Basketball Friday: 1-3-1 Drill, Concepts, Play

With contemporary basketball analytics-driven, what teaching belongs in your arsenal? With younger players, relying on three-point shooting is a fool's errand. 

Find mid-range and basket-attack solutions. 

Drill Attack off the catch. 



Coach Rick Pitino shares drills for attacking off the catch (@ 1:45 seconds)

• Show and go (into mid-range)... "a great shot fake is a shot not taken"
• Jab and drive
• Jab and mid-range 

3 Concepts A little birdie (Twitter) told us...

1. Space and create advantage. @John_Leonzo

Anatomy of a good offensive possession

1. Arrive spaced
2. Create an advantage
3. Use the advantage
4. Transfer the advantage if help comes

Few teams do this as well as the Jazz, as they provided a masterclass in advantage offense last night pic.twitter.com/LQ13zxsyNI

— John Leonzo (@John_Leonzo) August 20, 2020

2. Find edges with switching or isos against poor ball containment. @brianmccormick

Switching defenses give up a small advantage (mismatch) & dare you to use the SA because it believes it can prevent you from creating a big advantage (by forcing help).

Iso-ing works when offense > defense (can’t contain 1v1). Otherwise, lack of player & ball movement helps D.

— Brian McCormick, PhD (@brianmccormick) August 20, 2020

Create advantages against switching by screening. This is one of our favorites, with "corner rip" actions with sequential screens. (15 second clip). We adapt it as a SLOB ("Golden State")




3. Extend your range to improve your team spacing.  @CoachTsimon

So you want to play basketball at the highest levels...

Get in the gym and shoot, then shoot, and shoot and shoot some more. Then, do that a lot every day.

You need to be good in a lot of areas of the game but modern team offense is about shooting and the spacing it creates.

— Todd Simon (@CoachTsimon) August 20, 2020

Bonus defensive clip: "Pulling the chair" (23 seconds)



Offensive players may try "bully ball" in the post, backing the defender down. Defenders release their pressure "pulling the chair" leading to traveling and turnovers. 

Play Celtics ATO 



"Great offense is multiple actions." Wing entry, brush screen into pindown into a 3. 

Lagniappe: NBA Playoff Lessons (average clip length 6 seconds)

"Movement kills defenses."



The pick-and-roll isn't finished but a good rebound and better cut by Anunoby...into a contested dunk. Anunoby saw his defender lose vision. 



A Nets pick-and-roll doubled with Allen on the short roll hitting Luwawu-Cabarrot for a corner 3. 




Another Nets PnR with a perfect pocket pass to the much-improved Jarrett Allen for the finish. 

Basketball: The Origins and Maintenance of Ideas and Seven NBA Teaching Clips

Ideas emerge from studying the world and its big ideas. Good ideas come from lifelong learning. For example, sample size...don't presume a one-time result establishes a trend. 

Warren Buffett's partner, Charlie Munger, analyzes error according to mental models like "incentive-based bias." We heard Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski opine how the NCAAs must happen. "We need to have the tournament. We can't have it where two years in a row you don't have the NCAA tournament." We love basketball but don't see March Madness as an extinction-level event. 

Munger tells us, "Clone good ideas." NBA analysts share their insight. Brian Scalabrine noted, "People who are internally driven hold themselves accountable on the defensive end." Mark Jackson said of playing with Kawhi Leonard, "The game's a lot easier when you're playing with Batman."

"Destroy bad ideas." A problem arises, a business decision or character flaw (e.g. Donald Sterling) and it's concealed. When the coverup is revealed, redemption is impossible. The bad idea compounds the initial mistake. When an offensive set, special play, or defense is not working, "Kill your darlings." 

Thom Brennaman was caught on a hot mic using a homophobic slur like, two hours ago. https://t.co/F2AJ8KOHC9

— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) August 20, 2020

Celebrate eliminating bad ideas. Take out the trash. 

Publicly supporting our ideas marries us to them. That's fine if the idea has truth and durability. But commitment can leave us in an ethically shaky place. 

The preamble to the Declaration of Independence reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.” 41 of 56 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were slaveholders. All were men. 

A new idea often requires refinement. The original 1960 unmanned Mercury-Atlas 1 (MA-1) suborbital test flight failed spectacularly with booster rocket shutdown and no parachute deployment. We stand on the shoulders of defeats. 

