Basketball - Nobody Should Want My Opinion. Someone Will Benefit Anyway.

"Basketball is sharing." - Phil Jackson

Top coaches are lifelong learners who practice openness and flexibility. Are we among them or are we locked in to our beliefs? Bill Parcells reminds us, "you are what your record says you are."

What could we do differently that might impact winning? Think about creating a one page "go by" for each of these six areas. Do I expect young players to do the work? Only those who want to chase excellence.

My mentee Cecilia was on the Patriot League All-Rookie team and has been contacted by over forty schools in the portal. She hasn't made a decision to stay or to go elsewhere. 

1) Player development. Develop players with skills to attack the basket, pick-and-roll players, and shooters who can do more than make occasional open catch-and-shoot threes. How often do shades of "The Beautiful Game" emerge during high school?   

How often in generic high school games do you see players applying "box drills," "wing and jab series," and other individual attack moves? 

Here are some links I sent to my son for help my granddaughter (eight):

1a. Form shooting (Hoibert) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ai8P7SsYhE&t=1s

1b. the best warmup ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnSMStne-5A&t=1s

2. Compendium

Attack mentality. Choose from a 'menu' of improvements. Invest the time to review multiple videos. You don't need to develop every one. 

• Stampede (attack on the go)
• Float dribble/hang dribble
• Negative step 
• Jab step
• Decelerations

3. Box drills  (absolutely great drills) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmyJF0s6gA&t=1s

4. Athleticism drills  (sport rewards explosive athletes)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szJXg72tyZ8&t=437s

5. 50 ways to jump rope  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jump+rope+50

6. Curry footwork and pickups https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjyfWshg-SI&t=57s

Too advanced for now...but can shoot from 5 feet out. https://ronsenbasketball.blogspot.com/2024/03/basketball-forget-clicheshow-two.html

2) Strategy 

• Film study
• Analytics
• Offense - use hard-to-defend actions
• Defense - start with contain the ball and "one bad shot"
• Special situations train a reliable inbounder (vital)

3) Physical training

4) Psychology/Resilience (mindfulness - includes slideshow links)

5) Fundraising

6) Community outreach - Be a "Say yes" guy.

Lagniappe. What's the purpose of youth and middle school basketball? Is it coaching ego support or player development? 

YOUTH ZONE

Having coached youth for a while now, playing Zone is the ultimate cheat code. Players can’t pass far enough or shoot from distance enough to effectively beat a zone. To me, it’s a waste of time playing against a zone in youth basketball. Although I do understand… pic.twitter.com/ZpTMdL0CVd

— Steve Dagostino (@DagsBasketball) April 11, 2025

 Lagniappe 2. Start with the end in mind? 

Ways To Increase Your Intelligence pic.twitter.com/rV9s4qE4co

— ImprovementYou ⚜️ (@ImprovementYou) April 11, 2025

Lagniappe 3. Whom do we become?  

"Games reveal what you do in practice.
Practice reveals what you do on your own.
What you do on your own reveals your character and your ability to motivate yourself."@BallisPsych pic.twitter.com/j1zSLaZ9Kz

— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) April 7, 2025