Basketball: Winning Close and Late

Coach: "Our average margin of victory was twenty-seven points." 

Reporter: "How did that translate in the playoffs?"

Coach: "We won a few games but lost a close one in the States." 

Teams win big during the regular season for many reasons.

• Overwhelming talent and recruiting
• Player development
• Weak opposition
• Limited use of bench 

There's nothing "wrong" there, but few close and late (e.g. one and two possession games in the final four minutes) means less experience closing out tight games. Winning close games involves good decisions, superior conditioning, and some factors listed below. Traffic in specifics. 

• Ability to make free throws
• Controlling tempo with offensive and defensive delay games
• Limiting fouling (opponent scores without using time)
• Half-court offense
• Controlling the defensive boards
• Valuing the ball (few turnovers against pressure)
• Comeback game
• Special situations

Pressure free throws.

• Practice under pressure (free throw harassment in practice, teammate can say or do anything but not physically alter the shot)
• Confirm scrimmage wins with a free throw
• Practice under fatigue conditions (blend in conditioning with free throw practice)

Delay games.

• The classic delay game is "Four Corners" 
• Offensive - use time, avoid turnovers, get good shots
• Defensive - each player must be capable of tight on and off-ball defense
• Both require realistic practice. Consider putting 3 minutes on the clock with the team up 6. Start play on defense. If you get a stop, run clock ten seconds and give defense the ball again. Offense, put 2:00 on the clock, trailing by four, five team fouls. Start on defense and play out the end of the game. 

Limit fouls. 

• Emphasize good technique. "Show your hands, don't block shots with swatting down."
• Prioritize contesting shots without fouling. 
• NEVER foul jump shots or threes.

Half-court offense.

• Have a list and practice best ATOs, BOBs, SLOBs, action versus 'man' and versus zone defense.
• Tight 'man' defense is vulnerable to screens and back cuts
• Delay game must be able to generate late shot clock offense

We had a dynamic five who could put the ball on the floor and score in many ways. We used continuous screening off the ball with option of returning the ball to 5 for isolation. When defenders 'cheat' back cuts are exposed.

Defensive rebounding. 

• Can't allow second shots. 
• Favor results over technique. Block out or 'hit and get'? 
• Emphasis on positioning and toughness on D boards. 

Limit turnovers. 

• Practice advantage vs disadvantage (e.g. 5 versus 7)
• Practice pivoting footwork to limit traveling. 
• Practice "no bounce" basketball as an offensive constraint.

What's your "comeback game?"

• Might not be "core personnel" (? more speed and quickness)
• Has to involve some "intelligent trapping" without fouling
• "Stops make runs." There's no comeback without stops. 

Special situations. 

• Versus man, emphasize cutting and screening.
• Versus zone, emphasize overload.
• Cultivate an in-bounder who makes good decisions. 

Lagniappe. "Embrace the contact." I coached girls who didn't embrace the contact. Many ended up in volleyball or soccer.  

Basketball: Assignments "Where's the Beef?"

"This is is how we do it." Does that mean it's the best way or could there be a better way? There's a concept in Japan, "I am what I am because of you." Be that coach. 

Learn across domains. In Michael Pollan's "Intentional Eating" MasterClass, he gives tips and assignments. Tip: buy food not EFLSs - edible food like substances. Shopping the perimeter of the store gets us food and fewer EFLSs. A Twinkie is an EFLS. 

How about basketball? Where's the "food" versus the processed "stuff?"

1. Player development. It's the meat and fish department. Repeat after me, "Every day is player development day." Gregg Popovich says, "Technique beats tactics."

Assignment: Rethink how much and what practices serves player development. 

2. "Kill your darlings." Where's the beef? Everything in practice should serve winning. 

Assignment: what fluff needs to go? 

3. Become more efficient. Practice time is precious. Watching UCONN Women, the Boston Celtics, or the Patriots practice, I'm struck by the tempo and efficiency. Efficiency rules. 

Assignment: work on efficiency. 

