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Sunday, April 28, 2024

Basketball: Origin Stories

"Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story." The precise origin of the quote is debated. 

Origin stories appear in biography and legend. Biographer Walter Isaacson explored beginnings of DaVinci, Ben Franklin, Einstein, and others. 

Origin stories even cross species. 

Basketball origin stories proliferate. 

Perhaps the best known and most extensive was the Netflix Michael Jordan series, The Last Dance.

Bill Russell's family relocated from Louisiana to Oakland starting the chain of events that launched his career. 

Origin stories aren't exclusive to Americans. Giannis Antetokounmpo rose from poverty to international prominence and an NBA title.

Where's the value? Origin stories inspire, inform 'complexity' of characters, and trigger emotions which could range from disdain, to sympathy, or awe. 

Coaches have our own origin stories but refocus on helping players write their narratives. These should work across domains. How? 

1. Be an ambitious giver. Adam Grant's Give and Take shares how givers are both the most and least successful. Reign in the self while prioritizing players and teams first. Complex coaching personalities like John Calipari and Nick Saban show how difficult that is. 

2. Develop. Without expanding our teaching foundations, how can we grow skills in others? That means studying coaches domestic and foreign, borrowing and combining their methods. Here are just a few, alphabetically:

  • Chris Brickley
  • Dr. Fergus Connolly (Human performance expert)
  • Drew Hanlen
  • Don Kelbick
  • Bob Knight
  • Mike McKay
  • Etorre Messina
  • Kirby Schepp
  • Arik Shivek 
  • Dave Smart
  • Ed Smith (former English national cricket selector)
  • Jay Wright

Without a doubt, you'll add another few dozen that impacted you, your knowledge, and approach. 

3. Expand horizons across disciplines. Stay open to the firehose of ideas around us. Read, read, read. Learn analogies. Study both success and failure. Why did space shuttle Challenger fail? Was it lack of knowledge or misreading available information? 

4. Never stop learning. Stay curious. Being a "know-it-all" is the height of hubris and vanity. Walk into a library in awe of our ignorance. Grow our players through our stories and our mentor's stories. Remember Usher's recommendation to study your mentor's mentors. My mentor's intellectual mentors included Dean Smith and John Wooden. 

5. Become a storyteller. What will our former players remember from our mentoring? Stories have power and durability. Stories add both simplicity and complexity. Teach excellence, triumph, and tragedy. 

Lagniappe. Remember principles of symmetry. What we want to do on offense we want to limit on defense. 

Lagniappe 2. Think again. 

Lagniappe 3. Winners are different. Coach Berge and I are on the same wavelength. 

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Basketball: Edit "Worst Practices"

People want to talk about best practices. Care about worst practices, too.  

Performance expert Dr. Fergus Connolly says that every aspect of ideal practice impacts winning. If not, eliminate it. 

Brad Stevens says, "be demanding not demeaning." 

UNC Women's Soccer coach Anson Dorrance believes in only showing positive video within the 'competitive cauldron'. 

Coaches have concerns, too. 

  • Low attention by players or distraction by other gym activities
  • Low energy
  • Poor communication
  • Lack of full effort
  • Sloppiness of execution (you play how you practice)
Get more collaboration between coaches and player during practice.  
Captains energize the team. Coaches maintain efficiency and tempo. 

All 'correction' applies to everyone. Coach Sonny Lane used to say, "if I'm not yelling at you, it's because I've given up on you." 

Lagniappe. Great coaches get more with what they have.  

Lagniappe 2. Teams expecting one thing, e.g. DHO, get something else. 

Lagniappe 3. "Basketball is a game of ADVANTAGE." Practice it.  

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Saturday, April 27, 2024

Basketball: Number 6

Everyone makes associations. The number three has many associations from religion (e.g. Holy Trinity) to national colors (red, white, and blue), to famous speeches ("duty, honor, country"). 

Number '6' leaves special significance. 


1. Bill Russell's number six earned retirement across the NBA. Russell won fourteen championships in fifteen years - 2 NCAA at San Francisco, 11 NBA championships, and an Olympic gold. The greatest winner in basketball history, he said, "my ego depends on the success of my team." 

