Basketball: Thoughts on Cutting

Traditional core offensive skills include shooting, passing, dribbling, pivoting, and rebounding. That omits critical without the ball action, cutting and screening. Cutting optimizes space for passers, drivers, and shooters. 

Basketball is a game of separation. Cutting creates openings for you and teammates. Learning cutting is an underrated ‘separation skill’.  Poor cutting makes passing harder which reduces shot quality. 

Most of your time is spent without the ball, what Billy Donovan calls "the 95." Excel at using that time wisely. 

Two general concepts are change of direction and change of pace. Less known is to run at the defender to separate. 

Cutting may fail when players don’t set up cuts and don’t cut urgently. They may also fail to read screens properly to curl, backcut, or 'bump'. Think ‘slow to fast’. 

Cutting to clear space (Duke opens space above) is underrated and unselfish. Cutting  occupies defenders. 

Tight defense facilitates back cuts such as the Spurs action above. 

Screen selfishly because “the screener is the second cutter.”

To receive a pass you have to be seen. “The ball is a camera.” Cutting if the passer can’t see you won’t help. 

Head turners create opportunity. When they lose vision, basket cut.

“Winners want the ball.” There are players afraid to have the ball who won’t move to get it.

“Never cut to an occupied post.” Don't be a space hog. 

Unsure of the defense? Cut through and see its response.

Flash into gaps don’t drift into them.

If the second pass in transition crosses midcourt then you’ve created advantage.

Lagniappe: Great piece on cutting from FastModel Sports 

Fishing for Compliments? Fundamentally Sound

"Attitude reflects leadership."

Coaches want our teams to reflect our sport values - smart, competitive, engaged, resilient, tough, fundamentally sound. 

List what fundamentally sound teams do. Start with Pete Newell's "get more and better shots than our opponent." 

Defense:

• Play out of a stance 
• Contain the ball - deny dribble and pass penetration
• Position themselves well off the ball to "shrink space" 
• Communicate
• Help (Cover 1.5)  and recover
• Limit transition baskets
• Contest shots without fouling
• Block out 

Offense: 

• Space the floor (force defense to cover space)
• Cut urgently and pass (player and ball circulation)
• Attack the basket
• Pass unselfishly
• Take care of the ball
• Take quality shots 

Lagniappe: Our best players extract the lessons we teach. In this 9 second clip, Cecilia (#32) works to get open and uses an economy of footwork to beat the zone. A 6'1" sophomore, she finished the night with 23 points, 17 rebounds, and 6 blocks to help her team (Bishop Fenwick, Peabody, MA) to a 65-57 win. 

Basketball: TODO - Specific Suggestions for Higher Performance Basketball

TODO. It's not TODO, it's a "TO DO" list.

Be a worthy opponent. How?

1. Have a tactical-technical plan to wear down opponents. That's unique to your experience, training, and personnel. Maybe it's relentless pressure and speed or maybe it's slowing the game to a crawl with inside power. It's your team. Have your "elevator pitch" to explain your plan. 

2. Handle pressure (extended defenses). 

• Scrimmage 5 versus 7 every day for weeks to handle the press if needed.
• Gauntlet is another tester. 

Offense must traverse four areas. 1 dribble per catch. Defense rotates up and offense becomes the back line defense.

3. Free throws. "Teams that cannot shoot free throws do as well as dogs that chase cars." Shooting fifty percent at the stripe in high school won't cut it. 

• Have competitive free throw shooting in practice daily. Raise the stakes for winners and losers. 
• Another alternative is "swish or miss" scoring. Add pressure by scoring only swishes.

4. Win special situations. With roughly a third of games being decided by two possessions. special situations are opportunity. Emphasize their value to players and the imperative to make a difference. 

Celtics SLOB (STS) 

Geneseo BOB STS. 

We defended BOBs with a 2-3 zone which switched into man on the catch. "Zone to man." Here's an alternative, including discussion on how to defend what I call "America's Play" (below).

Phraseworthy? Teach "bigs away come back into play." Most teams want the bigs finishing if the play targets the inside. 

5. Don't give games away. Pet peeves are endless but three ways we give games away:

• Turnovers (every turnover at best is 0.00 points/possession) at worst bleeds into an opponent score.
• Bad fouls and worse fouls (doubling down on a bad play with a foul).
• Bad transition defense.

Get players on the same page to remedy these areas. 

