Basketball: Fairness

- George Orwell, Animal Farm

A woman, her husband, and her mother cross a river in a boat which capsizes. The woman is a strong swimmer and can save one. Whom does she save? 

As beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, then so does fairness. Fairness crosses the lines of sport. Basketball fairness includes communication, time, recognition, publicity, officiating, and more.

We send fairness messages in time, quantity, and tone. Players keep score. Do our best to believe in and value each. After a limited open practice, someone asked UCONN's Geno Auriemma if he didn't yell at players because of guests. He answered that he didn't yell because "players are babies." If he yells, a player says to herself, "Coach hates me." And that doesn't work for their program. 

In The Politics of Coaching, Coach Carl Pierson shared that he measures speed, strength, and vertical jump during tryouts. When a parent questioned why his daughter had not made the team, Coach Pierson pointed out that she finished at or near the bottom in each area. 

Players measure fairness during practice, repetitions, and minutes. Sometimes tracking helps coaches assure more equality. At other times, people keep score to prove inequality. Group substitutions simplify measurement but can't assure that all players will be happy with minutes, roles, and combinations. Quality and equality are not identical but not fully separate either.  

Fairness is personal. Fairness is perception. We can treat two people exactly the same and be seen as unfair. For example, if the top player and twelfth man play the same minutes, is that fair or unfair? Is it fair to the fans, the team, and the individual? 

Some communities make every effort to avoid parent coaches because of concerns about fairness, especially about minutes. But finding enough capable, committed volunteer coaches is hard. 

Fairness goes public. An area girls' coach winning multiple championships was run off in part by a parent who claimed that the coach had not publicly promoted her daughter enough. 

Fairness challenges us and our values. Fairness balances the desires of the one with the needs of the many. Can everyone get what they want or what they need? Who benefits the most from the most repetitions, the best players or the willing needy? 

Fairness fails with unequal discipline. I've told the girls, that when the star football players get caught with some infractions, they were historically treated more leniently than girls playing other sports. 

Fairness withstands transparency. Are we objective and do we have agendas? We can be objective (share verifiable facts) and still have agendas. We decide which facts and opinions to share and which to omit. Communication informs and seeks to give or get something from the other actors on life's stage.  

Throughout sports, players (high draft picks, "bonus babies", or relatives of management) get more opportunities to rise and to fail. 

Source, Baseball-reference.com 

This former Red Sox player had tastes of five seasons in MLB. He never hit .200 with more than ten at bats in a season and a career negative WAR (wins above replacement). Let's just say he was connected. 

Few officials approach a game intending to be unfair. But there are venues that are especially hard to win at. An NCAA D1 basketball official told me that you will be disinvited to return to referee at a school in northern New York if you are impartial. 

Nobody is perfectly fair but most coaches try. The MomsTeam blog informs, "One way to spot a good youth sports coach is that he teaches, models, and demands respectful behavior, fairness and good sportsmanship." In his letter to players, John Wooden wrote, "You may feel, at times, that I have double standards as I certainly will not treat you all the same...I know I will not be right in all my decisions, but I will attempt to be  both right and fair." 

Fairness, we know it when we see it. 

Lagniappe:

Steph's off ball movement is RIDICULOUS. pic.twitter.com/eHyl3bfHai

— Half Court Hoops (@HalfCourtHoops) May 21, 2019

Basketball: What Does UNDERRATED Mean?

"She's underrated." Explain that. Humans label. We see uniquely - size, athleticism, skill, knowledge, communication, emotion, and especially our interactions. 

One person's underrated is another's overrated. Circumstances and tribe (e.g. politics, wealth, religion or lack thereof) influence us. And we're limited by our "implicit bias." 

We could guess this person has issues (note the background) but we don't a priori know without details. 

He looks like a nice enough guy. Right? If he's underrated, it's only because we don't know with certainty how many deaths he's responsible for (Ted Bundy, over 30). 

What properties cause us to mischaracterize basketball players or coaches? 

Here are the top 25 scorers in NBA history. 

We're biased...such as recency bias (latest performances), confirmation bias (we read what we believe), social proof ("everybody knows that") and more. Who are the most underrated and overrated players on the list? As a group we'd differ, but probably with clusters around a few names. Are we valuing the 'total recall' of the player or just their scoring? 

We'd need a hierarchy of values. I haven't met so many NBA players. I'd say the nicest ones I've met are Henry Finkel and Doug Collins. But my sample size and degree of contact are very small. Confidence level in my beliefs should be small. If someone is our friend or played on our local team, we have endowment bias. Whether someone treated us well shouldn't factor into ratings. Ted Williams allegedly didn't win an MVP because a writer left him off his ballot. 

