Big Ten: Basketball: A Game of ______________ (Fill in the blank)

As coaches, we transform players interested in basketball to mature individuals understanding basketball. It's a long process. 

There's something called the DIKW Pyramid, an ascending hierarchy as data translates into understanding. Geno Auriemma can teach newbies how UCONN scores with prior data. He stratifies that: a third in transition, a third from threes, and a third from sets. Data becomes information. As players improve their skills an pattern recognition, information becomes knowledge. Elite players develop basketball wisdom. 



New players arrive as virtual blank slates (tabula rasa). They may have some unconnected skills (e.g. dribbling without penetration or finishing). Pete Newell defined the coach's role as helping players SEE THE GAME. A bird flashes by my window. I recognize the flight pattern and coloration as "cardinal" (Cardinalis cardinalis) and know it's a male. A child knows it's a bird and red; experience defines it further. 

Accelerate players' understanding by informing the nature of basketball. Share the big picture and the details. Every superior professional has a philosophy and process that defines them. 

Basketball is a game of ____________________________.

Sharing. 

Mistakes. 

Efficiency. "Get more and better shots than your opponent." - Pete Newell (above)

Teamwork.  

Superior use of space. 

Cutting and passing. Ask players to define the difference between a front cut and a back cut...a shuffle cut, UCLA, Flex action, slice cut, thru or bury. Blank stares are not answers. 

Pressure. (the ability to apply and withstand pressure). 

Separation and finishing. (We cannot succeed without putting the ball in the basket.)Explode. "It's a shoulders game." 

"Possession and possessions." Defense and rebounding get possession; quality teams have quality possessions. 

Mismatches (numbers, size, skill, toughness). 

Players can only exploit concepts they hear and embrace. If we have no philosophy, then we lack the foundation to build teams. 

Recap:

Sharing 
Mistakes
Efficiency
Teamwork
Superior use of space
Cutting and passing
Pressure
Separation and finishing
Possession and possessions
Mismatches

Every activity in each practice builds upon these principles. 

Fast Five: "Open Court" Dissected

Spectacular discussion from Hall of Famers and analysts. 


1. Do you have enough game to "draw 2"? Guys get paid to DRAW 2 and allow others to play 4 on 3. 

2. Offensive movement. 

CWebb breaks down elements from GSW. 1 can also basket cut instead or come off 4 with the handoff. Draymond Green's versatility at the 4 makes things happen. 

3. What "critical actions" belong to 2017 guards? The simple answer is to go downhill and have the counter (off the screen-and-roll). This is classic Pete Newell. 

a) Get to the rim. (7 of top 10 layup scorers are guards...Westbrook, Curry, Isaiah Thomas)

b) Get shots (e.g. floaters and short two-footed shots) in the paint, drawing help

c) Make shots off the PnR when defenders go under

4. The struggle to defend great players...don't surrender layups and free throws (two of the key analytic drivers)... 

5.The era of the small man...can't touch them and officials let them get away with pushing off (video demonstrates this). 

Kenny Smith discussed the advantage of playing with a transcendent post player...getting options because their defender left to double (opened threes and basket cuts). Point for young players LINE OF SIGHT...another way to say this the BALL IS A CAMERA...it has to see you. 

Dennis Scott emphasizes second chance threes. You miss, then relocate and the offensive rebounder finds you. 

Father's Day Fast Five: Words Matter

Words matter. What we say, or don't say, changes lives. The Washington Post headline above shouts the contribution of peer pressure in our lives. 

1) Players don't always receive our intended messages; we don't know which they will hear and internalize. But take care about "throwaway" lines. Have you heard a coach tell a player or team that they're worthless? We can only be as good as we believe we are, as the voice inside us is the loudest we hear. 

2) Don't bury the lead. The core messages we deliver need to be correct, clear, direct, and simple. "We can't succeed without total effort." And as Jay Bilas reminds in Toughness, "It's not your shot, it's our shot." Or "the best way to sit down is to stand around on the floor." 

