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Thursday, June 26, 2025

Basketball - Develop Ways to Access AI Both in Preparation and Real-Time

Give me something I can use today. That sounds perfect for AI. Don't presume that humans have superior creativity than 'machines'. Chess computers can calculate millions of possible moves per second. Google's chest champion "Alpha Zero" learned chess by playing against itself and played a hundred matches against the previous computer champion without a loss (28 wins, 72 draws). 

Let's use the rule of three - three topic headings with three subheadings each.

  • Player development
  • Half-court offense (hard to guard)
  • Defending the pick-and-roll 
The initial 'prompt' is:

"Looking to improve coaching using three headings and seeking three ideas for each. Please suggest coaching tips for high school or above levels."

Player Development

  1. Design Constraints-Based Drills
    Build skill through limitation: e.g., one-dribble-only shooting, finishing through contact, or decision-making games (like 0.5-second decision drills). These push players to adapt and transfer skills under game-like conditions.

  2. Film with Feedback
    Use short, regular film sessions to highlight individual growth areas (not just game film). Compare current clips to earlier performance to reinforce progress and set targets.

  3. Layer in Competitive Reps
    Skill work must go live: structure player development sessions so that drills escalate from technical work to competitive (e.g., shooting off the dribble into 1-on-1 closeout challenges).

Half-Court Offense (Hard to Guard)

  1. Two Actions in One
    Combine actions (e.g., a ball screen with weak-side flare or pin-down) to stress defenders. Defenders must make multiple decisions quickly—harder to guard than isolated sets.

  2. Use Ghost and Slip Screens
    Set up defenders with screens that never fully materialize—“ghost” (fake a ball screen then pop) or quick slips before contact—to exploit switching or hedge defenses.

  3. Play Out of Spacing Concepts, Not Just Sets
    Teach players how to maintain driving lanes, lift/shake off penetration, and relocate after passes. A well-spaced offense creates indecision without needing complex plays.

Defending the Pick-and-Roll

  1. Build a Defensive System, Not Just a Coverage
    Decide when you ICE, hedge, drop, or switch based on personnel and location. Have clear roles for on-ball defender, screen defender, and tagger. Stick to your system unless mismatches dictate otherwise.

  2. Drill Two-Man Responsibility Daily
    Break down coverage with 2v2 or 3v3 drills focusing on ball-screen reads and recoveries. Emphasize communication (“Up!” “Drop!” “Under!”), angles, and footwork under pressure.

  3. Tagging and Rotating from the Weak Side
    Most PNR breakdowns happen on the back side. Train the help side (especially the low man) to bump the roller, rotate early, and recover with urgency. Use shell-style drills to ingrain rotations.

Let's repeat the exercise, substituting a current or historical coach as the idea generator... 

Player Development (John Wooden Style)

  1. Teach Fundamentals Relentlessly
    Wooden believed success was built on "little things done well." Insist on correct footwork, balance, and body position—whether passing, pivoting, or defending—every single day. Begin each practice with precision of basic skills.

  2. Plan Every Minute, Progress Every Week
    Wooden scripted practices to the minute. Design development arcs—e.g., “Week 1: Perfect chest pass form; Week 2: Pressure passing.” Progress gradually, but expect mastery. He emphasized, “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”

  3. Coach Character as You Coach Skills
    Wooden taught that competitive greatness is rooted in poise and confidence. Connect improvement to values: e.g., perseverance in shooting slumps, self-control in tough matchups. Remind players, “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.”

Half-Court Offense (Hard to Guard, Wooden-Inspired)

  1. Master Execution, Not Tricks
    Wooden’s teams ran relatively simple sets (e.g., UCLA High Post), but with flawless timing, angles, and reads. Teach players to set meaningful screens, cut hard, and read defenders—not just run plays.

  2. Play Unselfishly and Move Constantly
    Wooden emphasized team over individual. Install actions where every player has a role every time (e.g., screen, cut, relocate). Teach players to value the pass before the shot. “It's amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.”