To be "underrated" implies a certain EXPECTATION and performance exceeding expectations. Overrated reflects performance (probably recently) failing expectations. 

We benefit from domain-specific experience and expertise. Lacking either, we struggle to build "valid baselines." Asking me about NASCAR drivers is worthless. 

Accurate ratings need appropriate comparisons. When I was inducted into the inaugural class of my high school Alumni Hall of Fame, I commented that I benefited from lack of comparison. What I accomplished paled in comparison with subsequent classes, including my sister's. That is not false modesty. She was a Fortune 500 CEO. Another subsequent class member was US Senator Scott Brown. 

In The Smart Take from the Strong, Pete Carril asks, "who's your favorite general?" Do we know enough about generals to have an opinion? 

General McArthur's speech at West Point is unforgettable and colors my judgment. Grant's Civil War achievements surpassed those during much of his life. General William Tecumseh Sherman eschewed great battles to win great gains. And my favorite, General Alexander Suvorov, overcame a sickly childhood to become the General Who Never Lost. "What is difficult in training will become easy in a battle."

We need clear definitions. If a player or coach comes with minimal expectations, then they can be underrated simply by jumping a low bar. Some coaches set low expectations with the intent of surpassing them. Simply beating the bare minimum doesn't constitute underrated for me. 

Do we need consensus? If a 'majority' of observers find a player or coach underrated is that enough? 

Great players can be underrated to us. I thought Nate Archibald was underrated. That doesn't make me right. 

More ordinary players can be underrated for a time. Performance varies. Mark Belanger was an elite shortstop with a .228 career average, but somehow hit .287 in 1969. 

Underrated is an opinion not a condition. Underrating or overrating, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. 

Lagniappe: Brief 2-3 zone offense course from Radius Athletics 

New Online Course - Attacking The 2-3 Zone - Radius Athletics Univ - (https://t.co/KyWGHXnlmK) #RAU #ZoneOffenseTips pic.twitter.com/h63oroQsBI

— Radius Athletics (@RadiusAthletics) May 18, 2016

Lagniappe 2: How much mustard is enough? 

Screen capture from MasterClass on Aaron Franklin Teaches Texas BBQ

Grillmaster Aaron Franklin uses a light 'slather' of mustard on his pork ribs...enough to make them 'tacky'. He then applies a simple rub of two parts pepper, one part Kosher salt, and a little paprika for color. 

Coaching young players, I emphasize the meat not the mustard. A bunch of "And 1" dribbling that doesn't attack the basket or get separation is just 'extra mustard' to me. 

Basketball: Lessons Learned from Legends

"The difference between who we are today and whom we become in five years are the people we meet and the books we read." - Anonymous 

If we wrote our younger selves, what would we say? Would we get conventional wisdom, old saws, or new age advice? What enduring lessons would we share? 

Establish high standards of performance. Bill Walsh's The Score Takes Care of Itself clarifies Walsh's standards, which extended to everyone from receptionists, to landscapers, and to his coaching staff and himself. Mike Lombardi expands this in Gridiron Genius. 

Exhibit a ferocious and intelligently applied work ethic directed at continual improvement.

Demonstrate respect for each person in the organization.

Be deeply committed to learning and teaching.

Be fair.

Demonstrate character.

Honor the direct connection between details and improvement; relentlessly seek the latter.

Show self-control, especially under pressure.

Demonstrate and prize loyalty.

Use positive language and have a positive attitude.

Take pride in my effort as an entity separate from the result of that effort.

Be willing to go the extra distance for the organization.

Deal appropriately with victory and defeat, adulation and humiliation.

Promote internal communication that is both open and substantive.

Seek poise in myself and those I lead.

Put the team’s welfare and priorities ahead of my own.

Maintain an ongoing level of concentration and focus that is abnormally high.

Make sacrifice and commitment the organization’s trademark.

"Thanks is the cheapest form of compensation." - Robert Townshend, Up the Organization, 1970. 

Gratitude adds value. Getting and sharing gratitude fills endows happiness. Everyone wants and likes to be appreciated. Dean Smith practiced inclusive gratitude to players. Gratitude marked programs of Don Meyer and Shaka Smart.

But, needing credit and adulation undermines teams. 

"Do more of what works and less of what doesn't." - Anonymous

Dan Brown, author of The DaVinci Code notes, "the difference between good writers and bad writers is that good writers know when they're bad." Self-reflection defines us. Good coaches change when it's not working. Kevin Eastman uses four steps, "do it harder, do it better, change personnel, and "#$%& it ain't working."  

