Basketball Friday: Drills, Concepts, and a Set Play. "Fun Not Futility"

Learn and love the game. PLAY basketball. Today's emphasis shares fun warmups, degrading pressure, and zone offense principles.

Drills. Warm up fun

Dribble Tag: put half the team inside the three-point line at each end. Start dribbling with one player assigned to be "it." When she tags another they become it. Add difficulty with non-dominant hand dribbling or "tricky dribbling" (e.g. between-the-legs) for players. 

Capture the flag. Start half the team inside each arc. Each player has a "pinnie" tucked into their uniform pants. A player's goal is to 'capture' as many flags as possible in one minute. 

Jumping rope. Make it original. One foot, two feet, alternate, "peppers." Great conditioning workout in a few minutes. 

Concepts. Pressure degrades performance. Weisinger and Pawliw-Fry suggest over twenty possible solutions. Embrace a few that work for you. Success means finding solutions. 

1. Choose excitement over nervousness. "It's fantastic to get the opportunity to play in a championship game."

Before running tryouts, I encourage the girls as a group to stand out as individuals, to separate themselves. But two minutes earlier, a small girl approached me saying, "Hi. My name is Naomi and I'm excited to be here." She made the squad. I wasn't the selector. 

2. Remember your victories. The authors inform, "You did it before, and you can do it again." Bill Parcells reminds us, "Confidence comes from proven success." In "10-Minute Toughness," Jason Selk encourages visualization by storing a mental personal highlight rule. 

3. Have a routine. A short routine including a physical component, for example a power pose (above), a mental run-through, and a trigger phrase like, "I got this" focuses you. 

Other possibilities include focusing on process, music, a stress ball (held in the left hand), and mindful meditation. 

Set Play. Variations of "The Loop" are often attributed to the Spurs but date back to at least Chuck Daly's Pistons. 

Lagniappe: Create edges. 

Lagniappe 2: Superb zone offense video from Radius Athletics. Note the great spacing. Worth study by all players to understand key concepts like high-low action, dribble to draw two, screening the zone, and throwing behind.

 

Lagniappe 3: "For you to get the ball...you gotta give it up, too." 

Lagniappe 4: Mindful meditation has a wealth of benefits, less anxiety, better sleep, improved focus, lower blood pressure, and more. It bridges the gap between what's "in here" (our mind) and what's "out there" (on court reality). 

Wright isn't pedaling Buddhism, but rather the clarity benefits of mindfulness. 

Basketball: The Coaches' Murder Club

James Patterson wrote The Women's Murder Club. No, women didn't band together to murder people but to solve murders. 

Nobody sends a "bat signal" signaling desperation. Yet, everyone wants to win and many identify with the underdog, thus the success of Rocky, The Karate Kid, Little Giants, McFarland USA and others. 

What if a group of retired coaches anonymously collaborated to solve a town's "ne'er do well" basketball problem, to murder defeatism and hopelessness. We all know programs permanently consigned to the scrap heap of basketball, winless and hopeless. Why not fix it? 

Young Ben Franklin anonymously penned missives for the New-England Courant under the pseudonym Silence Dogood. Anonymous patrons and submissions aren't new. 

Whom do we want for our "benched coaches" sidelined by age or other limitations? I'd start with Muffet McGraw, a proven winner and not far from the game. Why not reach out to Phil Jackson, whose basketball mantra reads "basketball is sharing." 

There's a saying that in old age we don't change, we become more of what we were. Scratch Bob Knight off the list. 

They don't all need to be coaches. Enlist a graphic designer, a writer, publicist, or an advertising maven to build the buzz around the project. Show a deflated basketball, pumped by victories, a catchy jingle, or a music video. 

What elements might fit in our revitalization project? 

- How about free clinics that our anonymous benefactors arrange? 

- "Anonymous" sends a conditioning program, their top handful of BOBs, SLOBs, ATOs, quick hitters, sets, zone offenses, individual and team drills, and basketball wisdom to the well-meaning but overwhelmed coach. 

- Add on some backstories, the coach yearning for one last achievement before consumed by memory loss or a burgeoning and unexpected friendship within the club.  

Or imagine that you have an established and successful program but haven't cleared the  championship hurdle. What is possible enlisting help and inserting more energy and more initiative into your program? 

Imagine. 

Lagniappe: "Hammer Time" via HalfCourtHoops 

Basketball: Random Thoughts on Passing

"Basketball is a game of cutting and passing."