• Up the tempo.
• Name everything. "We're on to RACEHORSE." 
• Condition within drills and scrimmaging. 
• Use more baskets, avoid lines.
• Have a written practice schedule to guide us.

4. Make it competitive. The best activities are 'holistic', informing offense, defense, decision-making, conditioning, and competition. Players play, in part, because they love competition. 

Assignment: make activities competitive between groups or for players, achieving their PBs, personal bests. "Beat the Pro," a.k.a. Bill Bradley, is competition to 11, making 11 shots before missing four, as the Pro gets three for a miss. There's no reason why in practice that a player can't make 11 consecutive elbow jumpers someday...not every day. 

5. Elevate our teaching. COVID and age took tolls on me, but that doesn't mean I've stopped learning, teaching, and sharing. I see that you're out there beating your brains in on the court. I honor that. Raise the stakes. 

Assignment: make it holistic, like Dean Smith. Have a 'quote for the day' and a "concept of the day." "Champions do extra." - James Kerr, in Legacy

6. Steal. Picasso said, "Good artists borrow; great artists steal." 

Find ideas everywhere. I was on vacation years ago and met a coach from Indiana who shared a drill called rollouts which was a closeout and live action drill. 

It's an excellent pregame warmup drill. Add constraints like you need a screen before you can score. 

Maybe we might find someone distasteful but still find their concepts or ideas worth stealing.  

Assignment: Find three ideas worth stealing every day. 

7. Share. Phil Jackson said, "Basketball is sharing." 

If I had a mantra, it would be, "share something great" - an idea, quote, movie, book, recipe. 

Assignment: Find one thing to share daily. 

8. Contain the egos. Gregg Popovich teaches, "Get over yourself." Modern basketball observes, "Whoo, look at me!" Flexing, standing over a player after a dunk or 'breaking ankles'. Barry Sanders would hand the touchdown ball to the official. "Act like you've been there before."

Assignment: share elements of basketball 'respect' and sportsmanship regularly. 

9. Find a mentor. "Look for the helpers." - Mr. Rogers  Atul Gawande is an accomplished surgeon and still hired a senior colleague to oversee his surgery. AND he learned from that surgeon. 

Assignment: Seek help humbly. 

10.Remember empathy. Consider how our coaching impacts the players. I'm shocked when I hear coaches who've called players useless, worthless, or disloyal because the player doesn't serve the coach's interests. It isn't written anywhere that a great coach should be a soulless mercenary. 

I knew a doctor who said his father was a surgeon who came home and said, "It was a bad day. I only made two nurses cry." 

Assignment: Find a way to support a teammate or a colleague every day. Kind words cost nothing. 

Lagniappe. We don't have to use everything. Find a few.

 

Basketball: "On Reading"

Stephen King wrote a marvelous book "On Writing" that everyone should read. Here are ideas on reading that make us better content evaluators and coaches.

1. Better to read a great book multiple times than many bad books. I've read James Kerr's Legacy over three times. I'll read Ed Smith's Making Decisions multiple times. Give ourself the chance to imprint great concepts. 

2. Abandon bad books. Just because we start a book doesn't oblige us to finish it (unless it's assigned). 

3. Share great books. I've given multiple copies of Man's Search for Meaning away. It add value to life. 

4. Think about it. Read a chapter of a nonfiction book and process it. What did the author want to share? Is that an enduring idea? 

5. Ask "did the book leave me in a better place?" Did it help me understand the world, the game, people? 

6. What books do coaches read with their teams? I know one who has read Jay Bilas's Toughness with multiple VOLLEYBALL groups. UNC legendary soccer coach reads The Leadership Moment (Michael Useem) with his teams. 

7. Read widely. Walter Isaacson's biographies on DaVinci and Ben Franklin are exceptional. Study greatness. Werner Herzog recommends J.A. Baker's The Peregrine for its prose. 

