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Sunday, October 5, 2025

Basketball - Seeing Problems as Possibilities

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Leadership and coaching often feel like endless problem-solving. Poor shot selection. Turnovers. Communication breakdowns. Missed assignments. The list never ends.

But as John Maxwell reminds us in The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player, the best leaders aren’t problem-oriented — they’re solution-oriented.

He tells the story of John Walsh, whose six-year-old son Adam was kidnapped and murdered in 1981. Walsh could have been consumed by anger or paralysis. Instead, he founded the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which helped raise the recovery rate of missing children to over 90 percent. That converted pain into purpose.

Maxwell’s lesson: problems are a matter of perspective. They define us or refine us.

From Basketball to Life: The Same Choice

Every team faces recurring issues — poor spacing, careless turnovers, soft transition defense. Those are not moral failings; they’re diagnoses. Like a doctor naming an illness, as a cause is identified, prescribe treatment.

The danger comes when we allow issues to become habits of defeat. A missed rotation becomes a shrug. A turnover becomes a pattern.
And that’s where Kevin Eastman’s pragmatic wisdom kicks in:

Do it better.
Do it harder.
Change personnel.
If it ain’t working, change the strategy.

That’s a coach’s version of solution orientation. Don’t curse the problem — cure it.

Stretch or Stop

Every problem either stretches us or stops us. If we face it honestly, it stretches our discipline, focus, and creativity. If we avoid it, it stops growth cold.

Eastman says the best teams “live the truth, tell the truth, and take the truth.” Identifying a problem is only half the truth; taking action completes it.

Choosing Solutions

In sports and leadership, solvable problems masquerade as crises:

  • Poor communication? Set clearer terminology and routines.

  • Inattention? Shorten drills and increase engagement.

  • Bad spacing or timing? Use film, not frustration, to teach awareness.

  • Low energy? Redefine accountability and ownership.

The difference between a losing team and a learning team isn’t the absence of problems — it’s the presence of solutions.

The Question Worth Asking

When something’s not working, before frustration takes over, ask:

“What obvious solution is right in front of us?”

Often it’s not a new offense, a new drill, or a new player. It’s a renewed commitment to doing the fundamentals better, harder, and smarter. Transform challenges into catalysts — and make the leap from merely surviving problems to solving them.

Lagniappe. Another shooting approach. 



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Saturday, October 4, 2025

Basketball and Volleyball - Coaching Is Teaching

Doug Lemov’s The Coach’s Guide to Teaching refines one point - coaching is teaching. The best coaches don't run drills; they shape how players think, learn, react, and remember. Here are six lessons from his work, applied to basketball, with parallels to the volleyball court.

1. Attention Is the Starting Point

"Start with the end in mind." In basketball, Mike Krzyzewski demanded laser focus even on simple warm-ups. If attention slips during a passing drill, it will vanish under full-court pressure.

Volleyball parallel: attention to detail matters in serve-receive. If an athlete lets their platform angle wander or their eyes follow the scoreboard, the point is gone. Coaches build habits of attention by demanding sharp posture and readiness on every ball, even in warm-up passing lines.

How much focus can you generate? Can you catch a tennis ball consistently on your platform?  When you can, then a volleyball should be easier. 

2. Memory Drives Learning

Wooden’s UCLA teams practiced fundamentals over and over with small variations—repetition without repetition. That way, players weren’t memorizing a drill; they were building recall they could use in different games.

Volleyball parallel: blocking schemes work the same way. You don’t just block line every day. You alternate line, cross, soft block, read the setter, then rotate. Spacing those situations out and revisiting them builds memory under pressure. When the big outside goes cross late in the set, your middle recalls the footwork instantly.

3. Feedback Must Be Precise and Manageable

Brad Stevens was known for his short, surgical adjustments: “Force baseline here.” One cue, not a lecture. Brian McCormick reminds coaches - no lines, no laps, no lectures. 

Volleyball parallel: instead of stopping play to correct everything—“get lower, move sooner, watch the hitter’s shoulder”—pick one cue: “late hands” or “beat her to the spot.” Give players something they can act on right away. Volleyball moves too quickly for paragraphs of feedback.

