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Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Ways Our Program Added Value

Coaching youth basketball (sixth to eighth grade girls), we added value from player and team growth on and off the court. 

Seeing players succeed in life reinforces that people built on lessons. Some opportunities included:

1. Forge lifelong relationships. Be available. Be an anteambulo. Write letters of recommendations. Network. 

2. Help build skills that get and keep you on the court. "What is your varsity skill?" 

3. Emphasis. Focusing your light on making others better, reflects more light upon you. Top players make everyone better. 

4. Impact winning. Top players went to or won state championships. 

5. Become a student of the game. The players who excelled the most maintained their notebooks and studied video. Integrating skill, athleticism, tactics, and psychology gave them a great chance to succeed.

6. Create edges. Emphasize separation. Footwork, urgent cutting, and screening shape hard-to-defend advantage.

7. Develop "possession enders," guys who gets scores and stops. 

8. Craft leaders. 

  • Model excellence. 
  • Share great info like Wooden's "Pyramid of Success" (laminated)
  • Share 'the right way', Jay Bilas's "Toughness" qualities (laminated)
  • Teach leadership stories about men and women who changed the world.
9. Be positive. "A positive life seldom arises from a negative attitude."

10.Create opportunities. Players had offseason sessions available (90 minutes, twice weekly) allowing them to practice key skills, especially scoring at multiple levels.   

Set the bar high. Players got the same opportunity. A few seized it. 

Lagniappe. 

Lagniappe 2. What is the Mamba mentality? Becoming your best version. 

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Monday, October 23, 2023

Basketball: Running Better Meetings (Print and Save Edition)

Before reading, consider what belongs in a productive meeting. Never cram five minutes of information into an hour. Here are some I'd suggest:

  • Purpose (e.g. information, decision, change)
  • The empty chair (stakeholders not present, e.g. customers, fans)
  • Core content - concise, clear, satisfying curiosity
  • Use stories (recall Heath Brothers' Made to Stick)
  • Opportunity for questions, feedback
  • Summarize key points

This report comes from Coach Brooklyn Kohlheim's newsletter (@CoachKohlheim) about how to run better meetings. 

6 Simple Steps to Run a Successful Meeting

  1. Define the Meeting Objectives 
  2. Create an Agenda + Send Calendar Invites
  3. Create a Safe Space for Collaboration
  4. Strategically Choose Attendees + Appoint Important Roles
  5. Best Practices to Stay on Track
  6. End With Clear Actions, Owners, and Timelines

Amplifying:

1. Could the process have been completed without a meeting? Email?

2. Have a curated agenda.

3. Safe space...feedback invited "trust, confidence, and curiosity" 

4. Be positive. Avoid scapegoating. I attended a meeting decades ago where a famous senior physician publicly rebuked a trainee. Brutal. 

5. Keep the meeting focused (some try to hijack the meeting)

6. If change is to occur, clarify roles and timeline if applied. 

Summary:

  • Have a clear purpose and agenda. 
  • Use stories. 
  • Keep it safe.
  • Avoid scapegoating.
  • Summarize key points, responsibilities, and timelines.
Lagniappe. Coach Hack summarizes where programs fail or succeed. 

Lagniappe 2. Deception. Slow to fast. 


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Sunday, October 22, 2023

Basketball: Can We Use Humor Better?

"There is something about humor that is soothing to the human spirit..." Doris Kearns Goodwin in MasterClass

Use humor to lighten the moment. For a thoughtful, comprehensive piece, check out this Stanford Business School piece.

Sarcasm is not humor. With younger players, sarcasm usually registers as  offensive or doesn't register at all. Telling twelve year-olds that if you are in front of a firing squad you want them shooting gets a lot of blank stares. As does asking, "do you get paid by the dribble?" 

Let humor happen naturally. We were scrimmaging and one girl (reserve player) was making everything. Finally, she gets a wide open look and misses. She yells "$hit" and each of the thirteen-fourteen year old teammates burst out laughing...and the coaches. 

