Basketball: Mastering the Art of Coaching?

The lessons flow from the title. 

Seek mastery of the art of coaching. What does that even mean? In cooking, it often distills to time, temperature, and effective use of sauces. In coaching, it won't be great without great ingredients, the Jimmies and the Joes. 

1. Mastery is relative. Coaching professionals and pre-teens is not the same. Even coaching girls and boys is not the same, according to a woman four-time state championship girls' coach who also coached boys to the state finals. 

Elite coaches master simplicity. They refine fundamentals, teaching, communication, and motivation. 

I had one group that seemed incapable of running the simplest of actions. It reduced to pass and cut. It wasn't a lack of their effort or my instruction. The next group wasn't inherently smarter, nor was I but they 'got it'. 

2. There's art. If there were no art, "any idiot with a whistle" could coach. Kids will "run through a wall" for coaches if they have a purpose, a degree of autonomy, and self-belief. 

Coaches need support, especially from parents. How can anyone expect a child to listen to their coach if the parents badmouth the coach? So the art includes getting buy-in from parents to add value for their children. 

3. Coaching. Pete Newell said the coach's job is to help players see the game. That truth impossibly oversimplifies, with no criticism of the great coach whose team beat Wooden's eight consecutive games. 

• Skill. "Every day is player development day."
• Strategy. "It takes a village" and a lot of video. 
  
• Physicality. Coaches must learn about strength and conditioning or find others to help instruct and reconstruct athletes. 
• Psychology. Chuck Daly's famous, "I am a salesman," gets at the heart of convincing players. A coach helps them reach their goals to get 'paid' in minutes, role, and recognition. 

Lagniappe. Trust is hard to earn and maintain. 

Phil Jackson said, "Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We."

Great teams come together.
• They trust each other.
• They commit to each other.
• They hold to the team's vision.

Great teams understand the importance… pic.twitter.com/UYCUL6lPp2

— Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness (@coachajkings) March 20, 2024

Lagniappe 2. Vision can be 'taught' to a degree. Kurt Warner points out that it's neither automatic nor easy. 

What is it that makes QB scouts/evaluators/analysts/fans (whatever you want to call them) say “knowing how to read the field & process information” is a minor thing & can be quickly taught to guys with a little time & coaching?? I will never understand the “physical” can’t be…

— Kurt Warner (@kurt13warner) March 17, 2024

Lagniappe 3. Coaches want aggressive defenders.  

2 simple ways to be a better defender..overnight.
1. Take away a dominant hand. Sit on a players strong hand & force them to weak one. Just b/c a player can use it doesn’t mean they can pass/score/finish w/ it.
2. Stop backpeddling. Get ahead of the offense! Defense dictates!

— Marsha Frese (@CoachFrese) March 21, 2024