Summary: 

• Reduce turnovers.
• Handle pressure.
• Make free throws.
• Win special situations.
• Don't give games away.

Lagniappe. One of the greatest games ever played in college history, this game devastated me as a Maryland fan. 

 

Basketball: Mental Preparation Checklist

"Be mentally prepared." What does that mean? 

Build great habits. Model intention toward excellence daily. 

Block out distractions. What are distractions? Studies show that technology reduces other communication, concentration, and empathy. 

• Relationship problems are distractions. "Be present for the task at hand." 
• The phone, with series of texts or conversations, distracts. Some favor removing the phone on game day. 
• Academics. Take care of business. 

Adequate sleep is critical to physical and mental recovery. Lebron James sleeps TWELVE hours a day including naps. Adolescents should target at least eight hours of daily sleep. 

Mindfulness. Professional and Olympic athletes have mindfulness coaching. Build mindfulness into our daily routine to improve attention, better sleep, reduce depression and anxiety, lower blood pressure, and reduce stress hormones (cortisol).  

Here's my favorite script, "Lion Mind." 

Exercise, stretching, yoga. Everyone has limitations. Work on them and control what we can control. 

Study. Take care of business. 

Mental highlight reel. Make a difference. Prepare a 'highlight' reel of your success - family, education, athletics, coaching, work success. Include five items that made a difference in your life (13 second video)

Lagniappe (something extra). Focus on footwork (set captions to English) 

Top Performers Discuss Rivals and a Pair of Shifty BOBs That Got Layups

Steal shamelessly from every source. MasterClass gives me a world of ideas. 

Steve Martin: 

• "Love your rivals." We will always have them.
• "Feed off them." If we don't, they'll eat our lunch. 

Steph Curry: 

• "Competing with myself, not being complacent." 
• "My opponent will look small...compared with my expectations."

Serena Williams:

• Know your opponent...play their weakness.
• "Don't overhit to a weakness. Mix it up."
  
• "Hit the ball to where your opponent is not." 
• "Know your strengths." 

Garry Kasparov:

• "Playing chess was not just about winning and losing."
• "Make a difference...it's about coming up with new ideas, challenging your own excellence."
  
• "Making mistakes was like physical pain...I no longer had that appetite for new ideas." 

Thomas Keller: 

• It's the critical feedback that we learn from the most. 

Steve Martin:

• "There's always work to be done." 

Lagniappe. Central Catholics girls ran a series of BOB actions out of the 1-4 low set. Both got layups in a single point victory. 

Aside from the "different actions from same set" theme, they worked because of urgent cutting.

Lagniappe 2. Master your GO TO and COUNTER actions.  

Lagniappe 3. We can't coach everything. Type II muscle fibers help generate speed and power. The ACTN3 gene helps regulate fast twitch muscle fiber function. 20-30% of the population has it and absence (18 percent of the population) has no accompanying disease. But only 3% of elite sprinters are deficient in both. 

Random Dozen Thoughts on Coaching for Young Coaches

Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton met Nelson Mandela on Mandela's 90th birthday. Mandela told him, "I'm still learning." That's great advice for all.

Share freely and be open to new information from sport and other disciplines. Everyone has different ideas. 

1. "We are here to fight, not to count." General Alexander Suvorov was an 18th century general ahead of his time. His belief in training, in pushing forward, and caring well for his troops separated him from his peers. Don Meyer said it this way, "It's about how we play, not whom we play." 

2. Elite Canadian coach Dave Smart reminds us, "Every day is player development day." What are we doing to improve ourselves today? (Reminder, develop a drill book.)

3. Become more efficient. Nick Saban asks, "are you investing your time or spending it?" Efficiency translates to success. Practice at a higher tempo. Condition within drills, work special situations into scrimmaging (O-D-O offense-defense-offense three possession games). 

4. Give specific advice but be flexible in how players accomplish it. They have to figure it out. 

5. Be positive. Nobody was more positive than my high school coach, Sonny Lane. We lost a home game by two points to the defending state champion. He said, "the only reason you lost was because it said LEXINGTON on their jersey. We won't lose to them again." Rollie Massimino had built Lexington into a powerhouse. We crushed them by 18 at their place and beat them in overtime in the Sectional Championship at Boston Garden. 