Some coaches are naturally funny, famously Abe Lemons and to a degree Geno Auriemma. 


Yes, sometimes it's sarcasm for college athletes. "Let's change our defense. Let's go from not guarding them to guarding them." 

And then there's Gregg Popovich. 


And 'less' Popovich. 


There's no easy answer, but consider your audience. 

Lagniappe. 

Lagniappe 2. 

 

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Saturday, October 21, 2023

She Drives Me Crazy


(BOSTON) The long-time basketball coach was found incoherent and howling at the moon. Police arrived and took him to the local hospital where he kept mumbling, "It's okay, I know, I know." The responding officer, also a nurse who had played for the coach said, "he just broke after seeing and hearing so much baloney for decades." 

What drives coaches mad? 

"It's okay." A player travels or throws the ball away. Her teammates soothe her saying, "It's okay. Don't worry about it." It's not okay. Turnovers kill dreams. "The ball is gold." It's NOT okay. 

"I know, I know." A player throws the ball to the other team and then looks over to the coach. "I know, I know." If you know, then stop doing it. Just stop. Coach Wooden said, "Don't whine, don't complain, don't make excuses." And don't tell the coach, "I know." 

Poor transition defense. Bad transition defense is a recipe for defeat via allowing easy baskets. Effort doesn't require supreme skill or apocalyptic athleticism. It demands concentration, anticipation, reaction, and execution - C.A.R.E. 

Silence. Silence is the anathema of success. Talk energizes. Talk heightens awareness. Talk intimidates. ELO. Early. Loud. Often. 

Lackadaisical cutting. "Basketball is a game of separation." Separation mandates urgent cutting. Urgency is a catalyst for positive action. 

The deadly S's. Softness. Selfishness. Sloth (laziness). "The game honors toughness." Being called soft is an indictment of the worst sort about a player. Tough players get on the floor, set solid screens, set up cuts, and 'play so hard your coach has to take you out' as Jay Bilas wrote in Toughness. 

Casual approach. "Turn ordinary moments into extraordinary results." - Shane Parrish  If it's not important to you, you can't produce a great result. Sara Blakely says, "Obsess the product."

Lack of attention to detail. The book title says, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. The author clearly wasn't a basketball coach. Sweat the small stuff. No detail is unimportant. 

Lack of punctuality. Being late disrespects your teammates, your coaches, your program. Exceptional circumstances arise but every day cannot be an exceptional excuse. Take pride in doing everything right. Use "Dean Smith Time" and be ten minutes early. 

Not doing your best. "Always do your best," is the final agreement in The Four Agreements. Your best means commitment to a lifestyle consistent with doing your best. Our best includes nutrition, rest, exercise, preparation, effort. 

Summary (How to Drive a Coach Insane):
  • "It's okay."
  • "I know, I know." 
  • Poor transition defense. 
  • Lackadaisical cutting. 
  • Silence. 
  • Poor attention to detail.
  • The Deadly S's - softness, selfishness, sloth. 
  • Indifference. 
  • Lateness. 
  • Not doing your best. 
David Axelrod said, "All we can do is everything we can do." 

Lagniappe. More turnovers




 

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Friday, October 20, 2023

Basketball: Symptoms, Signs, and Diagnosis

Mentor CAPT Dr. Bill Baker explained there were two ways to go wrong in medicine:

1) Tell the patient who is sick that nothing is wrong. 

2) Tell the patient who is well that something is wrong. 

You don't show up one day and become a physician, surgeon, or basketball coach. Whether Malcolm Gladwell's "10,000 hours" applies is conjecture. Overnight experience is oxymoron. 

We learn through: 

  • Experience
  • Mentors ("you're following a lit fuse" - CAPT Tom Walsh)
  • Trial and error (that procedure needed more local anesthetic)
  • Independent study (reading, clinics, video)
  • Analogy. Bees pollinate flowers. Who pollinates our coaching? 

