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Saturday, September 16, 2023

"It's Your Ship"

Three minutes of gold:  


Everyone leads. Be invested in the success of the team.  

Lagniappe. Totally stolen, cut and pasted from an Email from "Coach Mac" who stole it from somewhere else. 

An "NBA Scout's Player Checklist"

The article doesn't make it clear where the list comes from, but I thought it was interesting because it mentions a lot of off-the-court stuff. We know this is important to scouts, but we don't often get a list of exactly what they evaluate.

So here it is... copied + pasted...

===

* Rate players on potential: is he an NBA starter, bench player, rotation, two-way?

* Intangibles? – wouldn’t see from a box score. Length, boxing out, effort areas.

* Is there a skill or trait the player excels in?

Huge on personal background

* What kind of person are they?

* Who raised them, what were they like in the worst moments, who did they turn to?

* Contact teachers from high school and junior basketball coaches.

* See if everything matches up, in terms of attitude.

* What are their deficiencies? Shooting, defense, rebounding, athleticism, attitude.

* Huge on shot mechanics: Smooth rhythm, elbow in right position.

Scouts believe they can help improve a player’s shot, as long its mechanics aren’t too far gone.

* Work rate around the club – for example, former NBL Next Star Rayan Rupert, who was selected in the second round of this year’s NBA draft by Portland, broke his wrist during his stint with the New Zealand Breakers last season. Despite the injury, Rupert was still on the court every day doing workouts and the coach had to kick him off. Scouts love this type of determined attitude and resilience.

* They don’t want a player that just checks in and checks out

* Show up on time to training, meetings – basic professionalism

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"The Fabric of the Team"

I sit at the top of the bleachers for a variety of reasons. And I always can hear one player chirping...the Pocket Rocket. 

"Silent teams lose." You have to talk - ELO - early, loud, and often. 

ELO "Hold on tight to your dreams."  

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Friday, September 15, 2023

Basketball - Underrated: The Defensive Delay Game

A history lesson underpins the topic. We're playing in a preseason 'tournament' leading by eight with three minutes to go. We play man defense and our opponent sits in a passive 2-3 zone. I tell my team "4" which means delay offense. In this case, that means hold the ball out. 

The opposing coach loses it. He starts screaming, "play basketball." I am unmoved by his pleas. I neither told him to play soft zone for the prior 29 minutes, nor complained. After a minute, he tells his kids to pick up and they lose by eight. No defensive delay game, no victory. 

Serious players and teams embrace "defensive delay."

'Defensive delay' attacks the team leading. It's part of tempo management. Play faster to extend the game or slower to shorten it. When leading, run clock. With no shot clock, it's essential. We cannot let the opponent 'run out the clock' while playing their 'offensive delay'.

There's no set rule on when to start. Wooden's belief, "the game is meant to be played fast" works well with skill and athletic superiority. I've seen some coaches play slow (in my opinion) to lose by smaller margins. 

How do I think a team should or should not execute defensive delay? First, practice the situation. Scrimmage down six with four minutes to go with no fouls to give. 

  • Have the right personnel on the floor.
  • Maximum ball pressure. "Don't back down." 
  • Full denial one pass away.
  • Look to steal without fouling. "Show your hands." 
  • Maximize talk. On dead dribble, yell "pinch" to alert everyone. 
  • Switch everything outside. 
  • Selective doubling (on defined weak ballhandler). Do not automatically double the ball that creates an 'open man'.
  • Foul selectively if your opponents has a bricklayer on free throws. 
When it works, attitude drives the process. 

Lagniappe (something extra). Three minutes of gold from Mike Abrashoff 


Lagniappe 2. Values driven 

Lagniappe 3. The offense will attack your delay game. 

 

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Thursday, September 14, 2023

"Drive"

 

"Drive." 

Driving has metaphorical meaning. In the seagoing Navy, 'driving the ship' implies competence. 

In the Friends and Family opening of "The Bear," they're in crisis mode and Chef Sydney calls on Richie to manage the workflow, "Drive."
 

In the teaching hospital setting, 'driving' metaphorically referred to conducting rounds, operating the x-ray viewboard (an anachronism), or piloting the multi-headed microscope to review pathology.

It has relevance to your sports setting, too. When teams go out on the floor, they often have a catchphrase like "team" or "together" or "Melrose." In that huddle, I might be inclined to look to the setter or another captain and say, "drive."

Moments arise when someone has to "drive" to steer the metaphorical ship out of danger. Become reliable, a person whom others will call upon when someone must step up. When you want to "be the guy, then be the guy," focused and undistracted.