8. Fiction has merit, too, as it stimulates us to ask, "What's next? How does the hero escape this predicament?"

9. Read this article (I'd Rather Re-Read These 10 Books) and a few quote excerpts. 

• Work to learn, not for money. People who build wealth focus on building profitable skills first and making money second (from Rich Dad Poor Dad)
• "The Turkey Problem — A turkey gets fed 364 days in a row. Each day it grows more confident in its future prospects until Thanksgiving. This is a metaphor for people in fragile positions who can succeed and thrive for a while until they don’t."  (Nassim Taleb)
• “People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”
• "Don’t do what you know on a gut level to be the wrong thing to do. Don’t stay when you know you should go or go when you know you should stay. Don’t fight when you should hold steady or hold steady when you should fight...I don’t think there’s a single dumbass thing I’ve done in my adult life that I didn’t know was a dumbass thing to do while I was doing it.”" - Cheryl Strayed
• "Invert, invert, invert — Instead of trying to be smart, avoid being dumb. Instead of trying to make amazing decisions, avoid catastrophic ones." - Charlie Munger

 Lagniappe. Always worth hearing, Hubie Brown. 

Basketball Apartheid - Social Justice, Sport, and Basketball

Sport is not immune from 'culture wars'. First, what is 'culture war'? 

1. "Conflict, especially political, over cultural values, particularly in the United States." - Wiktionary

Battles rage over the primacy of ideas and how they are shared, implemented, and maintained. Who and what move to the top of the food chain or gets cancelled? 

Marketability (merchandising)

Self-promotion can get viewed in a harsh light. It's fine for the NCAA and member schools to champion their brands, but when players sought to unionize or shine a light on their concerns, it became taboo. NIL gave players a chance to participate in the gravy train.

 

Analytics

Everyone isn't a fan of analytics. Sport performance expert Dr. Fergus Connolly emphasizes using analytics to impact winning. I don't know the correlation between "40 times" or "bench press reps" and winning. Some guys aren't the biggest, the fastest, or the strongest, but won big like Julian Edelman.

 

Speech "Shut up and dribble"

First Amendment rights aside, athletes have long participated in philanthropy and social justice campaigns. LeBron famous founded a school and supported education within his home community. Kevin Durant likewise has a foundation with charitable works behind the scenes. 

When they choose not to participate, they have their reasons, which is fine, too. But having a platform and a megaphone doesn't allow you to silence others. 

Basketball pariahs

Who got cancelled and why? Examples include Donald Sterling, Karl Malone, Kermit Washington, and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. It's usually apples and oranges. Sterling got cancelled for racism, Kermit Washington lost control in an era where the NBA jammed physicality inside the arc, and Adbul-Rauf was 'Kaepernick before Kaepernick'.

It cuts both ways. Sometimes athletes get chance after chance despite unacceptable behavior. Steve Howe got 'one last chance' with drug abuse until finally dying in a truck accident. Unconfirmed reports say Duke athletes got play over punishment from the disciplinary board. Stanford athletes had "easy course" lists. Alabama basketball has a different kind of shootout going on.

Concepts and Ideas

Just because we heard it over and over doesn't make it true. "European players are soft." That was a thing once. It seems ridiculous when considering 'old timers' like Sarunas Marciulionis and Manu Ginobili or current generation players like Jokic, Antetokounmpo, or Doncic. 

Nations cancel others. The US boycotted the 1980 Olympics. Many of us can barely remember why. Many athletes surely remain bitter about losing the chance to compete.

Sport is a microcosm of society. Each of us reconciles our values while bombarded through prisms generating heat and light from every angle of the political spectrum. "Intellects" with a microphone think they're entitled to free speech but "dumb jocks" are not.

 

Everything is not always what we believe. 

Lagniappe. JJ Redick can believe whatever he wants about the 80s. Bird was winning championships before Redick was born. 

"The 38-year-old Redick clapped back against what he called a "trope" that players of past decades incurred more physical play than their contemporary peers.

“The trope that every old talking head uses, Mad Dog, Stephen A., ‘physicality, physicality, physicality,’" Redick said Thursday. "My entire point about the segment was that outside of hard fouls and fighting, the physicality, the basketball play ... is not that much different than today’s NBA." 

