"The truth is rarely pure and never simple." - Oscar Wilde
What immutable truths apply to basketball? 1. Kevin Eastman says, "You have to tell the truth, hear the truth, and handle the truth." Great players want to know the truth so they can improve. 2. I say it's a game of "passing and cutting", but it's not. It's really a game of "shots and stops." Of course, along the way, those emerge as a consequence of Bob Knight's concept, that "it's a game of mistakes." 3. Communication matters...among players, among coaches, and between coaches and players. "The conversations we need to have are those we don't want to have." 4. Success follows "the more aggressive team" and the team consistently wearing down their opponent. We need to find or create relentlessness. 5. "The game honors toughness." Jay Bilas' landmark 'Toughness' article (and book) belongs on every serious player's shelf. My favorite reminder for players, "It's not your shot, it's our shot." 6. Success has no shortcuts. That being said, there are ways to improve your situation and perception. An example: "Drama queens and kings crave attention, so ignore them."
As coaches, we need to be consistent in our energy, enthusiasm, and effort. We must diagnose and refine our product, adding value daily, and give and get feedback.
"The main thing is the main thing." Defensively, we have to decide what we most want to take away...the paint or the perimeter. And whatever we prioritize, our team must understand and adhere to that philosophy. 1. We value "No easy baskets." Restate that as "one bad shot" or "hard 2s". "Repetition makes reputation." 2. "Know your nos." The Zen mantra is "the obstacle is the path." That doesn't apply in basketball. The path must become the obstacle. NO penetration. 3. "Force to tape." Drill. Tape off areas of the court (X) at practice. Contain the dribbler by 'forcing' to tape.
4. "Get numbers." The weak side (help side) defense protects the paint.
5. "Transition...not tradition."
One of the most important "paint jobs" is defeating transition. Some teams give specific assignments for transition D (e.g. the 1 and 2 must get back) with everyone else expected to "sprint don't run" back.
Regular readers know that one of my core principles is interdisciplinary translation. That is, lessons from business, medicine, education, sports, et cetera apply between each other. Kevin Rose is an angel investor who has repeatedly succeeded, with belief in concepts and Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Finding 'early adopters' is a key, just as Simon Sinek has discussed individuals and organizations who can touch our "why?" button.
1. Good followership catalyzes good leadership. We need to be able to delegate and that requires mutual trust. 2. "I love well-designed products that combine form and functionality." Excellent teams have an "it" factor. You know "it" when you see "it". They combine purpose and execution. For example, who doesn't know the "iPad" or "Keurig"? 3. "Founders: there is no shame in failing, take pride in that you have the guts to try something new." That reminds me of the Bon Jovi lyrics in Just Older, "you can't win unless you're not afraid to lose." We have to play to win. 4. "One of the things that I've always loved to do is brainstorm ideas with friends and get together and talk about what they're building..."This piggybacks on my core value, "share something great." Adopt the best practices and ideas that you hear. Transform it if you can make it better and make it your own. 5. "If you believe in something, work nights and weekends, it won't feel like work."I want to remember David Cottrell's quote from Monday Morning Leadership, "the main thing is the main thing". That reminds me that the subtitle of my book is "The Game is for the Players." As a coach I need to add value constantly, for the team and the coaches.
"There are two kinds of best, THE best and YOUR best." - Kevin Eastman As a young (baseball) player, I dreamed of playing college baseball and making it to the College World Series. As a walk-on Harvard freshman (frosh ineligible for varsity at that time), I pitched batting practice for a team that went to Omaha. That's the closest I got to Omaha. Talent matters. 1. We all need a process to get there. It starts with attitude. Are you ON the team or FOR the team?
2. Become Matthew Kelly's "Better Version" of yourself. We can all improve. But it starts with process and that starts with habits. What's your plan to improve today? 3. When in doubt: THINK. 4. How do you know if you're improving? Measure it. Think SMART goals...specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely.
5. Plan your work; work your plan. During Pulmonary training (lung disease), we used to talk about the Bruce Jenner Protocol - diet, exercise, sleep, supplements (meds), meaning (something to work for). I am NOT mocking Caitlyn Jenner, just providing historical reference. If you have GOLD MEDAL DREAMS, then you need a GOLD MEDAL PLAN. A young player (from Nigeria) sought my advice online. Here's part of the conversation.