4. Transfer Matters More Than Drill Mastery

Geno Auriemma ends UConn drills with chaos: fatigue, pressure, contact. He knows perfect free throws in silence don’t win games—transfer under stress does.

Volleyball parallel: perfect hitting lines against no block don’t tell you much. Can your outside score after a long rally when the block is set and the defense is waiting? That’s transfer. Game-like reps—transition swings, serve under pressure, digging in long rallies—are what stick when it matters most.

5. Culture Shapes Learning

The 2008 Celtics lived by Ubuntu: trust and unselfishness. Mistakes were allowed, effort was required. 

Volleyball parallel: a team that embraces errors as learning grows faster. If players realize a missed serve but bear down on the next rep, they build resilience. Coaches set the tone—effort and communication must be non-negotiable. In volleyball, where trust in coverage and defensive responsibility is everything, culture is performance.

6. Teaching Is Deliberate, Not Accidental

Wooden scripted practices down to the minute. Nothing was left to chance—every rep carried a teaching point.

Volleyball parallel: the best practices don’t just run six-on-six for 45 minutes. They script: footwork warm-up, serve-receive with feedback, transition defense, then pressure scrimmage. Each piece builds on the next. Great coaches teach deliberately.

Basketball and volleyball look different on the surface—one has a hoop, the other a net. But both are our teaching laboratories. Attention, feedback, transfer, culture, and deliberate practice aren’t just buzzwords—they’re the lifeblood of how athletes learn.

Coaching is teaching. Teaching well is how you build not just good teams, but sustainable teams. 

Lagniappe. Self-talk is a separator. 

Lagniappe 2. Coaches celebrate the success of our players. A former player graduates from veterinary school in a few months and will return to the area.  

Lagniappe 3. Exceptional coaches inform special preparation. 

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Friday, October 3, 2025

Defensive Game Planning - Learn from Football

Principles of coaching often cross domains. Physical and mental preparation, discipline, and resilience must be present to win. Good teams seldom give away games. 

Study successful programs, coaches, and stars. Are you a "game plan" coach or do you "do what we do?" If you're successful, then you're right. 

Former Patriots defensive coordinator (and engineer) Matt Patricia discusses defensive philosophy in a candid, expletive-filled podcast. 

Execution follows people, strategy, and operations. Having the right people in the right seats, strategy based on film study, and players capable of high performance separated Super Bowl teams. 

Matty P: "What do we have to do to win this game and what people do we have to do it (it starts with "who do we have?").

Some teams are star-focused in basketball. How do we AFFECT the opposing (star) quarterback via DISRUPTION of the offensive line? In basketball, that may mean disrupting the key player (point guard or point forward) who are creators. 

Scheme matchups with big picture concepts and the fine details. Football has fewer possessions, making each possession more critical. For basketball, disrupting end-of-quarter, end-of-game, and special situations (BOB, SLOB, ATOs) has special significance. 

A question for coaches, should basketball have an offensive and defensive coordinator?

Patricia emphasizes "competitive stamina." This mirrors what Coach Dave Smart says about building a team capable of playing "harder for longer." 

"Can you put doubt in an opponent's heads." Patricia spoke highly of Ravens former safety Ed Reed who was highly intuitive and unpredictable.

Patricia: "I love the boos; it means you're relevant." It's true, there's little reward on "hating on" bad teams. At the same time, he shows great respect for quality opponents - individual and teams. 

Attack weaknesses. "Find the fish...who's the most scared?" Young, less experienced players are vulnerable to missing assignments and making poor decisions. 

Be aware of situational tendencies. For example, ATO late half against 'better coaches' I'd alert team to expect PnR. Or late game, know that some teams would "switch everything" and we'd look to get big on small (mouse in the house). 

Apply AI to your benefit. The use of AI for game planning, training, and near real-time inputs are still in infancy. 

Practice what you are going to see in a game.

"Country and City...if you're in the country (space) pick up the ball. If you're in the city, jump on it." 

Lagniappe. EXPLICIT LANGUAGE The method behind the madness... 