Our teams present with symptoms - lack of confidence, indecision, silence, low basketball IQ. And they manifest signs - selfishness, poor spacing, turnovers, poor shot quality, lack of urgency in cutting and transition.

Your 'physical examination' might start with video with audio. What shows up at a glance across sports?

  • Energy and communication "hey, batter, batter." 
  • Spacing on offense
  • Ball pressure with "color on color" on defense
  • Ball movement. "The ball has energy." 
  • Where do points arise? 
  • What is the offensive intent - transition, sets, freelance?
  • What is the overarching defensive philosophy? 
  • Who delivers the "scoring moment" (possession enders)? 

A great diagnostician may not find a cure. But nobody finds cures without working the process of history, examination, and understanding "differential diagnosis." You are doctors of basketball. 

Lagniappe. Create. 

Lagniappe 2. BOB, a little busy. 

 


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Thursday, October 19, 2023

Learning from Our Mistakes: The Red Team

Sport is not war and war is anything but sport. Studying military leaders  provides a chance to become better coaches and better leaders. War is about preserving nations and societies.  

I didn't teach basketball to young women to glorify war. Ten years in the military expunged those thoughts. 

Here are old and newer concepts that cross domains. 

Alexander Suvorov was 'the general who never lost'. Here are a few excerpts that apply to basketball.  

  • "We are here to fight, not to count." This was Suvorov's version of "control what you can control." 
  • "Train hard, fight easy." The modern basketball version is, "make practice hard so games are easier." 
  • "If a peasant doesn't know how to plough, he cannot grow bread." If you don't know your job, you cannot perform it.
  • "All the secret of maneuvers lies in the legs." Condition players. 
  • "Formation and tactics always depended on the nature of the terrain and the anticipated enemy." Know your opponent. 
Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War. Far more lessons reside within. 
  • "All warfare is based on deception." Having superior talent matters. In the documentary, "Against the Tide," producers showed how superior USC footballers overwhelmed Alabama. In the rematch the next season, Alabama held closed practices, deployed the wishbone and won in Los Angeles. 
  • Bait bad passes by appearing passive but springing into passing lanes.
  • Show a zone formation and shift to man. LSU's Dale Brown used "The Freak" where initial defenses morphed into others. 
  • “To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy.” Practice the defenses that you will encounter. 
  • "He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces." You won't automatically win with more talent or lose with less. Competing as an underdog requires different approaches. 
The Millenium Challenge '02 pitted US forces, the Blue Team, with futuristic technology against retired General Paul Van Riper's "Red Team," the opposing forces of OPFOR. The Pentagon crafted the simulation with a predetermined outcome that OPFOR had no chance against a superior force with Spaced Aged weaponry. Van Riper had other ideas. 
  • New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof warned that it “should teach us one clear lesson relating to Iraq: Hubris kills.” Overconfidence and a crafty enemy can cause defeat. 
  • "Retired Marine Corps three-star Paul Van Riper was praised for having “created the conditions for successful spontaneity” with a decision-making style that “enables rapid cognition.”" Superior leadership, imagination, and execution can produce surprising results.
  • “MC ’02 is the key to military transformation.” Innovation, while welcomed and valuable, doesn't always prevail. 
  • "Van Riper decided that as soon as a U.S. Navy carrier battle group steamed into the Gulf, he would “preempt the preemptors” and strike first." As a heavy underdog, the unexpected may have strategic, unexpected advantage. 
  • "Van Riper’s forces unleashed a barrage of missiles from ground-based launchers, commercial ships, and planes flying low and without radio communications to reduce their radar signature." Maybe this was analogous to UMBC's three-point barrage that took down Virginia in a 1-16 mismatch. 
  • "Van Riper believed that MC ’02 was both scripted and carried out in a way that did not realistically reflect likely future U.S. military capabilities or the threats posed by a thinking, motivated adversary." As coaches, use our imagination in training, preparation, and execution. Think out of the box. 
What's the point? Conventional wisdom gets conventional results. Overwhelming force will usually prevail. But what's the cost of using our imagination?

