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Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Basketball: Six Packs of Books, Quotes, and Concepts

In his MasterClass, Michael Lewis shares that he plays the same music, over and over, while writing his books (Liar's Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Undoing Project, The Big Short, Coach, and more).  


Graphic from MasterClass

Lewis informs us that his playlist is "embarrassing."  


We need our playlist of absolutes... Include our "Desert Island six books," six quotes, and six concepts. Is lack of knowledge the problem or lack of adherence?

Six Books (Desert Island)
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Six Quotes
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"Basketball is sharing." - Phil Jackson
"Every day is player development day." - Dave Smart
"Basketball is a game of mistakes." - Bob Knight 
"Make every day your masterpiece." - John Wooden
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." - Aristotle
"Utilize strengths, attack weaknesses." - Sun Tzu

Six Concepts 
ttt
Basketball is a game of symmetry. 
Excellent teams find a way to win. 
Bad teams find ways to give away games. 
Seek balance in all things.
Efficiency rules. 

Basketball symmetry. Take great shots. Defend to allow "one bad shot" or hard twos. Take care of the ball on offense. Pressure the ball on defense.  Learn to get fouled. Foul 'for profit'. 

Find a way. "Play harder for longer." Raise your basketball IQ. Make better decisions. Cut harder, pass on-time and on-target. 

Stop giving away games. Fouling, bad shots, turnovers, poor transition defense are regular features for young players and bad teams.  

Seek balance. Maintain work-life balance. Get adequate rest, hydration, and nutrition. Balance doubt and recklessness with confidence.  

Be hard to defend. Cut urgently, use simple and complex screens (e.g. Spain, stagger, Iverson, corner rip, screen-the-screener). Develop individual skills to allow aggressive basket attack from multiple sites on the court. Expand your range, shots off the dribble and off shot fakes, and side-step threes. 

Be efficient. Condition within drills. "No lines, laps, or lectures." Up the tempo. Watch other coaches in person, online or on video to see their operation. Because we can't recruit from outside our community, learn player development.  

Bonus: "Thanks is the cheapest form of compensation." - Robert Townsend, Up the Organization   Say 'thank you' often. 

Lagniappe. You've seen this a dozen times, for good reason. 

Lagniappe 2. Have the will to do more...  

Lagniappe 3. Horns Spain.  

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Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Basketball: Tryouts, Transformation, and Mythical Beasts

The ponies assembled on the baseline awaiting instructions. Ponies with pony legs and eager eyes, preparing to run as ponies do.  

The trainer, overseeing, projected the future, imagining horses and hoping beyond hope that someday one pony might become a unicorn. 

"Do your best. Have fun. Two laps around the court and do not cut corners." Winners do not cut corners. 

A few ponies galloped around the gym, others trotted, and a few lumbered. Some cut corners despite the admonition not to. 

Dribble the arc. "This is the 'three-point line', the spacing line. Dribble right to left around the line with your right hand and return left to right with your left. It's not a race, control the ball, eyes up." 

The trainer had run many ponies over many seasons, no longer able to recall being a pony.  

"Now, repeat with 'crossovers' every third dribble, change of direction, change of pace. It's not just changing hands. Crossover with the ball back to your shoelaces. Explode out of crossovers." So many times he taught this. So few players mastered them. 

Later the ponies dribbled with speed up and back and still later passed two balls back and forth in three lines. Some continued to gallop, aware of flying basketballs. Others struggled to move and handle the ball. 

As hours and days passed, the trainer saw some ponies differently, as a few showed equine explosiveness and maneuverability. Yes, some of these could become exceptional horses. 

Weeks and months passed. No more ponies ran, only horses, and the smoothest and most graceful of them began to emerge, a unicorn. A trainer doesn't make a unicorn. The unicorn simply becomes, nature's transformation as beautiful as the caterpillar to butterfly. 

Years passed and the trainer's dream emerged. Others saw the unicorn, too. She was more fluid, more functional, more everything. 