  3. Condition to Outlast, Think to Outwit
    Wooden's offense was hard to guard because his players outlasted others. Teach players to maintain mental focus late in the shot clock, using patience and poise to find a high-percentage shot.

Defending the Pick-and-Roll (Wooden Principles Applied)

  1. Teach Positioning Over Gambling
    Wooden was a stickler for body control and smart angles. In pick-and-roll defense, prioritize positioning: square hips, active hands, and short, choppy steps. Don't reach—contain.

  2. Drill Repetition with Precision
    “Repetition is the key to learning,” Wooden often said. Practice the same coverage daily with small variations—e.g., guard goes over vs. under, big shows vs. drops. Repetition builds automatic reactions.

  3. Insist on Communication and Trust
    Wooden's teams thrived on discipline and unity. Demand clear, early talk on screens (“Screen right! Show! Drop!”). Rotate responsibility between players—each must feel accountable to the team’s standard.

Our imagination and skill with prompts become our only limitation. Coaches can also shift from "mechanical" time for practice development to creative. 

Coaches could also use AI "real-time" to suggest opponent-specific strategies.  

Lagniappe. Most of you know Jay Wright's word... 

Lagniappe 2. Get great talent and you have far more options on how to play. 

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Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Basketball - The Struggle

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” - "Animal Farm" by George Orwell

“It is much harder to struggle against irrelevance than against exploitation.” - Yuval Harari in “21 Lessons for the 21st Century”

Sport reflects society. Will gladiatorial spectacle return? 

The basketball parallel to Harari’s postulate is exploitation of college athletes by colleges and the NCAA. The status quo was scholarships in return for athletic indentured servitude. Colleges promised the carrot of “free education” while players became full time employees. Try practicing 30 hours a week (it happened) against the pushback of "how can you take those classes if you’re a serious player?" Yes, I got that at Harvard as an end of the roster baseball guy.

As players won the right for additional compensation, colleges and Congress fought to swing the pendulum back with regulation, in effect a “salary cap.” The “gravy train” aims to ensure colleges and politicians get the most gravy. Some animals ARE more equal. 

Colleges can now pay players directly. We’ll see how that plays out. That does not exclude other income. 

Lagniappe. This is not a 'rip' screen but reminds me of it. Excellent players make others better. 

Lagniappe 2. Sometimes it pays to be patient. Other times it pays to be quick.  

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Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Ten Timeless Basketball Concepts That Work

What did you learn that gets violated to the point that separates winning and losing?

You say, "Everyone knows that." Knowing and doing inhabit separate worlds.

1. Ball, you, basket. The inability to contain the ball creates layups, help and recover, and penetrate and pitch opportunities. Good defense starts with ball pressure and containment. 

2. Player, you, ball. Especially against capable players, the defender's problems multiply when their assignment gets the ball.

3. Sag (load) to the ball. Drop to the level of the ball. Good offense creates separation with spacing, player, and ball movement. Good defense shrinks space and limits separation.

4. "Get back." No easy baskets...transition baskets violate the rule. Conversion from offense to defense needs CARE - concentration, anticipation, reaction, and execution. 

5. "The ball is gold." Turnovers are zero percent possessions and live ball turnovers lead to high points per possession chances. Turnovers kill dreams.

6. "If I stop yelling at you, I've given up on you." Coaching is teaching and correction. Corrections apply to everyone. Listen and be coachable.

7. Cut hard. Lazy cutting and not setting up cuts are primary reasons for failed offense. It's obvious, yet not emphasized enough. 

8. Take great shots. Coach called them "sh*t shots." Doc Rivers calls them "shot turnovers." Pete Carril said, "bad shooters are always open" and Bob Knight said, "just because I want you on the floor doesn't mean I want you to shoot." 

9. "Foul for profit," says Kevin Sivils. Fouling bad shots, perimeter shots, threes, late shot clock, "retaliation fouls," and bad technique fouls promote high points per possession shots, i.e. free throws. 