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Thursday, October 2, 2025

Basketball and Writing Are Both Art

"Be so good they can't ignore you." - Steve Martin

"The problem with the Lone Genius myth is twofold. For starters, it paints a warped picture in which most geniuses just so happen to be dead white men. Think Einstein, Picasso, or Mozart. It also excludes the partners, collaborators, mentors, benefactors and influences who made the work of these men possible. It depicts creativity as an antisocial activity, when in reality, it's almost always a result of an ecology of talent." - from the Show Your Work summary

Writing 'shows our work'. It doesn't show the life experiences and reading that underpinned it. Make our work reveal those and provide self-discovery more than self-promotion. Most coaches can't show their work. 

Dumpster diving is essential to being an artist, even with a figurative dumpster. Mine have been coaching clinics, used bookstores with dog-eared paperbacks, and lots of YouTube video. Somewhere after Popovich's "Figure it out," I realized that growth isn't adopting coaching methods - it's finding what contradictions you can live with. 

Warren Buffett tells the world how he invests, but I remember finishing The Snowball and knowing that I could memorize every page and still not be Buffett. Coach K can describe his drills, but that doesn’t make us him. At best, it makes us a little more ourselves.

That gap between knowledge and identity taunted me in my early coaching years. I’d pile up notes, try to do too much, and inevitably the team played confused. My daughters said I picked too many kids with ADD. I thought it was the coaching. I started to recognize when I coached badly - and that began a step toward coaching better. Simplicity comes with experience.

The more practices I ran, the more mistakes I could own and adjust. Rushdie calls it the shift from “creative imagination” to “critical imagination.” For me, it was the shift from scribbling plays to learning how to edit, prune, and teach them.

"Repetitions make reputations." Writers improve by writing. Coaches have to coach. Consider volunteering as an assistant. Ask experienced coaches if you can watch their practice. 

It would be fascinating to hear great coaches discuss their coaching arc. 

  • "Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgment."
  • "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want." 
  • "No amount of sophistication is going to allay the fact that all your knowledge is about the past and all your decisions are about the future." - GE executive Ian Wilson, via James Clear

We discuss player development far more than we discuss coaching development. People forget that John Wooden won his first title at UCLA in his sixteenth season. Overnight success is more myth than reality.
The best books inform useful information on every page. Yuval Noah Harari books like Sapiens or 21 Lessons for the 21st Century are slow reads because they're packed with information and speculation. The best coaches have a wealth of knowledge, the perspective to use it, and the connection with players to apply it. Look within the game to see what both coaches want to accomplish. 
Lagniappe. "Pound the rock."  
Lagniappe 2. Coach K on defense...


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Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Basketball - "Figure it Out"

Basketball is problem solving. Gregg Popovich puts it bluntly: “Figure it out.” But writer Anne Lamott cautions, “Figure it out is a bad slogan.”

Both can be true. Experienced players solve problems that younger players cannot. The latter need patience, mentoring, and tools that don’t come naturally.

Coach Dave Smart argues that good teams excel in three areas: transition defense, half-court execution, and pick-and-roll offense and defense. None come naturally; all require deliberate teaching and relentless repetition.

That’s why players need a framework—this is how we do it—and the practice time to transform knowledge into competence. When execution falters, the cause could be players, coaching, scheme, or some combination. As Bill Parcells put it, “You are what your record says you are.”

Perspective complicates the picture. Former England cricket selector Ed Smith reconciled the inside view of those closest to the action and the outside view of observers with distance. Both perspectives hold value, but both are vulnerable to self-serving bias.

So, like “figure it out,” perspective depends on viewpoint. The Houston Rockets’ gamble on Kevin Durant adds an Old Hand for a short-term push while Phoenix’s side of the trade signals commitment to a full rebuild. Each decision makes sense—depending on the lens you use.

Lagniappe. Are you taking the temperature of the room or setting it? 

Lagniappe 2. Hard conversations are a skill. 

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Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Basketball Silos

Despite a wealth of information, sometimes that knowledge remains compartmentalized because of "silos."

What are silos?

Organizational silos represent isolated pockets within an organization where departments or teams operate independently, often to the detriment of seamless communication and collaboration.

Silos in government, especially national defense, contributed to vulnerability to terrorism. 

