Saturday, July 27, 2024

Basketball: What Does Attention to Detail Mean to You?

If we ask players what attention to detail means to them, what would their answers reveal? Ask in the context of skill, strategy, physicality, and psychology/resilience. 

Skill. Good players take good shots (in range, open, balanced) and have higher shooting percentages/effective shooting percentage. 

Take care of the basketball. Whether through bad decisions such as driving or passing into traffic, or poor execution, ball security is another Four Factors winning detail.   

Strategy. Plan your trade. Trade your plan. How are we defending the PnR? Everyone needs to be on the same page with the plan and be able to execute it. 

Regarding offensive rebounding, are we sending two or three to the boards? Is that dependent on the opposition or 'we do what we do?' How has that impacted transition defense?

Physicality. Have a plan to maintain conditioning during the season and to grow strength and conditioning during the offseason. 

"Be a tracker." Mental fatigue can show up with hand dynamometry. You can track aerobic fitness with twelve-minute treadmill runs for distance. If you're a "stay ready" player not getting regular playing time, you need to maintain conditioning for when opportunity arises. 

Physicality includes sleep, hydration, nutrition, and recovery. 

Psychology. Staying mentally engaged can challenge both fatigued regulars and rested reserves. Mindfulness via apps or free websites offer a reliable way to reduce stress, improve attention, and sleep better. 

Another habit to engage is visualization/imagery. Jason Selk's advises creating a mental "highlight reel" regularly replayed in your mind. 

Attention to detail has other meanings, too. 

  • Punctuality. 
  • Never being a distraction. 
  • Coachability. 
  • Academic excellence.
  • Self-care. Sleep, nutrition, hydration, recovery...

Lagniappe. 

Lagniappe 2.  

Lagniappe 3. Contested threes yield fewer hoops.  

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