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Saturday, May 11, 2024

Basketball: Cliche

Clarified cliches add value. Coaches all use them but not every player benefits. Remember "what has not been learned has not been taught." 

Use concrete examples.

1. "Play hard. Play smart. Play together." Have fun.

  • Transition defense. Beat your player to half court while alert and engaged.
  • Read the defense. That allows more efficient attack (front foot) and slips. 
  • Make the extra pass. 

2. "Get more and better shots than our opponent." - Pete Newell

  • This predicted the analytics era. Better shots result in higher EFG%. 
  • Few turnovers combined with high EFG% is hard to beat.
  • Creating turnovers increases higher points per possession for us and fewer shots for opponents. 

3. "Basketball is sharing." - Phil Jackson

  • Share the ball. "The ball has energy."
  • Share your voice. Communicate. "Silent teams lose." 
  • Better passing creates better shots and fewer turnovers. "The quality of the pass relates to the quality of the shot." - Pete Carril

4. "No easy shots." Hard 2s. 

  • Contain the ball. 
  • Contest shots without fouling. Intuitively and statistically, challenged shots have lower shooting percentage. 
  • No bad fouls. Don't foul jump shots. Free throws are 'easy shots'.  

5. "Win this possession." 

  • "Jordans!" How hard would you play if you knew a stop would get everyone Air Jordans? 
  • String together three stops. "Stops make runs." Track how many three stops per half. If you get seven per half, you win a lot. 
  •  Have 'must score' strategies for BOB, SLOB, ATO, versus man, and versus zone. 
Lagniappe. Practice "no dribble" separation footwork. 

Lagniappe 2. Ball movement simplifies the game. 

Lagniappe 3. Make preparation our superpower.  

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