Why do they exist?

Agencies were reluctant to share information with others. Part of that reticence is known as "turf." That can relate to pride, desire for recognition, or sometimes entrenched policy. 

In basketball, silos result from "me first" mentality. 

What are the consequences of silos? 

Silos create underperformance. An assistant may feel unwilling to share with the head coach. Upperclassmen may not help younger players out of fear of losing playing time or status. 

How do we identify them?

Silos can be hard to detect. We don't know what we don't know. Coaching girls, I found value in having a female assistant who might communicate with players in a different style or relate better. 

How do we resolve the issue? 

Tackle silos head on. They can be persistent and failure to address them can result in system failures. 

Here's a brief summary of how silos hurt basketball teams:

How Silos Hurt Basketball Teams

  1. Poor Communication

    • Guards, wings, and posts stop talking. Missed switches, blown coverages, and wasted possessions pile up.

  2. Fragmented Goals

    • Each group chases its own agenda (e.g., “I got my points” vs. “We got the stop”), instead of the team’s scoreboard. When the scorebook becomes more important than the scoreboard, trouble follows. 

  3. Mistrust Across Roles

    • Shooters don’t believe the pass will come. Defenders think nobody has their back. Trust erodes.

  4. Slow Adaptation

    • Without cross-unit collaboration, in-game adjustments take too long. Opponents exploit gaps.

  5. Duplication of Effort

    • Two players guard the same man while another is left open — wasted energy from lack of coordination.

  6. No Shared Language

    • If the bigs call screens one way and the guards another, breakdowns are inevitable. Teams need a unified lexicon, not "this is how we did it there." 

  7. Stifled Creativity

    • Isolation of roles kills synergy. The best actions — drive-kick-swing, screen-the-screener — require tight interconnection.

  8. Blame Culture

    • Each “silo” points fingers at others: offense blames defense, starters blame bench, upperclassmen blame younger players. 

  9. Inconsistent Standards

    • When groups hold themselves to different expectations (effort, shot selection, discipline), the culture fractures. "The standard is the standard."

  10. Loss of Resilience

  • When adversity hits, silos make it harder to rally together — the team frays instead of uniting. You're lucky if you haven't seen a team fracture. 

Silos are the opposite of teamwork as individuals or cliques keep information to themselves. 

Lagniappe. "Movement kills defenses." So, what resuscitates them? 

Lagniappe 2. General Stanley McChrystal wrote an important book, Team of Teams about US Intelligence in Iraq and how eliminating silos helped improve performance. Successful coaches get players to believe team first. 

📘 Team of Teams — One-Page Cheat Sheet (from ChatGPT Plus)

Core Idea

  • The world is now complex (fast, interconnected, unpredictable).

  • Traditional siloed, hierarchical organizations are too slow and rigid.

  • To adapt, large groups must operate more like small, networked teams: fast, connected, and empowered.

🔑 Principles

  1. From Silos to Network

    • Replace “command of teams” with a team of teams: interconnected, transparent, and trust-based.

  2. Shared Consciousness

    • Make information broadly available (“duty to share” instead of “need to know”).

    • Build a common picture so all teams see the bigger mission, not just their piece.

  3. Empowered Execution

    • Push authority downward.

    • With context + trust, frontline teams can make fast, informed decisions.

  4. Embedding & Lateral Ties

    • Rotate/insert people across teams to build personal trust and break barriers.

  5. Leader as Gardener

    • Leaders set culture, trust, and systems — they nurture instead of micromanaging moves.

  6. Adaptability over Efficiency

    • Optimize for resilience, agility, and fast learning rather than pure efficiency.

⚙️ Practices that Broke Silos

  • Daily open O&I briefings: info shared across all units.

  • Cross-team embedding: people placed in other teams to bridge.

  • Office design for interaction: physical and structural changes to encourage flow.

  • Rewarding system wins, not local wins: incentives aligned to shared mission.

🧭 Application Beyond Military

  • Corporations: break silos between departments (e.g. marketing ↔ engineering).

  • Healthcare: cross-functional care teams instead of isolated specialists.

  • Sports: integrate scouts, analytics, coaches, and players into a shared view.