3) Get their attention. "This is on the test." The World Civilization teacher said, "To the Assyrians, life was war." I heard that about forty-eight years ago. Not a lot has changed in the valley near the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. This is on the test. "If we surrender more than three transition baskets, we will fail." Or "never allow a score directly off the opening tap." 

4) You matter. Yelling happens. Yelling means caring. "You cannot get minutes or stay on the floor if you do not know your assignment." Is it fair to your team if you don't? "If I stop yelling at you, it's over. I've given up hope for you as a player." 

5) "Never be a child's last coach." Kids play sports. Kids quit playing when we parents and coaches remove the joy from sports. 70 percent of children quit playing before age 13. The aches and pains we awake and retire with will never be part of their sports consciousness. 




Happy Father's Day

The Fog of War, Why We Make Mistakes

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me." 1 Corinthians 13:11

How do we arrive at "doing the right thing the right way?" Education and experience change behavior. When we go off the track, what goes wrong? We challenge players to learn from their mistakes; can we do the same? What does our individual and collective history teach us?

I digress to excerpts from Wikipedia regarding former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and a biographical movie, The Fog of War. McNamara learned the hard way about being wrong. What we don't know can kill us. Here are some observations from the movie: 



Lesson #1: Empathize with your enemy. (Understand their position and goals.)
Lesson #2: Rationality alone will not save us. (Irrational forces can dominate the narrative.)
Lesson #4: Maximize efficiency. (Find ways to become efficient)
Lesson #6: Get the Data (Do the work.)
Lesson #8: Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning. (If your opinion has no consensus, you might be wrong.)
Lesson #11: You can’t change human nature. (We act irrationally because of our humanity.)

Nobody wants to be wrong about strategy, tactics, personnel, or motivation. But we will be. 

Intent. Is our intent to find the best way or promote our way? Is it better to succeed doing the right thing or fail because of stubborness? 

Bias. We choose to save a timeout instead of stopping a run or taking a timeout to rest players or make a needed substitution. Often a selfish choice (better players get more shots) defeats unselfish play (everyone gets their turn). Some decisions occur because of framing. We choose to play a weaker schedule for a better record instead of a harder one to provide better competition for our teams. 

Competence. We may have holes in our game. Our assistants and mentors can provide valuable input if we listen. Ask players what they 'see'. Sometimes in the heat of the game they lose sight of the obvious. 

Before our playoff game this season, I counseled players to watch for backdoor actions, the staple of our opponent. The first two possessions, our wing defender got beat back door for scores, leading to a time out. Even in a "low leverage" situation (8th grade), players lose focus. 

Conditioning/Fatigue. Although listed under conditioning, we need to recognize player health. We have a few players with exercise-induced asthma that limits them in transition. Sometimes after time off or illness, players are not in peak condition and we need to substitute differently. 

Knowledge. Players differ in knowledge and experience. We may sense a spread pick-and-roll, UCLA cut, isolation, or 'blind pig' from a formation or because of our ability to "chunk" information. Young players usually don't have those instincts. 

Reading summaries of information outperforms reading complete texts. 

Communication. Communication breaks down in key situations. Aviation, pharmacy, and other disciplines have "readback" because errors occur in about one in eight situations. Learning disabilities like ADD, dyslexia, and others are also prevalent. Sometimes I tell a player to force a player to the curtain or the stands because of left-right confusion. In the military, troops understand "commander's intent" because the situation demands knowledge of intermediate and desired end states. 

Entire books discuss error. Joseph Hallinan wrote, Why We Make Mistakes. The reasons range from inexperience, distraction (cell phones and driving), many types of bias, overconfidence, information overload, et cetera. Here's a good summary (highly recommended). Nobel Laureate Danny Kahneman wrote, "I mean, the thing that is absolutely the most striking is how seldom people change their minds," he said. "First, we're not aware of changing our minds even when we do change our minds. And most people, after they change their minds, reconstruct their past opinion - they believe they always thought that."




To prevent failure, we have to think differently, to train our eyes (and our players) to see differently. Ask "what could go wrong" and develop processes to reduce error. That always means more and better communication. Mistakes are inherent to our human condition, because we are 'wired' to survive, to make the fast choice over the best choice. This works in many instances (jumping out of the way of a speeding car) but hurts with more deliberate processes. 