How can I match my work to my dreams.?
Commitment, discipline, and measurement. Are you spending time (e.g. video games) or investing it (reading, working out, studying your area of interest)? Read TWO hours a day and in 3 months that's 180 hours of expertise that the next person doesn't get (40 percent of Americans NEVER read a book).
that's a start...measure it...if you take 100 free throws are you making 90? Are you getting better month by month? Measure what you do.
Do you contain people off the dribble, deny cuts to the ball, block out, set great screens, communicate on D, take charges, get 50-50 balls, limit turnovers, find open teammates, set up your cuts, play hard all the time? Do you make teammates better? Are you a great teammate? You can be.
If it doesn't translate to games, what does it do? A practice 'evolution' MIGHT have value if it simulates game activity and improves player's VDE (vision, decision, execution). Are we great? No. I can't even say we're good. But we're improving slowly. I wish I had a situation where we had enough talent and experience to emphasize three "major" activities like shooting, transition D, and pick-and-roll. We don't. We need to learn basic fundamental basketball. When we build in 'constraints' to practice, then we approach more realistic 'conditions'. Here are some examples. 1. Stanford 3 on 3.
The "split" (line bisecting the court) is out of bounds. "Basketball is a game of cutting and passing." This game is 3 on 3. You cannot take more than two dribbles consecutively. If you immediately catch and dribble (without a specific attack)...turnover. 2. Four on four no dribble.
Players should think "space, cut, screen, and pass." We vary this among man-to-man (individual assignment), box (zone) and diamond (zone). We don't play zone during games, but face a lot of it. 3. Four on four no dribble (layups only) against man. This modifies the above to require only shooting layups. I want to teach players not to 'settle' for the first open shot (we don't have knockdown shooters). 4. Full court scrimmage with constraints. Add in rules...whatever you emphasize. a) No more than 2 consecutive dribbles in the forecourt b) East-West dribbling...turnover (whistle blows, dribbler drops ball). We want opponents to play East-West ball while we play North-South ball. 5. Press break super advantage-disadvantage. a) 5 on 8 or 5 on 7 (depending on attendance). b) No dribbling in press break - emphasis on short, quick passes and 'pass and cut' mentality. Game conditions 5 on 5 with dribbling - what's the big deal? Bonus: Navy SEALs free throws. "It pays to be a winner." Pair up, each player gets 2 or 3 free throws competing against her partner. Loser earns a lap.
"Learn daily." Learning doesn't mean rejecting the status quo, it provides opportunity to become a 'better version'. In Crystal Magnates, Truman Alexander examines Nick Saban and Urban Meyer to share what makes their work special. As far as expertise, he reports that Saban and Meyer excel because of hedonics, scholarship, obsession, and innovation.
Do what you love. Alexander says that 80 percent of Americans don't enjoy their work. That sounds high, but maybe it includes people who would prefer doing another line of work or working with other people. Saban worked as an assistant for seventeen years before getting his first Division 1 job. The definitive work on Saban is Monte Burke's Saban...he's the ultimate creature of habit from his two Little Debbie oatmeal snack cakes for breakfast to his daily routine.
"Never stop learning because life never stops teaching." Success closely correlates with education at least in some dimensions. Coach Bob Knight says that 80 percent of basketball is mental. John Wooden was an English major. Knight had a degree in history and government. Brad Stevens studied economics as did Bill Belichick. Dean Smith had a mathematics degree. All succeeded because of scholarship and teaching in their chosen fields. Geno Auriemma travels to pick other coach's brains during the offseason.
Belichick donated the family library of football books (over four hundred volumes) to the Naval Academy. We need a "performance-focused, feedback-rich" culture that defines ways to change behavior in ourselves and our students.
"Think about most what you like thinking about." Leaders find solutions. Solutions don't fall like rain. If you do what you love and study it, you're much more likely to identify and solve problems. Edison's 999 experiments that didn't work led to the thousandth lightbulb that did. Marc Andreesen counsel's us not just to think about why something will work, but challenge why it won't.