Be on the lookout for great ideas. Recognize and refine good ones. Dump the dreck. 

Lagniappe: from Basketball's Half-Court Offense (Calipari)

1) Scissors action
2) Double pindowns
3) Perimeter and duck-in options 

"Great offense is multiple actions." 

Every NBA game shares a myriad of teaching moments. 

Lagniappe 2: Mavs use the rescreen to open the PG and set up a 3. 




Kawhi, "Anything you can do I can do better."



Kawhi has his version of the jab step-back. 



Bucks simple pass and screen away offense. 



Markelle Fultz in the pick-and-roll, rejecting the screen and scoring mid-range. 




Fronting the post? The Bucks do better than "swing and seal." 




Lagniappe: "Horns" version...Fake DHO, Backdoor

Lagniappe 3. "Basketball is a game of separation." 



Screening at the right time, angle, and place for your scorers is a skill. Grant Williams frees Kemba Walker (above).




Screening is an art as Williams proves moments later, changing the angle late. 

Kevin Eastman describes post player positioning graphically while not PC. 



Joel Embiid stakes out home territory in Eastman parlance. 



Another important concept is "one more" passing to the open man. 

Basketball: Collaboration, Communication, and Bandwidth

We don't coach in a vacuum. We don't score, defend, or rebound. Coaches help young men and women go where they cannot go alone. And coaches help each other. 

To collaborate and communicate, we create unity and conflict. I've discussed Aerosmith's "Dare to Suck" meetings, Wehrner von Braun's Monday Notes, Eric Spoelstra's collaborative conflict, and Alfred P. Sloan's concern about consensus. 

General Stanley McChrystal ran O&I (Operations and Intelligence) meetings six days a week battling Al Qaeda in Iraq. Amidst withering criticism, he invited both local and overseas agencies into the meetings to expedite transparency and communication, breaking barriers and discouraging data silos. 

Sometimes we study the "textbook way" and get schooled. Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs shared his experience about being wrong during a segment on neutering lambs (from about 2 minutes to 5:30). 




When we share knowledge and different approaches everyone wins. It's not personal. "We do it this way" doesn't mean that it's the only way or even the best way. Nobody likes to hear or say our coaching wasn't good enough that day.

Our bandwidth comes from global coaching input. Feedback from coaches from multiple countries and continents makes us better. 

Get more layups during warmups. 

Speed layups for warm-up via the Lithuania team at the #JonesCup. I like it because most of warm-up IMO is about getting shots as we shoot more than we get layups in games...the other part is a short burst of energy & enthusiasm so this would take care of that. pic.twitter.com/UQXy7w1Ozg

— Chris Oliver (@BBallImmersion) July 29, 2018

But a "layup" is not a layup, not a yellow, No.2 'school pencil' out of the box. 

Two of the mistakes I see when working on layups
1. Blocked scripted reps
2. Practice is only done with approaches & shots at 45 degrees to the rim
- This wide layup example demonstrates how many contested layups are actually shot due to help. Learn more https://t.co/GSaO2iOfQG pic.twitter.com/i1n2494V2h

— Chris Oliver (@BBallImmersion) May 6, 2019

A layup comes in more flavors than Baskin Robbins ice cream. 

How do you have players practice layups? Mental effort is heightened when a player does not know the solution prior to the shot. Check out an example of Ben Simmons figuring out a solution & learn more about how to train layups better here https://t.co/GSaO2iOfQG pic.twitter.com/gLA4f87eYc

— Chris Oliver (@BBallImmersion) November 3, 2018

Increase our bandwidth. 

Lagniappe: What the playoffs teach us. 

Bucks simple pass and screen away offense (below).



Markelle Fultz in the pick-and-roll, rejecting the screen and scoring mid-range. 

 


Fronting the post? The Bucks do better than "swing and seal." 

 


Lagniappe 2: "Horns" version...Fake DHO, Backdoor

Lagniappe 3: Mason Waters shares WNBA reads of DeWanna Bonner 



Her first step quickness often gets her the separation to score. 

Basketball: Theory to Practice, Introducing a System (BOBs)

Basketball comes with a lot of ifs now... if there's a season, if I'm coaching, how to implement tactics piecemeal, e.g. BOBs. Use core organization values.

What are the MUSTs (include 1 raising Basketball IQ).