Nick Saban asks, "Are you spending time or investing it?" We say that many ways, "the magic is in the work" or "chop wood, carry water." Hard work backstops good process. Steve Kerr gathered ideas and developed his playbook over years before leaping into coaching. Expecting good outcomes from poor process is delusional. 

"Invert, always invert." Inversion stands near the top of mental models. Mathematician Carl Jacobi reminds us to consider a range of possible outcomes. Smile at Seinfeld's "Opposite George" episode. Use premortem analysis to explore how projects can fail. 

Outcomes are blended. Results flow from more than skill or choice. The continuum of luck or chance contributes. How can we know? We can intentionally lose an activity where skill is paramount, like chess. 

Michael Mauboussin writes, "Separating skill and luck encourages better thinking about outcomes and allows for sharply improved decision making." He continues, "The best way to ensure satisfactory long-term results is to constantly improve skill, which often means enhancing a process. Gaining skill requires deliberate practice, which has a very specific meaning: it includes actions designed to improve performance, has repeatable tasks, incorporates high-quality feedback, and is not much fun." 

Avoid big mistakes. Warren Buffett's partner, Charlie Munger says, “It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.” That begins with work but also by knowing your Circle of Competence. The current popular version is "stay in your lane." Don't beat ourselves by losing focus.  

"Study your mentor's mentors." - Usher

My coach's mentors included Dean Smith and John Wooden. They shared a wealth of wisdom. Smith made it personal. Phil Ford said, “he got a coach for four years and a friend for life.” Wooden reminds us to "make every day your masterpiece." 

Be positive. Optimism isn't easy, just helpful. Weisinger and Pawliw-Fry have optimism as part of their Performing Under Pressure COTE (confidence, optimism, tenacity, enthusiasm) model. Obviously, results won't always go our way. 

Replace "I can't" or "I'll try" with "I will."

Optimism trends with better life expectancy. "In fact, the top quartile of optimists had almost a 30 percent lower risk of dying from any of the diseases analyzed in the study when compared with the least optimistic women (the bottom quartile) in the study."


Coach Randy Sherman reminds us that optimism has limits and optimism per se won't turn around losing programs. Optimism and an open mind pair well. 

Edit our lives by finding sustainable principles, "sharing something great" while remaining open to better discoveries. 

Lagniappe: Another SLOB, a Cavaliers Horns play into a wing ball screen. 

Basketball: Practice Activities That Kids Love

I love practice. Players love certain games, drills, or actions, often competitive ones. You all know the game Knockout, so I won't go there. 

1. Frito-Lay(up)

Better with multiple baskets. Each "team" starts on the baseline. The first player flips the ball to the free throw line, catches (back to basket), reverse pivots and attacks the basket for a layup (1 point if scored). They rebound, dribble to the elbow and shoot (another 1 point). They pass to the next player in line who repeats. Game to 21. Switch sides for second round. The drill emphasizes reverse pivoting, one dribble attack, and elbow jumpers. 

2. Ultimate. 

Ultimate is 5 on 5 no dribble with the goal to pass the ball into the opponent's endzone for a point. You can modify to allow bounce passes or scoring. The hitch? When the ball hits the ground, it's turned over and live for the opponent to advance the ball. It emphasizes good cutting, catching, and accurate passing. 

3. Celtics 11. Fast-paced competitive shooting. 

4. Specials (O-D-O = offense, defense, offense) three possession games

"Specials" informs 'scrimmaging' started via free throw, BOB, or SLOB. It practices offense, defense, special situations, and is played with full court man-to-man pressure defense. The coach chooses how to start each three possession game. I've put up a couple of our SLOB actions. 

Basketball: Jim Crutchfield Podcast with Chris Oliver (and Charles Darwin)

Master Coach Jim Crutchfield shares his basketball knowledge. Here are some highlights. His teams are famous for winning, pressure defense, and prolific offense. 

"We don't do traditional conditioning...we play five-on-five...full court, face guard, man-to-man, trap" in the offseason. 

Three part process, "see the game, analyze it quickly, react." He finds this a logical progression of their process. 

"How often do I hit the whistle?" Many issues to question (spacing, cutting, stance, etc.) so it's unique to your approach. 

He does less drill work than other programs within the pieces...very transition oriented. 
Can't avoid playing a certain percentage of half-court offense...maybe 50-50 for them. 

They have an extremely quick conversion into pressure defense (Coach Knight says three phases of the game - offense, defense, conversion). They do not have to score to pressure. He doesn't want ebb and flow of intensity. He coached high school with more traditional diamond-and-one and 2-2-1 pressure. 

"Everything is charted..." re: winning and losing and point spread during practice. Some guys win during practice and that matters. Sometimes losers have to bring a cup of water to the winners during practice...increases effort. 