⚠️ Watchouts

  • Too much decentralization risks chaos.

  • Entrenched culture and incentives resist change.

  • Some industries require standardization and compliance.


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Monday, September 29, 2025

Abandon a 9 to 5 Attitude

Draw from ideas around you. Are you on LinkedIn? Every day leaders share thought-provoking ideas. Some apply to coaching. Are you complacent?

Excerpts: 

1) Stop letting opportunities pass you by.

2) To whom much is given, much is required‼️ But you can’t keep asking for more while staying exactly the same.🙄

3) “Comfort is the enemy of growth.”
If you’re too comfortable, you’re probably not growing.

As a player, do extra. Study the best players in the league. Why are they the best? Former Patriots Director of Football Research Ernie Adams says, "If you really want to know...write it down." 

Ask yourself, "How do I earn a role? How can I improve? What hinders me? 

What skill do I need to get me and keep me on the court? 

Here's the deal. "Champions do extra." The unrequired work separates exceptional from excellent, excellent from very good. 

Lagniappe. "Our best players are our hardest workers." - Dan Campbell 
Lagniappe 2. Every coach talks about the value of repetitions. It's the same with our emphasis, our teaching. Coach told us again and again, "Sacrifice" and "I'm pleased but I'm not satisfied." Our choices define us. 

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Sunday, September 28, 2025

Learn About Basketball and the "Guardiola Way" - Space, Time, and Emotion

Study greatness. That's among the greatest messages available. Pep Guardiola's "Barca" teams dominated the soccer world for almost two decades. How?

In Inverting the Pyramid Jonathan Wilson notes the Brazilian distinction between futebal d'arte and futebal de resultados, the conflict between style and results.

The book applies across countries and even sports:

Universal Value for Coaches (even outside soccer)

  • Adaptation: Strategies must evolve, never staying static.

  • Balance: Seek harmony between attack and defense, risk and caution.

  • Learning across borders: Innovation spreads by borrowing and revising ideas from others.

Pep Guardiola is known as one of soccer’s great innovators, but many of his ideas translate directly to basketball. He teaches principles about space, tempo, decision-making, and emotional control. Here are a few lessons worth stealing.

Spacing Wins Games

Spacing emphasis isn't novel. Chuck Daly preached, "Offense is spacing and spacing is offense." Guardiola’s juego de posición—positional play— stretches the defense by occupying the right zones. Basketball has its own version: 5-out spacing, filled the corners, or locating a shooter in the short corner. Spacing opens lanes, creates easier reads, and simplifies the game.

Create and Exploit Advantages

Guardiola talks about “superiorities”—numerical, positional, and qualitative. Basketball lives on the same principle:

  • A 2-on-1 in transition.

  • A guard posting a smaller defender.

  • A scorer isolated against the wrong matchup. The best teams create these advantages deliberately and cash them in.

Value Every Possession

Preach playing "possession by possession." Soccer possession describes ball control. In basketball, it means turnovers, pace, and rebounding. Every possession matters. Teams that protect the ball, control tempo, and clean the glass win the math.

Train for Chaos

Guardiola’s training sessions train complexity. Small-sided games—3-on-3, 4-on-4—force players to read, decide, and act under pressure. Random practice sharpens decision-making beyond scripted drills.

Be Flexible

Guardiola will change formations on the fly. Basketball coaches can shift, too—switch from man to zone, change ball-screen coverage, or alter tempo. The game is dynamic; changing strategies requires players with high basketball IQ. 

Let the System Elevate Players

Guardiola’s teams don’t rely on "hero ball." Teams thrive when the system illuminates the stars. The Spurs’ ball movement, the Warriors’ split actions, or a crisp motion offense share truth: structure creates freedom.

Control Emotions

Finally, Guardiola talks about “emotional superiority.” In basketball, it’s poise—at the free throw line, in the middle of a run, or in the huddle. Calm teams execute. They throw the ball away less, make fewer mental errors, and commit fewer 'stupid fouls'. 

Control the game by mastering space (spacing), time (possessions), and emotion (composure). Guardiola’s principles are universal. And basketball, maybe more than any sport, rewards the teams that master them.

