Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Basketball: What Musts Belong for This Program to Improve?

For most, the offseason has begun. Bad teams want to become respectable. Average teams seek the next level. Strong teams want championship performance.

Formulate your MUST NEED WANT list. If this list seems daunting or too long, reduce it by half or two thirds. 

There's seldom "low hanging fruit" to be plucked, the "Jimmy Chitwood" of Hoosiers whom the coach needs on the court.

"Every day is player development day." Be specific. 

1. Shoot better. What are some possibilities? 

  • Better shot selection including more shot allocation to better shooters. (Review film and shot charts)
  • Better passing. "The quality of the pass relates to the quality of the shot." - Pete Carril
  • Better warmups and shooting practice. 
2. Better percentage on layups. 
  • Box drills without defense with finishing off either and both feet from either and both sides of the basket. Then add defense. 
  • QB layups (no fouling)
  • Track results and add constraints (e.g. time limit) to challenge personal bests

3. Improve player and ball movement, especially against pressure. 
  • 5 on 5 full court no dribbling. Ball hits the floor, live-ball turnover going the other way.
  • 5 versus 7 full court no dribbling. Pass and cut or fail. 
  • 4 on 4 half court. No dribbling. Forces pass and cut.
  • Kirby Schepp movement drills inside the volleyball lines. 

4. Play a lot. It's not so easy to find a playground to play at. But nobody said improving would be easy. 

5. Reduce turnovers. Did your turnovers arise from bad decisions, bad execution, or combinations? Do players have issues with passing and catching because of strength and conditioning? Passing weighted basketballs might be an answer as well as teaching "shortening the pass" getting passers and catchers moving to each other.

6. Reduce fouling. Bad teams tend to foul excessively giving opponents high percentage (free throws) shots. 
  • "Show your hands." If it looks like a foul, it will probably be called. 
  • "Don't swat down." Ditto from above.
  • "Move your feet" to get and maintain legal guarding position. 
  • Never foul jump shots and especially three pointers. 
7. Improve your separation with fundamentals of footwork and fakes for more advanced players.  
  • Jab series
  • Float dribble/hang dribble
  • Negative step/load step
  • Deceleration practice into change of direction.  
8. Improve hard-to-defend actions, especially pick-and-roll.
  • Rejecting the screen
  • Basic decision-making 
  • Slipping the screen. 
9. Winning actions in close games. Study video of prior seasons (e.g. final four minutes of every close game (e.g. two possessions).  
  • Special situations including developing in-bounders
  • Pressure free throws 
  • Offensive and defensive delay games
  • If breakdowns occur, how? Ball containment, fouls, shot selection, inability to rebound? 
10.Teach players to watch and study video.
  • Observe offensive spacing and defensive 'shrinking' space
  • How do players combine to create advantage (player and ball movement)?
  • How does an individual player have a variety of finishing actions? 
Lagniappe (something extra).
  • Can our team play 'harder for longer'? If not, why not?
  • Encourage players to work out in pairs or groups to 'drag' the middle class upward toward the high performers. 
  • Review time out use. Can we use them more effectively. 
  • Review the data. What was our effective field goal percentage? Free throw percentage? Turnovers per game? Assists per game. Bad teams seldom have many assists.
Lagniappe 2. You don't need a full gym to work on footwork. 

















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