"The design of a murder book was consistent across all department homicide squads. It was divided into twenty-six sections—crime scene reports, lab reports, photos, witness statements, and so on. The first section was always the chronological record." From Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly
"Yes. I learn what you think is important, how you put things together, make conclusions. You remember you told me once that all the answers are usually in the murder book. We just don’t see them." - from “The Crossing “ by Michael Connelly
What belongs and what organization should our “basketball murder books” have?
Introduction. The goal of the digital record is to establish an updatable history of our season. Review creates chances to learn and improve.
Chronological record. Start with tryouts and proceed through team selection, practice, and individual game reports.
Major suspects. What teams, styles of play, and individuals both others and ours caused GBH (grievous basketball harm).
Lesser suspects. Additional factors impact results - team depth, assistant coaches, managers, administrators.
Offense. Where do our points arise or not arise? Are we struggling against pressure, man, zone defenses? How is our spacing, cutting and passing, shot selection? Are we turning the ball over too much? Do we get to the line and convert?
Defense. How much resistance are we putting up? How is our transition D, ball pressure, denial, limiting penetration, challenging shots, controlling the boards? Do we communicate well, some, or poorly? Are we fouling for profit or our demise?
Conversion. How well do we go from offense to defense and defense to offense?
Forensics and Analytics. What is the relative balance of the Four Factors - effective field goal percentage, turnovers, rebounding, and free throws. SPCA (shooting, protecting the ball, crash, and attacking to get fouled).
Crime scene Photos and Video. Still pictures and video allow us to ask, "what did you see" and "what did you do?"
Witness statements. Observers often don't see accurately or the same thing. Parents' eyes and coaches' eyes see through different lenses both focus and color. Assistants sometimes point out vital findings that we didn't see. Ignore the noise of media and fans.
Summary. Analogy is a valuable tool. "Victory has a thousand fathers and defeat is an orphan." The capacity to self-reflection, see objectively, trend accurately, and make corrections has a name - coaching.
Lagniappe. Don't be provincial. Ideas from around the world can help.
22:00 of the best sets and actions for SLOB’s from the 24-25 Spanish ACB League. Every team included. If you’re a coach looking to upgrade your SLOB package, this is a must-watch. pic.twitter.com/Nx4nJuGlJ2
— Isaiah Taveras (@IsaiahTaveras) July 28, 2025