Larry Bird. Boston Celtics. Just touch passes.

pic.twitter.com/KDrItd63sL

— Honest☘️Larry (@HonestLarry1) February 25, 2023

Basketball: Unforgettable Lessons from the 1973 Season and Beyond

Fifty years ago, we prepared for the postseason as a team that had won nothing for years. Unranked in the top division, we got a Division 1 North four seed in the "Tech Tourney." 

What lessons propelled us forward? 

1. Sacrifice. Coach Sonny Lane reminded us that, a lot. "Suicides at the end of practice" were shared sacrifice. 

2. Who are those guys? A nine-game win streak in the formidable Middlesex League seemed like an achievement. But we got no ink in the Boston papers. There was no Internet for hype or hate. Coach said, "who are those guys?” Yes, the "No Respect card" worked for us. 

3. Discipline determines destiny. Three years prior, Coach planted his flag on the road to the postseason. He "pulled paint cans and brushes from his car and instructed the team to get to work sprucing up the playground court and painting the wooden backboards that were nailed to telephone polls.  On one of those poles Lane painted in red, “Tech Tourney ‘73” which is what the state high school basketball tournament was called in 1970."

4. "The ball is gold." Turnovers kill winning, kill coaches, and kill dreams. Over and over we heard, "the ball is gold." Wakefield 1973 averaged 65 points per game, before shot clocks or three-point shooting. Take care of the ball and take good shots. 

5. "It's not who starts it's who finishes." Earn the confidence of the coaches and teammates by being reliable. The previous season, I started no games and played seven seconds in a game against a neighboring rival. The championship season I played 36 minutes in the overtime title win against twice-defending State Champion Lexington in Boston Garden. 

6. Vince Lombardi said, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." We had twelve guys focused on winning, not on statistics. Coach preached "win this quarter." "Play present" is what people say now. 

7. Senior leadership matters. We had eight seniors, including five who were at least 6'5" tall. We spent a lot of time together since Junior High School basketball. Traveling to summer league games, I spent a too much time in the middle of the back seat, crunched between big guys. 

8. Ignore the noise. While we kept on winning, a School Committee member whose son had been cut sought to undermine both the coach and the program with a series of meetings questioning the direction of the Athletic Department. In 1970, the school won a State Football Championship and the town sent the team to Bermuda. Less than three years later, people asked should winning or playing time be a priority? Winning settles a lot of arguments. 

9. "Basketball is sharing." All five starters averaged ten points per game and six seniors scored at least 300 career points. "It's amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit." 

10."Embrace your role." We had an excellent point guard, scorers, two dynamite rebounders, and two 'defensive specialists', including me. My best game might have been holding an All-State guard, son of a Boston Globe sportswriter to ten points on the road. I scored two points on two shots in a 70-54 win. We could hear a pin drop in the State Champions' gym at the end. 

Those lessons served us well during the thirteen game winning streak and through the next five decades. 

Lagniappe (something extra). Kobe understood life.

 

Lagniappe 2. Our 1-4 High offense ("Syracuse") was incredibly simple. And we seldom used PnR. The principle was mostly pound the ball inside to the 6'7" and 6'6" posts. If you doubled down on the post, pitch it out for an open jumper. 

Basketball: Escaping Traps

Young players are especially vulnerable to pressure and traps, which is why trapping is a staple in youth basketball. Forcing 'live-ball' turnovers often results in high quality scoring chance out of conversion. 

Recognizing and understanding defensive intent helps offense defeat pressure. 

1. Avoid them. Teach the primary trap zones. 

Inbounding or dribbling into 'primary trap zones' invites traps as defenses take advantage of "boundary lines" to aid their traps. 

2. Make quick decisions. Think 0.5 (seconds) and don't be a ball sticker. To make better decisions, you must practice against pressure.  

3. Inbound the ball quickly after scores. Quick inbounding prevents defenses from easily organizing their pressure. Also, offensive players have a tendency to let down or even "celebrate" the score. 