He admired Pitino's teams with Billy Donovan and Delray Brooks...random pressing, chasing guys down. He's not a reader but watches a lot of basketball. 

Ask who are you trapping, leaving, how good is your rotation? A bad trap leaves guys open in high risk (e.g. under the basket) scoring positions.

Uses video to critique (negatively), especially effort. "When it's on tape, it's hard to deny." (Tape doesn't lie.)

Emphasis in transition...1) immediate attack, 2) run in lanes, 3) space properly, 4) screen in transition, 5) cut better. He doesn't think it's ever good enough. He doesn't believe in using the shot clock...get a high percentage shot early if it's available. Oliver mentions that it requires giving players freedom to create advantage. Closest guy takes the ball out. "Players migrate to their strengths." Few rules...space, make yourself available to score. 

He said the book published about his West Liberty offense showed all kinds of mistakes in their offense. 

Oliver notes that it's hard to maximize possessions with maximum freedom. Crutchfield says that their style wears down already tired defenses (we all need a strategy to wear down opponents). 

He says that they take relatively few bad shots. He subs more when he sees a player not giving maximum effort. 

"Don't settle" (for low quality shots). Half of his players are coaches' sons (smart players). 

What the impact on workload management? They have stoppages in the game for media timeouts (he doesn't know why in Division 2). Stoppages in practice are brief, usual practice about 90-105 minutes plus ten minutes of tape. 

Of practice, "they're playing hard but having fun." 

In the Final Four, they're all playing the same defense (Pack Line, limit gaps). He feels transition creates better gaps. Players are getting more athletic, longer, and more experienced playing gaps. 

"If you can attack from the elbows (elbow to elbow)...there's not much weak side defense" relative to the wing attack. Don't throw the ball to the corner unless you think you can score from there. He doesn't use a traditional postup to avoid congestion. 

Oliver points out that more scripted practice doesn't reflect how the game is played (for me, with youth players, they need more instruction first). 

Lagniappe: 4 on 4 shell screening (Brandon Bailey) FastModelSports.com

Lagniappe 2: Zone Offense key and cut 

Take advantage of your players' strengths by putting them in position to succeed. 

Lagniappe 3: Darwin on survival...

Basketball: Barbecue and Basketball, Quick Six

1. Draw inspiration from everywhere. Sam Jackson calls it a "life of observancy." I just started Aaron Franklin's MasterClass on Texas-Style Barbecue. Who knew the crossover between basketball and barbecue.

He shares his 2.love for the process and a willingness to make mistakes. He approaches online students as he would apprentices at his Franklin's restaurant, where people 3.line up for hours for the experience...and the food. 

"Be prepared to make mistakes. It's just about learning?" 

"It starts with the fire (fundamentals)." He establishes a base...and that includes 4.adequate gaps for airflow (spacing!). 

You get 5.different flavors with different animals (personnel) and pieces of wood (style of play). 

You get 6.more flavor from long-cooked barbecue (takes time to build the player). 

A piece of wood will burn the way it's going to burn. Every piece of wood is different. 

Lagniappe: I want to think about the game in a more sophisticated way...just like I want to learn to barbecue better. 



A two-minute video on staggered screens reminds me that we can create much better opportunities off our staggered sets. 

We can do more and better. 

Basketball: Look for the Helpers

"If you look for the helpers, you'll know that there's hope." 

Eulogies often shine light on humanity's best. Death redeems us, recasts our lives. At a service recently, a eulogist reminded us Mr. Roger's advice to look for help. 

How often must we hear that? The Navy SEALs say, "two is one and one is none." Dean Smith always credited contributors to victory who got less attention.  

To get help, recognize "I do not know." Maybe someone else does. Seeking help demands humility. When I taught medical students, I told them two critical answers in medicine, "I don't know" and "that's a good idea, we should do that." 

Players help literally and figuratively, both offensively and defensively 

Triangle help covers the nail, basket, and weak side with account for the biggest threats. 

Offenses also provide help by setting screens and relocating (below)

Offenses can provide simple relocation (above)...

...or more complexity as 2 sets a pindown, then clears to isolate 5 on ball reversal. Knowing when to get out of the way is a skill. 

"Look for the helpers" is a versatile phrase. Use it after school to get clarity on a problem or help with homework. It's a valuable message for newlyweds and long-married couples. It assuages our grief and pain of loss, inevitable in life and basketball. Coaches help players and each other...and great players make those around them better. 

How can we help? How can we help better? 

Lagniappe: Warmup with a purpose. 

