Friday, June 30, 2023

Basketball: What Hinders You?

Author David Mamet has "what hinders you?" inscribed on the back of a new watch. Without making excuses, examine where a team must excel to succeed. 

Let's examine five areas of concern:

  • Identity
  • Stops 
  • Mistakes
  • Gears
  • Finishing kick  

Identity defines who we are and how we play. Are we balanced or more of an offensive or defensive club? Are we about controlling the ends of the court with size and power or the middle with pace and space? There's no mystery about 'intent' on either end. 

Stops make runs. Excellent teams contain the ball, force 'hard 2s' and one bad shot. They communicate ("talk intimidates"), don't miss assignments, and don't get beat in transition. 

Mistakes. "Turnovers kill dreams." Reducing mistakes matters in both practice and games. Shot selection can be asset or liability. We reduced turnovers and increased shooting percentage by tracking and reporting team statistics to players. 

Gears. Teams need to be able to play at different tempos, to confront different styles, and be able to play with both leads and in comeback mode. Situational practice helps. For example, put team A ahead by six with three minutes to go and a thirty second shot clock. They aren't allowed to score and have to allow fewer than six points. Or they trail by ten with five minutes to go and must go into scramble mode. 

Finishing kick. Study how your team performed 'close and late'. What percent did they convert ATOs, BOBs, and SLOBs? What was their overall free throw percentage and percentage during crunch time? 

Tools of refinement. 

  • Analytics measure key stats with goals of increasing assists and EFG%, reducing turnovers, and tracking results in special situations.
  • Video clips feature highlights and opportunities to improve.
  • Individual coaching tailors skill development. 

Know your problems and develop solutions using specific techniques. Track results. 

Lagniappe. Slipping a screen.  

Lagniappe 2. Simplicity works.  

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Thursday, June 29, 2023

Basketball: Rationalization Is Part of Everyone's Game

Coaches manage human nature. Our nature includes positive traits like kindness and altruism and negatives such as cruelty and selfishness.

"Rationalization is a defense mechanism in which people justify difficult or unacceptable feelings with seemingly logical reasons and explanations." Rationalization protects our ego.

Coaches rationalize:

  • Power... "because I'm the coach, the decider"
  • Compensation... "they don't pay me 'X' for nothing." 
  • Experience... "I've done this for a long time"
  • Player selection (bias for size, athleticism, or skill)
  • Player development ("we've always done it that way")
  • Style of play... "you think you know better than I?"
  • Lineup construction 
  • Lineup changes
  • Hiring and firing (e.g. assistants)
  • Accountability/Attribution (why we lost)
  • "Working" the officials ("everyone does it.")

Players rationalize: 

  • "Deserving" minutes, roles, and recognition
  • "I've paid my dues." 
  • Failure. "Nobody was there to mentor me." 
  • "It's MY time to shine." 
  • Not working as hard because of 'special status'
  • Expecting media attention
Education changes behavior. The job entails community relations, organization, implementation of philosophy and culture, player and team development, scouting, strategy, game planning, and more. 

Recognizing and dampening rationalization takes insight and persistence. It's harder than it looks. 

Lagniappe. "It's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll." 

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Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Basketball: A Game of Separation

Basketball is a game of _________ . Fill in the blank.

  • separation 
  • cutting and passing
  • playing harder and longer than opponents
I. Separate with the ball

   A. Individual dribbling
       i. change of direction
       ii.change of pace (including pure speed)
       iii.combinations
       iv.specialty - e.g. float dribble, negative step, stampede
       v. 'stationary' - e.g. jab, rip, stepback 

   B. Using screens
       i. rejecting screens
       ii.pick-and-roll
       iii.drag screens

II.Separate without the ball. 
   
   A. Individual cutting
       i. face cut
       ii.back cut 
       iii.'head turners'
   B. Team cutting 
       i. simple screens
       ii.complex screens 
          a.stagger - including Iverson
          b.double - including elevator/sandwich
          c.serial - e.g. 'corner rip'
          d.screen-the-screener
          e.screen-the-roller (i.e. Spain) 



Everyone doesn't need everything in their arsenal. More isn't necessarily better. A player should know her strengths and which techniques they specifically embraced. 