4. Pass and cut. "Movement kills defenses." The two drills that reinforce this are: 

• Advantage-disadvantage. FIVE versus SEVEN with added constraints of no dribbling. 
• Ultimate. Ultimate simulates football with FIVE on FIVE full court with no dribbling and the goal to advance the ball via pass to the END ZONE to score. When the ball hits the floor, it is turned over and LIVE going the other way. 

5. Move the ball. Prioritize passing and cutting over dribbling. I favor "gauntlet," a.k.a. "28 special. Two players must navigate the length of the court against four pairs of defenders. Each new touch, the offensive player is allowed one dribble. 

6. "When they go low, we go high." 

Defeat "high hands" by getting low and passing around them. 

7. Anticipate. Expect the blitz from the two at the top of the 2-1-2 or when teams trap at the top. This sets up major advantage via short roll passing.

 

8. Teach and use escape dribbles. Teach a "back dribble crossover" to guards recognizing a trap if they can't quickly pass around or over it. 

Teaching teams to welcome and exploit pressure and traps creates high quality scoring chances and increases player and team confidence. 

Lagniappe. Balance and flexibility are part of basketball training. 

Basketball: "You Can Fix Stupid"

"Stupidity is the consequence of a failure to be aware of one's own limitations." Learning to know what we don't know is critical. People who pretend to know everything cannot be trusted.  

Everyone operates on a different "Circle of Competence" whether we're at work, at play, at home. 

When venturing far from our Circle, bad things can happen. For example, a trip to the 'deep end of the pool' can be fatal. Even the strongest swimmer, dropped far at sea will drown. Strong swimmers may also take risks that non-swimmers do not. 

Although I admire elements of the Princeton Offense, I'm unqualified to teach it. And although I played in a run-and-jump system, I had no success implementing it. Success depends on whom we coach and resources (practice time, assistants). 

"The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area. This tends to occur because a lack of self-awareness prevents them from accurately assessing their own skills." I'm effective cooking. That doesn't qualify me to operate a restaurant. 

Years ago a reporter asked a Presidential candidate to name ANY Supreme Court decision aside from Roe versus Wade. <Crickets> Recently another Presidential candidate lauded President George Washington for presiding over development of the US Constitution. Except the Constitution (1787) antedated Washington's presidency (1789). 

How can we fix 'stupid'? Think about the diagram. 

• Ask "is that true?" Is information in the "what you think you know" or "what there is to know" true or false? Social media often distorts the truth emphasizing partial or half-truths. One of the five key answers at the Naval Academy is, "I don't know but I'll find out, Sir." 
• Recognize our limitations. Nobody knows everything. 
• Do more work. Ask the origins, benefits and limitations of ideas or policies. 
• Work to increase our Circle (build skills, what we know).
• Work to stay in our Circle (our lane). In The Undoing Project, Michael Lewis tells the story of a Nobel Laureate pontificating on everything at a party. Behavioral economist Amos Tversky approaches the scientist saying, "Murray, nobody in the world is as smart as you think you are." 
• Seek an expert whose Circle is bigger than ours. Maybe it's a mentor or just someone willing to help. 
• Be tactful. Nobody 'wins' an argument by calling another party stupid. We could say, "I haven't heard that before" or "let me get back to you after researching that." 

Lagniappe (something extra). What's in your workout? 

 

Basketball Values: Be Intentional in Developing and Implementing Philosophy

Learn across domains. I'm watching Michael Pollan's MasterClass about "Intentional Eating." He asks us to think about our food choices and how they impact us and society. 

What about basketball values? Absolutely not saying mine are better than yours...just raising consciousness. 

Values aren't mutually exclusive. Effort and toughness don't prevent sportsmanship. Cerebral play doesn't exclude high skill. 

Start with a large list of ideas and cone down on your Pareto values, the 80 percent of the bang for the 20 percent of the buck. Choosing a top five doesn't mean "all or nothing" for the next fifteen. And of course, some overlap. Everything matters. 

