappe. Remember the organization of development: 
- Skill
- Strategy
- Physicality
- Psychology 

Individual separation (skill). 

Lagniappe 2. Physicality 

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Sunday Double Quick Take. Getting Ahead - Embrace Good Advice from Any Source

“The best thing founders can do is subtraction. It’s much, much, much easier to add things than it is to remove things. Adding things is a lot more expensive than removing things. However, it requires some measure of bravery and risk-taking.” - Tobi Lutke

Let's examine a handful of embraceable concepts (not the entire conversation:

"Keep the most important thing the most important thing." Know the most important thing to work on it. 

"What's the most important thing you can work on?"

He calls non-founder-led companies, "Professionally-managed companies." We don't 'found' basketball so we should manage professionally. 

How do companies become average? "Reversion to the mean." Do we want to be average, like everyone else? 

"Everything a company does is to try to beat reversion to the mean." 

"Legitimacy is underappreciated." 

Increase deposits into our account of legitimacy. 

He explains our hesitancy to eliminate elements we invested time and emotion into. This is a variation of the 'sunk cost' principle. 

What doesn't take risk? "Do the same thing everyone else does...I don't see value in doing everything the same as everyone else."

What two areas would I increase in practice?

  • Scrimmaging
  • Shooting (there is never enough)
What areas would I steal from to do that? 
  • Game planning (however limited that might be)
  • End of practice free throws (time-benefit assessment means that has to become homework.) 

Lagniappe. Reality. 

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Saturday, November 19, 2022

Celtics - Pelicans Annotated Highlights

Video is the Truth Machine. Study more film. Get our young players to study not watch. Consider Doc Rivers' belief of limiting to 13 clips. 


Annotations:

1) 0:19 "Spacing is offense. Jaylen Brown draws 2 and passes out to Horford. Tatum and Brown combined for seventeen assists. 

2) 1:03 Tatum shake and bake, double crossover and acceleration into the lane. 

3) 1:33 "The 95" what you do without the ball. Grant Williams frees Tatum with a screen. 

4) 1:41 "Footwork, balance, maneuvering speed." Brandon Ingram pivot separation. 

5) 2:57 Alvarado penetration and dish makes Celtics pay for helping off the corner 3. 

6) 3:48 Brown on the "Show and Go." A great shot fake is "a shot not taken." 

7) 4:00 Every contribution won't show up in the box score. Hauser keeps the rebound alive and Horford scores.

8) 4:27 The modern game is about player and ball movement to create advantage. White penetrates and passes out and "one more" gets Brown an open look. 

9) 5:20 The Pelicans responses were fueled mostly by live ball turnovers (here by a block) into transition.

10) 5:54 Looked like a possible Spain PnR but Brogdon's drive pressured enough help to open a corner 3. 

11) 6:02 Shades of the NBA Finals 2022. A Brown live ball turnover leads to a transition score. Live ball turnovers have high points/possession so they hurt you twice. 

12) 6:59 Opportunistic cutting and finishing. Celtics might have been in zone. 

13) 8:05 "Numbers." Straight out of the Hubie Brown lecture, Brown keeps the ball in the insight (right) hand, gets the defender committed and lays off for the dunk. 

Lagniappe. MSU late-game execution. 


 — Hoop Herald (@TheHoopHerald) November 16, 2022


We had something similar in our playbook. 


 

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Friday, November 18, 2022

Basketball, "Guys Don't Understand the Game" - What Does That Mean?

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households." - Socrates

Adults have always lamented the perceived shortcomings of youth. The present mirrors the past. 

When 'old guys' say that young players don't understand the game, what specifically might that mean? Most of us acknowledge the superior athleticism and skill of the next generation. Is the criticism of youth merely grousing and envy?

What might we mean?

The Paper Chase. Some players are chasing scorebook (stats), publicity, and scholarships. Team achievement becomes secondary to individual results. 

Shot selection. Every player should know what's a good shot for herself and each of her teammates. Ideally, the team self-regulates shot selection. "That is not how we play," when players violate team standards, becoming unaccountable. Dean Smith sometimes had 'shot selection' scrimmages where the shot taken defined the score.

Watch a lot of high school basketball games and watch perimeter passing leading to missed three point shots. Players may not understand that 'analytics' are about layups, free throws, and threes...not just three after three-point misses. 

Teamwork. "Basketball is a game of cutting and passing." Do players have a team-first attitude and chemistry or are they 'me first' guys? Do they talk on defense to help and to protect teammates?  

Playing without the ball. "The ball has energy." When teams don't pass, cutters become less urgent. When guards don't 'water the flowers' to running bigs, they stop running. 

Defense. With athletic, skilled ball-handlers, ball containment has never been harder. Do players know the integration of defending the ball, help, rotation, and recovery? 

Situational basketball. Players need to understand what opponents want to do. Who are the scorers, the passers, offensive rebounders, and actions that teams like to run? Where are their weaknesses to allow creating and exploiting edges? Video study is critical. Shutting down an opponent's SLOBs and BOBs might define victory. 

Game understanding. Defenses want to set their defense. Do teams realize the need for a running game to force scrambling and attacking zones before defense becomes established? If we extend our defense are we creating pressure or weakness against an athletic team? 

Apples and oranges. In our area (Massachusetts), the top teams (Prep/Privates) assemble all-star teams which overwhelm opponents with talent. When out-of-area players assemble to create "Superteams," the post-season becomes non-competitive in the finals. For example, Malden Catholic beat a well-coached Norwood team 95-40 in the State Championship. Who wants to be the punching bag for an elite travel team? The results only reflected an imbalance of talent, not of effort or coaching. 

Lagniappe (something extra).  

 Lagniappe 2. Play the game by possession. Play longer and harder. 

Lagniappe 3. How do you build confidence? Improvement demands investment. 

 

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