Few remember Secretariat's trainer or even the jockey. That is how it should be. Secretariat wasn't a normal horse, his oversized heart heralding more horsepower. 


The unicorn became a four-year All-Scholastic, Dream Teamer, and a McDonald's All-America nominee. I still remember the first day pony. 

Not many coaches enjoy the privilege to watch even one metamorphosis. Find your unicorn.   

Lagniappe. 

Lagniappe 2. 

Lagniappe 3. Space invaders. 

 

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Monday, April 8, 2024

Basketball: "You're Nobody..."

"You're nobody until somebody hates you." - Thomas Wolfe 

"You're nobody." I have no problem with that. I've played against a former NBA player (Ron Lee). I took two charges against him. It still hurts over fifty years later. I've played (basketball) against NFL players. Brian Dowling knocked me into the cheap seats making a layup. "B.D., I made the free throw." I had a one day tryout for the Cincinnati Reds. Didn't go well. Ergo, medical school and an old man coaching middle school girls for two decades.  

I am nobody, writing daily about basketball. "Tell the truth." Which truth?

Basketball evolves and it doesn't. "There's no place in the game for the big bangers." And then 6'7" Kamilla Cardoso goes for 15, 17, and 3 (blocks) with 24 Ratings Performance System points. Tessa Johnson had 12 RPS points. Caitlin Clark had a 'negative' score. Read on. 

"Your system is crap." Ok, please share the angst with Lee Rose, who originated the heart of it. All Coach Rose did was go 388-162 and got two teams to the Final Four of NCAA Division 1.  

+3/-3 points (drawing a charge, committing a charge)
+3/-3 making or missing a three point shot
+2 (offense) two point goal, assist, screen leading to a basket, offensive rebound
-2 (offense) two point miss, turnover, missed free throw
+2 (defense) steal, forced turnover, blocked shot
-2 (defense) lost assignment, bad foul leading to free throws
+1 made free throw, defensive rebound, forced held ball
-1 allowed held ball, missed free throw, common foul

Cardoso was 7/14, 1/5 (FT), with 17 rebounds including 7 offensive. She piled up rebounding points and had 3 blocks. 

Tessa Johnson went 7/11, 3/6 on 3s, 2-2 (FT), had 4 defensive boards, 1 steal, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls. Johnson took 11/73 (15%) of SC shots and had 19/87 (22%) of their points. 

Clark was 5/15 (2s), 5/13 (3s), 5/6 (FT), 8 rebounds (2 offensive), 5 assists, and had 4 turnovers. Her electric 18 first quarter points got the Hawkeyes out to a great start. Missed shots also matter in "possession by possession" basketball. Clark took 28/63 (44%) of her team's shots and scored 30/75 (40%) of Iowa points.

I get it and regular readers know that I am not a hater. Clark is a generational talent, everyone's best player in women's college basketball, the hub of Iowa's terrific team, the future WNBA number one choice. She led her team to the finals in consecutive seasons. She's phenomenal.  

She spurred interest and attracted eyeballs to women's basketball, another positive for the women's game. She is a cash machine for television and ratings. She's so popular she's been on television more than Taylor Swift lately. 

A "soulless efficiency system" doesn't measure that. It doesn't measure how defenses rotate to her freeing teammates or expend energy covering her. It doesn't measure foul trouble she induces. Numbers also don't "correct" for desperation shots she took at the end of the game that lower her efficiency and had no impact on the final score. 

What analytics measure is how dominance in some areas (e.g. rebounding 51-29, 18-7 on the offensive glass) and effective field goal percentage (53.4% versus 46.8%) accounted for the Gamecocks win. It helps quantify Pete Newell's "get more and better shots than your opponent." 

The fourth question of Michael Useem's introduction to The Leadership Moment asks, "what is the enduring lesson?" Make more and better shots than your opponent. 

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But unlike Caitlin Clark, when every high schooler in America starts jacking up 'prayers', the game will suffer. 