2. Sixth man. Basketball recognizes the value of contributions from reserve players. The NBA awards the sixth man since the 1982-1983 season and recently named it the John Havlicek award. Hall of Famer Havlicek (eight NBA titles) along with "Kevin McHale, Toni Kukoč, Bobby Jones, Bill Walton, and Manu Ginóbili are the only Hall of Famers who have won the award; Walton, along with James Harden, are the only award winners to have earned NBA MVP honors in their careers." 

3. UCONN men's basketball team won its six championships since 1999. This ranks them as the most of any team since the tournament expanded to the sixty-four team tournament. 

4. The distance from the free throw line to the top of the key is six feet. 

5. Six wins. To win an NCAA championship in the sixty-four team format a team must win six games, a formidable challenge. 

Lagniappe. Separation can mean acceleration but most commonly means deceleration. That requires physical training and basketball action training. 

Lagniappe 2. Sean Billerman breaks down how a possession creates a quality shot and what other options can also evolve.  

Lagniappe 3. Toughness is a trainable skill. There's a spectrum of toughness. 

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Friday, April 26, 2024

Basketball: Differences of Opinion





Screenshot from LinkedIn

Consensus isn't always correctness. Vive la difference! Consensus doesn't always mean good policy or decision-making. Consensus included slavery, women unable to vote, fascism. 

Basketball doesn't have 'universal' rules. Men and women use different basketballs. Three-point distance in high school, college, and the NBA differ. FIBA rules differ from American basketball rules. That's okay. 

Coaches extol a variety of offenses. The triangle offense once ruled the NBA - thanks to Jordan and Kobe. No day passes where we don't receive offers for training and implementation of Princeton offense. With UCONN winning consecutive championships, expect bombardment for sales of Danny Hurley's playbook. 

Coaches favor different defenses. John Thompson and Nolan Richardson favored high intensity fullcourt defense. Jon Chaney liked matchup zones. Jim Boeheim's clubs mastered to 2-3 zone. Virginia won a title with pack line D. Whatever you do, do it well. 

Some players and parents choose prestige over finding the best fit. When the fit doesn't work, both institutions and players end up dissatisfied and players leave. 

Lagniappe. Don't allow sport to become misery. 

Lagniappe 2. Some say that a shot fake is "a shot not taken." Sometimes it's far more. 

 Lagniappe 3. A lot goes into successful shooting:

  • Ability to get open / "contestedness" 
  • Quality of the pass
  • Quality of shot / range 
  • Ability of shooter
  • Shot selection 

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Basketball: Spinoffs from Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis works to see the world from other perspectives. Why do underdogs succeed or favorites flop? What is something almost nobody pays attention to that is critically important?

For example, "base rates" of mental health problems exist. That occurs for airline pilots, elected officials at the highest levels, and athletes. During medical training, supposedly one-third of physicians have CLINICAL depression. I don't mean "the blues," but illness far more sinister that could impact fitness for duty and judgment. 

  • 23.1% of U.S. adults experienced a mental health condition in 2022
  • 6% of U.S. adults experienced a serious mental health condition in 2022, which is often defined as a psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder or a severe anxiety or eating disorder that significantly impairs functioning
  • In 2022, 32.9% of U.S. adults experienced both a mental health condition and substance abuse

How many athletes have acknowledged problems with mental health (e.g. Kevin Love)? Have you ever encountered athletes or coaches with mental health problems? If so, did you encourage the person to seek help and offer your support? 

As coaches we might be the first to spot mental health changes or substance abuse that can be life-altering for athletes. 

Other areas worth discussing are sleep and recovery. Adequate (increased) sleep improved both athletic and game performance. Many athletes don't actively recover. 

Pursue holistic coaching.

  • Learning and study habits
  • Resilience training (e.g. mindfulness, sport psychology)
  • Awareness of mental health and substance use
  • Sleep adequacy
  • Active recovery
Lagniappe. Screen-the-screener 

Lagniappe 2. Probably merits a whole piece.  

Lagniappe 3. Practice time is precious. Condition within basketball activities. 

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Thursday, April 25, 2024

Basketball: Ten Suggestions to Leave Fingerprints (Print and Save Edition)

"Education changes behavior." Impact personal and basketball growth; leave fingerprints on the process. Here are considerations to leave a mark. 