10. Know your assignment. If you don't know whom you cover or what defense we're playing, how can I put you on the floor?

There are so many more - "see both," "pass," and "don't immediately dribble" automatically. Every coach here says "nothing new." I get it.  Watch every game from Biddy Ball to The Finals and you see these rules broken. They're not suggestions...

Lagniappe. 

Lagniappe 2. Playing fast?  

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Monday, June 23, 2025

Basketball - Professionalism for Young Players

Via Mike Reiss on Deatrich Wise, Jr:


On Bill Belichick: "One of the things Bill always said was 'practice execution becomes game reality.' That's one thing I've always taken to heart. Practice as hard as I can and exactly how I want the game to be. That's what makes great teams great."



Professionalism may sound abstract or overdone when coaching preadolescents and adolescents. “We’re not getting paid.” 


Think about it another way, as training for life. Ask players what professionalism involves. They would probably have problems answering. The best young players I've coached (two women playing D1 basketball) have been not only committed but organized and focused on learning the game. 


"Repetitions make reputations." The offseason is critical to fulfilling your potential. 


Punctuality. Be on time, stretched out and mentally ready to go. 


Preparedness. Know your job to do your job. The best players also understand their teammates' jobs. The point guard should know the reads for the screener. Knowing that the roller defender has overcommitted up, she should be looking for the roller to slip to the basket. 


Preparedness also means knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition. If you know historically that the opposition emphasizes transition, you should ask how many players are going to the offensive boards and have a plan for limiting the fast break.


Self-care. Professionals care for their body including adequate sleep, rest, hydration, nutrition, and post-workout management (e.g. contrast therapy, muscle rolling). 


Strength and conditioning. Young players will need advice on athletic development. Ideally, your program has access to strength and conditioning coaching. If not, that will mean learning and distributing a program or players accessing outside training. Doing baseline measurements and followup are important. 


Sport-specific strategy teaching. Basketball IQ comes from experience and training. The Internet has an abundance of training video, coaching clinics, and information on the wide range of basketball areas. Players with access to cellphones can take training videos. 


Player skill development. Just as with athletic development, provide ideas and references for players to maximize their offseason improvement. 


Resilience training. With virtually all professional teams and Olympic athletes accessing mindfulness training, why would you not? Mindfulness improves focus, reduces anxiety and depression, lowers blood pressure and stress hormones. Training the body without training the mind is incomplete. 


Lagniappe. "Resilience is the strength and speed of our response to adversity—and we can build it. It isn’t about having a backbone. It’s about strengthening the muscles around our backbone." - "Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy" by Sheryl Sandberg, Adam Grant


Lagniappe 2. 

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Sunday, June 22, 2025

Basketball Quality in Differing Contexts

Coach Ralph Labella would tell the girls, "I want to see good basketball. Show your parents good basketball."

Robert Pirsig addressed quality in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. “Care and Quality are internal and external aspects of the same thing. A person who sees Quality and feels it as he works is a person who cares. A person who cares about what he sees and does is a person who’s bound to have some characteristic of quality.” 

 

Quality is elusive and like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

In The Mamba Mentality, Kobe Bryant writes, "If you really want to be great at something, you have to truly care about it. If you want to be great in a particular area, you have to obsess over it. A lot of people say they want to be great, but they’re not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve greatness."

Quality play starts with quality attitude. Cecilia Kay will enter her sophomore year at St. Joseph's soon. She said that her closest teammate at American last year went to practice to give her best every day seeking a chance to succeed, knowing she might never play. That's quality. 

Quality basketball includes preparation, effort, good decision-making, toughness and avoiding critical mental and physical mistakes such as turnovers, poor shot selection, and careless fouls. 

Lagniappe. AI commentary on Quality from the DeepSeek application...