Basketball IQ special situations includes finding/developing a consistent inbounder who learns to understands RISK, looks off defenders, and executes good passes. That's the exception in middle school. 

We can run everything from the same formation or change it up. 

2 Generate a big list from a "Master List" 

Buffett's 25-5 principle. 3 edit a big list into "GO TO" actions. "Avoiding ignorance is easier than achieving brilliance." 

Obviously, we can't use them all. Here are a few to illustrate. 

14 Low, 53 Orbit (Orbits) 

Stack Winner...inspired as a counter from "Fence" where 2 comes off the stack for a midrange jumper. 

45, Variant of America's Play using screen the far side low defender

4 Winnow the smaller list (e.g. 6-8 that have a track record). 

15, I probably won't get another post player like I've had the past few years. Entry to 5 with a handoff into a pick-and-roll was often 'money' against either man or zone. 

5 Choose three primary plays and one special option (work in progress). We haven't necessarily run all from the same formation (e.g. box). 

This "screen-the-screener" action was exceptionally hard to defend versus "man." Few teams play straight man against BOBs... for good reasons. 

Improve with a 6 silent call (from Doug Brotherton). The game clock calls the play - even, odd, or zero! Add additional complexity only if our team can handle it. Have an additional "special" play. 

Lagniappe: Is your defender "ball watching?"




Finishing with either hand from either side creates defensive headaches (below).



Billy Donovan's "95" is what you're doing the 95 percent of the time without the ball. 




Beautiful cutting and passing gets a reverse layup. The pick-and-roll is to the 'two' side limiting operating room. 

Basketball: Embrace the Suck. Make Extra 'Normal'.

“Let thee embrace me, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.” - Shakespeare (Henry VI)

In tough times, "embrace the suck" became a popular phrase. Misery can stem from physical discomfort or psychological pain. As coaches we're stuck with Coach Wooden's admonition, "never let what you can't do interfere with what you can do." 

The premier lesson (for me) from the offseason is Dave Smart's "every day is player development day." With no team and the possibility of no season, that offers stagnation but opportunity for online study and remote teaching. 

Coaching pain is invariably psychological, frustration with a team's attitude, preparation, or execution. And it isn't necessarily losing. Optimism accompanies a good loss while a bad win disappoints. 

Carolina Soccer coach Anson Dorrance saw Mia Hamm working out alone, defining her ethos. 

Every athlete worth her salt pays a physical and emotional cost of buying a pass into competition. It's not masochism, but making the best of the situation at hand. 

How should players embrace the suck?

• Do unrequired work...conditioning and skill-building. 
• Study video daily. Learn by watching models and mentors. 
• Build resilience. Be positive, choose control, embrace struggle. 

Commit to finishing plays. Find resilient athletes to model, like Heather Dorniden (above). 

Lagniappe: Build ways to separate and score. Coach Castellaw breaks down Paul Pierce's jab step back. Not something to develop as move 1a or 1b. 



The counter keeps the dribble with hesitation into a drive. 

Lagniappe 2: Have a specific plan. 




Coach Castellaw breaks down what he calls Kawhi's poke steal. This is how I teach players to steal going for the ball on the way up on the dribble.  Many young and high school players do not protect the ball well. Avoid swatting down to avoid foul calls on the poke. 

Lagniappe 3: "Seamless switching" isn't a new concept. Here's a seven-second clip from 1973. 

Basketball: Calipari Concepts, Drills, and Blazers-Grizz Teaching Clips

Coach John Calipari says he learned a lot from international basketball. I didn't know that he coached the Dominican Republic for two years or that he has dual citizenship (Italy). 

He says that coaching FIBA and dribble drive raised his team winning percentage from 75% to 85-90%. 

Dribble drive helped him recruit and encourage an attack mentality. He doesn't want bounce passes...looks for drive, skip, lob. He teaches sealing the weak side defender and even passing OFF the backboard. 

I can't do the video justice with notes but share some of his drills. 

Lagniappe: Lessons from the Play-In 

Lillard plays off McCollum. 



Pick-and-roll defense especially challenges young teams, especially if the ballhandler keeps the trail defender on his hip. 



The short roll and dish are a deadly weapon for selected teams. Defenses have to decide whether to live with contested lane shots or open corner 3s. Habits die hard. 