Some examples: hesitation/hesi-cross



Drag screens
 

"Head turners" - take advantage.
 


"Corner rip"
 

Lagniappe. Hat tip: Troy Slavin 

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Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Basketball: Resilience

"Pressure is playing a five dollar Nassau with two dollars in your pocket." - Lee Trevino

The four legs of the growth stool are skill, strategy, physicality, and psychology (resilience). Weakness in any element creates imbalance. 

Resilience goes by many names - grit, mental toughness, fight, heart. And it's not endemic to sport. 

The exemplar is Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. Written after WW2, 'Search' chronicles life in Nazi death camps and the capacity of people to endure suffering. 

At the end of Jay Bilas's Toughness, he describes the toughest person he knows, a young woman who is a mother and brain tumor survivor. 

Former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens's book Resilience embodies cognitive dissonance. He discusses the 'moral sensibility' and resilience of a fellow SEAL struggling with alcoholism and PTSD. Greitens has a deep understanding of empathy, yet lived awash in career-defining scandals. 

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Resilience informs the struggle against adversity. Hyperfocus on sport disservices those who overcome life adversity of poverty, health, bias, violence, war, and more. Sport affords us distraction. 

Adversity manifests in many forms in basketball - competition, illness, injury, fatigue, personal and family problems, and more. Quick to criticize, we make assumptions about performance without facts. We've all inhabited both sides. 

A parent complained about the teaching her daughter was receiving. Another parent who attended almost every practice said, "I'm there and I'm learning a lot." Where you stand depends on where you sit. 

Give athletes resilience tools. 

  • Experience. "Experience is the best teacher, but sometimes the tuition is high." 
  • Conditioning. "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." 
  • Mindfulness. Mindfulness lower blood pressure and stress hormones. 
  • Sports psychology. There's no consensus on one technique but visualization and self-talk help many athletes. 
Stories might help. I taught middle school girls audacious stories of achievement such as: 
  • Arlene Blum leading a summit of Annapurna, one of fourteen peaks over 8,000 meters.
  • Frances Taylor the first woman US Cabinet member (Secretary of Labor under FDR).
  • Wilma Rudolph overcoming polio to win multiple Olympic sprint gold medals. 
Day-to-day, choose positivity, speak greatness, and support players self-belief. UNC Soccer Coach Anson Dorrance believes in only showing positive video. Up your psychology game. 

Lagniappe. Seek balance (occasional language).

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Basketball: Underrated

Find underrated. Grasp and never let go.  

Matt Haig wrote, "every book is about someone searching for something." Everyone searches for the secret sauce. 

Kevin Eastman says, "success leaves fingerprints." On my daughters' AAU team, I introduced my self to another parent. "Hi, I'm Ron." He answered, "My name is Ron, too." I noticed his spectacular ring with an emerald stone. "That's quite a ring." "Do you want to see it?" "Sure." I noticed it said, "University of Miami, Hall of Fame." I said, "You're Ronnie Lippett." And he answered, "And so I am." 

The secret sauce is execution... intersection among personnel, strategy, and operations. 

Successful teams play harder for longer. The plan should be obvious.

  • They have discernible strategies. 
  • They "win more possessions." 
  • They do whatever it takes to impact winning. 
  • They avoid actions that serve defeat - poor spacing, poor shot quality, turnovers, bad decisions, selfishness, lack of effort. 
Recognize and steal good design.

  • Have sound design. 
  • Clear the defender.
  • Sell the ball screen.
  • Slip the screen.
  • Cut urgently.
  • Pass on time and on target.
  • "End the possession."
Prioritize clarity. Share your philosophy in writing with your team. 
  • "This is what we do."
  • "That is how we do it." 
  • Sweat the details. 
  • Get everyone on the same page. 
  • Coach everyone. Share and teach relentlessly. 

Be specific. "Play hard" means nothing. Show examples.

  • "We cannot lose in transition." 
  • Beat your 'guy' to mid-court.
  • "Protect the basket."
  • "Stop the ball." 

Collaboration. "This is how we play. That is not."

  • "Everybody plays defense." 
  • Define roles.
  • Reward excellence in each role. 

Feedback. Always, always verify. 

  • Be "performance-focused, feedback rich."
  • One player not understanding, out of position, unaware of her assignment will sink you.  

