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Thursday, April 11, 2024

Basketball: Misconceptions

"I'm a salesman." - Chuck Daly

Be an archeologist unearthing treasure. You have to move a lot of dirt to find artifacts. 

"I got this." Get a grip, Coach. Winning is hard; that's the value. "You have to scratch and claw and it never f–king ends. And it doesn’t get better, it just gets harder. So don’t complain to me that I’m making your life hard. You don’t even know what that means." - Deborah Vance in Hacks, Episode 2

Rowing is easy. The sign in the UNC Women's Soccer locker room reads, Excellence Is Our Only Agenda. It takes commitment and belief to win over twenty national titles. Coaches battle powerful inducements, self-interest. Getting everyone on the same page of "Team First" challenges every coach. In addition to the player, family and friends often reinforce that attitude. Now with NIL, it's radio WII-FM (what's in it for me). 

Adding value is easy. Getting eighteen year-olds to listen to you isn't easier than teaching pre-adolescents. You've heard this from players a thousand times, "I know, I know." If you know, do it or don't do it. 

Sustainable competitive advantage is easy. Why should the kid, the parents or the athletic director listen to us? Why should they trust us? In a world of 'alternative facts', why is our truth sacred? 

Everyone will follow along. Return to the "agenda-free" sign. Everyone has an agenda - minutes, role, recognition.  

This group won't need feedback. Everyone needs coaching. Basketball games are feedback. The players didn't move, didn't communicate, fouled, took questionable shots, made silly passes, didn't deny, allowed penetration, missed assignments. These happen every day, every game. Mental mistakes kill coaches. Getting people on the same page should be on Jay Bilas's Toughness list. 

Talent is enough. One word - Kentucky. Getting the best players might work in high school. Even if you could attract them, can you keep them after training them? Can your 'talent' beat mature, seasoned players? 

"We're already efficient." Up the tempo, use time and resources better. Watching the UCONN women of Coach Auriemma practice, we saw far more efficiency than we had before. Get more done, more shots, more teaching, more learning in the same time.  

Preventing distractions is easy. John McPhee's A Sense of Where You Are shared the Bill Bradley and Princeton story. Imagine Princeton getting to the Final Four. Coach van Breda Kolff wrote in progressively smaller letters on the board - GIRLS, FOOD, BASKETBALL. 

They'll know what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and can do it. Those are the essence of Pete Newell's teaching players to "see the game." Think back to your teen self. What fraction of the game, big picture or small detail, did you know then relative to now? Consider even the lexicon - Get, Ricky, headhunt, zoom, Pistol, flare, ram, Flex, blitz, Iverson, ice, veer, hammer, 45, and more. Allen Iverson wasn't born until after we played. We never heard one of those terms.  

Don't worship at any coach's altar. Learn every day. Wake to Dave Smart's sentence, "Every day is player development day." Trust me, I'm a doctor. 

Lagniappe. More Zoom. 

Lagniappe 2. Practice to be great. 

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