Fast Five: Communication Science

Jon Gordon and Mike Smith discuss the seven C's in You Win in the Locker Room First.

Coaches only succeed by getting "buy-in" from the players. Buy-in requires great relationships and trust, beginning with communication. Our legacy begins with our communication skill, capacity to add value to a player's life. 

What makes communication effective? Science.

1. We have to capture our audience (players) with effective 'storytelling'. The speaker demonstrates the importance of shared meaning. Effective teams live through shared experience and shared goals. 

2. The same meaning, provided via different words, produce similar brain responses on functional MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). 

3. What happens in the speaker's brain - the mind of a coach? "The stronger the similarity between the speaker's brain and the listener's brain, the stronger the communication."

4. Better reproduction requires clarity and specificity (detail). We literally build a pattern in the brain by hearing and telling the story. 

...and shared belief systems.
5. To amplify and resonate our communication, we need SHARED BELIEF SYSTEMS. In studies of college players, a distinct minority listened and understood the coaching beliefs and similarly a minority embraced those beliefs. Players need to internalize our teaching to achieve a SHARED REALITY. Our job is to identify how to capture their attention and change their beliefs about basketball. 

"The people we are coupled to define who we are." 

The Breakup Dinner

What belongs in the end-of-season breakup dinner? Many programs have an end of the year celebration/recap of the season. When we reinforce a few principles, so much the better. 

Claiming my way is better is the height of vanity. I only share what I do, don't do, and rationale. Coaches take teams where they cannot go alone. Every day brings learning opportunities. 

Venue. I hold a buffet dinner in my home, inviting parents and siblings. I want basketball to be about family. We provide entrees and beverages and parents bring salads and desserts. I don't serve alcoholic beverages to parents because I don't want children to believe alcohol is central to an enjoyable evening. I'm thinking about booting soft drinks from the menu...

End-of-season awards. Previously, I had player votes for end-of-season recognition, e.g. Best Teammate or Hardest Worker award. This season I didn't feel that an individual award was warranted. The league solicits input for their "All-Star" team. I don't submit names because I don't think that adds value to our middle school program. Does depriving a player or two of recognition outweigh the disappointment of other players not included? I vote no. This year I am providing a memento to players. 

Player appreciation. I recognize each player with comments about her contribution (within the slide show). Everyone values and deserves appreciation. Players should feel positive about their experience. I also ask players to recognize the many "time and treasure" sacrifices of their parents that allows them to participate. 

Slide show. The presentation includes philosophy, a little education, photographs, and reminders that this season represents early phases of basketball development. 

Morse code. TTP...trust the process. 

No sappy video...at least not at this age. 

What do high school players need? 

Forward looking. Challenge players to step up their game to contribute in high school. 

I ask players to reach out if they need a recommendation in the future. You never know where your network might reach or take you. 

Basketball Vocabulary

What words do we want players to embrace? We have the opportunity and privilege to change how they think, how they prepare, what they believe, and why they play. 

Sharing. There's a story about a selfish player whose coach pulled him off the floor to inbound the basketball. The coach then removed the other players from practice and told the player, "now play". Phil Jackson has a timeless quote, "basketball is sharing". 

Craft. Work your craft, as in do whatever it takes to become a complete player, a better teammate. "The magic is in the work." 

Sacrifice. Great players give something from themselves - time, minutes, shots, , press, money - for the good of the team. Bill Russell noted, "My ego depends on the success of my team." 

Accountability. Hold yourself to a high standard and 'drag along' less engaged teammates to that highest 10 percent. 

Attitude. Be punctual, positive, prepared, and persistent. 

Detail. Great projects succeed or fail according to the smallest details. The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred because of seal failures due to inadequate testing. Many industries like construction, aviation, medicine, investment, and restaurants have checklists to be sure details are implemented. We have "readback" because about 1 in 8 instructions isn't correctly heard.  

Discipline. "Discipline equals freedom." We have the luxury to do what we want because we devote time and energy to do what we don't always want. 

