Friday, November 22, 2024

Basketball: Journal Club

Coaching is education. One of the responsibilities of Chief Resident was education via "Journal Club," sharing recent medical literature. What might we use to inform players each week via an email or text about their sport, character, or leadership? 

Select a few manageable articles or videos to review. Not allowed to have direct 'face-to-face' contact in the offseason? That doesn't preclude sharing educational materials. 

The articles don't have to be new to add value. 

You might start with a quote and use articles or videos to elaborate. For example, the Navy SEALs say, "two is one and one is none." 

1. Deliberate practice... "The development of expertise requires coaches who are capable of giving constructive, even painful, feedback. Real experts are extremely motivated students who seek out such feedback. They’re also skilled at understanding when and if a coach’s advice doesn’t work for them. The elite performers we studied knew what they were doing right and concentrated on what they were doing wrong. They deliberately picked unsentimental coaches who would challenge them and drive them to higher levels of performance."

2. My alma mater is a noted basketball hotbed. See it to become it. 

3. Running plays or making plays? 


4. Dean Oliver brings forth Basketball Beyond Paper with additional insights in a friendly narrative. For example, it should come as no surprise that talent, effort, teamwork, and tactics spawn wins. But how do you measure it? The dirty word is analytics. 

5. Slam Magazine piece from NBA Skills Trainer Chris Brickley. He explains who did the work this summer that will advance their careers. 

6. Sports Illustrated asks rhetorically how much fraternization with the enemy is a problem. Joe Mazzulla is not a fan. 

7. Great lines from the SI Vault... because we communicate, why not do so elegantly? 

"Michael Jordan?" said Olympic basketball player Fernando Martin of Spain. "Jump, jump, jump. Very quick. Very fast. Very, very good. Jump, jump, jump."
–In the Driver’s Seat, Alexander Wolff, Dec. 10, 1984 

"It is always the punch a fighter does not see that hurts the most, and the little girl was so sweet and innocent-looking, standing shyly at her mother's side, that there was no way Joe Frazier could have seen it coming."
–The Fight’s Over Joe, William Nack, Sept. 30, 1996


"When it was over, the self-described 'funny-looking black kid with red hair and freckles' returned to earth long enough to receive the award as the Most Valuable Player in the NBA playoffs."
–It Was Seattle, Handily, John Papanek, June 11, 1979

Lagniappe. "The last guy with the pen wins." 

Lagniappe 2. Encourage players to learn and attend to the details. 

 

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