Lagniappe. Learn and share. From the weekly "Brain Food" newsletter... Investor Charlie Munger:  “I think that a life properly lived is just learn, learn, learn all the time.”

Lagniappe 2. Many issues can bring teams down. Lay out and demand high expectations and standards. 


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Saturday, September 27, 2025

Professionalism - Extend It Across the Spectrum of Sports

Professionalism is measured in the “minor leagues of life.” If you can’t take small assignments seriously, you won’t suddenly rise to excellence in the spotlight.

We know professionalism when we see it. Left fielder B.J. Surhoff backed up a throw from right field to third base in the eighth inning of a meaningless blowout at Fenway Park in game 161. Both the Orioles and the Red Sox were playing out the string. Nobody would have noticed if he hadn't. Professionalism means doing what is expected when nobody watches. 

Pre-adolescents can be professional. 

  • Show up on time. 
  • Be mentally and physically prepared.
  • Have spare gear or medication if needed.
  • Have water and/or a sports drink with you. 
  • Bring full attention. 
  • Energize yourself and teammates. 
  • Be the hardest worker.
Example. After a hard loss, one player sought to take responsibility for a loss. Her teammate said, "No. We win as a team and we lose as a team." Empathy is professional. 

Coaches can be professional.
  • Develop a practice schedule, ideally written. 
  • Study the game.
  • Work on teaching methods - teaching eye contact and focus, call and response, the Socratic Method of questioning.
  • Treat players and families with respect. 
  • Set clear expectations. 
Example. Years ago at a parent meeting, a parent complained about a lack of teaching. Another mother spoke, "I'm at every practice. There is a lot of teaching. There may not be enough listening." 

Officials can be professional. 
  • Communicate calls clearly. 
  • Understand that players care. 
  • Keep players safe.
  • Respect players and coaches and give your best effort. 
Example. I recently attended a game (not basketball) where one team clearly committed a violation that impacted the outcome. The opposing coach asked the official why the correct call was not made. The official told the coach, that they didn't want that call to decide the outcome. Players were visibly upset after the close contest. Players' feelings don't come as JV or varsity emotion. 

Professionalism isn’t about age, status, or paycheck. It’s about attitude, preparation, and respect. We know it when we see it — and others are always watching, whether we notice or not.

Lagniappe. Here's a quote from Michael Connelly's Nightshade. "It was called If I’d Known Then. Tash told him it was a collection of letters women in their twenties and thirties had written to their younger selves." What would you tell a younger player or coach version of yourself that would make a difference. 

Lagniappe 2. Ask players what makes a good defender. 

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Friday, September 26, 2025

Coaching Is Teaching: Six Lessons for Basketball

Doug Lemov’s The Coach’s Guide to Teaching emphasizes that coaching is teaching. The best coaches aren’t drill instructors; they shape how players think, learn, and remember. Here are six lessons from his work, transferred to the basketball court.

1. Attention Is the Starting Point

In basketball, the ball creates energy. Coaches who keep players’ eyes and minds sharp get the most from practice. Mike Krzyzewski used to start Duke practices by demanding laser focus from the first drill. If a player drifted—even on a warm-up passing line—he stopped it cold. Why? Because attention on the “easy” reps translates to attention when the game is on the line.

What we did. Energize practice with ballhandling first. Dribble tag inside the arc with constraints, such as one minute opposite hand intervals, builds skill and competition. 

2. Memory Drives Learning

A player doesn’t improve because they did a drill once. They improve because they return to it, recall it, and use it. John Wooden called this “repetition without repetition.” His UCLA teams worked on the same fundamentals daily, but always with small tweaks. That way, players weren’t just going through the motions—they built recall that held up in different contexts, like a guard recognizing the angle of a screen in real time.

What we did. We added constraints. Pressure full-court scrimmaging went five versus seven, sometimes without dribbling allowed to demand pass and cut mentality. 

3. Feedback Must Be Precise and Manageable

“Stay low,” “active hands,” “see both - ball and man.” Short, specific cues land. Brad Stevens at Butler practiced calm, surgical feedback. During timeouts, he’d often give one adjustment—“force baseline here”—and trust his players to execute. Too much feedback overwhelms. Feedback has to match the pace of the game.