6. Cultivate "the soul of a poet and the skin of an elephant." Has every player and parent agreed with our decisions? Of course not. At a recent volleyball end-of-season banquet, Coach Scott Celli reminded attendees about the Wooden doctrine, "every decision I make will not always be in the best interest of a player but what's best for the team." That advice helped his teams earn over 500 victories.

7. Listen a lot. Simon Sinek explained that Nelson Mandela often attended meetings with his father. Mandela's father allowed others to speak first and offered his opinions after weighing the pros and cons of other arguments. 

8. Focus. Attention is a skill. Journalist Bob Woodward kept a sign on his desk, FAA, focus and act aggressively. Sports performance expert Dr. Fergus Connolly describes the process to focus, maintain attention, and process information. The first price we pay is to pay attention. Mindfulness builds focus. 

9. Classify our talent (privately). I think of players (from middle school to pros) in terms of lottery picks, first rounders, second rounders, or free agents (relative to peers). It's rare to have lottery pick talent in middle or high school. If you have a lot of second rounders and free agents, if you can't develop them to move up a grade, winning will be a big challenge. Which gets us back to player development... 

10. "Never be a child's last coach." If our coaching turns players off that much, we're doing it wrong. 

11.Follow the Prime Directive. Every parent's Prime Directive is "the well-being of our child comes before the team." Recognize that emotion and satisfaction flow from that perspective. 

12.Stop and think. Ron Howard says, "the director is the keeper of the story." Every action should advance the story, which might include backing off for our athletes both physically and mentally. Less can be more.

Summary:

• Be positive.
• Advance the story. Keep pushing forward.
• Focus on development. 
• Master listening.
• Learn to focus.
• Remember the Prime Directive.

Lagniappe (something extra). Good teams apply and defeat pressure. In the high school scrimmage video (excerpt recently), Chelmsford struggled against the press. They went to the 1-4 press break for the second half. 

Lagniappe 2. Baylor zone offense. They like to enter the ball into the middle and distribute from there. 

Lagniappe 3. Development tip from Coach Hanlen. Less can be more...find one that works for you. 

Notes on "Dean Smith" by Showtime (2015) and an MJ Breakdown

Among great coaches, we all have our favorites. Mine was Dean Smith. Whether it's "Dean Smith Time" (set your watch ahead), shot quality scrimmage scoring, the run and jump, Passing Game, or the miracle comeback (down eight against Duke with seventeen seconds to go), Dean had "it." 

He also wrote one of the greatest coaching books ever, Basketball: Multiple Offense and Defense. 

Here are excerpts from the Showtime Dean Smith documentary. 

"There's not a day goes by where I don't try to make him proud of me." - Larry Brown

"The...first thirty minutes of the conversation weren't about basketball..." - Phil Ford on being recruited

27 consecutive seasons of 20 or more wins, 11 Final Fours, 2 National Championships

"He could deliver a message....stronger than a four-letter word." 

"Don't they have an out-of-bounds line in the Bronx." 

Replaced Frank McGuire at age 30 after a recruiting scandal

During his fourth season, returned from Wake to find Smith hung in effigy. His team responded by winning 8 of 10 games. 

Smith's father integrated Kansas High School basketball. 

Smith joined the Binkley Baptist Church, a progressive church. 

Smith sent Larry Brown to see Charles Scott and told Smith that Scott was better than Rick Mount, using a 1966 scholarship on Scott. "Coach Smith never once talked to me about color." 

"The guy that makes the pass...is as important...as the guy that makes the bucket." (Recognizing the passer). 

"He used basketball to teach us the importance of saying THANK YOU." - Hubert Davis

"You stand up for your teammate" when they come off. - Mike O'Koren

"The Four Corners could be...brutally boring...and artfully effective." 

"Jordan soon learned that impressing his coach would not be that easy." 

"I was the film projector carrier." - Michael Jordan

Jordan wasn't on the cover of the 1981 Sports Illustrated Carolina basketball preview.

In his fourth championship game (1982), Carolina faced Georgetown. "Go out an have fun and let it happen." 

The game takes a lot out of you. The classic photo after WINNING the National Championship in 1982.

Smith said, "I'm not really that much better of a coach than I was two and a half hours ago." 

Almost 97 percent of Smith's players graduated...

The Wainstein report finding Carolina athletes taking bogus classes did not tarnish Smith's teams. 

"When you have the best program, most people...won't like you." - Mike Krzyzewski

1989 ACC Final...bitterness...Carolina - Duke...a lot of fouls...Carolina won 77-74. But Duke won consecutive titles in 1991 and 1992. 