• Winning
• The "basketball experience" 
• Teaching the game
• Academics
• Teamwork
• Effort
• Toughness
• Communication
• Fairness
• Feedback
• Player development
• Discipline
• Ego
• Respect (for the game, players, coaches, officials)
• Resilience
• Playing time 
• Strength and conditioning
• Empathy 
• Accountability 
• Simplicity (versus complexity) 
• Sportsmanship
• Media relations
• Community engagement

As a developmental coach, I didn't make winning' our top priority. Yes, everyone likes to win. For high school varsity teams and above, it should be an emphasis. 

Was everyone happy? Never. But the '12th guy' (girl) was never the most unhappy. Usually, unhappiness didn't relate to minutes or role, but perceived appreciation. 

A few thoughts:

• If basketball doesn't matter to you, then you won't matter to it.
• Be professional - on time and prepared. Learning to prepare translates to every phase of our lives. 
• Be coachable. Find a mentor, be a mentor.
• Pay attention to the details.
• Get noticed by playing hard all the time. 
• Do your homework both on and off the court. 
• Work to become a better communicator.  
• Never, ever quit. 
• Celebrate good team play. 
• It doesn't cost anything to share a kind word. 
• Say "thank you." Thank the players for working hard. 
• I'm surprised that in the past year, multiple players whom I played against have reached out to me. I wasn't a great player by ANY imagination. One wrote, "I remember you as the ultimate team player." That was kind and meant a lot. 

Lagniappe. Hubie is never boring.

 

Lagniappe 2. 2010, Game 6, ECSF, 4th quarter, Celtics-Cavaliers. Tom Thibodeau's defense effectively doubles LeBron with a shell coverage of his teammates. 

So Little Time, So Many Lessons, More HS Video

Study video and share it with players. 13 clips is the "Doc Rivers" rule. 

Offensive structure: 

• Initial spacing
• Create advantage with player and ball movement. 
• Finish during the 'scoring moment' 

1. Run hard to defend actions. White runs an elbow PnR to perfection.  

2. Toughness is a skill. White gets legal guarding position and takes the hit. Toughness gets and keeps you on the floor. 

3. Transition... after the outlet the first pass sets the tone. Defense stops the ball but offensive multiple efforts get a score.

 

4. Stay engaged with the play. The initial ball screen creates advantage, then a "swing and seal" closes the deal for Cecilia (26 points, 14 rebounds, 7 blocks) against a Division 2, top 10 team. 

 

5. Live ball turnovers lead to high points-per-possession. Defense creates advantage, forcing a turnover. But they attack off the steal, subtly accelerate and the freshman remembers "eyes make layups" and finishes. And one?

 

6. Attention to detail and desired technique gets results. Defender forces weak and the offensive player wants to get back to her dominant hand. She used proper "hip turn" to stay engaged although offense maintains an edge. Remember to "run to a spot" between the ball handler and basket.

 

7. Good concepts get rewarded. Bad defense does not. Out of a 1-4 high, the wing cuts through and the trap is set. Who is the threat? "The help can never get beaten" and there are multiple defensive lapses. 

8. Call it as you see it and 'clean this up'. Come off a ball screen leaving no space and set the screen and remain stationary. There's an illegal screen waiting to happen as Cecilia relocates. This wasn't an isolated event. Sprint to screen and be set.

 

9. Stuff 'works' or doesn't for reasons. Black enters the ball to the post and there's no urgent cut on the back screen. But the cutter sets another screen and that opens a small edge and a good finish.

 

10.Concept is good but execution flawed. Black sets up a box with cross-screens. Both defenders (communication?) go for the cutter, opening the screener but she fumbles the low pass. Defense got away with an error. 

11.Black sets up a high ball screen off the SLOB. White plays 'drop coverage' and black gets advantage. The help is a a step late and black scores. "Execute the coverage and trust the protection."

 

12.Defense into offense. Another live ball turnover into ball reversal and advantage. If you front the post, you need "red" maximal ball pressure and back side help. The help gets beaten, a repeated theme in this game. Cecilia (12 for 13 from the line) makes you pay. 

 

13."Create advantage." You set a down screen to get the ball to your best player. Then, you set up in the post, a 4'10" guard? Exit and give the ball handler a driving lane. 