1. Create durable relationships. Disavow the 'self-made man' hubris of the individual triumphing over society. Be the 'anteambulo' who clears the path for others.

2. Help win 'the mental game'. Train players in visualization, affirmations and meditations. Leading figures in society and sport have a process to build resilience. "See it and become it."

3. Teach basketball symmetry.  


4. Share. Phil Jackson's "basketball is sharing" is timeless. Share vision, share sacrifice, and share victory. Sharing means communication and prioritizing teamwork. 

5. "Invert, always invert." Avoid the dreaded S's - selfishness, softness, and sloth. Make others better, grow physical and mental toughness, have an impeccable work ethic. 

6. Make shots and get stops. The goal of each possession is to create quality shots. On defense, allow "one bad shot" or "hard twos." In an analytics-driven era, layups, open threes, and free throws will beat even "good" teams. Apply statistics relevant to your level of play. NBA stats don't apply to middle school. 

7. Compete. Darwin saw that nature valued adaptability. 


Whether coaches or players, change when change is needed. Play "harder for longer" and "do more of what works and less of what doesn't."

8. Our slogan was "TIA - teamwork, improvement, accountability." Maintaining isn't improving. Dr. Fergus Connolly's model says build skill, strategy, physicality, and psychology to impact winning. The best individual players become possession enders creating scores (assists/baskets) and stops (rebounds, steals, changes of possession). 

9. "Don't give games away." Coaches know the many paths to failure. At a minimum, apply the Four Factors to success:

  • Score - EFG% (better shots, better shooting, better passing)
  • Protect the ball - turnovers are zero percent possessions
  • Crash - finish or continue possessions by rebounding
  • Attack - get to the free throw line
10.Handle pressure. Pressure degrades performance. "Handling pressure" means less drop off in performance secondary to pressure defense, fatigue, time, score, and situation. That occurs at both individual and team levels.

At our best, our teams apply these principles and create sustainable competitive advantage.

Lagniappe. Wooden said, "basketball is a game meant to be played fast." 

Lagniappe 2. Screens ball side and help side create options. 

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Lagniappe 3. Always a fan of options from Horns sets. 
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Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Basketball: Transformative

Coaches can influence players positively and negatively. Telling a player or team, "I believe in you," can make all the difference.

That doesn't mean that coaches should oversell players. But when we confirm our belief in a player, it can be transformative. Players remember genuine expressions of confidence in their work and progress. 

At the end of her eighth grade season, I told Cecilia Kay, "you are the best player I have coached in twenty years of coaching." I encouraged her to represent Melrose in the postseason league all-star game. She was the leading scorer with 24 points. She followed that up with four years as an All-Scholastic and was one of six McDonald's All-America nominees from Massachusetts.  

Transformative techniques:

1) "Speaking greatness." "That was great BUT" underperforms "That was great AND..." Kevin Eastman says, "you can't fool kids, dogs, and basketball players." 

2) Video. "Video is the truth machine." Showing players positive video shows proven success. And Bill Parcells says, "confidence comes from proven success."

3) Media recognition. 'Statistical leaders' get regular media attention. Noting players who get less 'ink' supports players who impact winning yet may be less well known. 

Lagniappe. Bill Walsh changed everything for John Lynch. 

Lagniappe 2. 1-4 low BOB with screen-the-screener 

Lagniappe 3. Get separation with one dribble.  

 Lagniappe 4. Sacrifice. 

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Basketball: "Separate Ways"

Footwork is one way to separate. 

  • Cross step
  • Negative step
  • Reverse pivot into attack

The negative step provides a "launch step" to attack the basket. It may also draw a defender closer. 


Pete Newell's books and tapes on "Big Man Moves" taught separation with a variety of moves such as reverse pivot and deep step off the wing catch and reverse pivot into quick attack. 


You don't need dozens of moves, but develop multiple "go to" and counter moves. 

Lagniappe. The offseason offers time to grow athletic explosion. Weights, bands, and dumbells can all help. 

      6. Dynamic rack pulls pic.twitter.com/VSwyRFKx1l

— Gerry DeFilippo (@Challenger_ST) April 24, 2024 

Lagniappe 2. Standards only matter with accountability. 

— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) April 24, 2024 

Lagniappe 3. Pros know the importance of strength training. 