Lagniappe. Bilas. 

Lagniappe 2. Lay wood or get out.  

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Basketball: Make Listening a Superpower

Charles Barkley asks, "what is your NBA skill?" There's an essential that everyone can improve - listening. Listening skills translate into every facet of life - relationships, school, work, extracurricular activities. 

"The first price achievers pay is to pay attention." 

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Listening is trainable. Interviewers ask for more information:
  • "Tell me more."
  • "...and then what?"
  • "Can you clarify that for me?" 
You might say, "that won't make me a better shooter or a better athlete." Here's an analogy, 'attention deficit disorder'. The patient with ADD often struggles to stay focused in school, work, and on the court. Inability to listen, follow directions, and learn hinders progress. 

Listening is necessary but not sufficient. When listening, consider if the information seems credible, specific, provable. 

Make it important. 
Make it intentional. Good listeners make listening a priority. 
When possible, take notes. 
When completed, mentally summarize what you learned.
Work to remember a few enduring points. 

Consider the following: 
In the era of threes, shots at the rim, and free throws, this NBA shot distribution chart seems expected. The absence of midrange shots and "long twos" meshes with what we see. 

But should this be generalized? At lower levels (e.g. high school and youth), shot range and accuracy plummets. One observer three years ago told me of a game where 50 percent of one team's missed shots didn't even hit iron. I see high school girls' games where three point shots fall at under a twenty percent rate and airballs are more common than makes. 
Great shots are not universal across levels. 

Better listening, better basketball. 

Lagniappe. Build strength with kettlebells. 

Lagniappe 2. Opening space for drivers creates opportunities inside and outside. 
Lagniappe 3. Simplicity often rules. 


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Sunday, April 7, 2024

Basketball: Find the Lesson

"All you paid is the looking price. Lessons are extra." 

What's the analogy? Think hard about that for a minute. 

Card players hold their cards "close to the vest." They don't show you everything. You might hold a setter dump, a cut shot, a slide attack, or a shoot for the right moment. What separates elite players is their ability to "take over" a game when it's needed. 

What's your conclusion? Expertise comes at a price. Experience has another price. Mastery costs the most. 

San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich says, "pound the rock." He also says, "you can't skip steps." If it takes a hundred hits to break the rock, keep pounding. Former Alabama Coach Nick Saban says, "It takes what it takes." 

When you see a player, a coach, an 'expert', you see the superficial part of the iceberg, you don't see the ninety percent below the waterline. 

You do "X" amount to become good enough to make the team. Earning a role takes more. Becoming "more" requires even more. 

At the University of North Carolina, young Michael Jordan told Assistant Coach Roy Williams, "I'll work as hard as any player ever at Carolina." Williams answered, "You have to work harder than that." 

Lagniappe. Don't make excuses. 

Lagniappe. Think in the context of initial formation (spacing), player and ball movement, and the scoring moment.  

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Saturday, April 6, 2024

Basketball: "I'm Glad You Didn't Take It Personally" and Triple Bonuses

When someone tells us, "you're great" or "you're terrible" or "you're a bad person," don't believe them. Award ourselves truth, especially ignoring hurtful words. 

The second agreement of The Four Agreements is "Don't Take Anything Personally." Why? "The words and actions of others are more a reflection of their own reality than of ours." 

Criticism has different intents. Constructive criticism suggests specific improvements. In 'driver ed' the instructor advises you to stay at least a car length behind for every ten miles per hour to allow stopping distance. Coaching is not criticism. 

Coaches want you to do the right thing, the right way, at the right time. Correction isn't player-specific. Advice on technique or strategy applies for everyone.  

Coach Geno Auriemma of UCONN explains that he needs a relationship for a player to understand, "I want you to be better." Auriemma adds that sometimes the best thing he can say is, "I understand." The decision-making or the skill required to play at elite levels is demanding. He knows that critiquing an action differs from valuing a person.