Robert Pirsig’s exploration of Quality in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" (ZAMM) offers profound insights that can be applied to basketball coaching. Pirsig argues that Quality is the fundamental reality that precedes intellectual distinctions—it is the immediate, pre-rational experience of excellence that unifies subject and object. For a basketball coach, cultivating Quality means fostering an environment where players and the game itself merge into a seamless, dynamic flow. Here’s how Pirsig’s concepts apply:

1. Quality as the Foundation of Coaching  

   - Pirsig suggests that Quality cannot be strictly defined but is felt—like the difference between a well-executed play and a forced one. A great coach recognizes and nurtures this intuitive sense of "rightness" in players. 

   - Application: Instead of overloading players with rigid systems, prioritize cultivating their innate feel for the game—spacing, timing, and unselfishness. Drills should emphasize flow (e.g., read-and-react offenses) over robotic repetition.

2. Classical vs. Romantic Understanding of the Game  

   - Pirsig distinguishes between classical (analytical, technical) and romantic (aesthetic, experiential) approaches. Basketball coaching often leans too far into classical—playbooks, stats, set plays—while neglecting the romantic beauty of improvisation and joy.  

   - Application: Balance structured strategies with opportunities for creative play. Encourage "streetball" elements in practice (e.g., unstructured scrimmages) to develop instinctive decision-making alongside set plays.

3. Overcoming the "Gumption Trap"  

   - Pirsig describes how frustration (e.g., a player’s slump, a team’s losing streak) drains gumption (motivation + confidence). Coaching must address psychological blocks as much as skill gaps.  

   - Application: Use mindfulness techniques (e.g., brief meditation, reflective journaling) to help players reset. Focus on process over results—Pirsig’s "care" as attentiveness to the present moment.

4. The Metaphysics of "Stuckness"  

   - When systems fail (e.g., a play breaks down), Pirsig advises leaning into the problem rather than forcing old solutions. "Stuckness" is a chance to reevaluate assumptions.  

   - Application: If a strategy isn’t working (e.g., a press defense getting beaten), involve players in diagnosing why. This collaborative problem-solving mirrors Pirsig’s mechanic who listens to the motorcycle.

5. Quality in Team Dynamics  

   - Pirsig’s Quality arises when there’s no separation between the doer and the deed. A team operating at Quality moves as one—think the 2014 Spurs’ "beautiful game."  

   - Application: Build chemistry through shared experiences (film study, team dinners) and emphasize *empathy* in play (e.g., passing up a good shot for a teammate’s great shot).

6. The Coach as a Zen Mechanic  

   - Pirsig’s ideal mechanic doesn’t fight the machine but works with it. Similarly, a coach must adapt to their players’ strengths rather than impose a foreign system.  

   - Application: Like tailoring a motorcycle’s carburetor to its engine, design offenses around your personnel (e.g., Princeton sets for high-IQ players, dribble-drive for athletic guards).

Final Thought:  

Pirsig’s Quality in coaching is about removing barriers—between mind and body, planning and instinct, individual and team. The best coaches don’t just teach basketball; they create conditions where the game "teaches itself" through the players. As Pirsig writes, "The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands." For a coach, that improvement starts by recognizing Quality—and getting out of its way.  

Lagniappe. Do you love the game? If you don't, then how can it love you back? 


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Saturday, June 21, 2025

Write the Blog You Want to Read

"Write the book you want to read." - Austin Kleon in Steal Like an Artist

Why write multiple blogs daily and a weekly column? Write the blog you want to read. 

  • Confront the "tyranny of the blank page."
  • Challenge oneself for idea generation.
  • Use both creative and critical imagination.
  • Share what you love.
  • Crystallize vague or mistaken ideas about a topic.
  • Encourage research on specific basketball areas.
  • Praise the praiseworthy and expose the guilty.
  • Deploy analogical thinking. 
  • Climb the Everest of better writing.
  • Inspire young players to read (and write). 

Because the "idea food truck" failed to stop by:

Watch basketball with a critical eye for each team's "intent." And then judge, given the available talent whether they are successful. 

