Basketball: Identity

"You are the things that you do the most."

In basketball, your team will become the things that you emphasize the most and do the most in practice.

Queens Head Coach @QUCoachGrant shares with us the things that he includes in every practice.

🏀🎙️🙇‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/lYnwy8uvzc

— 90 Percent Hoops (@90percent_hoops) April 11, 2024

Be true to yourself. Developmental players need development. High school players have additional priorities. Be proficient at:

• Defeating pressure defense
• Half-court offense
• Half-court defense
• Pick-and-roll defense
• Transition defense

A couple of points that emerge in Coach Grant's philosophy include getting separation and doing so with urgent cutting. Many offenses fail because players don't set up cuts and don't cut hard. 

"We can't run what we can't run." Fundamentally-skilled players adapt and execute many offenses. If our players lack skill, then our offensive choice won't matter. 

Ambitious coaches and players understand that "the obvious" wins: 

1) Do well what you do a lot.

2) Excel at offensive and defensive identity. 

Match your offensive and defensive identity to your players. A 'perimeter offense' fails without shooters. "Non-shooters are always open." Some teams want to force square pegs into round holes. "Kill your darlings" eliminates stuff you like but doesn't work. 

Defensively, no easy shots. If we can't contain the dribble for whatever reason, then deploy alternative defenses (e.g. zone or hybrid defenses). 

Lagniappe. Disguise your intent. 

Making it look like one set, masks the actual set.

The pass and cut masks the pin flare out of a typical 5 out alignment. pic.twitter.com/hPUwE1pS0P

— Chris Oliver (@BBallImmersion) April 9, 2024

Lagniappe 2. Playing out of hard stops separates. 

The ability to stop quickly is one of the most important skills in the game.

Stop separation is the most efficient way to create space.

You don’t have to have top end speed to be able to create space. Just get your defender moving and slam on the breaks. pic.twitter.com/PhQgJoYX9q

— Reid Ouse (@reidouse) April 10, 2024

Lagniappe 3. Many young players want to switch ball screens. Being able to trap (blitz) them can generate live ball turnovers. 

With the rise in the use of ball screens at every level, being able to blitz/trap PNR’s effectively is another way to give your team an edge.

Even elite guards at our level don’t see it often, so it can be very effective. The trapping fundamentals are the same as in our press. pic.twitter.com/8NjvgrVp0c

— Jordan Carter (@CoachBurgundy) April 8, 2024