Passing makes beautiful basketball. Passing triples happiness, for the passer, the scorer, and the coach. Many great teams, the 1986 Celtics, Showtime Lakers, and Spurs' Dynasty radiated unselfishness through passing. 

Everyone becomes the quarterback owning vision, decisions, and execution. 

Willing passers and cutters operate with balletic grace and timing. 

• Great passing is on time and on target. 
• The passer delivers away from the defender mindful of help defenders. 
• Great passers have an array of passes.
• There's a long and a short to it. Long - look ahead. Short - "shorten the pass." 
• A cutter must know the passer sees her. Cuts in blind spots are worthless.

Passing principles cross time. 

• Wayne Gretzky said, "you have to skate to where the puck is going." 
• Dean Smith preached "acknowledging" the passer. 
• Pete Carril taught, "the quality of the shot relates to the quality of the shot." 
• “Create unselfishness as the most important team attribute” – Bill Russell
• "Win the battles of rebounds and assists, win most games." - Sonny Lane  

Consider the hitting and pitching analogy. Hitting is timing and pitching disrupts time. Offense is spacing and timing and defense corrupts space and timing. 

Teach passers the Michelle Obama principle, "If they go low, we go high." But if are hands are up, never throw through hands. 

Passers learn deception...to look off defenders, look-away passes, and tap passes.

 

Lagniappe: Sport is becoming information-derived business.

Lagniappe 2:  

Compilation of plays involving a boomerang action. A boomerang is a pass and pass right back action. The possible advantage of a boomerang is that the defender covering the ball relaxes on the pass. https://t.co/EpB6Yu1b5f

— Chris Oliver (@BBallImmersion) November 10, 2020

 

UCONN Boomerang. Everything worked better with Breanna Stewart at the 5. 

Lagniappe 3: Gold from the Golden Ages (Red on Roundball) Watch Red at 2:00... 

Lagniappe 4: "One More" Catch and Swing is 2020 basketball

Basketball: Framing* - Our Words Make a World of Difference

Change our words and change our world. 

"The framing effect is a cognitive bias where people decide on options based on whether the options are presented with positive or negative connotations; e.g. as a loss or as a gain." - Wikipedia

Cognitive biases degrade our decisions. Everyone has biases, often without our knowledge. Frames help us focus. Use them to create an edge. Give an example. Teams approach zone offense differently than man. Show zone every trip, regardless of whether you're playing zone or man. 

Loss aversion (losing is twice as painful as winning is pleasurable). "What do you have to lose?" By framing around loss, we may persuade more people. During the Vietnam War, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger suggested three alternatives to President Nixon - nuclear war, pull out, muddle along. Nixon opted for the latter. Negotiation would have been an alternative. Even during development, we "sell out" to win in our team selection, minutes, shots, and roles. We're constantly pitched subscription to coaching services. "If you don't sign up by midnight, the price is rising 30%." 

Opportunity cost means that choices forge compromise. Signing high cost players sacrifices depth across the roster. The low cost, first contract overachiever has immense salary cap value. "We can give you more practice time, but it has to be at 6 A.M instead your usual 6 P.M."

Experience. We value experiences more than goods and services. That makes playing on the team, a chance to be with friends and compete with them, meaningful. "If your daughter plays on our team, she'll have a better basketball experience. Ask parents of previous players." We sell an experience. Beware that false expectations create bigger disappointment. 

Less is more. "Buyers" buy more with fewer choices. Many of us have sheets of plays, BOB, SLOB, ATOs, quick hitters, Zone plays, but we're better with fewer. Pink says, "Choice is valuable but has a ceiling." Remember Buffett's 25-5 principle? Start with a list of 25 items (e.g. plays) and cut it to the fabulous five. Fall in love with easy. 

Contrast principle. "My daughter is an excellent player." But it's not WI-FM (What's in it for me?) but "compared to what?" Alter someone's perception by giving a player a "comp" to a strong player instead of a lesser one.

Potential. "Potential creates uncertainty." Buyers, e.g. NBA GMs, overvalue potential. 

Sunk cost. Decide by looking forward. "Look prospectively not retrospectively" What's done is done'. Time and resources spent have been spent. In other words, don't throw good money after bad. How often do we see teams hold onto high draft choices who can't play? I look at the Celtics' James Young as one of those. In investing, some say, "if you were buying a stock today, would you add that to your portfolio? If not, sell it. Hard to do. 