Philosophy. Your philosophy should be clear and written. 

  • "Allow no easy shots." Opponents get 'one bad shot'. 
  • "Movement kills defenses." Stand around and sit by me. 
  •  "Cut and pass." 
  • "The ball is gold." 
  • Poor shot quality and turnovers are the same. 
Player development. "Every day is player development day." 
  • Skill. There is no substitute. "We cannot run what we cannot do."
  • See the game. Study video of both positive and negative play.
  • Become more explosive physically. 
  • Harden your mind. "The game honors toughness." 
Assert absolutes. 
  • You cannot play defense without ball containment. 
  • "If you choose to play one end of the court, I choose to reduce your minutes, role, and recognition."
  • Bad teams and limited players take poor shots. 
  • Excellent teams DO NOT GIVE GAMES AWAY. 
  • Bad fouls and bad free throw shooting give games away. 
Lagniappe. You are building your house. "You own your paycheck."


Lagniappe 2. "This is what you have to do to get on the court and stay on the court. Defensively, contain the other team's best guard. Offensively, take care of the basketball and be opportunistic." Coach never said, "you have to be All-League or All-Scholastic." Get 'guys' who listen, work hard, and want to win as much as you do.  






 

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Monday, June 26, 2023

Basketball: Managers



We recently held our fiftieth high school reunion, including seniors who could attend. Two of these men were managers with important roles on the team. 

Our managers, John Hunneman and Andy Johnson, kept statistics and shot charts. Everyone knew what constituted a good shot for themselves and teammates. Buying, preparing, and distributing orange slices at halftime certainly ingratiated themselves to us, too. 

How do you see the managers' role? 

Coach John Wooden's book Practical Modern Basketball had three pages on the role of managers. Having great managers promotes team and practice efficiency. Here are a few highlights... he has many more tasks listed. 

"...players understand that the managers are to help aid them and the coaches, but are not to be their servants."

"Have the needed player equipment ready for them when they report to get dressed." 

"Have available the required number of properly inflated and clean basketballs, proper colored scrimmage shirts, towels, extra shoelaces, tape, scrimmage charts, spare whistles, free throw chart, and an extra piece of two of all practice gear." 

"Keep a daily free throw chart for the squad." 

"Know the practice schedule and be ready to help implement it." 

"Have two managers assigned to take care of the needs for practice of your opponent." (Home games)

"Make certain players know the time schedule."

"Make certain you leave the dressing room in excellent condition (road games)." 

Lagniappe. Work on finishing. It's the 'putting' of basketball. 

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Sunday, June 25, 2023

Basketball: "Chop wood, carry water."


Young Richie McCaw wanted to play for the legendary New Zealand All-Blacks rugby team. His uncle knew and told the eight year-old to write his name, Richie McCaw, G.A.B. Richie McCaw, Greatest All-Black. 

Seeing it helped the youngster become it.

Joshua Metcalf wrote the book, Chop Wood, Carry Water. Fall in love with the process of becoming the metaphorical Samurai archer. Devote yourself to the daily work of skill building, game understanding, physical and psychological hardening. "Understand that creating something worthwhile requires time, discipline, and being in love with the process."

Doing extra workouts during the summer won't guarantee that you'll be 'the best'. It allows you to become your best. 


Can you jump rope continuously for five minutes? Fifty plus years ago, we began basketball practice with five minutes of continuous jumping rope. 


You might say, "that's hard." The process is hard. Winning is hard. That's what makes it valuable. 









                                          

"Chop wood, carry water" advises us to service our craft, to refuse to accept less than our best effort. 

Lagniappe. Tell them what you're going to say, say it, and tell them what you said." Repetition...repetition...repetition. 

"Chop wood, carry water." 

"Don't skip steps."

"The magic is in the work." 

"There is no shortcut to excellence." 

"Do the work." 

"Always do your best." 

Lagniappe 2. Rebound better. Nature, nurture, or both? 

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A Postmortem on a Coaching Career - Forget the Magic Mirror

Reflection requires key questions and hard analysis. Forget the "Magic Mirror."

Teach to the students you have. You can't teach college courses to the usual eighth graders. 

What went well? 