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Basketball: Make Teamwork Your Priority

Choose to be a great teammate. Make it a priority. Have joy in the process of preparation, practice, and competition. Celebrate the experience and your teammates.  

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Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Basketball: Compression Lifts Us

Compression liberates us. It ranks among the most powerful analogies. Compression makes better players, better coaches.

Velocity equals distance/time. Compression reduces time. Compression heals, cooks, informs, speeds, teaches.

Compression cooks as in pressure cooking. Steam "produced from the boiling liquid, raises the internal pressure above ambient. This higher pressure limits boiling and creates higher cooking temperatures, allowing food to cook far more quickly than at normal pressure." (Duck assist)
Compression 'edits' ideas and stories. Comedy writers have careers 'shaving syllables'. "What were the last words Washington spoke to his troops before crossing the Delaware?" ....... "Get in the boat." 
Superinvestor Warren Buffett advises people to list ideas and pare to the best ones. His '25-5 rule' follows that approach. 
In On Writing, Stephen King shares his distaste for adverbs. She 'ran quickly' becomes she sped, raced, or hastened. Michael Lewis says, "make a thirty word sentence fifteen." 
Soft tissue injuries include compression in the RICE acronym - rest/ice/compression/elevation. 

Simplify the playbook. Bill Belichick recognized the expansive Joe Gibbs Redskins playbook distilled to ten passes and three runs, the variety created by formation and motions.

In our basketball playbooks, limit the numbers of actions but disguise them with different formations. Or use a few predominant formations (e.g. spread, horns) and run core actions from those. 

McCormick's no "laps, lines, or lectures" preaches compression. Timing competitive drills compresses them. 


UCONN's "4 minute shooting" yielded 150 makes with a group that included future National Champions including Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson, and Morgan Tuck. 

Time compression challenges players or groups to set their "personal best" for makes in a given time. 

You know the expression, "good players need two dribbles, excellent players one, and exceptional players none." Footwork, cutting, and efficiency eliminate too many dribbles. Nobody pays by the dribble. 

Mentoring accelerates basketball learning. Mentoring can include on court instruction, video, books, and classroom teaching. 

"The exceptions make the rule." Demand spacing on offense but compression (shrink the court) on defense. Develop 'systems of help' with loading to the ball. 

Another exception is doing the work, Dan Pink's "do five more" or James Kerr's Legacy advice, "Champions do extra."   

Applying compression adds value in basketball and life. 

Lagniappe. Are we 'responsive' or 'reactive'? 

Lagniappe 2. Stay connected enough to coach anyone and be humble enough to learn from anyone.  

Lagniappe 3. Become a player with solutions not complaints.  

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Monday, April 22, 2024

Separation

Basketball is a game of SEPARATION, cutting and passing, separating and finishing.

During practice, emphasize to players how to create separation via:

  • Effort
  • Cutting 
  • Screening
  • Footwork (e.g. pivoting, negative step)
  • Off the dribble (e.g. hesitation/lateral glide, crossovers, combinations)
In this clip, Jayson Tatum illustrates separation with "attack off the move" or STAMPEDE. 


Lagniappe. What leaders do. Model excellence. 

Lagniappe 2. "Every day is showtime." Our actions are always displayed. 

Lagniappe 3. "Movement kills defenses." Distort the zone with movement.  

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Sunday, April 21, 2024

Getting Better at Getting Better

Sharing quotes, videos, and missives won't make anybody great. 

  • Players gotta play. 
  • Players must build skill.
  • Players must develop athletic explosion.
Find equal or better players to play against. 

Build skill with a mentor. Become your own coach and critic. 

Do the physical training work.  

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Lagniappe. Opportunity impacts outcomes. 

Lagniappe 2. Excellence in deceleration promotes separation. 

 Lagniappe 3. What's in your shooting workout? 

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Basketball: The Efficient Player

Numbers. Everyone wants "numbers." Possession enders get numbers via scores, assists, rebounds, and stops. 

Efficiency reveals itself in:

  • Points/possession
  • Effective field goal percentage (and True Shooting)
  • High assist/turnover ratios
  • High free throw percentage
  • Low turnover percentages
  • High rebounding percentage
Efficiency implies skill, toughness, and good decision-making. 
 