Lagniappe. The guy being defended for entry into the back court gets lost. 

Lagniappe. A veteran 'real' coach shares his thoughts. Many reflect all of our experiences. 

 

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Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Bad Basketball

You know it when you see it. It comes in a variety of gut-wrenching flavors.

Bad basketball arises from different frameworks.

Offense - Great offense is multiple actions.

  • Lack of vision
  • Indecision and poor decisions
  • Poor execution 
  • Selfishness
Defense - Great defense is multiple efforts. 

  • Lack of organization (e.g. containing transition)
  • Lack of effort
  • Lack of athleticism 
  • Lack of skill (e.g. pick-and-roll defense)
Coaching
  • Unclear philosophy and teaching
  • Player development needs unmet
  • Practice inefficiency - "Activity is not achievement." - John Wooden
  • Mismatching strategy to talent (e.g. extending defense with less athletic players)
One of the best ways to improve is to reevaluate what we're doing and tailor it to our needs.

Lagniappe. Modified Iverson action, emptying a side, and screen-the-screener. 

Lagniappe 2. How do you engage assistants? 

 

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Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Basketball: Attack Weaknesses

"Attack weaknesses, utilize strengths." 

 

How can we attack weaknesses? 

1. Use analytics. If we have the capability, assess an opponent for weakness...transition defense, three-point shooting, free throw shooting (e.g. Hack-a-Shaq). 

2. Attack mismatches. A mismatch might occur in size, speed, or skill. Coach Knight opined that even against zone defense, you have choice of where and whom to attack. 

3. Create mismatches. Many teams regularly or situationally switch. 

4. Study video looking for advantage. Is there a vulnerability to pressure or a weak ballhandler? 

Lagniappe. Screening the top of the zone... 

Lagniappe 2.  

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Monday, October 16, 2023

Basketball: Underrated Five Elements of Execution

High efficiency and fewer mistakes drive success. Here are five simple ideas that help teams win.

1. Develop solid inbounding. Why?

  • Break the press. Good teams defeat pressure. 
  • Get the ball in safely close and late. 
  • Exert advantage in your special situations, e.g.  BOBs, SLOBs, and ATOs. Passes must be on time and on target. Patience is needed to allow plays to develop. Have them on your game play sheet. 
2. "Foul for profit" is Kevin Sivils' term. Excessive fouling puts opponents on the line for high 'points per possession' chances. Even if they were only hitting 65 percent, that's still 1.3 points/possession. "Show your hands," "don't reach in," and "don't swat down to block shots." If it looks like a foul, it will get called.

3. Don't give games away. What are three common ways teams shoot themselves in the foot? 

  • Poor shot selection. Have your sound byte like "ROB - range, open, balanced." 
  • Take care of the basketball. "Turnovers kill dreams." 
  • Be competent at the line. Bill Bradley recommended better targeting in John McPhee's "A Sense of Where You Are." Add pressure during practice. We allowed partners to say anything to the shooter in practice. 
4. Win special situations. We finished each practice with 'specials' - three possession games starting with BOBs, SLOBs, ATOs, or free throws.  

5. Practice 'close and late' situations. Be solid at offensive and defensive delay games. Thinking players will magically execute without practice is folly. 

  • Vary time remaining and score.
  • Include offensive and defensive delays situations (e.g up/down by 6 with three minutes left). 
  • Adjust team fouls. 
  • Practice leading by 3 with 10 seconds left w/o the ball. To foul or not? 
  • Practice trailing by 2 or 3, with one free throw and five seconds left. 
  • Practice trailing by 2, five seconds left SLOB at midcourt. 
Lagniappe. 
Lagniappe 2. Plyometrics. 