Anchoring.  We get stuck on core beliefs. "Take the money." We're all anchored to something. I have a bias toward athleticism, thinking I can "train up" the athletic player over a similar less athletic but more skilled young player. It works except when it doesn't. 

Using different words, different perspective, and framing makes all the difference. 

Lagniappe: "Every day is player development day."

Content adapted from Dan Pink, MasterClass. 

Basketball: Most Popular Posts Over the Past Three Months, Plus ATOs and a Storm Set

Playwright David Mamet says that an individual member of an audience may be an idiot, collectively audiences are geniuses. They know what they like. 

Here are the eight most viewed posts from my blog during the past ninety days from Google analytics FWIW: 

Coaching Girls 

Favorite Pressure-Beating Drills

Unrecognized Skills

Core Practice Drills

My Playbook Isn't Your Playbook

Rebounding Tips That Create Advantage

Developing Our Offense

Core Practice Drills (Part 2)  

Find something to steal, revise and improve. 

Lagniappe: Brad Stevens studies crunch time video obsessively, seeking answers. 

Why not study what the Celtics use, looking for possibilities?

Lagniappe: Seattle Storm Flexish options

Basketball Special: RIP Alex Trebek. Let's Play Celtics' Jeopardy

Make Your Own Jeopardy Game with JeopardyLabs!

Alex Trebek passed on November 7, 2020 after a long illness. In memory of Mr. Trebek, let's play Jeopardy. Your answers should be in the form of a question. Some may be tricky! 

Basketball: Explain, Reverse, and Immunize Yourself Against Failure and More

Rejection hurts. We all know the sting. We don't make the team, get into our college of choice, or selected for the dream job. What next? 

Dan Pink asks, "how do we de-catastrophize rejection?" He asks us to enlist Professor Martin Seligman's 3 P's. 

Screenshot from MasterClass, Dan Pink

Don't make it personal. Almost all the players who try out for a school team are unknowns, unless they had an older sibling who played. Sure, several hours of tryouts are small sample size. We always have multiple evaluators, more eyeballs on the talent. It's not personal enough and maybe somebody slips through the cracks. 

"This always happens." Don't let disappointment define you. You are not a loser. This time didn't work out. Get 'em next time. Don't traffic in excuses. Be accountable. Don't fall into the attribution bias trap where the officials, playing conditions, or anything else conspired against us. 

Edison's 999 misfires making lightbulbs taught him How Not To make lightbulbs. 31 publishers rejected James Patterson's first novel. Jimmy Butler was the 30th NBA choice in 2011 and Kawhi Leonard was 15th in the same draft. John Wooden won an NCAA championship in 16th year of coaching. 

Failure is not final. Don't let it become permanent. Stephen King's writing career was going nowhere as a fifth grade English teacher in rural Maine. But he got an idea about a young girl bullied by peers. His breakthrough novel Carrie earned him hundreds of thousands of dollars. "I'm going to make it in this business."  

How do we increase our chances of success?

- Do the work. Focus on process ahead of outcome.

- Develop great habits and a consistent routine. "Win the morning, win the day." 

- Seek mentors, the only shortcut to success. 

- Ask better questions. What can and should I do differently? 

- Control your mindset, attitude, and self-talk/affirmations. Study success. 

- Communicate better verbally, in writing, and emotionally. Add value. 

- Don't just watch video. Embrace it. 

Lagniappe: Devin Harris, Cutting Genius from Coach Daniel 

Lagniappe 2: from Ron Adams, FIBA Clinic

Lagniappe 3: from Chris Finch, Houston Rockets on a GOOD SHOT

Every player should know, "A good shot works for you, us, and the time and score." 

Lagniappe 4: The game frequently distills to 3-on-3 with urgent cutting. 

Basketball: Surviving Father Time, Breaking Down Longevity in the NBA

Professional longevity is a challenge. I've been a doctor for almost forty years and I study aspects of medicine every day (example below). Not studying is not an option. It's not 'keeping up with the Joneses' as much as 'keeping up with yourself.' When I was a young doctor in the Navy, I often ate lunch with the older doctors, to the point peers asked why. "These guys know something and share that with me."

"The Art of Sticking Around in the NBA" in The Ringer is brilliant. Extract key points:

Don't be on time; be early. "Augustin recalls getting to a summer league bus on time, only to be met by Bobcats head coach Larry Brown, who pulled him to the side and told him, “Son, next time, if you don’t beat me to the bus, that means you’re late.”"