Who is the epitome of efficiency? Nikola Jokic


Playoff Game 1, Jokic

FG 15-23 
EFG% 67.4%
FT   1-2 (nobody's perfect)
Rebounds 12
Assist/turnover 7/0

The efficient player scores and assists with few turnovers and few mental lapses (bad fouls, missed assignments). Jokic's EFG percentage for the season is over 61%. Luka Doncic clocks in at 57%, 46th in the league. I was surprised to see Jalen Brunson at 54%, 80th. 

Caitlin Clark's EFG percentage in 2023-4 was 56.8%. 

That doesn't invalidate 'raw numbers'. Yet, detailed analysis of scoring efficiency adds nuance. 

Watch the game through multiple lenses - impacting winning, decision-making, teamwork, and efficiency. 

The Boston Globe's Gary Washburn shares this from Jamal Crawford today:

“When you look at Boston, you look at one of the best starting fives in the league. We all know that,” said Crawford, now an analyst for Turner Sports. “The only question I have for Boston is if they can keep their trust. And what I mean by that is, if they’re winning by 15 or 17, the ball’s hopping, the ball’s one of the stars of the team. But as the game slows down and they get in those tight games, will it be the same energy, or will it revert back to more iso-ball?

“I think when they use each other and then attack, they’re almost unbeatable, but when they get in those dogfights, they resort back to what they’ve been doing in the past. That’s their only thing, so I think trust is their biggest opponent in this postseason run.”

Efficiency matters, not just 'stats'. 

Lagniappe. Create, maintain, and use advantage. 

Lagniappe 2. Master change of pace and change of direction.  


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Saturday, April 20, 2024

Basketball: Declaration of Interdependence

Basketball is not a democracy. Let's contrast sport with part of a famous document, the American Declaration of Independence.  

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; 

Use basketball analogy. 

Truths. "If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride." Truths derive from the real not the imagined. Results are the sum of measurable possessions. Offensive possessions should generate quality shots and defensive possessions at worst mean "hard twos" (one bad shot) for our opponent. Contest every shot without fouling. "Video is the truth machine." 

Coach Lane taught us to 'win quarters'. Win possessions. The famous bit about "if you get a stop, everyone gets Jordans." Would you play harder, more focused, with more communication, more toughness? 

All men are created equal. I coached girls. Only one woman's name, printer "Mary Katherine Goddard" appeared on the Declaration. The best scorers should get more shots than the 'average' player. Win possession with better shots from better players. 

The only way to know that is measuring - shot charts and analytics including effective field goal percentage. 

Pursuit of Happiness. Pursuit reminds us of Browning, "a man's reach should exceed his grasp." Pursuit doesn't guarantee achieving happiness. Remember what Brad Stevens said in analyzing players that he seeks "competitive character." 

Consent of the governed. The Founders' phrase implies 'getting buy-in'. The team must know and embrace the team philosophy, be on the same page, and work together. If a player doesn't meet those requirements, influencers ask, "why not?" 

Laying its foundations on such principles. Players can't 'divine' our core principles, beliefs, and values. President Reagan famously said, "trust but verify." Give and get feedback. Write and distribute. Simplify. Traffic in specifics. Here are suggestions among mine: 

"Basketball is sharing." - Phil Jackson

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

"The ball is gold." - Coach Sonny Lane

Teamwork, improvement, accountability. 

The best players make everyone around them better. 

Effect their safety and Happiness. Remember Chuck Daly's NBA players' want 48 - "48 minutes, 48 shots, 48 million." Players and their families care about minutes, role, and recognition. Dividing the pie is always hard. 

Light and transient causes. If it's not working, Kevin Eastman says, "do it harder, do it better, change personnel, $#&* it ain't working." I've been most proud of teams with competitive losses against superior teams. Keep messaging core beliefs such as "do well what you do a lot" and "do more of what works and less of what doesn't." 

Professional sports thrive with collaboration at the highest level. That's tough at lower levels. 

Lagniappe. "Threats, strengths, and opportunities." 

— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzellNBA) April 19, 2024 

Lagniappe 2. Cowher on culture. 

Lagniappe 3. Chris Oliver shares a play design, "Ram Ghost" 

 

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