  • I developed great relationships with terrific young people and their families. 
  • Some players earned their dreams and several became exceptional leaders and achievers off the court. 
  • Appreciate the hard work of assistants.  
  • At times, players 'matriculated' to the high school and played effective, entertaining basketball. 
  • Most teams improved a lot during the season. 
  • Over six years of head coaching, I helped two players earn D1 scholarships. The biggest achievement was helping Lauren earn entry and graduate from Annapolis. 
  • Transparency got a lot of trust and loyalty.
  • Former players earned two state championships and another earned a trip to the State Championship. 
  • My knowledge, appreciation for the game, and ability to share continually improved.  
What went poorly? 
  • There was never any integration between the middle school and the high school program. The chasm between the youth program and the high school program became an ocean. I own some of that. 
  • Fewer players maintained basketball as their primary sport as more migrated to volleyball and other sports. Basketball is a harsh mistress that fewer players want to serve. 
  • Few, if any players adopted the important skill of mindfulness to acquire more mental clarity and composure. 
  • Work to understand expectations of players and families better. Inevitably, dissatisfaction arise with an imbalance of expectations and reality. 
  • Attendance at the twice weekly voluntary offseason program paralleled the decline in the high school program. It wasn't worthless. The one driven player became a superstar. 
What could we do better? 
  • We needed more resources (specifically practice time). Three hours a week isn't enough.
  • We need to keep more local talent local. It's the trend that the best players choose to leave or get spirited away. 
  • The fees have to come down. I never took a salary. But parents pay more than $400 a season. That's a lot and some parents inevitably will link 'playing time' to pay. 
  • Young athletes need a structured strength and conditioning program. That helps them regardless of sport. 
What were the enduring lessons? 
  • As Brad Stevens says, "we get more than we give." 
  • The most important lessons translate to life skills. 
  • Coaching changes lives...sometimes for the better and rarely for the worse.
  • Never underestimate the value of feedback... get everyone on the same page. 
  • Work to get buy in. 
  • Be coachable. Less coachable players never flourished at the next level, regardless of how good their families thought they were. 
  • Keep learning... about basketball and life.
  • Strive for work-life balance. 
Lagniappe. "Chop wood, carry water." It's the process. In the wake of the NBA draft, it was great to hear Victor Wembanyama say, "Don't skip steps." He's already got the message from Coach Popovich. 




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Saturday, June 24, 2023

Basketball: Your Shooting Workout

Own your shooting workout. First, watch the video.  


Obviously, most of us never had "The Gun" or maybe not even a rebounder. What's your critique? 

1. Whenever possible, have a partner. Shooting with a defender nearby changes everything.

2. The shooter's footwork, balance, and rhythm are admirable.

3. Varying shot type and location matter.

4. How many are 'enough'? Remember Dan Pink's advice, "Do five more." 

5. I believe in 'interrupted' free throws. Rarely does a shooter take even four consecutively in a game. Take three and intersperse either other shots or a couple of sprints to the sideline and back. 

6. Fatigue and pressure degrade performance. Most game shots come under those conditions, so build in 'fatigue' as part of your workout. 

7. What's your warmup? 
  • I've shown Jay Wright's "Get 50" ad nauseam. 
  • Steph Curry has a different warmup. 


  • Elden Campbell did something different. 

    • Find approaches that work for you. There's no 'gold standard' or workout that comes down on stone tablets. 

    There are a lot of other considerations:
    • How many shots do you take off the bounce? 
    • What about the window? "The bank is always open."
    • What about post ups? 
    • Remember YOUR 'go to' and 'counter' moves. 
    • Spend a few minutes on your 'closer' (game winner) actions if you have the 'closer' role
    • Spend a few minutes on 'emergency' shots... fallaways, off-balance, double-pump shot
    Lagniappe. 

    Lagniappe 2. Your idea of hard work is what? It's not at the intensity of elite players. 

     

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    Basketball: Coaching Your Child

    Have you coached your children? "Been there, done that." Did they or I learn anything?

    It's usually easy to spot the coach's kid. She's the one jacking up shots like it's her last meal. The coach is saying, "nothing but net" and the sounds of airballs echoes through the gym. 

    "What were you thinking, Dad?" When your kids say, "you're the worst parents in the world," what do you say? I answer, "I'm only tied, because everyone else says their kids tell them that."