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Sunday, October 15, 2023

Coaching Pearls Cross Domains

Aspire to see the game through 'coaches' eyes'. Brook Kohlheim shares a 2002 Buster Olney article about Marshall Faulk's game understanding. Many lessons apply across sports.

Superior vision, decisions, and execution define excellence. For example, a spread offense presents many challenges, beginning with great spacing. With younger teams, defending the give and go and backdoor cuts are the 'starting point'. 


Like chess grandmasters, excellent players learn to 'chunk' positions on the 'board' and see numerous possibilities. 

Examine quotes from the article: 

"...what may distinguish Faulk is his comprehension of what is occurring around him on the field, and his ability to apply his skills." Restate this as superior vision leading to better decisions and execution.

"...the thing that's so impressive about him -- and you'd hope other players would be like this, too -- is he's a great problem solver.'' What separates extraordinary from ordinary is real-time solutions. 

"He cannot remember a time in his life when he did not ask questions -- one in particular: Why?" Ask better questions. Remember to ask secondary questions like "what if?" 

''He wants to know what's going to happen..." Anticipation leads to quicker reaction and execution.

The two best players I've ever coached (earning D1 scholarships) had a critical commonality after size and skill...both were students of the game.

Samantha Dewey (Illinois) was constantly in her notebook, even when injured. This reminds me of Steve Kerr, who was building his future coaching system while broadcasting. 

Cecilia Kay (American commit) became a student of video as a middle schooler. She regularly reviewed game footage taken by her parents. This reminds me of Erik Spoelstra whose early days in Miami occupied the video room. 

In most professions, the ability to process information quickly, leading to exceptional execution defines success. 

Lagniappe. What are our players willing to sacrifice? 


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Saturday, October 14, 2023

Basketball: These Truths Are Immutable

I'm here to learn and to share. Examine truth via the lens of Dr. Fergus Connolly's framework:

  • Skill (technique)
  • Strategy (tactics)
  • Athleticism
  • Psychology (Mental approach, toughness, resilience)
Skill links to other components. 
  • You can't exercise strategy without skill. "We can't run what we can't run." 
  • Skill links to mental approach. "Champions do extra." 
  • Athleticism - "explosiveness leverages skill."
  • Skill relies on decision-making. Bad decisions (e.g. fouling) neutralize skill and hustle. 
Strategy
  • Multiple paths lead to victory. Even more lead to defeat. "'Cause every hand's a winner and every hand's a loser." 
  • Listen to your current coach. His or her word is the one that matters. When you gain your coach's confidence, ask privately about other ways to perform a skill or strategy such as defending the pick-and-roll. 
  • Keep learning from every source you can find - mentors, coaches, video, clinics, blogs. Learn how to learn. 
  • If there were one best way to do everything, everyone would do that. 
Athleticism
  • Find a workout partner. Drag a teammate into the top 10% with you. 
  • Measure progress. Vertical jump. 3 cone drill. 17s. Bench press. Seeing progress enhances motivation. 
  • Rest and nutrition are parts of the program. 
Psychology
  • The immediate way to improve is to play smarter. 
  • The next best way is to play harder. Hard work is a skill. It doesn't matter if you play hard if you don't make good decisions. 
  • Toughness is a skill. 
  • Mindfulness improves focus, sleep, blood pressure, and lowers stress hormones. It helps control pain, too. 
Lagniappe. Great offense is multiple actions. 

Lagniappe 2. Footwork tips. 

 

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Being Coachable Is a Skill

Terrion Arnold about Coach Nick Saban, "you should be worried when he's not saying something." 


Being coachable is a skill.  

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Friday, October 13, 2023

Coaching and Writing: A Shared Problem

Coaches and writers share a problem - exposing too much of ourselves. Fans and readers judge...that's the game. 

But what are they judging? 