Lagniappe 2: Coach Cal doesn't pull his punches (too much mustard, not enough meat) 

Basketball: Notes and Success from a Wise Old Man (Charlie Munger)

Some intellects deserve wide dissemination. Charlie Munger, co-principal of Berkshire Hathaway, is an example. His message crosses disciplines. His ideas can make us better thinkers, better coaches. Don't learn to become a billionaire. Learn to become better. 



I share excerpts from his Commencement speech at USC.

"What are the core ideas that helped me? The safest way to get what you want is 🏀 to deserve what you want. Earn the deserved trust of the people we work with."  

Deliver what you'd want to buy. (Would we want our child to play for that coach?)

At the funeral service, with people there to celebrate the person being dead, the minister said, "It's time for someone to say something about the deceased...nobody came  forward...still nobody...finally someone said, "his brother was worse."" 

Confucius said, "Wisdom acquisition is a moral duty." It means you are hooked for lifetime learning...without it, you aren't going to do well. 🏀 Learn the game.

🏀 Skillsets required constantly change. Berkshire's achievements followed Buffett being a learning machine..."you can progress only when you learn the method of learning." He advises us to know the edge of our own competency. 

Half of Buffett's time is spent reading and another large amount is spent talking with talented people. 

🏀 Learn big ideas in big disciplines. Danger! You may know more and upset specialists and cause offense if someone else loses face. ("Now I'm just regarded as eccentric.")

A senior partner told a brilliant young lawyer, "behave in such a way that the client thinks he's the smartest person in the world...or make the senior partner think he's the smartest person." 

Cicero said, "A man who doesn't know what happened before he was born goes through life like a child." (Know history of our discipline.) Big ideas need context in a mental latticework. 

Think about the inverse. If you want to know what will help India, think what would hurt it. 🏀 If we coached against our team, what weaknesses would we exploit? 

What do we want to avoid in life? (Invert) - sloth and unreliability. 🏀 Avoid selfishness, softness, sloth (laziness). Avoid intense ideology as it "cabbages up one's mind." Putting ideology out pounds it. 

Iron proscription: "I'm not entitled to have an opinion on this subject" - lacking enough knowledge about both sides of an argument. 🏀Having an opinion on everything means sharing our lack of information and perspective. 

"Avoid self-serving bias." I'm entitled to do what I want. If Mozart couldn't get by with overspending, we shouldn't. 

"Envy, resentment, revenge, and self-pity are disastrous modes of thought." A friend carried cards, reading, "Your story has touched my heart. Never have I heard of anyone with as many misfortunes as you." Self-pity is not going to help the situation. 🏀Attribution bias leads to excuses not success. 

What about others' self-serving bias? "If you would persuade, appeal to interest not to reason," said Ben Franklin. 

Perverse associations. Avoid working under someone you don't admire. 

"Objectivity maintenance." Darwin paid attention to DISCONFIRMING evidence. Checklist routines avoid errors. 

"Non-egality often works better." Cites Wooden playing the top seven the most. Get more of the practice into those with the most ability. 

Think like Professor Max Planck not the chauffeur. We need depth not just superficiality. There is Planck Knowledge and Chauffeur Knowledge. Don't be "all hat and no cattle." Try to get the responsibility into the Planck knowledge crowd. 

Excellence will parallel interest. If you don't care, you won't excel. "Whenever we're behind, we work fourteen hours a day until we're caught up." 

Epictetus - "every mischance in life is an opportunity to behave well...and learn something." 🏀 "Love our losses." 

Epictetus wrote his epitaph, "Here lives Epictetus...a slave, maimed in body and the ultimate in poverty and favored of the gods." He was favored because he became wise.

Grandfather Munger recommended, "Be prepared by anticipating trouble." 🏀 We need a comeback game as well as offensive and defensive DELAY games. 

"The highest form of civilization is a seamless web of deserved trust."

Lagniappe: Video Study 



DHNo? Was the design a DHO into second screen? If so, the Nets blew it up, but Portland still executed. 




Curl and Attack. Harris gets the pindown and reads an edge off the curl, attacking the basket. 


PnR and Sink. Off the PnR the Nets get a corner 3 off the sink. 

Lagniappe 2: Munger's 10 Rules

Basketball: Friday 1-3-1, Drill, Concepts, Play. Optimizing Online Learning

Basketball Friday 1-3-1 shares practical and theoretical drills, concepts, and plays. Find something to steal. 