Carolina won the 1993 Championship against the Fab Five with in the "Timeout Game." 

Smith will always be remembered not only for basketball but for social activism as well, including opposition to the death penalty. 

His bond remained strong with players after they had graduated. "He would work hard to find jobs for you.' 

He played for Phog Allen at Kansas and coached Michael Jordan...
"a bridge connecting old and modern basketball."

Lagniappe. "Study greatness." 

Young Coaches Ask, "How Do I Get Started?" Here Are Suggestions and a Couple of Drills

Young coaches ask on many sites, "how do I get started" or "what kind of offense should I put in for young players?"

Redirect to core concepts. The great Don Meyer preached an evolution from:

• Blind enthusiasm
• Sophisticated complexity
• Mature simplicity

Basketball coaching starts with forming your philosophy, teaching it, communicating clearly, and giving and getting feedback. Be specific. 

Philosophy 1. 

• "Basketball is sharing." - Phil Jackson
• "Get more and better shots than our opponents." - Pete Newell
• "The ball is gold." - Ellis "Sonny" Lane

Sharing, like leadership, means making those around us better. Share your vision. Share sacrifice. Share the ball. Share leadership. Leadership begins with modeling excellence, starting  with relationships. It won't be perfect but craft communication and leadership skills. Our philosophy has always been "TIA" - teamwork, improvement, and accountability (holding ourselves to a high standard).

Video of a high school scrimmage recently showed clear intent:

- Defensively, extended defense including trapping

- Multiple defenses in the half court

- Offensively, spacing, player, and ball movement 

- Pick and roll offense and leveraging the skills of a duo of an all-scholastic guard and forward

Good coaching shows clear intent and consistent execution. Bad basketball lacks organization and clear intent. 

Philosophy 2. 

• "Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence." Look around, be open, and talk with other coaches. Coaches share the game. The most successful winning coaches in America are the best first because they have great players. The best teachers are less well-known. Surround ourselves with the best people we can find.

Philosophy 3. 

• "Read, read, read, read, read." - Werner Herzog, Director

To absorb knowledge and perspective, immerse ourselves in it. "The magic is in the work." Read and study. Invest time and some resources in fundamentals. Don't buy the hype of the latest offense or defense. Be grounded in player development. "Every day is player development day." 

The Internet shares amazing resources from around the globe on YouTube and FIBA videos. Get to know names like Dave Smart, Drew Hanlen, Mike MacKay, Arik Shivek, Željko Obradović, Etorre Messina, Kirby Schepp, Chris Oliver.

Philosophy 4.

• Keep a journal. 

Write down what we understand, questions, and possible solutions. 

Remember the Feynman Technique - name, explain, research, and simplify. In 

addition to our journal, consider keeping a drill book and catalog helpful video.

When Steve Kerr transitioned from the broadcast booth to the sideline, he

collected thoughts from others, developing a playbook, and observing what worked

and what didn't. 

Philosophy 5. 

• Track your progress. "Winners are trackers." - Darren Hardy

Einstein is credited with saying, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Do more of what works and less of what doesn't. Michael Useem's excellent book, The Leadership Moment shares key questions:

• What went well?
• What went poorly?
• What can we do better next time?
• What is the enduring lesson? 

Life is a game of relationships. So is basketball. When asked what was necessary to be successful, Helen Mirren said, "Be on time. Don't be an a*hole." Good advice. 

Summary: 

• Develop a clear philosophy.
  
• Find a mentor. 
• Read, read, read, read, read.
  
• Keep a journal (among other tools).
• Track progress. 

Lagniappe. Think across disciplines. Former Orioles pitching coach Ray Miller preached "work fast, throw strikes, and change speeds."

Luka Doncic masters change of speeds and "throwing strikes" with a variety of finishes. 

Lagniappe 2. What drills belong every day? Here are two I favor...

Speed layups for warm-up via the Lithuania team at the #JonesCup. I like it because most of warm-up IMO is about getting shots as we shoot more than we get layups in games...the other part is a short burst of energy & enthusiasm so this would take care of that. pic.twitter.com/UQXy7w1Ozg

— Chris Oliver (@BBallImmersion) July 29, 2018

"Speed layups" as a warmup drill helps players get loose and see the ball go through the hoop.

Run variations of shell drill including 3 v 3. At the youth level, teaching players skills and how to play is critical. With "small-sided activities" players get more touches and decision-making opportunity. 