What we did. We often provided written feedback via parents using 'sandwich technique', a correction or coaching point between praise.

4. Transfer Matters More Than Drill Mastery

Hitting fifteen free throws in a row at practice feels good. But can you knock one down after sprinting the floor and getting fouled hard? Geno Auriemma designs UConn practices where the drill ends with fatigue, contact, and chaos—because that’s where real games live. Skills mastered randomly help win championships.

What we did. Players love to compete - scrimmaging, drills with winners, and underdogs with a chance to beat 'star' players in shooting contests. 

5. Culture Shapes Learning

Great basketball programs aren’t just teaching plays—they’re teaching players how to learn. The 2008 Boston Celtics lived by Ubuntu, a culture of trust and unselfishness. Kevin Garnett demanded effort, Paul Pierce demanded precision, and Doc Rivers demanded accountability. Teammates pushed each other because the culture made mistakes safe but effort non-negotiable. Turn practice into progress.

What we did. We shared achievement stories, often about women. Arlene Blum climbing Annapurna (over 8,000 meters) with an all-female crew. Frances Perkins became the first woman cabinet secretary (Labor) during the FDR administration. Rosalind Franklin, the less well-known scientist owned DNA discovery, separate from Watson and Crick. 

6. Teaching Is Deliberate

Basketball demands core technique, but also improvisation like jazz. Wooden famously scripted practices down to the minute. Every rep had a purpose, every drill an emphasis. Even huddles were planned—what to prioritize and reinforce. Coaches as teachers raise not only players’ skills but their basketball IQ.

What we did. 

Basketball isn’t just a game of talent. It’s a game of attention, memory, and transfer. Coaching is teaching, and we provided laminated handouts for key teaching points and composition notebooks for notetaking. 

Lagniappe. Coach Tony Miller shares a great culture idea from his program. "What have you done?" 

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Thursday, September 25, 2025

Controversy in Basketball

Never believe that "all publicity is good publicity." 

When the office of baseball Commissioner was created in 1920 (in response to the 1919 Black Sox scandal), Kenesaw Mountain Landis was given sweeping powers. The Commissioner was empowered to act in cases that, even if not specifically covered by the rulebook, threatened the game’s integrity. The wording granted him authority to act “in the best interests of the game of baseball.”

The closest clause in professional basketball is, “Detrimental to the NBA.”

Let's think about examples of detrimental. 

Character

The NBA forced owner Donald Sterling out after overtly racist comments were revealed on tape. With the technology available today, what amounts to proof going forward? Artificial intelligence moves the goalposts daily as deepfakes are widely available. 

Sports mechanics 

Sports mechanics "fix" games. We've all seen games where a player inexplicably plays poorly. We presume that is the random 'off night'. Revelations that Tim Donaghy officiated games to influence outcomes showed fractured integrity. 

Gambling

With the rise of sports gambling, the boundaries of the unknown unknown have virtually disappeared. From ChatGPT Plus:

The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) contains specific requirements related to anti-gambling training:

  • Annual “anti-gambling training session”:
    All players are required each season to attend one anti-gambling education session, conducted either by their team or by the NBA.

  • Rookie Transition Program / Team Awareness Meetings:
    As part of broader orientation and awareness programs, rookies in particular receive sessions that cover gambling awareness (alongside topics like media, mental health, substance use, etc.).

  • Penalties for nonattendance:
    If a player fails (without just cause) to attend the anti-gambling training session, the CBA allows for fines (e.g. $100,000) ATL Hawks Fanatic. For missing a Rookie Transition Program, there can be suspensions.

Thus, the education isn’t just optional or informal — it is contractually mandated.

Speaking out

Supporting freedom of speech means supporting people's right to speak even when their opinions differ from ours. Speaking freely can have consequences - upsetting fans, management, or ownership. In other words, "speech, like action, has consequences." 

In response to NBA players speaking out, one political pundit proclaimed, "shut up and dribble." Invariably strong comments inflame passions on both sides of an argument. 