Servant Leadership. Serve your teammates. Lead by both communication and action on and off the court. Great players lead through service to their teammates. 

Innovation. Bill Russell also said, "imagination leads to innovation leading to differentiation." You separate yourself from others by creating a better version of yourself. 

Humility. We can always give more, do more, become more. People respect confidence and reject arrogance. Don Meyer gave players handouts demanding Passion, Unity, Servant Leadership, Thankfulness, and Humility. Great aviation disasters occurred because pilots refused to take input from subordinates. Steve Kerr took input from his video coordinator in 2015 to go small with Andre Iguodala replacing Andrew Bogut during the Warriors' championship run.

Players make a difference who are determined to make a difference every day. 

Teaching Half Court Offense Via SLOB Ball Side Actions

"Great offense follows multiple actions." 

We can use "part-whole" methods to teach coordinated offense. That presumes players learn the fundamental actions of cutting, screening, passing, and finishing skills. 

We can teach half-court ball side actions via SLOB, introducing common movements like zipper, shuffle, and UCLA cuts. Similarly, we can introduce 'combined actions' with parallel emphasis on setting up cuts, looking off defenders, and making passes on time and on target. 

Finding a passer with vision, decision, and execution skills is critical, especially in pressure situations. 

Basic action: zipper cut into ball screen. 

Variation: entry to 5, 1 back cuts from zipper; option to clear cutter and run 5 isolation (iso). 

Wing attack off 5 entry. 

5 entry, 13 shuffle action. 

Zipper shuffle. 

5 entry, 31 corner screen. 

Zipper DHO (dribble handoff). 5 clears. Option to run DHO into 5 screen-and-roll. 

Zipper UCLA. 

31 Curl lob. 

Encourage players to "figure it out" via as they understand the nuances of spacing, cutting, screening, and passing. 

Jon Gordon Notes

Jon Gordon is one of my favorite motivation authors. I've read The Positive Dog, Training Camp, the Energy Bus, Soup, The Hard Hat and more. We choose what emotion and attitude that we carry around. 

In his presentation at Coaching U Live (2015), he discussed domains from First You Win the Locker Room. He discusses the 'seven C's'. 

Here are some excerpts:

"If we focus on the fruit of the tree and not the root, the tree dies."

"Culture needs to come first." 

"Culture beats strategy." - Apple 

"The leader must drive culture." Kevin Eastman has said, "you have to fight for your culture every day."

Coach K brought USAB to West Point so players could understand what it means to represent the United States. 

Contagious. Emotions are contagious, both positive and negative. "Optimism is a competitive advantage."

"Leadership is a transfer of belief." Transform yourself via beliefs. Help players tell a "better story". To be a more positive person, we have to feed positivity. He discusses the difference between talking to yourself and listening to yourself. Do we choose FEAR or FAITH? Weed the negative. 

Communication. When we are rushed, we often communicate poorly. We have fractions of a second to overcome negative thoughts. He asked Doc Rivers what's his most important job, "I communicate with my team" (both collectively and individually). Meetings don't have to be long to be effective. 

Connection. Connection produces trust...coach to players and players among each other. Players need to want to play hard for each other. 
1) Exercise: share a defining moment in your life. It begins with love. 
2) Another exercise: hero, hardship, and highlight.  
3) Another: "if you really knew me, you would know this." Gordon says that his father left when he was one year old. 

Caveat that the environment must be "safe" and that is difficult in high school. 

Commitment. "I will put the team first." Sven Nater story...Wooden told him that his job was to make Bill Walton better, but that will make you better. Nater didn't start a game in college but was an NBA first round choice, ROY, and a twelve year pro career. 

Do we want to be a transitional coach or a transformational coach?

Care. Why aren't you working harder? We have to care more. Players who know coaches care have more trust and play harder. Gordon asks what is our TRADEMARK so players know we care. He says that Falcons' coach Mike Smith's players said that "he listens". When you care, the team learns to care about each other and focuses on the process.

Consistent. Are we the same person regardless of the situation? Players need to know what to expect from us. 