If a team has no cohesive plan, the coach owns it. Director Ron Howard says, "The Director is the keeper of the story." 

Admire (or question) the quality of spacing, cutting, and passing.

Have we taught our players to watch video with "coaches' eyes?"

Ask rhetorically, "Can we correct bad basketball?"

Take pride in the quality of the product (people) whom we help develop. When asked about his team, Coach Amos Alonzo Stagg reportedly said, "Ask me in twenty years and I'll be able to give you a better answer." 

Celebrate teamwork as young people transform from individuals to a cohesive group. 

Recognize and consolidate or lessen the strengths and weaknesses of individuals and teams.

Share what worked and failed and why. 

Inform the joy of stealing without plagiarism. "There is nothing new under the sun."

Become more proficient in using writing and editing tools including artificial intelligence. All "AI Platforms" are not the same. Check a "readability score" from time to time.

The faintest stroke of a pen is more durable than the sharpest mind. So, "Keep a scrapbook and cut and paste things into it, or you can just take pictures of things with your camera phone." - Austin Kleon in Steal Like an Artist.

Lagniappe. Swipe a swipe file. 

Lagniappe 2. Use your imagination in player development. 
View on Threads



Lagniappe 3. Find advice that we could take (after editing). 
View on Threads
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Friday, June 20, 2025

Basketball - "Plan Your Trade"

"Austin had a professor in college who returned her class’s graded essays, walked up to the chalkboard, and wrote in huge letters: “SO WHAT?” She threw the piece of chalk down and said, “Ask yourself that every time you turn in a piece of writing.”" - from Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

Make every time you step in class, on the court, in the weight room special. Coach John Wooden's father taught him, "Make every day your masterpiece." 

Whether it's class, practice, or a game, have an "accomplishment game plan." There's a saying on Wall Street, "Plan your trade. Trade your plan." 

Ask yourself three questions. 
  • How can I improve today? 
  • What do I need to remove from my game? 
  • What isn't in my game that needs to be?
Dot b. Stop and take a breath...and get better. 

Make your game everything it can be.

Lagniappe. Father's Day lessons that can benefit us all. 7. Parenting will give you a crash course and a lifelong lesson in patience.

Lagniappe 2. "“The brain strain of designing the car is tiny compared to the brain strain of designing the factory,” he says." - from Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson  Compare the organizational plan and its implementation to the development of a player. The big picture (factory) has to account for much more than the individual (car). 

Lagniappe 3. Alex Caruso defensive thread 

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Thursday, June 19, 2025

Basketball, A Game of SEPARATION

Separation creates "better" shots than no separation. Talented players, smart players, and collaboration create separation. How?

First, quiz your players. If your offense is poor, find more solutions. Make teams prove they can defend. 

  • With spacing...make defenses cover more territory.
  • With the dribble
  • With deception and footwork 
  • Off the catch (quicker release, stampede)
  • With ball screens
  • With cuts
  • With off-ball screens (simple, complex) 
  • Transition (numbers plus defense not set) 
"Great offense is multiple actions." The corollary is that multiple actions are difficult to guard.

Designing your offense, have more actions for players who create separation and for hard-to-guard blended actions. Poor offenses usually have less separation (spacing, cutting and passing, screen game).

Fundamentals drive strategy. "We can't run what we can't run." 

Don't try to focus on everything. Find edges that work for you.

1) Dribble - pace, crossovers, hesitation, combinations
2) Off the catch - Be "shot ready." Attack with a running catch (stampede)
3) Why would you not teach and use PnR?
4) Choose a few complex screens (Screen-the-screener, Iverson)
5) Play "no dribble" practice to force cut-and-pass mentality (e.g. 4-on-4 halfcourt, 5 vs 7 fullcourt). 