1 Drill: Arizona. We can't work enough on passing, cutting, and layups. Tara VanDerveer shares 'Arizona.' 



Pass up, back, diagonal and finish. Cut hard, finish tough. Vary the finish. We can add resistance near the rim. 

3 Concepts: The COVID-19 Pandemic has forced many coaches and players to Remote Learning. 

1. Practice the first lesson of Stoicism, "Control what you can control." We control our attitude, choices, and effort. Adopt techniques from the Learning How to Learn course. 

The Pomodoro Technique: 20 seconds can make your study more efficient. Alternate study and break periods. Attention is fatiguable. 



Even some pro sports teams have adopted a 25 minute on, 5 minute break approach. 

2. Spaced repetition. "Repetitions make reputations." 



Whether pick-and-roll defense or 3-on-3 small sided games, repetition at regular intervals helps accelerate the learning curve. 

3. Multiple inputs. We learn by seeing, hearing, and doing. We also learn via "self-testing." After reading or practice, write key concepts in your notebook. Writing helps retention. Don Meyer kept three notebooks - one for basketball, one for general knowledge, and a gratitude notebook for his wife that he gave to her annually. Every outstanding player is a student of the game. 



CONTENT. Seek memorable content, like the videos from the Cross Canada Coaches Clinic and its 23 videos. 


YouTube Video Breakdown sites (sample)
Coach Daniel YouTube Channel
Basketball Immersion YouTube Channel
BBallBreakdown YouTube Channel
Mason Waters YouTube

Play: via @BBallImmersion  Stagger DHO '3' 

Dribble handoffs can come at the beginning or end of a play.

Lagniappe: Newell's triad - Footwork, balance, maneuvering speed




AD shows his quickness and finishing skills with the reverse to avoid a block. "Basketball is a game of separation." 

Lagniappe 2: Notre Dame Women, Halfcourt Offense




Collection of Muffet McGraw sets. 


Iverson action through the elbow of 1-4. 

Basketball: Video Lessons from the Bubble Celtics and Raptors

"Talk your book." Encourage players to study not watch. Share educational clips. 

Quin Snyder explained the importance of pick-and-roll defense in a Coaching U Live video, a matter of keeping your job. 



Pick and whatever. In the above video, the Celtics set up a high ball screen. Pick-and-roll is just one option of a myriad. First, note the spacing, even "Stache Gordon" going to fill the corner. Daniel Theis slips the ball screen and gets the feed from Kemba Walker. 



Finish with versatility. Teach players to finish explosively with either hand off either foot. Gordon Haywood gets a flat ball screen from Theis and gets downhill for the layup. 



Butter with that roll. VanVleet hits Gasol on the short roll, who finds Siakam for a corner 3 as Brown comes over to help. The short roll PnR protection proves costly. 




"Don't play in the traffic" and "don't get split." Kyle Lowry violates the traffic admonition and Celtics charitably allow him safe passage to the rim. 




"Slip-sliding away." Hayward and Rob Williams stack screens (twisted Horns) and Smart finds Williams on the slip.



"Shoulders game." Jayson Tatum attacks the basket and gets his shoulder past the defender. He doesn't settle for an in-between shot. 



"Now you see me, now you don't." Smart gets a ball screen and the defender suspects a rescreen. Rob Williams has a different idea with a release to the basket when the defender turns his head. 



"Drop Zone." Toronto varies their PnR coverage, using "drop coverage" against Brad Wanamaker and Williams. That allows a midrange shot and two points. 



"Draw 2." Good players "draw 2" defenders. Hayward stumbles but gets the ball to Theis, who drives, draws, and dishes to Wanamaker for 3. Some teams coach defenders NOT to help off the corner 3. 



"Set up your cut and cut hard." VanVleet fakes a flare screen and cuts hard to score off the pass from Gasol. Beautiful. 

Lagniappe: if you got nothing from this, here's payback. 

Want to experience pure, unfiltered joy? Watch my Dad try to hold back the tears when he is surprised by his friends and cast mates in this little tribute video for his Lifetime Achievement Achievement Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. Love you, Dad! You deserve it all. https://t.co/DdGLjlmHs5

— dan levy (@danjlevy) August 11, 2020