Eric Spoelstra on Offense and More

Excerpts from a Coaching U Live 2015 session. Spoelstra's Heat went 30-11 in the second half of this season. Coach Spoelstra began as a video intern for the Heat over twenty years ago. "You have budding stars" as video coordinators, who also do analytics and are COACHES. Video coordinators see what works and what doesn't. "If you want to be a coach, you have to be able to coach everything." 

Growth mindset. Part of the Miami Heat culture. "Continuity can win." How do you separate yourself from the pack of coaches? Spoelstra constantly challenges himself to feel uncomfortable, to seek 'the edge'. Much like John Calipari, he advocates for a breadth of influencers, but doesn't use Coach Cal's "personal board of directors" phrase. 

Free-flowing discussion...almost stream of consciousness. 

Admires the Warriors' sharing of the basketball...but notes teams constantly chase the style that works.  

Hard to match offense to "high usage" players, because it requires sacrifice. 

Discusses Celtics' late action to score...



Go to 1:47 of the video. 

Lob off curl. Spoelstra says Doc Rivers got this from watching an AAU game.

Discusses Holacracy via Zappos. How do we communicate with millennials?

Doc Rivers, "get over yourself." 

Culture. Toughness. "I'm a caretaker." Recognize sacrifice (screens, spacing, cutting away, defend more positions). Started with pay cuts. Continued with changes in "usage rate." Players played off the ball. You can't put up the same numbers with less usage. Spoelstra recognized and appreciated that directly to players. 

Truth-seeking. Truth relates to accountability. 

Gratitude. Travels to Philippines to give back (he is half Filipino). 

Diversity of ideas. Generate and test ideas. Don't let ego interfere with listening. You can maintain your ego but still embrace new ideas. "Conversation without confrontation." What messages will players take away? 

Player development. Trust is central. How do we connect? Everyone owns developing both players and coaches. 

Style of play. What fits personnel? What will your opponents try to take away? 90% of the league playing the same defense. Changed to trap pick-and-roll trying to get ball out of hand of PG and speed up others. Sacrificed rebounding for steals, transition points for HIS personnel at that time. 

Analytics. Gets a 15 page report after a game, but you can look at 3s, layups, and free throws (Rockets' shot chart)...but realize at high levels in playoffs, people force you to midrange. In an individual game (or two), guys defy the numbers. 

Offensive set:

Player and ball movement, drive opportunities, good spacing and ball reversal. Slip to the 5 can become available during the crossing action...or 3 can come off 4 looking for a shot or catch and dump down to 4...or 1/5 as spread pick-and-roll. 

Spoelstra said it often got run through. 

The reason to listen, to think, and to read is to absorb and process ideas and develop solutions to test. 

The Score Takes Care of Itself

Bill Walsh's classic, The Score Takes Care of Itself presents a cornucopia of leadership concepts. Here are a few from the Fundamentals of Leadership chapter. The lessons transcend sport, advising personal and professional decision-making. 

He discusses coaching and a failed game plan as Stanford coach. He persisted with it out of pride until he finally adjusted (to a passing game), allowing his team to come back with a narrow victory against Tulane.  

"Coaches often try to force a plan past the point of reality...this is no different from a corporate leader who imposes a plan of action beyond the point of no return, the point where continuing makes no sense and becomes destructive."

"When does your unswerving determination to do it your way - what you deem "the right way" - take you and your organization over the cliff?"

"How do you know when it's time to quit, to try another approach, to move in another direction?"

"The epic journey of Arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton is worth noting...I also greatly admire his courage, loyalty, and dedication, but in case you forgot, his expedition was doomed; it ended in failure: the HMS Endurance was trapped in ice and crushed. The magnitude of his ultimately successful rescue effort - rather than the failure to reach his primary goal - is what we remember."

"A leader must be keen and alert to what drives a decision, a plan of action...among the most common faulty reasons are 1) trying to prove you are right and 2) trying to prove someone else is wrong."

"If I led our team down the road to failure...I wanted to make sure the quality of my reasoning was very solid...what is inexcusable is to fail because you are unwilling to admit that your way was the wrong way and that a change of course is your only path to victory."