Never stop learning. “Don’t care that I’m a backup. Don’t care if I don’t play at all. Just try and learn as much as I can.”

Fill a role. “It’s very difficult sometimes as a player, because you know who you are and who you want to be, but sometimes that may not match up with who your coach needs you to be,” (Marvin) Williams said. "If you want to make it, get as good as possible at one specific skill teams need."

Be ready. "You always have to be ready to perform, because if you aren’t, you might not get another chance. That means making sure your body and your game are in top-end shape, that you’ve hewed to your routine."

Listen. "Listening to the older dudes has value...the vets are the ones who know which refs to work and which ones to leave alone; how to make sure you’re setting the screen at the right angle to get the ball handler loose; how to get on a coach’s good side and stay there."

Don't be an A*hole. "Perkins recalls the adoration Kevin Garnett inspired with the late-aughts Celtics because “he treated the janitor with the same respect that he would treat the owner with”—or they can be negative. Either way, they’ll (words) get around."

Be flexible. “Nothing’s guaranteed in this league, man. You can’t take anything for granted.”

Your work matters. “Once you’re here, it’s all about how you work, what type of person you are, how professional you are. 

Basketball: Homework Assignment, "High Five." Show Me Game Winning Offensive Actions

Basketball isn't always competitive...sometimes it can be...

Your phone rings with an unidentified number. Maybe it's spam. But you answer and your favorite coach asks for suggestions for five ATO plays to run with ten seconds remaining on the clock. The game is tied and the defense is playing man-to-man (individual assignment) defense. 

You feel humbled by the ask and promise to always do your best. You've watched decades of basketball and will not offer "isolation first" sets. Her team has capable players at each position but no superstars. She says they are fundamentally sound, capable of following directions and improvising. She is uncertain whether the opponent will deny or pack-line type defense. 

You plan to share a "why" plus video and diagrams when possible.  

Start with a list of multiple actions that find hard to defend. Distill the list. 

• Back door cuts
• Mismatches on switches
• DHO standalone or into PnR 
• Screen-the-screener
• Help side off-ball screens
• Staggered screens
• Screen-the-roller (Spain PnR)
• Slipping screens
• Short rolls against traps
• Sequential screens

Offenses can expose tight defenses with the screen game and backdoor cuts. When offenses run multiple actions from similar setups, they may confuse defenses. 

1. Horns-like set with backdoor cut. 

I find the Tufts' women's high post entry to back cut elegant. 

Another option is to use "fake zipper cuts" with or without the screener. 

2. Dribble Handoff with Staggered screen opposite. 

DHOs create another way to run the screen game. The Nuggets occupy helpside defenders with staggered screens. 

Alternatively, DHO into a PnR with the screener coming across creates serious defensive headaches. 

3. Helpside Off-ball Screens 

Pseudo-triangle offense into helpside scoring action. Don't get post entry too low in order to preserve the spacing. If you don't get the early pass, then 5 still has isolation as a fallback. 

4. Slipping screens. This works best if you have established a solid PnR game. 

Teams rely on defensive errors as the screener defender gets extended allowing the screener to roll down behind the defense. Sometimes it turns into short roll action into perimeter passes. 

5. Corner Rip (Piece de resistance) 

We have most commonly run it from a SLOB, with a cross-screen to enter the ball then a diagonal screen into a layup. 

Lagniappe: Cross screens (don't always create a mismatch with solid defense)

Basketball Friday: Emphasis - Can Our Early Offense Earn More Points? Plus a Drill and Simple Horns Sets

Basketball Friday emphasizes 1-3-1, one drill, three concepts, and one set play. 

There's no "one way" to initiate early offense. "Early offense" implies that we didn't score in transition and seek actions to gain advantage. We haven't excelled in early offense for a variety of reasons - inconsistent teaching, varied lineups, facing a lot of zone defense, and it's middle school. Pick something you believe in and coach to your talent.   

3 Concepts. 1-4 high. 

I "grew up" in the early 1970s with 1-4 high ("Syracuse") as our dominant early offense. We just called it offense, not early offense. The ball often got entered to a talented post player who could isolate or enter to a wing (e.g. me), who would look first to a rolling big or cross-screen to a big. If they doubled the post, that exposed wings for open shots or drives. We didn't operate a lot of high or wing ball screens back in the day. That worked well enough for us to average over 66 points per game before the shot clock or three-point shooting. Five starters averaged double figures. 