The best players thirst for coaching. Embrace corrections. If you find yourself resisting coaching, think again.  

Lagniappe. Coach Dags borrows from Abraham Lincoln about learning, including learning what not to do. 

Lagniappe 2. Do you like to script opening plays?  

Lagniappe 3. Overload is one 'traditional' zone-busting approach.  

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Basketball: Hockey Assists

"Hockey assists" are passes that lead to an assist. They remind me of the "Pirates code," more like guidelines. 

So no 'rule' exists. What common opportunities exist? 

1) Great outlet pass. Sharp, safe outlets into transition are critical. 

2) Initial short roll passes. They often trigger open corner threes. 


3) Chicago/Zoom action into roller. Downscreen into DHO with return to the roller is one of many hard-to-defend actions. 


4) Passes to and through the post


High post X-action offers another type


When teams have a post finisher, "swing and seal" opportunity arises. 

5) Half court offense through sets with deceptive cuts...


On the left, backdoor cut through horns. On the right, two guard front with ghost action as 5 cuts to the basket en route to setting a wing ball screen. 

Lagniappe. Novel action to get lobs out of a high ball screen. "Finale-oop."   
Lagniappe 2. Coach Sanders demands accountability on and off the field. 

Lagniappe 3. I heard a story years ago about a government official hospitalized who bigfooted and dismissed all hospital staff. Finally, the hospital CEO arrived and told the politician, "you will act as a gentleman or you will leave." There was a bit more not suitable for sharing pre- or post-HIPAA.  

Treat people right. 

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Friday, April 5, 2024

Basketball: Problem Solving

I love practice. That's not enough. Practice must help players solve game problems. 

Individual Growth

  • Skill
  • Strategy
  • Physical development
  • Psychological growth (Resilience)

Four Factors:

  • Shooting (EFG%) - game-like shooting conditions
  • Turnover reduction - versus pressure, advantage-disadvantage
  • Rebounding 
  • Attacking the basket - 1-on-1, off the catch, off-the-dribble, PnR
Team solutions: 

  • Spacing
  • Player movement
  • Ball movement
  • The Scoring Moment
Key practice activities blend individual and team decision-making, offense, defense, conditioning, and competition. 

1) Scrimmage. We only had 3 hours of practice a week so we used the final 15 minutes of each session for three possession games (O-D-O, offense-defense-offense) started with SLOB, BOB, free throw, or ATO. This layered in "special situations" practice. 

2) Advantage-disadvantage. I prefer five versus seven full court press break with no dribbling. Teach cutting and passing with constraints. Press breaking three versus four also helps. Steve D argues for three-vs-three no dribble. 

3) Game-like shooting. I favor drills with high volume, high intensity (e.g. makes per minute), with a lot of movement (e.g. cutting) into the shot. Adding defense versus shooters also helps. 

4) One dribble offense. Individual skill development from the elbow (box drills), wing, or three point line. Teach the basics without defense but add defense early to emphasize footwork, ball protection, and urgency.

Add your solution-finding ideas...

Lagniappe. Stops make runs.   

Lagniappe 2. Talk wins.  

Lagniappe 3. Gratitude.  

Lagniappe 4.  "We show up with full intensity."  

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Thursday, April 4, 2024

Basketball: Finding the Cheat Code (There Is no Secret)

Coach Ralph Labella asked, "why are you hyping this kid?" I explained, "she competes at practice, at school, during games. Hard worker, never takes a repetition off." He had a chance to coach her for a few days at a camp and called me. "Best prospect ever to come out of Melrose." She is her school's valedictorian, League MVP, will be a four year All-Scholastic, and earned a D1 Scholarship.  

There's no place to hide on the court, the field, the ice. Many of you read Jay Bilas' Toughness. "Play so hard that your coach has to take you out." 

You have an ACE up your sleeve - attitude, choices, effort. If you want to be great, do what greatness takes. 

Create value for yourself. Watch this a couple of times. 