    Add in coaching your children and create the ultimate competitive cauldron. Your kids, your spouse, and other parents all have you in their sights. First, I was coaching the "C" team, because the twins got passed over for the "A" and "B" teams. Expectations couldn't be lower for the 'Can't Walk and Chew Gum' roster. 

    Start with the Unholy Triad of minutes, role, and recognition. 

    Minutes. My approach was equal playing time. If parents said, "you're favoring your kids," they weren't watching. When it got down to 'crunch time' and the game was close in the final two minutes, I'd ask the team, "do you want to win or equal playing time?" Kids wanted to win. We didn't win a lot. 

    Role. Middle school basketball, regardless of competition, should be about player development. Concepts, teamwork, skill building, and "the basketball experience" matter. My sharpest memory of playing sixth grade basketball was a split lip. Who needs lip fillers when you have basketball? 

    If your career athletic highlight is being the star player of the "C" team, then you have no life. 

    Recognition. Nobody walks away from the lowest levels of hoop with ink and hardware. And nobody runs the coach who can't run out of town. I don't think half the players on the team played high school basketball at any level, but I hope that everyone had fun. 

    Enduring lessons. If you have the temerity to coach your kids, consider some truths. 

    • Model good habits. Be punctual, positive, and respectful. 
    • "Never be a child's last coach." 
    • Give kids a reason to feel good about themselves. 
    • Don't yell at your kid more just because it's easier. 
    • "Don't be an A*hole." There's no place for "hamburger drills." 
    • Reign in expectations. 
    • Don't let emotion overrule reason. The referees don't have it out for you.
    • Encourage sportsmanship. 
    • Love your child for who they are not for whom you want them to be. 
    My girls became pretty good players in spite of me. 


    Lagniappe. Study greatness. 
     
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    Friday, June 23, 2023

    Basketball: Your Commencement Address


    Coach, imagine you're asked to deliver the commencement address at your local high school. The committee asks for a draft. What's your strategy? 
    • Why are they asking me? 
    • Who's my audience?
    • What do I want to say? 
    • Add "nots". Not too long, not stuffy, not boring. 
    "Congratulations, graduates. You made it. Thank you Principal Dumas for that spectacular introduction. And the best part was that you delivered it just as I wrote it. The selection committee asked why they should pick me as speaker. My first thought was, "with a straight face?" I added, "I won't be too long or too boring."

    1. Picasso said, "good artists borrow; great artists steal." Here are stolen lessons for your everyday use.  
     
    2. Keep it simple. At Celtics' practice, Brad Stevens said, "basketball, it's not rocket science." The best part about science, whether you believe it or not, is that it's true. 

    3. Bring your best self every day. Stand tall. Make eye contact. Have a firm handshake. 

    On the court. Play hard. Play smart. Play together. 

    4. Be a good teammate. Not everyone can be a great player, but everyone can choose to be a great teammate. Be happy for another's success. Life is a team sport. 

    5. "Look for the helpers." That's genius from Mr. Rogers. Don't go it alone. The Navy SEALs say, "two is one and one is none." 

    6. During interviews, dress for success. Sure, it's 90 degrees out, but cover those sleeve tattoos. And remember, "flip flops are not shoes."  

    7. Appreciate irony. My first day of school, a six year-old was banging on the door saying, "Mommy, don't leave me." I never did that again. No, seriously, decades later I asked that kid's mother what he's doing now. "He's a principal in New Hampshire." School got better for him. That's called 'overcompensating'.

    8. Think again. Do you know how long English has been America's official language? <I see wheels turning> It's not. Don't believe everything you here. Ask yourself, "can that be true?" or "is that even possible?" Some try to take advantage of your trust." Don't fall for that stuff. Adam Grant, author of Think Again advises, "Keep a rethinking scorecard." 

    9. Read, read, read, read, read. Reread a great book. It's better to reread something great than to read ten bad books. Abandon bad books. Except mine. 

    10. Share. Eleven-time NBA championship coach Phil Jackson says, "basketball is sharing." Share something great - a book, a quote, a recipe, a movie. 

    11. Give and get feedback. Be "performance-focused, feedback-rich." You can't know if others are on the same page without asking, "what is your understanding?" President Ronald Reagan said, "Trust but verify." 