Points to ponder:

1) "Spacing is offense and offense is spacing." Review your video. 
2) If you have elite penetrators, use them. 
3) Early separation with the ball (negative step, stampede, post footwork - McHale Move, Dream Shake, etc) hard to guard
4) Complex screening (Iverson, Spain, screen-the-screener, Gortat screen) difficult to cover
5) Quicker decisions with the ball (0.5 seconds) help
6) Lackadaisical cutting is a major cause of offense failure
7) Forcing long closeouts (e.g. off short roll passing)
8) If you can't shoot, being open isn't much of a solution
9) Be aware of newer developments (see Lagniappe)

Lagniappe. (Repost) Lagniappe. Screen, give, and go. Great stuff from Chris Oliver. 

 Lagniappe 2. Baseline drives with '45 cuts' are hard to handle. 


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Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Basketball - The Enemy Within, the Harbaughs' Four Factors and Ours

Follow the Harbaugh brothers thread to their four "silent forces" that compromise teams:

1) Division within (blame, complaints, excuses, etc.)

2) Noise (from media and others)

3) Fatigue (how do we measure that?)

4) Complacency ("the wind blows hardest at the top of the mountain."

Everyone has their own version of "deadly sins." I offer these:

1) Selfishness. Selfishness puts our individual wants, needs, and desires above those of the team. It's the first of the deadly S's - selfishness, softness, and sloth. Preach team as the primary core value. 

2) Envy. Like selfishness, envy can become contagious. Players, families, and entourages can envy teammates with more minutes, role, and recognition. Ego is the enemy. Madeleine Blais' excellent "In These Girls Hope Is a Muscle" addresses this brilliantly. 

3) Distraction. Success demands focus. The "noise" listed above counts as distraction and other issues (e.g. problems with significant others) can likewise pose problems. 

4) Partying. Player alcohol and substance use keep coaches awake at night. "There's nothing to do in this town." Coaches only have so much control of immature and self-destructive behavior. Strong leadership within the team can help. "This is who we are. That is who we are not." Coach Saban says players need to understand what must be done and what must not...and then do it or keep themselves from it. 

Lagniappe. Screen, give, and go. Great stuff from Chris Oliver. 

Lagniappe 2. Few actions inspire us more than hearing others express confidence in us. 


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Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Playing Time Has More Inputs than You Think*

*Adapted from my volleyball blog


A volleyball coach discusses some of the many elements that define playing time. They differ from basketball in several ways including the role of service and the distinction between front and back row players. 

Conceptual overlaps occur and other points deserve mention. 

1) Ability (technical skill). Skill is necessary but not sufficient. Skill complements size and athleticism. Players with less technical excellence can compensate with higher tactical knowledge (BBIQ), toughness, and mental resilience. 

2) Basketball IQ. Think back to Wooden's Pyramid of Success. Flanking the peak are faith and patience. It takes time to develop the experience to improve decisions and execution. A player like Pascal Siakam from Cameroon who didn't start playing until he was seventeen is a basketball marvel. 

3)Collaboration/communication/teamwork. Becoming a great team player who makes those around you better creates value for both the team and the individual. Blending skill and team play is a force multiplier that helped Jrue Holiday and Derrick White become both NBA and Olympic champions. 

4) Practice attendance and performance. With a limited schedule in high school, there's no 'load management'. One of Jay Bilas's "Toughness" standards is, "Play so hard that your coach has to take you out." 

5) Attitude. Nobody builds a positive life with a negative attitude. Attitude impacts our life experience - at home, school, and sports. The great modern era players all blend talent with hard work and determination, the will to prepare to be their best. 

Other factors that determine minutes and roles include:
  • Reliability. How prone to mistakes is the player?
  • Performance under pressure
  • Trust. Do I need the player out there "in the moment?"
A high school Hall of Fame coach reminded me never to overlook trust. Be the player the coach trusts to be out there in the moment. 

In my opinion, players (and parents) overestimate the role of coach-assigned playing time. In the varsity setting where winning matters, the players and their performance dictate roles and responsibilities.