Addendum: Why did you win?

• 52% effective field goal percentage, high for high school
• 1.02 points per possession 
• Scaled back to 16 turnovers... as Knight says, "Basketball is a game of mistakes." 

Basketball: Being a Great Teammate

Everyone can't be a great player; everyone can choose to be a great teammate.

Great players emerge at the intersection of size, athleticism, and skill. Ordinarily, at least two are needed.

But everyone can become a better teammate. What are some 'dos' and 'don'ts'? 

• Realize that you represent the program 24/7/365.
• Respect teammates, coaches, opponents, and officials.
• Great culture requires great teammates. 
• Make being a great teammate part of your identity. 
• Share credit. Understand that you can't accomplish anything alone.
• If you're a top 10 percenter, get a workout partner to help both of you improve. If you're not, strive to be by working with one. 
• Recognize that you're on a bunch of teams - family, school, sports, community.
• Know your role and others on the team.
• Speak greatness. An African proverb says, "you can go faster alone but we can go farther together." 
• Be a role model for younger players. When a team's best player is its hardest worker, great things happen. 
• Don't "bigfoot" teammates. Confidence balances arrogance and doubt.

Here's the AI take: 

Being a great teammate in sports involves several qualities and actions that contribute to the overall success of the team. Here are some examples:

1. Positive attitude: A great teammate always maintains a positive attitude, even in difficult situations. They encourage and uplift their teammates, and never bring negativity to the team environment.

2. Support: A great teammate is always there to support their teammates, both on and off the field. They offer words of encouragement, provide assistance when needed, and celebrate their teammates' successes.

3. Communication: A great teammate communicates effectively with their teammates, both on and off the field. They listen to others and share their thoughts and ideas in a respectful and constructive manner.

4. Work ethic: A great teammate works hard, both in practice and in games. They lead by example and inspire others to work harder and strive for excellence.

5. Accountability: A great teammate takes responsibility for their actions and holds themselves accountable. They don't make excuses or blame others for mistakes, but rather take ownership and work to improve.

6. Adaptability: A great teammate is adaptable and willing to adjust to different situations and roles. They are versatile and can play multiple positions, and they are always willing to do what's best for the team.

7. Sacrifice: A great teammate is willing to make sacrifices for the good of the team. This may involve giving up personal accolades or playing time, but they understand that the team's success is more important than individual achievements.

Overall, being a great teammate requires a commitment to putting the team first and working together towards a common goal. It takes effort, dedication, and a willingness to support and uplift others, both on and off the field.

Lagniappe (something extra). 

 

Basketball: Three Filters of Socrates and Four Minutes of Greatness

"I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” - Socrates

Coaches change lives. Want to change them only for the better. Look to the past to find future answers. 

Use the wisdom of Socrates' 'three filters' when passing along information. 

1) Is it true? Social media allows news to spread like wildfire. That applies equally to truth and lies. Our nature is to believe what we hear. President Reagan is known for his quote, "trust but verify." 

2) Is it kind? We've all responded disregarding the impact on others. Nobody wants to be considered mean-spirited, thoughtless, or cruel. Develop the skill to widen the space between listening and responding. Some people use the "24 hour rule" to avoid 'reflex', poorly thought out answers. 

3) Is it useful? That's a loaded question. Private information can harm people or groups in ways we don't know. 

Sometimes people must reveal true, unkind, and critical information. For example, during the Unabomber crime spree, his brother recognized 'unique' phrases in the Unabomber's manifesto. To stop additional deaths, Ted Kaczynski's brother David went to the authorities, leading to an arrest.  

Basketball video is also known as the 'truth machine'. What people recall doesn't always mesh with what happened. The discomfort we feel when seeing ourselves make poor decisions or bad execution can depend on the spirit the corrections are offered. "Let's clean this up" carries a different tone than, "you're useless." 

Remember Socrates to communicate true, helpful, and kind messages. Resist the temptation to overshare. 

Lagniappe. Study greatness. 

Lagniappe 2. Everyone doesn't have a gym.