    12. Avoid dumacity. You're asking, "what is dumacity?" It's the act or condition of being a dumbass. Don't take selfies hanging off cliffs. Don't drink and drive or ride with a drunk driver. If that someone special says he doesn't want to be with you, don't jump off a bridge. There's someone else special out there.

    13. Have a plan. Be intentional. Nature finds a way. Greatness has to make its way. Do something every day for your craft and something for your business. 

    14. Ask better questions. "Why am I wrong?" or "what could go wrong?" Players might think how can we win. Coaches ask what puts us in the best position to win. What can we do to avoid losing? 

    15. Hard work is a skill. It's not for everyone. "There's never a crowd on the extra mile." Kobe Bryant took a thousand shots a day in the summer. Larry Bird took 500 free throws before school. Isiah Thomas played for up to eight hours a day at the playground. 

    16. Obsess the product. Sara Blakely took an idea of better undergarments and turned it into a five billion dollar business. She never raised money with stock or bond capital. She preaches, "make it, sell it, build brand awareness." What's your brand? 

    17. Become a storyteller. We are storytelling animals. The Dalai Lama explained much of his wisdom occurred by listening to the many leaders with whom he had met. Craft stories of SUCCESS - simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, stories. Bill Bradley was a banker's son, not the most athletic guy. He worked out for three hours a day and all day Saturday starting at age twelve. At Princeton, he scored the most points during the Final Four, with 58 against Wichita State. 

    18. Study greatness. Study leaders. Character is job one. Leaders have different approaches. Nelson Mandela learned from his father to speak last. Give a more thoughtful response when you've heard what others say. 

    19. Make friends with the dead. Some of my heroes, my role models have long departed - Bill Russell, Dean Smith, John Wooden. Were they perfect? Of course not. But they shared memorable lessons.
    • "My ego demands the success of my team." - Russell
    • "A lion never roars after the kill." - Smith
    • "Make every day your masterpiece." - Wooden
    20. Dream big. Work bigger. You graduated. You can do anything.
     
    Lagniappe. Play with joy. 

    Lagniappe 2. Have this finish in your toolbox. 

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    Thursday, June 22, 2023

    Basketball: The Value of Thinking About Why

    Our "why" defines us. Draw on great ideas from any discipline, such as productivity. Let's apply lessons from David Allen's Getting Things Done, The Art of Stress Free Productivity.

    "Here are just some benefits of asking "why?" :

    • It defines success
    • It creates decision-making criteria
    • It aligns resources
    • It motivates
    • It clarifies focus
    • It expands options
    Examine these in the context of the next local basketball coach.


    Success. What defines success for the next coach? Changing priorities for players makes a 'return to glory' unlikely, a history of nine consecutive league championships and a 'destination' for players. Would getting to the postseason be enough (top 32 division ranking)? 

    There's a hierarchy of progress - beating weak teams at home, weak teams on the road, stronger teams at home, and strong teams on the road. Beating solid teams with winning records would be a start. 

    Decision-making criteria. Establish priorities. Make 'win now' the priority, develop a strong team culture, and grow so the team becomes a tough out later in the season. 

    Align resources. Time is the ultimate resource for teams. "Every day is player development day" casts a wide net on individual fundamentals, team offense and defense, game planning, video analysis. How do you use video, how many clips, etc.? When and how do you teach players to watch video? 

    Motivation. Coaches are competitive. Strong coaches want personal growth and extending influence over their teams. Teams reflect their basketball beliefs, values, and experience. 

    Focus. Having a mission statement clarifies the job.

    • This is who we are. 
    • This is how we play. 

    "Be the toughest, nastiest, best-conditioned, most professional, least-liked team" 

    The community should see the fruit of a coach's philosophy and training. Intent should be obvious. Execution isn't easy, but defining the plan should be.

    Options. Some coaches arrive and it's their show. They don't want or welcome help. They don't 'look for the helpers'. I prefer the John Donne approach that "no man is an island." The best coaches believe in a culture of collaboration and are unafraid of help.  

    Coaching creates challenges. It's good to remember that "victory has a thousand fathers and defeat is an orphan."

    Lagniappe. Matt Hackenberg is an excellent Twitter sharer. As Don Meyer says, you can't use everything. 