Basketball: Highlights from Recent Posts... "We are here to fight, not to count"

Learn every day. Reading a great book two or three times has more value than reading ten bad books. Here are a few highlights from the past ten posts.

1. Lagniappe: "Great offense is multiple actions." Got a post player to isolate on the wing? FastModelSports.com shares double downscreens to set up ball reversal isolation. 

2. In his podcast with Chris Oliver, coach Dave Smart explained that despite  shooting poorly, their team earned a chance to win the Canadian national title by competing defensively every possession. We cannot overstate a team's 'defensive will.' Defense is determination not desperation. 

The neighborhood of know how defeats the universe of know that. 

3. Elite finishers score with either hand off either foot on either side of the basket. It's tougher for younger players developing coordination and players with less lift. Do the work. 

4. Want more shooting drills? 

Sideline volume free throws. Take 3. Sprint to sideline and back. Take 3 more. Repeat.
    Track makes in five minutes. "Winners are trackers." 
One-on-one. There's no substitute. From wing, top, elbows, post up game. 
Spin-backs. Back to basket...self spin-back...quick pivot...emphasize quick release alternate with one-dribble shooting (insist on getting separation with the dribble). 
Beat the pro/Bill Bradley. Must make 11 shots before miss 4. Hardest version, make 15 before missing 2. 
One-dribble floaters from each wing and top of key. 

251 (above). Track consecutive 3s without missing two in a row. At the corner (turn) make two before advancing to next spot. Pressure from having not to miss two consecutive shots. Track your record...add time limits to add more pressure. Much better with rebounder. 

5. Read. Very few jobs require no reading or continuing education. Reading takes us to other fields, other worlds, other times. Do you know about the General Who Never Lost? Against superior numbers he said, "we are here to fight, not to count." 

6. Advanced ideas from Dave Smart with Chris Oliver with big doses of psychology...Smart's teams won 13 Canadian University National titles and have beaten numerous US Division 1 teams. 

"Coach human beings to be better." 

"It's impossible to be special...if you're not having fun..."

"Fun is competing...and winning." Acknowledges that playing time enters into it.

"Be successful...in the moment." (He's not a big process guy, IMO it's semantics.)

"...creating conditions where you're going to fail...in practice." But he doesn't want the same people to struggle all the time. 

Oliver argues that it's psychologically driven...players live in the deep end of the pool.

7. Shoot better. Nothing works without shooting. For example, pick-and-roll (below).

Spacing only works if perimeter players constitute threats. Space into a high ball screen (left). Notice that when replace other players with "turtles", there isn't any place for either 1 or 5 to operate. "Non-shooters are always open" or "playing in traffic leads to bad results." Work on shooting off the catch, coming off screens (trash barrels in the driveway), and off the dribble. 

Find a teammate or a sibling as a rebounder and you both improve faster. That's the Urban Meyer 10-80-10 principle - as a top 10 percenter, drag teammates in the middle up into the upper echelon. 

8. Respect Pete Newell's emphasis on "footwork, balance, and maneuvering speed" to create separation. While each player spends 90 percent of the game without the ball, the offseason helps develop ball skills (dribbling, shooting, passing). 

Teach “what do you see?” Coach authentically, logically (the why behind action), and empathetically ("We know it's not easy.") are important. 

Find entrees from your menu of value drills. 

9. Optimism informs control of a positive future. Use biology. George Everly, Jr. wrote Stronger: Develop the Resilience You Need to Succeed. "The bodies of resilient people are supercharged with moderate increases in hormones such as adrenalin, noradrenalin, gamma-Aminobutyric acid, neuropeptide Y and cortisol, which allow you to do “superhuman” things for short periods of time. When these hormones surge, your strength and perception increase, your memory improves, your eyesight may get better, your tolerance for pain increases, and you react to stimuli faster. In other words, you’re better prepared to meet any challenge successfully."

In 1908, Elie Mechnikov won a Nobel Prize for his studies and book, “Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies.”

We know that optimists have better physical and mental health, better marriages, and better grades. Positivity pays.

Optimism also fuels persistence.

10. From Coaching Angels, how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? 

When someone asks, “how does it feel to play for me,” what range of answers do we expect? If the answers are unexpectedly harsh, are they wrong?

Seeing dancing angels, do fans know the dance and marvel or ask, “what was that?” When the angel falls off the pin, was it inevitable or preventable?

Lagniappe: "Offense is spacing and spacing is offense."

I try and explain this concept all the time to youth players so this edit will hopefully help me. Simple rule is don't run through the path of a teammate in transition. pic.twitter.com/EPtAMEd6c6

— Chris Oliver (@BBallImmersion) May 15, 2019

Don't play in the traffic or bring traffic to the play.