Lagniappe. Multiple action screening 
Lagniappe 2. Defeating switching. 

 

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Monday, June 16, 2025

Basketball - Hippos, Elephants, and Coaching Friction

The Friction Project by Sutton and Rao addresses friction and its impact on organizations. Friction (barriers, obstacles, limitations) can be good or bad. Invariably, "task-orientation" conflicts with "relationship orientation." Ideally both converge with a better product and experience. 

Let's address solutions first:

1. Be an elephant, with big ears and a smaller mouth, instead of a hippo. Listen more and speak less. 

2. Subtract. Find what we can eliminate as in excessive meetings, emails, and blame-focused evaluations. 

3. Prioritize the player experience. That always comes in conflict with minutes, roles, and recognition. 

4. Combat perfectionism. Chase excellence above perfection. 

5. Apply generative AI (eventually) to improve individual and team productivity including predicting their attack and defense. 

Where can friction be helpful? Imagine that we had unlimited practice time. Would we feel pressured to be efficient? And what about the impact on the players' families and on their studies? Sports can rob Peter and pay Paul. Coaching requires 'order and discipline', along with fun. 

In medicine, making prescription of opioids more difficult to obtain reduced opioid prescriptions and probably toxicity and addiction. Making access to weight loss drugs (e.g. semaglutide/Ozempic) harder created a lot of friction for "providers" and dissatisfaction for patients. 

Think of examples of friction in your athletic career. Half of our high school burned down in 1971 from arson. We went on 'double sessions' upperclassmen 7-12 and underclassmen 12-5. Basketball practice moved to the evenings. Afternoon playoff games excluded an underclassman (who was drafted by the NBA and NFL) whom administrators refused to release from class. 

As a sophomore (before the fire), varsity baseball selection beckoned...but not playing time. After a few games, I thanked the coach for picking me and asked if I could be "demoted" to JV where I could get more playing experience for the future. That worked out well. Demotion reduced friction.

Friction can appears as time, resources (courts and equipment), and the usual issues of playing time, roles, and recognition. 

Lagniappe. Coach Nick interviews Thibs on 'ice' defense concepts. 

Lagniappe 2. AI consultation re: The Friction Project from ChatGPT...

In The Friction Project, Robert Sutton and Huggy Rao examine how friction—anything that makes work harder than it needs to be—can either hinder or help performance, depending on the context. In high school sports, friction can have both positive and negative effects, shaping team culture, performance, and growth. Here are five examples of each:

1. Friction: Strict Coaching Standards

  • Positive: Clear expectations and accountability build discipline, structure, and long-term success.

  • Negative: Overbearing or rigid coaching may stifle creativity, erode morale, or lead to burnout.

2. Friction: Competing Priorities (Academics vs. Athletics)

  • Positive: Balancing school and sports teaches time management and resilience.

  • Negative: Constant juggling can lead to stress, reduced focus, or dropout from either domain.

3. Friction: Team Conflicts or Role Disputes

  • Positive: When managed well, conflict fosters communication, clarifies roles, and strengthens cohesion.

  • Negative: Poorly handled conflict fractures team chemistry and undermines trust.

4. Friction: Physical and Mental Demands of Training

  • Positive: Adversity builds toughness, self-efficacy, and identity as an athlete.

  • Negative: Excessive demands may cause injury, fatigue, or disillusionment.

5. Friction: Administrative Bureaucracy (eligibility rules, scheduling)

  • Positive: Structure ensures fairness, safety, and proper oversight.

  • Negative: Excess red tape slows progress, causes frustration, or leads to missed opportunities.

Conclusion: In high school sports, some friction sharpens athletes and programs, while other friction grinds them down. Leaders must learn to reduce bad friction (pointless barriers) and amplify good friction (discipline, effort, challenge with purpose).

Lagniappe 3. Generative AI depends on how we use it. Can we apply "opponent models" and predict how they will attack and defend? Can we eventually produce "IEPs" for players to maximize their contribution? 

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