Friday, July 7, 2023

Basketball: Get Luck on Your Side with a Blueprint and Analogies

Many activities blend skill and luck along a continuum. Competitive chess belongs on the skill end and gambling on lottery tickets is luck. Basketball is farther along the spectrum of skill over luck as in a 'series' the best team normally wins.

With young players, execution will improve with time, repetitions, and experience. But if there's no plan, fuggedaboutit. 

How might we get 'luck' on our side? Harness the power of analogy:
  • Blueprint
  • Checklist
  • Curriculum
  • Organizational strategy
  • Outline
  • Trading campaign
  • Product launch
  • Battle plan, game plan, practice plan, development plan
1. Reduce errors. 
  • Reduce mental mistakes - e.g. defensive assignments. A video clip or two of missed assignments or poor transition works wonders. 
  • Decrease turnovers, whether decision or execution.
  • Improve shot quality...no "shot turnovers."
  • Decrease fouling, especially 'bad fouls'. 
  • Get everyone on the same page. 
2. Build skill. 
  • Commit to player development. 
  • Teach better. Use the teaching literature like "The Coach's Guide to Teaching." 
  • Have a plan. Write it down. Pick, stick, and check. 
  • Make it game relevant with defense. 
  • "Repetitions make reputations."
  • "Champions do extra." - James Kerr in Legacy
3. Increase game understanding. 
  • Space better. "Spacing is offense and offense is spacing."
  • Operate with more hard to defend actions.
  • Know what both you and opponents seek to achieve. 
  • Ask players what they saw in decision making. 
4. Improve preparation - scouting, game planning, practice. 
  • Teach players to watch video. 
  • Create and refine your drill book, play book, and teaching files/spreadsheets/video/library.
  • Study great coaches.
  • Model excellence. Players see everything we do. 
5. Improve mental toughness.
  • Teach methods to reduce failure under pressure. 
  • COTE - confidence, optimism, tenacity, enthusiasm.
  • Practice under pressure with advantage-disadvantage (e.g. 5 versus 7 full-court pressure).
  • Add constraints like time, space, use of non-dominant hand, minimum number of passes, need for a screen, scoring in the paint or uncontested three. 
  • Use mindfulness like most pro teams, Olympic and other elite athletes.
6. Have superior conditioning. 
  • Excellent teams play 'harder for longer.'
  • Jump rope for five minutes continuously. 
  • Meet specific goals such as running eight 220 sprints in under 38 seconds with 80 second breaks in-between. 
"The harder I work, the luckier I get." 

Lagniappe. Practice getting separation off the dribble. 
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