    Lagniappe 2. Attack off the bounce 

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    Wednesday, June 21, 2023

    What My Fiftieth High School Reunion Reminded Me

    Reunions are bittersweet. They remind us of what was, what is, and what might have been.

    We recently attended our fiftieth high school reunion. Nobody dwelled on past 'glory days'.

    Remember the process over results. Process drives outcomes.

    1) Dream big. Have a clear vision of your desired end state. Coach Sonny Lane took over a perennial losing program and set the goal of getting to States in three years. Postseason qualification demanded 70 percent winning back then. 

    2) Get everyone on the same page. "Know your job" comes before "do your job."

    3) Never be complacent. Coach said, "I'm pleased but I'm not satisfied." 

    4) Sacrifice. There was never any grousing about minutes, role, or recognition. Roger Lapham, the seventh man on the team, didn't get big minutes. He was the league MVP the next two seasons and was drafted by the NBA and the NFL. 

    5) Be coachable. Everyone got and took coaching. "If I stop yelling at you, then you'll know I've given up on you." 

    6) Be prepared. We got detailed scouting reports on opposing players and operations.

    7) "Good artists borrow; great artists steal." - Picasso   Great coaches  steal. In retrospect, many of our concepts came from UCLA coach John Wooden and Carolina coach Dean Smith. 

    A framed poster of Wooden's "Pyramid of Success" decorated our locker room. Decades later, I handed out laminated copies to our players. A mother shared how her daughter's traveled in her gym bag daily. Lauren graduated from Annapolis and serves us today as a naval officer. 

    8) Gone but not forgotten. During the reunion, the organizers showed an eight-minute video of the forty plus members of our class of 407 who passed on. One was our point guard, Ed Haladay (#44) who died tragically at thirty-six. I'll always remember his infectious enthusiasm. 


    9) Apply and handle pressure. Obsess handling the press and playing various tempos in different situations. We practiced every day 5 versus 7 full-court with no dribbling. 

    10) Use statistics that impact winning. Dean Oliver's "Four Factors" of effective field goal percentage, rebounds, turnovers, and free throws don't go out of style. SCORE, CRASH, PROTECT, ATTACK. Be good at what you do a lot that matters. 

    Lagniappe. 
    Lagniappe 2. Develop your shooting workout. 


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    Prior Posts Primarily on SLOBs

    Winning 'special situations' like BOBs, SLOBs, and ATOs often separates success and failure in close games. Let's review. 

    1) Get the ball in safely. We all remember games lost by inability to enter the ball. Develop and inbounder with vision, strong decisions, and execution.

    2) Be aggressive. Never let the defense rest.

    3) Movement kills defense

    4) Get the ball in your scorers' hands. 

    Some 'sets' run equally well as SLOBs. 


    A pair of SLOBs. Choose one you like. This has potential with a 'short clock'. 


    A fistful of SLOBs. We've won several with this. 


    Use multiple options. The girls improvised off a zipper entry into a give-and-go and roll. 



    Or this "Iverson" and "Elevator" (sounds like McCartney's 'Ebony and Ivory')


    "Great offense is multiple actions." Break this Lakers' play down as - Z - I - E
    1) Zipper action to inbound
    2) Iverson cut to clear the inbounder  
    3) Elevator screen for shot or two-man game

    Steal from Stevens. 

     SLOB packages from Brad Stevens' Celtics 


    SLOB game winners. 

    This 'corner rip' action of sequential screens gets high quality shots. 


    Lagniappe. Tips and Traps on inbounding:

    • Know the situation. You can 'run the baseline after a made basket.' 
    • For BOBs and SLOBs, plays start as the ref hands the ball to the passer. 
    • "Fake a pass to make a pass." That includes ball fakes and looking off defenders. Use peripheral vision. 
    • Do NOT inbound behind the backboard.
    • Do NOT telegraph the pass. 
    • Teammates: "finish your cuts" so not fake out the passer.
    • Don't stand too close to the boundary...unless you're in the rare situation of trying to draw a violation (touch) from a defender encroaching on that space. 
    • Be patient. The first option may not be the best or intended one (see below)
    • Develop an inbounder that you trust with decisions and execution. 
    • With younger players, the simpler the better. 











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