"Imagination leads to innovation that leads to differentiation." - Bill Russell
Brian McCormick has written and discussed (YouTube videos) extensively about "false fundamentals". We have all done them and taught them, but teaching 'other ways' to practice has merit. His book The 21st Century Basketball Practice will likely become a classic. Whether it's innovation or common sense, it works. He advocates for different training techniques, like dribble tag (which we used to do 45 years ago).
Become a member of the "Church of Whatever Works". We shouldn't fear asking ourselves whether we can teach better, communicate better, inspire more.
I teach freelance offense in a variety of ways...and won't claim an abundance of success. But I'm not going to quit trying. Coach K says, "Basketball is about making plays, not running plays." The principal problem with 'total freelance' is a tendency for players to stand or watch...especially young and inexperienced players. Conceptually, we generally try to open the middle because we don't have a big post presence, but we don't have a lot of downhill players either.
Players need to keep defenders occupied so they cannot easily help. Setting up a DHO (dribble handoff) series mandates that 'weak side'/help side offense remain active. But on the ball side, the ballhandler dribbles hard to the wing and hands off "on a platter." The ball isn't bounced or flipped to the receiver. The handoff player then must attack DOWNHILL to 'turn the corner'. 3 attacks the basket and has to expect help from x5 which may set up a 'dump down' pass to 5.
After handoff, 4 can 'seal' and roll and often has great position and a mismatch on switch.
If x3 overplays or is a HEAD TURNER, then 3 has an obvious backcut to the basket.
If x4 cheats, 4 can crossover and attack directly.
When x3 'goes under' that sets up 3 for a perimeter shot.
The offense can easily run to either side. I prefer the 3 to the right, because we have a lot of southpaw 3s.
It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see weak side reverse action with the 5 screening for either 1 or 2 (or whichever player is designated on the weak side)...or triangle offense on that side. We are in no way prepared to run that.
The key is for all players involved to read what the defense limits and what they provide...because there is always something available.
If the 5 deploys to the ballside elbow, you create a tough-to-defend DHO into ball screen (5 setting screen-and-roll action) at the elbow. On the weak side you can set a flare screen or a downscreen for 1 by 2. In watching the "embryonic" versions at practice last night, the biggest flaws were consistently the DHO receiver not attacking hard (top diagram) and poor execution when passers identified opportunities. If you're not a believer in screening, this isn't an approach for your team. But you can still use it for practice with "continuous DHO" action, as the 'driver' (3) then "pitches" to the opposite guard outside the 'spacing line' and then relocates to where 4 was. The same action then ensues on the left, so the offense is practiced on both sides.
Think about successful teams you've watched, coached, played on, and studied. Specific dimensions are common among them - commitment, culture, tempo, and intelligence. What comprises "Championship DNA"? Celebrate the success literature. Success demands learning. Jon Gordon and Mike Smith wrote You Win in the Locker Room First. Here are a couple of quotes: “Culture drives expectations and beliefs. Expectations and beliefs drive behaviors. Behaviors drive habits and habits create the future.” –Jon Gordon “Leadership is a transfer of belief.” –Jon Gordon “If you are complaining, you are not leading. If you are leading, you are not complaining.” –Mike Smith “To build a winning team, you want to be consistent in your attitude, effort, and actions.” –Jon Gordon
“One of the keys to listening and communicating is to ask the right people the right questions.” –Mike Smith
Create a culture of competitiveness. UNC soccer coach Anson Dorrance calls it the "competitive cauldron". As college baseball players at Harvard, pitchers had the annual "mile", where each had to run one mile sub 6:30 on an elevated, banked indoor track (eighteen laps). It became highly competitive...even considering that nobody had a "track" body build. To win, you generally had to run close to 5:00...
"Steal great ideas." Spurs' Shooting Groups. We have four baskets. Have four groups of three, with two balls each group (shooter, passer, rebounder). We shoot both corners, elbows, and finally free throw line shots. The priorities include shot preparation, improving release. Over about five minutes (five spots)...each player has to make five. In those five minutes, each player gets about fifty shots...and each group signals when they've 'won'.