Contracts

With team salary aprons and collectively-bargained maximum contracts, controversy has dissipated. Experts and fans may judge contracts as overpriced or value, but it "is what it is." Athletes get paid as entertainers. Billionaire Warren Buffett says that teachers and nurses may add more value to society than he does, but society doesn't pay that way. 

None of us can do what professional athletes can do. If we could, then we could get paid that way. 

Officiating, Rules, and League Structure

Basketball is hard to officiate. It's not like baseball where machines can call balls and strikes. Tweaking the challenge system is always possible, but what is better or fairer? 

The three-point shot came about not only because of the ABA but because of the physicality of huge players ever-seeking advantage in proximity to the basket. Some have argued that the Rudy Tomjanovich/Kermit Washington incident (1977) added momentum for the three-pointer. 

Will four point shots come to fruition? Should the size of the court increase or the height of the baskets? Should Hack-a-Shaq rules be further modified? Should FIBA and US rules be consolidated? 

Is the "In-Season Tournament" meaningful? Are penalties for 'load management' too strict or not strict enough? 

All basketball isn't pro ball. If we want more access for more young people to play, we need more coaches, less expensive fees for developmental leagues, and more sanity from fans and families whose abuse of officials is driving them out. 

Lagniappe. Do we have enough weak side action in our offense? 

Lagniappe 2. So much goes into coaching. Are we developing enough capable young coaches? 

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Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Basketball - "Whom Do You Want to Be?"

1. Decide Who You Want to Be

Columnist David Brooks reminds us that identity is a choice: “you have to decide who you want to be.” 

That decision plays out in every arena—home, business, or sport.

  • Teams decide whether they’re satisfied with “just competing” or whether they will pursue signature wins that define their season.

  • Individuals decide whether to settle for average, or to be known for relentlessness, preparation, and impact.

Signature wins don’t happen by accident. They reflect an identity decision: we are going to be the kind of team that rises in big moments.

2. Kobe Bryant as a Case Study

Kobe chose to be relentless, not only scoring, but committing to elite defense. He set his identity and lived it. He was All-NBA Defense first team nine times and second team three times. 

His defensive pillars match what it takes for both signature wins and signature lives:

  • Aggressive – Not waiting for the game to come to him.

  • Attacking – Turning defense into offense.

  • Aware – Seeing screens, rotations, mismatches.

  • Energized – Sprinting back in transition, late in games.

  • Focused – Locking in on the assignment.

  • Adaptive – Adjusting coverages, reading tendencies.

  • Prepared – Studying film, knowing opponents’ habits.

  • Reading Offense – Anticipating before the ball is caught.

  • Passion – Loving the grind, embracing the challenge.

3. Translating to Your Teams

Your signature wins aren’t flukes. They arise because players and coaches decided “who they wanted to be”:

  • Aggressive defenders who pressure elite opponents.

  • Adaptive attackers. 

  • Energized team defense, getting stops that demoralize rivals.

  • Prepared scouting and game plans that neutralize strengths.

  • Passion from leaders with urgency and pride.

That identity yields wins over opponents that define seasons and give your program credibility.

4. Lessons for Athletes, Coaches, and Beyond

  • At home: Choose whether you’ll be a source of stability, patience, or encouragement.

  • In business: Decide if your “signature wins” are about quarterly results or about building enduring trust and culture.

  • In sport: Identity leads to behavior, behavior leads to habits, and habits yield signature wins.

Signature wins aren’t just about scoreboards. They are the outward proof of an inward decision: who we chose to be.

Lagniappe. Cellphone use on game day degrades performance. Pushback would be enormous. 

Presence Alone Can Distract

  • Even just having a phone visible, without using it, can diminish performance on complex tasks—suggesting phones may remain mental distractions until out of sight. (Reference) TIME+1. 

Bottom Line: Does Avoiding Cellphone Use Help?

Yes—there is clear evidence supporting the idea that abstaining from smartphone or social media use before training or competition:

  • It helps preserve decision-making accuracy and cognitive focus.

  • It potentially ensures better physical and technical performance, especially in skill-dependent sports.

  • It supports optimal recovery and sleep quality, indirectly bolstering performance sustainability.

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