I see a prospective player and think, "is she a lottery pick, a first round choice, a second round choice, a free agent?" There's a saying, "it's not the Xs and Os, it's the Jimmies and Joes." 

The lottery picks are the All-Scholastic players. The first rounders are at a minimum All-League and All-Star players. Generally, those types of players have at least two attributes of size, athleticism, and skill. A player can rise or fall from one category to another. Moving two levels is incredibly hard. The Celtics' Derrick White is a two level guy. 

Sport isn't fair. Find the 'cheat code'. Start by outworking everyone. 

Lagniappe. Learn from losses. 

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Lagniappe 2. 

Lagniappe 3. Great tip. Improve shooting by getting better, and improving shot quality.  

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Basketball: Three Play Breakdown

When "Basketball IQ" meets execution, great happens.

Basketball is a game of vision, decision, execution. 

  • Draw 2
  • Move the ball (off the short roll)
  • 0.5 second decisions 
  • "One more pass"
  • Executing the scoring moment

Ball reversal runs through the post, skip passes, or around. Here the Celtics go around and get a matchup that works for separation.
 

Live ball turnovers kill dreams. At every level of basketball, lazy wing to top passes get picked and converted. You've seen it a thousand times.
 

Core principles show up at all levels of basketball. Do our players watch enough film and internalize that proxy experience? 
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Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Basketball: Apply Epictetus

Epictetus, slave turned philosopher, represents a face of modern stoic philosophy. This has become a pillar for modern professional sports. Think on some of his quotes. 

"Circumstances don’t make the man, they only reveal him to himself." (Rise in the moment)

"How long will you wait before you demand the best of yourself?" (determine your destiny)

"You are hurt the moment you believe yourself to be." (Don't take anything personally. They don't know you.)

"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will." (Control what you can control.) 

"What ought one to say then as each hardship comes? I was practicing for this, I was training for this."

"Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it." (Model your beliefs)

"We should discipline ourselves in small things, and from there progress to things of greater value."

"A person is not going to undertake to learn anything that they think they already know."

"You can’t hope to make progress in areas where you have made no application."

Lagniappe. Being a great teammate isn't automatic. 

Lagniappe 2. Build your game. 

Lagniappe 3. Create space. 

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Basketball: Know, Teach, and Practice Accountability

Being the 'star' player on a team means accountability. Most never enjoy or suffer that privilege.  

What is accountability? I favor this definition, "holding yourself to the highest standard of performance."

Accountability manifests in many ways. Here are a few. 

  • Always be on time. Better yet be on "Dean Smith Time" (early).
  • Do the skill, strategy, physicality, and psychology work. 
  • Be coachable. 
  • Know your program/team philosophy.
  • Know your team execution plan.
  • Limit turnovers, fouls, and poor quality shots.  
  • Excel in your role. 
  • Study the game.
  • Be a great teammate.
  • Be positive.
  • Bring energy to ourself and to teammates.
  • Tell the truth.
  • "Always do your best," the Fourth Agreement.
  • Learn from mistakes; avoid repeating them.
  • Apply mental models (think better) and understand cognitive bias (overt and implicit pre-judgments).
  • Focus on the well-being of the team first (sacrifice).
  • Don't be needy or a prima donna.
  • Lead. Don't 'bigfoot' younger teammates. 
  • Never make excuses.  
Examine our position on the accountability spectrum. 

Lagniappe. Reading the responses also has value. 

Lagniappe 2. With more teams and players spaced and emphasis on threes, attacking off the catch will likely increase in value.  

Lagniappe 3. What's our brand? Align our attitudes, behaviors, and habits.  

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Basketball - "Always Be a Beginner"

No shame accompanies beginners. This article by Shunryu Suzuki discusses "beginner's mind."

There's power and majesty in 'firsts'. Think back to your first time on a bicycle, first day of school, first time walking up the ramp to a major league ballpark. Firsts last. 