Simple Can Work

Simple can work. As a young director Ron Howard learned from Jason Robards in "Parenthood." Robards had no rehearsal. Howard wasn't feeling good about the scene and Robards said, "Ron, do you want a sadder face?" Sarcasm. On the retake, Howard realized that Robards identified more emotion to reach that place. 

Howard did an experiment with a lie-detector test comparing non-actors and actors. 3/20 non-actors could "move the needle" and 17/20 actors summoned emotion causing physiologic change. 

Coaches help players and teams "reach that place." 

Core concept 1: Help players understand game structure. 

Sport performance expert Dr. Fergus Connolly asserts the major moments in sport are:

• Offense
• Transition to defense
• Defense
• Transition to offense

Be competent in each area and seek areas to gain advantage. Consider the great Wes Unseld and his brilliant outlet passes. 

Core concept 2: Edges are specific. Years ago we played a playoff game (7th graders) against a more talented team with three tall girls at least 5'10". Create advantage through spacing, player and ball movement ("movement kills defense"), and execution. During a timeout, "horns" was implemented.

Core concept 3:  Get action going to the basket against "man" defense. 

I explained, we need layups or to get fouled. 

Using double downscreens off horns, we occupied defenders and got drives or passes to an open cutter (2). We scored 7 points on 5 possessions (1.4 points/possession), forcing the opponent into a zone and won 45-42. 

Use movement to create more space. 

Screening is another simple way to create separation. 

Simple actions can create big headaches for defenses. 

Lagniappe. Simplify. "Daily development can mean subtraction." 

360 Leadership Assessment Plus SPECIFICS on Playing and Coaching Better

"People don't quit jobs, people quit people." - David Cottrell

Strong leaders want to become even better leaders. 360 degree leadership assessments solicit input from superiors, coworkers, team members, and others to give us a better picture of our strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. 

Why is it useful?

• We are not always honest in assessing our ability and performance.
• We don't always treat everyone the same ("kiss up, kick down")
• Others may have insights into our blindspots

How can we get a 360 assessment? 

1) Ask others for honest opinions. Anonymity might help. 

2) PBOD (Personal Board of Directors)...John Calipari meets with his PBOD periodically. 

3) Exit interviews. At the local volleyball breakup dinner Thursday, Coach Scott Celli (over 500 career wins) shared that he conducts exit interviews with each player and includes asking them what he can do better. 

4) Self-assessment. 

5) Hire a coach. Elite surgeon Atul Gawande hired a coach to oversee his technique. 

Traditionally, 360 assessments were used for development. Wikipedia notes, "organizations are increasingly using 360-degree feedback in performance evaluations and employment decisions (e.g., pay; promotions)."

Example from Wikipedia... note the variety of perspectives some aligned and some variable. 

We can create our own parameters such as:

• Game knowledge
• Teaching ability
• Communication
• Energy
• Fairness
• Decisiveness
• Trustworthiness 
• Motivational skill
• Industriousness
• Openness

BasketballImmersion informs their take on 360-Degree feedback. "Gathering information from multiple people might improve the accuracy of the feedback. Coaches sometimes receive feedback in a “top-down” manner, often from one superior only (e.g., athletic director or sport administrator), which calls into question the trustworthiness of that single evaluation. However, by gathering insights and opinions from multiple people, you should receive feedback that more accurately reflects your “true” behaviours and actions as a coach."

Lagniappe. Take the time to think about our needs. A journal (or a blog) helps us refer back to older problems needing solutions. 

Lagniappe 2. Use checklists. 

Here's a simple checklist: 

1. Take quality shots.

2. Take care of the ball (limit turnovers).

3. Contain the ball. Stop penetration. 

Lagniappe 3. Seek greatness? Get a coach. 

Becoming a More Emotionally Intelligent Coach and Recognize that Screening Creates Defensive Errors

Soft skills matter. Both intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ) matter.

What is emotional intelligence? Daniel Goleman writes:

We define Emotional Intelligence (or EI) as the ability to:

• Recognize, understand and manage our own emotions and;
• Recognize, understand and influence the emotions of others. 

It blends emotional self-assessment, empathy, and influence. Chuck Daly said, "I'm a salesman," but also meant "I'm a psychologist." That means understanding people's feelings and goals to help them function better. 