I offer it as "historical" and simple conceptually. 

UCONN "Strong" uses inside power, perimeter shooting, and ball reversal. 

It works well especially with Hall of Fame coaching and a roster of high school All-Americans who beat you inside, outside, off the dribble, and with ball movement. Coach Auriemma's "plan" is to score a third in transition, a third in sets, and a third off threes.  

Horns High Ball Screen. This was always my pipe dream. 

It's simple with multiple options including PnR, helpside cutting, and an open corner three if the defense helps. Of course, with middle school girls, it's not reasonable from a skill level AND when it works a couple of times (PnR), the opposing coach switches to zone. 

If I had a high talent (e.g. college level) team, I'd think about the Obradovic Offense that yields a lot of open perimeter shots with players that make them. That's another fantasy but perhaps you have those players. Coach to the level of the talent. 

Drill. Everyone likes to shoot. Get 'em shots. 

The drill gets everyone shots and encourages pass and cut. It also works as a pregame warmup drill. Players rotate to the next line. 

Set Play. Horns simple 1-4-5 Horns interactions. 

1) Entry to 5 with 4 backscreen for guard

2) Entry to 5 with slice cut for 4

3) Entry to 5 with 1 cutting into backscreen for 4

Change personnel if that leads to better finishers. 

Lagniappe: Don't leave the shooter. 

Lagniappe 2: "Every day is player development day." - Dave Smart

Relentless repetition rules.

Lagniappe 3: If we seek excellence, stay focused on process consistency. 

Basketball: Jill Ellis, Notes from the Playbook

The Netflix series, "The Playbook," profiles championship coaches from around the sports world. Native Englander, Jill Ellis, coached the US Women's National Soccer Team to a pair of World Cup titles. 

"It's easier to be the underdog." 

"It's got to be better, better, better."

"You have to have the attitude and the mindset that you've got something to prove."

"When you are on the top, the competition becomes yourself...it's how you stay the best." 

"You have to push the envelope, evolve, get better." 

"Mountain tops are small and the air is thin." 

"Find our humility." 

"There's no bigger in-your-face lesson than losing."

"Success is never resting on your laurels." 

"We have to have a hard reboot...failure is now an opportunity."

"I need you to understand and buy into this process." It didn't go smoothly. 

"...some of the players have concerns." 

"I'm not coaching to keep my job, I'm coaching what I believe."

"Hold fast, stay true." (Navy SEALs mantra)

"You've got to have this sense of self, this is what you believe." 

"Risk is opportunity."

"I loved everything about coaching, I followed passion over paycheck." 

"Be true to yourself...if you come out as gay, your opponents...would hinder your recruiting."

"The best way to build a platform, to advocate for something, is to win." 

"To be respectful against opponents is to play hard..."

"They're more than athletes, they're a voice for women in the world." 

"You can't mute someone's voice because they wear a sports uniform." 

"What I'm truly going to remember are those moments that made me feel alive." 

Key points about this championship coach's struggles: 

• Restructure ("hard reboot") means players will question the coach about the team and their role (especially true when a team has been successful)
• Separating your private life and authenticity can present issues
• Other coaches will use whatever they can to recruit against you; deal with it.

Lagniappe: Igor Kokoskov ATOs

Watching video stimulates new ideas. A wing ball screen rejection leads to a ball-reversal three with a screen...almost a variation of hammer action. 

Lagniappe 2: Specifics. Quicker shot release drills from Drew Hanlen

Understand and refine your shot. Many youngsters have cellphone video to help. 

Slow motion video of elite NBA shooters. 

Basketball: Notes to Self, "Crazy" and the Fundamental Attribution Error

Reminders, "To do" and "not to do." They should be self-explanatory. 

1. "Always do your best." That often means silence. 
2. Be positive. 
3. Be thankful. 
4. Ask what if? (The blue pill or the red pill in The Matrix)
5. Deliberate in probabilities, not certainties. 
6. Cultivate better habits. 
7. Saying, "I believe in you" can change a life. 
8. Keep an open mind, a beginner's mind. 
9. Beware of biases, like fundamental attribution error, attributing choices to character not circumstances (see Lagniappe).
10. Become a better storyteller. Stories stick. 

