Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Basketball: Holistic Coaching

 


Earn appreciation for "holistic coaching." A reporter asked Coach Amos Alonzo Stagg about his team. "Ask me in twenty years and I'll be able to give you a better answer."

Coaches live forever as players impact families and society. Your opinion on the best defense of the pick-and-roll matters far less than the character, habits, and process of your players. 

Be specific. "Be a good person" doesn't create a framework for players. 

Coach Sonny Lane taught us core values:

  • Family comes first. 
  • Academics comes next.
  • Basketball is third. 
People remember how we make them feel. 


"Atomic Habits" author James Clear says to develop systems to make good habits easier and bad ones harder. For example, how can we keep order?
  • "Five-minute room rescue." Pick up for five minutes.
  • Marie Kondo method. If it gives us no joy, toss it. 
  • "Let it go." Take one thing away when you leave a room. 
Share lessons of great coaches like Don Meyer: PUSH-T
  • Passion
  • Unity 
  • Servant leadership
  • Humility
  • Thankfulness
Inform player development like Dr. Fergus Connolly:
  • Skill 
  • Strategy
  • Physicality
  • Psychology
Teach the 'anatomy of a possession' of Dr. Connolly:
  • Spacing
  • Player movement
  • Ball movement
  • The 'scoring moment' 
Imprint your personal philosophy:
  • Teamwork, Improvement, accountability
  • Everyone can be a great teammate
  • Basketball is a game of symmetry and movement. 
Find success:
  • "Be good at what you do a lot."
  • "Do more of what works and less of what doesn't."
Simplify your process:
  • "Possession and possessions"
  • "Get more quality shots with better choices and passing"
  • Opponents get "one bad shot" (hard twos)
Know Dean Oliver's "Four Factors" differential
  • Effective field goal percentage
  • Rebounding
  • Turnovers 
  • Attacking the basket 
(SCORE, CRASH, PROTECT, ATTACK)

Share basketball truths:
  • Good teams don't give games away
  • "Basketball is a game of mistakes" (Knight)
  • "The game honors toughness." (Stevens)
  • Hard work is a skill.
  • Good teams handle pressure.
  • Good teams can win on the road and against quality teams.
  • Respect the game.
  • "Teams that can't shoot free throws last as long in the post-season as dogs that chase cars." (Tom Hellen)
Become a storyteller ("Made to Stick" by the Heath Brothers).  SUCCESS:
  • Simple - Make the story easy to remember
  • Unexpected 
  • Concrete 
  • Credible
  • Emotional
  • Stories
Read and teach leadership:
Lagniappe. Build skill. 

Lagniappe 2. Build hip strength.  




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