Players have varying levels of self-esteem (ego), confidence, neediness, emotional lability, and resilience. Connect to communicate. 

Harvard Business School Online recommends we develop skills at:

1. Self-assessment

• "Know thyself." Everyone has emotional needs and triggers. Our insecurities affect our responses to criticism or to an indifferent or resistant player.  Our lives (family, work, health) impact our judgment and responses. Lacking expertise in some areas. Abraham Lincoln assembled a Team of Rivals to help him navigate the Civil War after his election. Doris Kearns Goodwin shares, "What he had going for him, which I think is so unusual in political life, is that he had a set of emotional strengths that today we might call emotional intelligence."

2. Self-regulation

• Control the timing and content of our response. Recall the "24 hour rule" of delaying responses and Abraham Lincoln's "Hot Letters" that were never signed and never sent. Mindfulness training helps widen the space between trigger and response. Players will not win humbly or lose graciously when we can't. 

3. Empathy

• Empathy allows us to view a situation from the other's perspective. Loss of minutes, status, and recognition affect everyone. 
• Having authority while understanding our choices impact players presents a regular challenge. 
• Coaching children demands that we recognize they are children lacking experience with failure, magnified by immaturity. 

4. Motivation

• The best motivation is intrinsic (self-directed). Coaches search for ways to motivate players to seek excellence on and off the court. Players see how we model behavior. Model preparedness to encourage it. "Be the change."

5. Social skills

• Our communication is verbal and non-verbal. Everyone perceives feedback differently. Coach John Wooden emphasized "sandwich technique" of correction between praise. And Rod Olson discussed Speaking Greatness using care in choosing our words. Too often we hear of coaches tuning out players or calling them worthless or saying "you're only useful to me on the court." 

Be the adult in the room.

Lagniappe. Anticipation. We've all seen situations where we "knew" what the opponent would do - a five-out where we saw "dribble at" and called "watch the back cut." Or a 2-3 zone where we "read" the top players hungry to trap the ballhandler. 

Adam Spinella shares how Brad Stevens anticipated a staggered screen and changed defenders. 

Lagniappe 2. Jeff Capel on "Greatness" 

Great is different. @BallisPsych

If you want to be great, you have to be different. pic.twitter.com/V0VoXsPJhR

— Troy Baughman (@troyster4) December 8, 2021

Lagniappe 3. Capitalize on defensive errors. Another slip to score. The "switch everything" mentality creates mistakes. 

What Baking Wizard Joanne Chang Can Teach Basketball Coaches Plus Great Coaching from Ty Lue

Master analogies. Baking, coaching...it's not that different. Joanne Chang went from Harvard to developing a baking empire in Boston and shares lessons on MasterClass. What specifically can she teach us? (Second chance at the recipe HERE)

Develop essential tools in your kitchen. Not a stand mixer or offset spatula, but methods, for example:

• Advantage-disadvantage (e.g. five v seven full court)
• A drill book 
• Shell drill variations
• Special situations practice (e.g. during O-D-O scrimmaging)
• Constraints of space, time, score during practice

Read the recipe from start to finish before beginning. You may find you don't have all the needed ingredients or accessories (e.g. oven thermometer). 

• Study before planning and preparation
• Daily film study

Be present...enjoy the journey (cooking can be as fun as eating)

• Mindfulness 
• Practice gratitude as a habit 
• Have a jar of awesome

Don't give up. "Fall down seven times, get up eight." Even when cookies aren't "perfect" they're often good.

• Model resilience 
• Bring energy and energize our teams every day
• Coaching kids? "Never be a child's last coach." 

Learn from our mistakes.

• Lessons are unavoidable. Repeating them is avoidable. 

Bring your creativity. Make your own amazing recipes.

• Be open to new ideas from any level.
• "Never be the first to add or last to remove" tools (e.g. midrange scoring)

"Ovens all bake differently." 

• All courts are not created equal. Be aware of boundary issues (sidelines near or far from stands), lighting, dead spots. Our high school court has one 'closed' and one 'open' end. Shooters are more likely to be short at the open end. 

Have fun. Love what you do. 

Lagniappe (something extra). UCONN's Paige Buecker's experienced a "tibial plateau fracture." There's chatter that it was an incidental finding on an MRI as they were looking for other joint pathology (meniscus tear, ligament injury). "We'll see how it goes" 

Lagniappe 2. Great option as a slipped "out" screen sets up a dunk off a slip after Iverson action.