Lagniappe: "You're making me crazy." (Self-talk watching summer ball video)

• Make your teammates better.
• In what universe is that a quality shot? 
• Why immediately catch AND dribble? 
• Cut urgently. Separation is advantage. 
• "My turn" shots. Does the ball have your name on it? 
• Don't jog back on defense. Jog to sit. 
• Impact the game. Contribute even when not scoring. 
• Waze yourself. (Don't drive into traffic)
• Find the sunshine. 

I don't know the guard or the team but she crosses over hard, penetrates to draw help, and passes to an open teammate. The good players stand out like a sore thumb. 

Lagniappe 2: Cognitive bias. Fundamental attribution error explained in 1:40. 

Lagniappe 3: Visualize the game to make it beautiful. 

Basketball: Action Creates Belief, From Theory to UCONN Zone Offense

Keywords: Training, Playmakers, Notebooks, Video Study, Feynman Technique, Zone Offense

We're in the business of behavior change. If we get players to act, then they may believe. Action creates belief. 

Ask ourselves, "am I investing my time in ways that improve me as a person, a player, or a coach?" Coach Wooden asserted, "never confuse activity with achievement." 

Moreover, succeed by reducing barriers. 

Consider a few examples:

Good. "Improve each practice by writing down three things you did well and one you didn't. Write a specific plan to fix a need area." E.g. "practice non-dominant hand layups finishing off either foot or both from either side of the hoop." 

Better. I handed out a composition book to each player with instructions. Still, only a minority of players use the notebook. 

Best. Challenge players who want to be exceptional. "Become your best version, earn more minutes and a bigger role." Samantha used her notebook this way, constantly benefited, and so far earned four Division 1 scholarship offers and a state championship with her private school."

Good. "Watch more video." 

Better. A player watched video, took notes, and became the best middle school player I've coached in twenty years.  

Best. Send video clips to the player with specific examples of solid actions and opportunities to improve. Find simple, well-executed plays with initiative and execution. 

Lagniappe: Let's review the Feynman teaching technique.

Feynman helps explain math, physics, zone offense, or pick-and-roll defense. The four elements are:

• Name the concept
• Explain it
• Research and review the material
• Simplify 

Lagniappe 2: UCONN Women, Zone Offense

Basketball: Zak Boisvert Podcast from Slappin' Glass (Worth Listening)

Access podcasts to grow our knowledge. Zak Boisvert is one of my favorites for his passion, knowledge, and great questions. 

He asks graduating seniors (after the season, so no agenda), "what do I need to improve at?" How are you dealing with anger? We've all seen the destructive effects of broken people. He recommends Brene Brown books and "Season of Life." Be aware of your emotions and have an idea of the relationship and role you want. Operate with intent. 

Joe Maddon Scorecard: DBAFF ("Don't be a frickin' fan")

He thinks "old school" leadership evolved post WWI and WWII. Many good coaches figured it earlier, e.g. Dean Smith and weren't negative. 

Watching film (he says he's not efficient)..."be curious for curiosity's sake." Tom Crean told him to "watch an hour of film every day." He used to glue sets into notebooks. 

Off-season projects. "I want to get better at this." E.g. get better at zone offense. 

"Why are these guys good?" Recommends a book Playmaker's Advantage. "Watch a play, close your computer, and try to reconstruct." That moves focus off the ball. "Pause the film when you think advantage is coming, what is the play." 

Chunking. He doesn't reference chess, but this is very chess-like. 

Look at things through the prism of what you do. (Coaching girls, I'm not looking for lobs.) "If I got a chance to run my program, what would I do?" 

"Why does that work?" Break it down. E.g. he noted Davidson's break worked well because of hard cutting. 

"What drives winning?" Coaches develop a philosophy and identity. He said last season he had a great PnR guard but this year will have different personnel. "Are our best players getting enough shots that are their shots?" 

Some coaches intuit what's great by vision not analytics. Shot quality... can we measure it? Great shots can overcome shooters as they have off days. Is sample size adequate to trust? 

Belichick, "analytics are for the 49-51 decisions." For some, this recalls Bayes' Theorem. 

Coach to your level. NBA players are so good they can't be given separation (e.g. the short roll). 

"What is our solution to that coverage (offense) or their action (defense)?" He mentions football using 'pre-snap' movement to change coverages.

Brad Stevens, "when our PnR defense isn't good, it usually starts with not being good on the ball." 