Coaches have two core execution issues - 

  • How do we get scores?
  • How do we get stops? 
Fans and readers should see intent. The team plans to score:
  • At the rim (pass and cut/dribble penetration)
  • With emphasis on three point scoring
  • In transition
  • Via sets 
  • Via motion
  • Favoring simple and complex screening
  • Getting to the line
  • Put backs 
  • Balancing many of the above
If observers don't see intent, there probably isn't one.

Similarly, what is the defensive intent?
  • What is the primary defense - man, zone, hybrid?
  • Does the team stop transition? 
  • How good is ball containment?
  • How effective is the help and recover?
  • What is the foul discipline? 
Invest time in getting players to believe in your system.

Lagniappe. I'm here to learn every day. 
Lagniappe 2. Establish and capitalize on advantage. 

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Thursday, October 12, 2023

Basketball - 3 - 2 - 1 (Sets, SLOBs, BOB)

Special situations like BOBs, SLOBs, and ATOs allow well-drilled teams to create advantage. 

SETS

I'm partial to spread offense, horns, and others.

1. Spread. Recently I borrowed from Rod Olson's The Legacy Builder whose second core principle is SIMPLICITY. 


Initial spacing is spread. Open a gap with a cutter. DHO drive. 

2. Horns backscreen into wing ballscreen. Got a great screener? 

3. Obradovic 1-3-1 PnR options


Straight middle PnR with a clear or a modified give-and-go using a screener. 

SLOBs

1. Chris Oliver shares a beauty, a SLOB creating multiple possibilities. 

2. "LAKER" a typical zipper entry into screen-the-screener play.  

BOB

1-4 Low into diagonal off-ball screen


I have a saying, "bigs away come back into play." 

Lagniappe. Dave Smart says, "Play harder for longer." Jeff Janssen agrees. 
Lagniappe 2. Non-negotiable. 








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Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Basketball and Society: Ideas and Identity in an Innovation Revolution

Post by @adamgrant
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Coaches know many ways to win and even more to lose. Having a philosophy of coaching matters but doesn't guarantee anything.

Change is inevitable. Facts demanded a Copernicus. 

Over fifty years ago, conventional wisdom taught "defense first" but almost nobody said, "offense wins championships." The rise of superior training and skill development spawned an "Age of Offense." That doesn't mean defense departed with dinosaurs. 

What else changed across eras?

  • The lane widened.
  • The 24 second shot clock happened.
  • The three-point shot helped decongest big bodies in the paint.
  • The three went from curiosity to commonplace.
  • Handchecking was banned. 
Everyone didn't love the three. Jim Calhoun said, "It cheapens the game." Others, like a young Providence coach, Rick Pitino rode it to deep tournament runs. 

A Harvard professor Calestous Juma wrote about Innovation and Its Enemies, “It’s the loss they are afraid of, not the newness. That loss, perceived or real, can be a part of their identity, their way of life or their economic security.” He continued it “challenges their outlook on the world.”
 
Seek a better way or among new ways rather than being wedded to "we've always done it that way." 

Consider innovation during our lifetimes. 
  • Reel-to-reel tape yielded to digital recordings.
  • VHS tape evolved to streaming media. 
  • Imaging like CT and MRI often replaced exploratory surgery.
  • The Internet catalyzed the Information Revolution. 
  • An Artificial Intelligence revolution is in progress.  
  • Electric cars approach ten percent of vehicle sales. 
Consider how players, analysis, and compensation have evolved.
  • Video guys became championship coaches. 
  • Paint patrollers yield to next level players like Jokic, Antetokuonmpo, and Embiid
  • Next generation combo bigs include Wembanyama and Holmgren.
  • The greatest shooter ever emerged. 
  • Analytics are mainstream.
  • Cellphone video allows most players to study and edit their form. 
  • NIL is revolutionizing college sports.
Coaches locked in the past are likely to be superseded by more adaptable minds. 
 
Lagniappe. Rodeo defense? 
Lagniappe 2. Moving defenders can be a key. Defending keeps getting harder. 

 

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