"It's not okay." There's a saying, "if you practice like hamburger, you play like hamburger. If you practice like steak, you become steak." I don't want players reinforcing mistakes, telling each other "that's okay" after a bad pass, fumble, or travel. Mutual accountability to a superior standard must become the default standard. "It's not okay" to make careless errors on the court or in the classroom.
"Don't cheat the drill." Steve Nash was famous not only as a great point guard, but for winning EVERY sprint at practice. When your preparation and effort are mediocre, you cheat the team, your teammates, and yourself. Outstanding teams have outstanding habits.
"Share values." Examine the elite programs and their values. For UCLA's John Wooden it was the "Pyramid of Success", Phil Jackson preached "basketball is sharing", Nick Saban has "The Process", and Urban Meyer sells "Above the Line" behavior. Our programs need unifying beliefs, especially concerning the primacy of the team over the individual.
If you value being 'special', then model special daily.
We recognize the importance of rebounding, especially in the context of possession (getting the ball) and possessions (execution with the ball). One question which arises is "nature or nurture", do you train rebounders or do you acquire them? I'm sure it's both. Rebounding is the one skill in the game where "selfishness" (getting the ball) helps both you and your team. A few stories may be in order. One coach felt compelled to teach his star "double digit" rebounder to rebound correctly...block out, get the ball. After his 'reeducation', the player got only a few rebounds a game. The coach then instructed him to "just get the ball" and the player returned to his prior rebounding efficiency. Pete Carril had a saying that rebounders usually coming from "the wrong side of the tracks." I've heard of coaches who have drills where all rebounds are live, including on made baskets. 1. George Raveling's War on the Boards is the industry standard in rebounding literature. Good luck finding it. 2. Tom Izzo's MSU Spartans are perennial rebounding forces. Izzo sometimes has rebounding practice with helmets and shoulder pads. 3. Sylvia Hatchell teaches "hit and get", make contact then get the ball. John Wooden taught rebounders to assume the "jumping frog" position, arguing that you don't rebound with your arms down. 4. Rebounding differential was one of Dean Oliver's original keys in "Basketball analytics", along with field goal percentage, turnovers, and free throws taken. If you check the box score, the team winning the rebounding battle usually prevails. But how meaningful aggregate rebounding stats are...I'm not sure.
5. I teach players that defensive rebounding is about "position and toughness" and offensive rebounding about "anticipation and aggressiveness."
The more I read from Tim Ferriss' Tools of Titans, the more impressed I am. 'Titans' distills nuggets from hundreds of interviews with successful people and shares some of their quotes. It certainly meshes with my mantra, "share something great'.
"They create rules that they've crafted for themselves."
Ask better questions of ourselves. After games, work, and trading sessions, I'm asking four questions:
-What went well?
-What went badly?
-How can I change for the better?
-What are the enduring lessons from this activity?
Model excellence.
There is always potential for improvement. How do we find it?
Emphasis and priorities can sometimes conflict. Offensively, I preach SPACING, CUTTING, SCREENING, and PASSING. We play more four on four half court for emphasis. That's better, but our containment of the dribbler has worsened. Have I robbed Peter to pay Paul?
Consider your total game. Scoring more while being beaten off the dribble, by front cuts, and on the boards means your assets fall short of your liabilities.
Do you have a mental picture of what you want to become as a person, a student, and a player? You should. And then ask, "what must I do to become closer to that image?"
What is 'the paradox' of dreams? Those we experience while sleeping aren't under our control. But we edit our waking dreams, our hopes and aspirations, by our actions. If our habits don't synchronize with our goals, we cannot succeed.
What's on your book queue? Forty percent of Americans never read a book. How can we sell our players about learning and store learning on the shelf? One priority for today is finishing The Undoing Project, Michael Lewis' (Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short, Liar's Poker) best work, the story of the friendship and contributions of Danny Kahneman and Amos Tversky. These Israeli psychologists changed the world.
Self-control and self-indulgence go hand in glove. Last night Eric Rowe got a personal foul in the Patriots-Texans game that turned into three points for Houston. Physical mistakes will always happen. We can erase mental mistakes by CARE - concentration, anticipation, reaction, and execution.
