Friday, September 8, 2023

Not a Them Problem or a You Problem: Premortem Considerations


A program swirls in chaos. The first question becomes "who's at fault?" Don't make it a "them" problem or a "you" problem. It's an "us" problem. 

Do the premortem examination on a season. What failed?

1. Collaboration. Literally 'working together'...collaboration must succeed across multiple levels - coach-player, coach-team, coach-coach, player-player, coach-administration. Define your policy early and often. 

Ideally collaboration works across levels, too. High school coaches should recruit from and work with youth development programs. That offers hope of retaining top players within the community. 

2. Feedback. Give and get feed back to get sustainable competitive advantage. As President Reagan said, "Trust but verify." Don't lose games amidst uncertainty as players don't know their assignment and responsibility. 

3. Simplicity. Complexity breeds confusion. More isn't always better. Often repeated, Don Meyer's progression from blind enthusiasm, to sophisticated complexity, and mature simplicity. "What has not been learned has not been taught." 

4. Pressure. Strong teams exert physical and mental pressure on opponents with the ability to play "harder for longer." Mediocre teams succumb to pressure. Core concept: 5 versus 7 full court pressure, no dribbling allowed. You want to press us? Bring it on. 

5. Stubbornness. "I don't believe in analytics." Disbelief in change like the Four Factors (differentials in EFG%, turnovers, rebounding, and free throws - SCORE, PROTECT, CRASH, ATTACK) and positionless basketball concepts will come back to bite you. 

6. Not so Free Throws. Tom Hellen wrote, "teams that can't shoot free throws last as long in the postseason as dogs that chase cars." Train teams to make free throws and pressure free throws. We practiced four sets of ten each practice with a partner who could say or do anything except physically interfere with the shot. The daily winner faced off against the coach to avoid suicides. Usually it took at least 38 to make the finals. 

7. Ego. Ego is the enemy. Whether our attitude is "I know best" or "I've seen it all," neither are always true. 

8. The Dreaded S's. Selfishness, softness, or sloth (laziness) kill winning basketball. Hand out and review Jay Bilas's 'Toughness' article. I handed out the concepts as a laminated sheet. 

9. Skill. There is no substitute for great technique. As Coach Popovich says, "technique beats tactics." Don't go back to basics. Never leave. I believe in practicing shooting at least 30 percent of practice. 

"Every day is player development day." In my six years as a head coach of middle school players (25 total, three years apiece), two earned D1 scholarships. 

10.Conditioning. "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." Poor conditioning loses games. Be efficient and condition within drills. I think Brian McCormick's "no lines, no laps, no lectures" sums it up. Here are a few ideas. Maybe it deserves a rewrite. 

11.They don't call it special for nothing. Win special situations - BOBs, BLOBs, ATOs, best plays versus man and zone defense. Have your best on your game day play sheet. 

Be hard to defend both tactically and technically (skill) in key situations. We finished each practice with 15 minutes of special situations as O-D-O (offense-defense-offense) scrimmaging. 

Poor process guarantees poor outcomes. As entrepreneur Sara Blakely says, "obsess the product." 

Lagniappe. Skill development. 
Lagniappe 2. Repost (I think). Horns "Rip" 




at