"Proving that you are right or proving that someone is wrong are bad reasons for persisting."

Our job, whether coaching or managing our personal affairs, is to put people, whether players or our families, in a position to succeed. When we let ego, not good sense, rule us, then our chances for success plummet. Leading isn't about getting our way, but finding the best way.  

Fast Five: Waiting Hand and Foot

With competitive personnel (talent) and coaching, many games are decided by a few points. Succeeding in those close and late situations informs exceptional versus mediocre performance. 

Obvious needs are consistent free throw shooting, offensive and defensive "delay", defensive 'clarity' (dealing with the opponent's primary threat), and execution of special situations. But those discussions belong to other days. 

"Trivial" differences in execution and positioning in 'non-critical' situations define success and failure. This might involve your or the opponent's 'handwork' or 'footwork'. 

1. Automatic (alpha)

Against aggressive defense, playing 5 out opens the middle. Automatic action means the perimeter cutter goes backdoor (cut to the ball, then away) when the defender's foot crosses the "spacing line". 

2. Blind pig. 

Consider 'conventional' and 'option' action. With conventional 5 aligns near the post with her feet at a 45 degree angle (back to the opposite block)...5 gets an entry pass and 3 immediately cuts back door. With the 'wheel', 5 initial sets up back to the baseline. She gets entry and takes one dribble toward the opposite elbow. As she 'wheels' (pivots) on the left foot, 3 cuts back door, hoping to catch x3 distracted. 

3. Attack the front hand/foot.

When a defender shows a 'forcing' stance, we teach 'attack the front hand/foot'. The defender can easily slide left. But with a 'rip through' move, the offensive player (off the catch), rips or swims (ball swung low) attacks the front foot with a crossover, forcing the defender to drop step. 

4. Attack the pivot foot (defense).  

When the offensive player picks up the ball, the defender calls 'pinch' and attacks the ball handler, straddling the pivot foot. This stops the player's capacity to front pivot and makes a more uncomfortable pass. 

5. Deny the sideline. 

What coach hasn't been driven mad by poor trapping technique, allowing the dribble to advance down the sideline? 

- Teach "the glass box". Put the ballhandler in the box. Don't foul, just suffocate. 
- Trappers inside feet should touch. 
- Consider the sideline trapper having the outside foot on or over the line. The ballhandler cannot dribble outside a trapper with a foot at the line. 

"Little things make big things happen." - Coach Wooden

Notes: Brendan Suhr (2015) Offensive Concepts - Part 1a

Brendan Suhr values understanding both sides of the ball in a 2015 Coaching U video. Suhr is respected as a teacher and a wealth of experience with Chuck Daly during the Pistons' championship runs. I'm sharing some highlights as we coaches grow during the offseason, too. 

Suhr, "My job is to stimulate you to think." 

"Positionless basketball allows you to put your five best players on the floor."

"Get your best players the most shots...how many plays did you run for your best player...what things do you have to get them the shots?

Suhr says a great defensive coach is an expert at offense (know what is hard to defend). Teach concepts. 

Key concept: "Can you initiate offense?" This particularly applies to the NBA with a 24-second clock. 

We need more layups...

Offense looking to generate layups, with alternative wing and post entries. 

Key concept: Use defense "jumping to the ball" against them with screens. 

Alternative horns set, with post entry but goal to get layup for other post. Can get continuation with Screen-the-screener actions. 

By the time the 4th quarter comes around, multiple options help because the defense anticipates actions they have seen. 

Key concept: "If you're a shooter, you pop, if you're not, you roll." 

Suhr called this the V-play after Vinnie Johnson ("The Microwave")...to take advantage of hard show/hedge. High PnR option with opposite Pop (Laimbeer). Option that into wing PnR or wing slip with Laimbeer slipping (4 would have cleared to opposite block). Option for 4 to come up and on the wing PnR slip, 3 then gets a second PnR from 4. We have used dribble handoff into a second pick-and-roll at times. 

Suhr called this: "Get 2". Key action is the handback with 1 having options for the backscreen lob for 2 or 3 in the corner as the clearout occurred.