Because eighty percent of the game is mental, serious players have to study the game. We get what we accept.
I teach players "if you can't do it in two dribbles, don't do it." You've heard the adage, "good players need two dribbles, excellent players need one, and elite players don't have to dribble."
Bill Belichick gets a lot of ink as 'the best coach' in history. I can think of some others in the conversation - Geno Auriemma, Anson Dorrance, Jack Clark.
"No one ever made a decision because of a number. They need a story." - Danny Kahneman in The Undoing Project, by Michael Lewis Whether in business, military, politics, or sports, leaders decide. How? How do they edit the variables - strategy, personnel, operations, motivation? We know from psychological studies (on both college students and inmates) that decision-making is not rational and that decisions are formulated upon a background of cognitive bias. Among other factors, people make choices to minimize loss, real or potential. Michael Lewis writes, "Danny wrote to Amos (Tversky)..."It is the anticipation of regret that affects decisions, along with the anticipation of other consequences...what might have been is an essential component of misery."
During the Nixon Administration, Henry Kissinger 'framed' the Vietnam alternatives as 1) go nuclear, 2) withdrawal, and 3) status quo. Nixon, with the constraints of those limited alternatives, chose the status quo. "When one fails to take action that could have avoided a disaster, one does not accept responsibility for the occurrence of the disaster."
The same long-term possibilities apply to policy today, with a slightly different spin, "maintain the status quo" versus effect change and bear the consequence of change.
Consider a generic high school basketball program, that brings in a new coach, for whatever reason. You could have open tryouts, keep existing players, or use some combination. By maintaining the 'status quo' (existing players), you 'avoid criticism' for "blowing up" a program and the parental wrath of current players. "If only you had kept my daughter, then the program would have been fine."
- Recency bias. What have you done for me lately? If a player has an exceptional game (e.g. James Young earlier this year for the Celtics), is it a breakout or a fluke? Performance tends to mean revert.
- Attribution bias. If failure ensues, blame something else - injuries, weather, officiating, scheduling, etc.
- Confirmation bias. Read and incorporate into your thinking only what you already believe. You hate zone defense; read about the advantages of man-to-man. You love motion offense; study only what pertains to your beliefs. - Endowment effect. We place a higher value on that which we "own", whether a local sports hero or a coffee mug at an 'auction'. - Bandwagon effect. We adopt certain actions or beliefs because the crowd does. - Distribution bias. In investing, the tendency to sell 'winners' and 'keep' losers. Learning to recognize biases, especially personal ones, gives us a chance to make the most logical choices. When it's tough, I invoke Tim Ferriss' quote, "what would this look like if it were easy." Final play, last night at Atlanta:
Hawks want Millsap (4) to get the ball. 2.4 secs on the clock...cross-screen with 'automatic' switching, getting Millsap on Rozier (x1, not shown). Millsap gets the ball a little deep and almost even with the backboard. Tough shot won't drop. My bias...I don't like to set up game winners/critical plays to the short corner.