Beginning inspires excitement, wonder, and curiosity. "Can I ever be good at this?"

Suzuki writes, "In the beginner’s mind there is no thought “I have attained something.” All self-centered thoughts limit our vast mind. When we have no thought of achievement, no thought of self, we are true beginners. Then we can really learn something."

Even as 'elders', we can experience "beginner's mind" when hearing a lecture about yoga, reading Tolstoy, rereading The Old Man and the Sea, or watching a child's first steps.

Sadness comes from shaming another person's best, whether they are beginners, have an impairment, or just because they don't meet our distorted 'standard of perfection'. Our best efforts go awry and yet we choose how to carry on - our attitude, choices, and effort. 


Beginner's mind implies freshness. Approach preparation, running a practice, going to work with the same anticipation as we did as beginners. Think back to a 'tryout' for your first team or your last. "Every day is Showtime." 

Help others find 'beginners mind'. 

Lagniappe. Modernize. 

Lagniappe 2. Stay relentless. 

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Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Basketball: Study Excellent Coaches (Lightly Annotated)

Learn from excellent coaches. Brook Kohlheim called attention to an article about Brad Underwood in her weekly newsletter. Let's dissect. Let's steal their best. 

"You need to have really good people around you and above you." Remember Mr. Rogers, "look for the helpers."

"We don’t just want to be content." Sonny Lane taught, "I'm pleased but I'm not satisfied."

"It took Jay Wright a long time to break through."

"Let’s keep chopping wood." Chop wood, carry water.

"It’s matchups. It’s making a play." Create edges. Execute. 

"We’re very, very diverse and versatile in the ways we can play." Good teams learn to play harder for longer and at differing tempo.

"We’ve got more ways to get things done."

"Every new guy we’ve signed is a state champion." Winning people developed winning habits. 

"If a kid wants to go pro, but it’s not looking good, he’s going to seek out the best financial option for him in college." Never underestimate the role of self-interest in decision-making.

"There’s always going to be a state of re-recruiting your guys." Make the experience and rewards meaningful daily. 

"He has such a mature approach to the game. He’s willing to do the work it takes to help him get his game where he wants to go."

"I think he impacted winning at the high school level as much as any player I’ve ever evaluated. His value to his team in so many facets just stuck out time and again. He’s an excellent defender and an elite passer." Sounds like a Saban "AND" guy not a "BUT" guy.

You get to spend a week with any 1-2 coaches in the country. Who would you shadow? 

"Before they both retired, Bob McKillop at Davidson and Jay Wright at Villanova. Their schemes and the culture they built at those programs [are things] I admire." 

Lagniappe. Know who we are as a person, as a competitor, as a leader. 

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Monday, April 1, 2024

Basketball: Keys to Transition Defense

Excellent teams' core defensive philosophy includes no easy baskets such as transition. Transition baskets often arise off high point per possession setups (e.g. live ball turnovers) and offensive failures.

Limit transition scoring with:

  • Commitment to limiting transition
  • Limit live ball turnovers
  • Shot selection 
  • Spacing to include floor balance
  • Offensive rebounding 
  • Protecting the basket, slowing ball advancement, shaping up
  • High effort with high engagement
The Celtics allow the fewest points per possession in transition in the NBA. Analyst Brian Scalabrine said that having either Kristaps Porzingis or Al Horford back at the top of the key dissuaded opposing guards from attacking. 

"Invert, always invert." Why do teams have poor transition defense?

Video examples: 

No rim protection 

Live ball turnover leading to defense collapsing on the ball with an open perimeter shooter. 


The bad and the good of it (Cavaliers)...annotated video shows how much floor balance matters. 


Usually a good on-ball defender, Smart never contains the ball. 


Usually, multiple problems contributes - turnovers, lack of alertness, lack of maximal effort, poor ball containment, etc. 

Lagniappe. Watching practice often reveals a lot about execution. 

Lagniappe 2. The great Ryan Pannone (a difference maker) 

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