Effective coaches can sequence plays to the advantage of their personnel. @PickAndPopNet posted about the beauty of the Bilbao action. Here is how the Lakers used it in the 2nd half to occupy the help for a Lebron low post iso. #NBAFinals #NBAPlayoffs https://t.co/qlZLiigvPo pic.twitter.com/R7Tpr6fCB6

— Chris Oliver (@BBallImmersion) October 1, 2020

European basketball sometimes leads US in developing new actions. 

He sees more stuff trickling down from the NBA down these days to college. 

"Overrated or underrated" (Concept)

2-3 defense. He argues overrated because it's not always well-coached, but might still work. The value can come from making offense less aggressive. 

Rebounding drills in practice. Overrated. Does it make us better or promote injuries? Rick Majerus did 3 rebounding drills at beginning of season - Friday, Saturday, Sunday and never again but talked about it. 

5-on-0 run-throughs. Underrated. Should have conditioning and crispness. "Huge fan of 5 on 0." (I have to think on this...we have so little practice time)

Vanilla shell. Overrated. "I don't think basketball is played that way." 

Flex offense. "It's an action that NBA teams score off of." There's some value, especially Flex into something else these days. He thinks you have to be attached to cover the downscreen. 

Giving players scouting reports. Overrated. Players need to know 'what' and favors sending specifics over their phones not tomes...but he says he could be wrong. KYP (know who you're playing).  

Leadership books. Underrated. He's a book guy. The Score Takes Care of Itself (Bill Walsh)

"Are you doing something because it works or because it makes you feel better?" This challenges us to self-assess. 

Obsessed with core values? Dean Smith did it sixty years ago. 

Special value? Watch your own film and practice and watching other's practice.

Basketball: The Gift (What Would You Choose?)

Think on this. If you could have one gift, what would it be? Fame, fortune, genius? 

What might be candidates? 

• Industry 
• Humility 
• Clarity (of thought and communication)

I can't offer anyone master coaching, lacking that height of vanity. Coaches provide structure and seek to ignite the fires within players and students that separate ordinary from high performers. All three of the above contribute to Anson Dorrance's competitive cauldron that churns out excellence without agendas. 

Industry (work ethic) is one cornerstone (along with enthusiasm) of Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success. Industry drives us to work harder and better than the competition.  

Humility is one of Don Meyer's PUSH-T core values. I use the acronym for PUSH THROUGH. Passion (or purpose), Unity (Teamwork, Ubuntu), Servant Leadership, Humility, and Thankfulness. Humility is not thinking less of ourself but thinking less about ourself. Humility allows us to strive to become a learn-it-all not a know-it-all. Humility allows us to recognize excellence and pursue it realizing that it's not ours to judge. 

Clarity spreads messages, even the wrong ones. Mandelas and Mansons both deliver clear messages to followers. "There is no accountability without clarity." Don Meyer spoke of "blind enthusiasm, sophisticated complexity, and mature simplicity." Simple is better. Simple is the easy button. Simple is spacing. Simple is staying out of traffic. Simple is understanding what to do and when, and best yet, why. 

“A few years ago a group of American and Norwegian researchers did a study to see what made babies improve at walking. They discovered that the key factor wasn’t height or weight or age or brain development or any other innate trait but rather (surprise!) the amount of time they spent firing their circuits, trying to walk.”

My granddaughter is not quite nine months old. But she 'wants' to walk. In Daniel Coyle's The Talent Code, he found three components to mastery outliers:

• Deliberate Practice (the quality and depth of practice, not only time)

• Motivation (the will to prepare, practice, and refine skill)

• Master Coaching (we've discussed how coaching is the only shortcut to greatness)

At our best we become mentors to future masters. Work to craft that gift every day. 

Lagniappe: Choose three coaching change with specifics. 

1. Simplify (early offense, spread offense, PnR offense)
2. Study great "developers" (e.g. Hanlen, Kelbick, Chris Johnson)
3. Improve video study (see below)

Find resources that work for you. 

Lagniappe 2: Even NBA Champions make defensive errors and mistakes. 

The play starts with KCP denying Duncan Robinson on the help side. But on the drive, he gets caught ball watching and Robinson sinks. Too late. Every possession is the potential margin of victory. 

Lagniappe 3: "You know why they're the best players in the world...because they play together as a team...they help each other out." - Benny in Queen's Gambit

"Enjoy your gift."