I worship at the altar of interdisciplinary excellence. What works in one sphere works with minor modifications in others. A performance culture shared from manufacturing, education, or the arts applies to basketball. Tim Ferriss' chapter in Tools of Titans on Netscape founder Marc Andreessen illustrates the point. Andreessen sold Netscape to AOL for over 4 billion dollars. A few 'translations': DON'T ACCEPT FAILURE. Failures don't just happen. They happen because of systematic mistakes and errors that have potential corrections. At practice last night, I caught the girls "apologizing" to each other for turnovers. "It's okay..." Well, it's not okay. Don't throw the ball out of bounds or fumble it because youre not engaged in THIS PLAY. NERDS AT NIGHT. What are you working 'after hours'? When you're not doing your primary job (e.g. for students, studying), are you investing or spending time? If you plan to go to college or have another "five year plan", are your behaviors and habits consistent with your goals. I want to be successful in the market. Have I studied, prepared, and stuck to my trading plan? "Plan your work. Work your plan." Remember, "nerds run the world." RED TEAM EXERCISE. What's the 'other side' of the trade? If you were playing yourself, how would you proceed? Are you playing to your strengths or are you exposing your weaknesses? Goliath walked into the Valley of Elah overconfident of his physical superiority, only to walk into the slings of his marksman opponent David. The giant never had a chance. ONE DIRECTION. We're either moving forward or we're falling behind. What have I done to advance? ONE RULE TO LIVE BY. For Urban Meyer, it's "Above the Line". Bill Belichick's mantra is "Do your job well." Southwest Air is the "low cost airline." Phil Jackson says, "basketball is sharing." Comedian Steve Martin opines "Be so good they can't ignore you." What's your rule? I believe that we must "share something great." STUDY THE OPPOSITES. Take a contrary look at conventional wisdom. That takes 'original thinking'. Consider the quote, "a child born today will never learn to drive a car." What will that require on your part to benefit from the transition to self-driving tech. Key quotes from Marc Andreessen: "Every billionaire suffers from the same problem. Nobody around them ever says, "Hey, that stupid idea you just had is really stupid." (Other side of the trade) "Far more money has been lost by investors trying to anticipate corrections than has ever been lost in corrections themselves." - Peter Lynch (Commentary on trends)
Leadership comes in many forms...but the best leaders serve. When asked about a hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger mentioned Cincinnatus...with good reason. 1. Cincinnatus (Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus) was a former Roman consul who returned to his simple life as a farmer. Rome wasn't always great. 2. Rome was under attack from the Aequi when part of its army was trapped and the elders (Roman Senate) felt that the city would be overrun. 3. The city "drafted" Cincinnatus from his farm and installed him as dictator. Cincinnatus reorganized and rearmed local troops and routed the Aequi, as well as brokering peace. Rather than remain dictator, after 16 days he returned to his farm.
4. Rome recalled him a second time almost twenty years later to put down a rebellion. A second time he returned to his farm, this time after 21 days. Although he commanded total authority, he willingly surrendered it to return to his simple life.
5. The legacy of Cincinnatus endures because of his leadership and sacrifice.
Society values those who understand the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
Notes: 1) Alan Stein with sprint, backpedal, and defensive slides (all good)...Brian McCormick might add what I call "cornerback action" with hip turn into sprint. Also we need to work multiple areas of court to avoid standing in lines. During the season, we have little practice time...and can't use it for isolated strength and conditioning. 2) Hoops U Defensive 2 on 1 drill.
Works defense and offense. Emphasis on stopping penetration and then reacting. 3) Matchup Pressure
Run the drill at both ends of the court... Offense versus defense, creating versus denying separation...offense and defense works. Offensive player starts with ball and defender "nose to chest". Two dribble maximum basket attack to score. Biggest limitation is 'static' start.
1. "If it bleeds, it leads." We are inundated with distortions in many directions. Peter Diamandis (above) discusses causes for optimism and the need for solution-based thinking. As coaches, we solve problems of technique, tactics, and motivation daily.
2. Tim Ferriss profiles Diamandis in a chapter in Tools of Titans. He quotes Diamandis remarking, "what's your moonshot?" Diamandis is responsible for originating the XPRIZE, a global competition for pushing limits of technology.
3. Diamandis suggests that we inspire people not just to change themselves but to strive to change the world. When we work with young people, we have the responsibility to grow the whole person, not just the player.
4. He advocates each of us to review each night what three things we have accomplished today.
5. Two questions that Diamandis recommends we ask: - "Why do I think this is important?" - "If I had a billion dollars to spend, what would I spend it on?" With respect to sports and girls, athletics improves girls' health by reducing cancer risk, improves bone density, and decreases mental health issues. Sports participation decreases truancy, improves academic performance, and decreases teen pregnancy. If I had a billion dollars, I'd work on two projects - encouraging reading globally ("education changes behavior") and work to improve clean water availability. Clean water is essential to reducing disease and to agriculture. 6. Become familiar with "Peter's Laws"...28 principles. Here are a couple: 1. If anything can go wrong, fix it! 7. When in doubt: THINK! 18.The ratio of something to nothing is infinite. 22.If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.
