Thursday, June 15, 2023

Basketball: Data Compression

Language arose to exchange ideas and emotions. Almost two millenia B.C. the roots of modern alphabets arose in what is modern Egypt. Hieroglyphs evolved into letters and words. 

We shorten wherever possible. "Lead a horse" shrinks "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink." A "Trojan Horse" sneaks something in undefended. 

In modern basketball we use words, signs, and body language to 'talk' with those around us. This compresses both data and time. 

Let's muse about conventions. 

Defense. Decades ago, defensively we used two digit numbers to call the defense and the extent. "11" would be quarter-court man and "83" the UCLA 2-2-1 three-quarter court trap. "14" was full court man with 'red' appended to represent 'run and jump'. Hand signals or laminated color paper work well as signal or decoys. 

Offense. Offensively, we ran "Syracuse" a simple 1-4 high offense that could work against man or zone. Post entry could start high-low action, a wing backcut, or isolation. Wing entry often led a post to roll low or to screen across. Ball screens were not big in the early 1970s. If the opposing defense overplayed the posts, they could release for a lob. It was remarkably simple and yielded 65 points/game pre-three and pre-shot clock. 

Practice. Drill names promote efficiency, shortcuts to get players to the next activity. 

  • Practice usually began with 'dribble the lines' (around the three-point arc) with warm ups right and left, crossovers, hesitations, and combinations. 
  • Initial shooting including 'speed layups', Bradleys, and individual and team shooting drills. 
  • Press break was five versus seven full-court no dribbling.
  • 'Specials' were three possession offense-defense-offense games beginning usually with BOB, SLOB, or ATO. 
  • "3 on 3" at either end with a coach practiced "small-sided games." 
  • 3 by 3 by 3 was full court shooting.
 

Kentucky Layups is a drill that, if you do it enough time and record a high score, quickly turns into a precision/perfection drill - it's also great for learning to finish at full speed#HCDailyDiagram pic.twitter.com/2HNuyMiDGn

— Hoops Companion 🏀 Resources for Coaches (@Hoops_Companion) June 14, 2022

Individual drills with defense add major value. 
  • Box drills
  • Wing series attack 
  • One-on-one (jab series, negative step, stampede-off the catch, etc.)
  • 3 point shots (off the catch, side-step dribble, shot fake on the fly by)
  • Warmup with Get 50. 
Combination actions

- Chicago action often DHO into PnR and options


- Ram screen (down screen into PnR) 



- Spain PnR (backscreen the roller)
 

- Pistol action (often early offense)
 

Team language. Everyone has their own. Some examples:
  • "Pinch." Dribble is dead; everyone denies. 
  • "Sprint." Transition D is sprinting not running. 
  • "Contain." Pressure the ball. 
  • "Paint." No paint on defense...
  • "Sandwich" defensive rebounding on free throws... 
Lagniappe. Bigs gotta run. Guards gotta "water the flowers."
Lagniappe 2. Attack the rim. 



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