 


We're fortunate when we have 'the guy'. Sometimes we have to develop the skills and psychology of the guy. 

Lagniappe. Do you have the right stuff. 

Lagniappe 2. Tom Landry... 

 

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Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Basketball: Dogs and Babies Capture Attention, Why Not You?

Dogs and babies dominate the screen. You can't avert your eyes. Find players who can 'take over' the game the same way. 

1. Dominant players dominate. A UCONN assistant asked Geno Auriemma about whom they were scouting. Auriemma answered that if you have to ask after a minute, then we're in the wrong place. 

2. Who you are matters in addition to how you play. Pete Carril said, "I don't recruit players who are nasty to their parents. I look for players who realize the world doesn't revolve around them."

3. Stories have power. The Heath Brothers' Made to Stick shares elements of strong stories - simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional stories. Maintain credibility by telling the truth and avoiding hyping players more suspect than prospect. 

4. Have a presence. What we say and how we say it matters. Bring the best version of yourself. After being on overnight call at Bethesda Naval, we had to present cases to a group of senior physicians, adding our assessment and management. 26 Internal Medicine interns competed for what turned out to be one position. I was the dog that stayed. 

5. "Fall down seven times, get up eight." - Japanese Proverb  Failure is inevitable but not final. Never give up. 


Lagniappe. Study how great players get separation. 
Lagniappe 2. Create complex defensive decisions. 



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Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Basketball: Learning

Take away ideas on learning. 

School isn't 'easy' for everyone. Maybe you have an aptitude for music or art or extreme emotional intelligence. You still need to learn how to learn. 
Commit to learning. 
  • Study teaching as a precursor to learning
  • Learn how to learn. I took this free course a few years ago. 
  • Learn the Feynman technique Name, explain, research, simplify
  • Study a topic...whatever you want... transition defense, offensive rebounding, free throw shooting. 
  • Write it down. Writing helps us learn. 
  • Read voraciously. This morning I was reading Tattooist of Auschwitz. Learning is often uncomfortable. 
  • Set aside "thinking time." Maybe that's during a walk or in the shower. 
  • Build better habits. Follow James Clear's advice in Atomic Habits, to make good habits easier and bad ones harder.
  • Be positive. Positivity breeds positivity. Choose to live a life of gratitude not grievance. 

Click to enlarge. 

Lagniappe. Wisdom from Adam Grant
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Monday, September 11, 2023

Basketball: Just Three Things

Live reductionism. Simplify.

In his MasterClass, Jocko Willink explains that a team member said, "I can only remember three things, what are those going to be?"

What are your three executable tasks? They don't have to be mine but whatever yours, players need to embrace them.

1) Take quality shots. Whether it's the Four Factors and differential effective field goal percentage or giving it your best on the job every day, "let it rip" with quality shots. ROB = in range, open, on balance. 

2) "One bad shot" or 'hard twos'. Small differences define the margin of victory or defeat. Contain the ball and contest shots without fouling.

3) "Every day is player development day." 

  • Have a written plan. 
  • Skill takes top priority. 
  • Game understanding comes next. 
  • Become more athletic. Sport rewards explosiveness. 
  • Build resilience. "Toughness is a skill." 
Get players to love the game as much as you do by caring for them and adding value to their lives. 


Lagniappe. Keep going. Do the work. 

Lagniappe 2. Practice hard.  

Lagniappe 3.  

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Sunday, September 10, 2023

Basketball Jeopardy: What's Not to Like?

For something different, try Basketball Jeopardy. I hope you enjoy. 

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Saturday, September 9, 2023

Surviving As a Coach

Among age, arthritis, and career demands, I'm out of coaching but in on survival. "There's nothing cheaper than free advice." 

Here's the Leadership Moment template. 

What went well? 

As Brad Stevens says, "coaches get more than we give." Coaching helps us know and understand the community. I'm grateful to have become friends with many families and players. 

It's personal over professional. Keeping a 'success scoreboard' of craft is a fool's errand. Measuring basketball and life success for players means seeing through their prism not mine.

I learned a deeper knowledge and understanding of people and of the game. Experience translates across domains.

I never took a stipend. I sponsored kids into tournaments and my wife and I held breakup dinners for the group, money well invested.

Many of these young women have gone on to exceptional careers and become leaders. That meant they made a lot of great choices and once in awhile embrace a worthy lesson. 

What went less well?

Under the best of circumstances, work-life balance stresses every coach. Invest the time to find your best balance. 

Coordination between the middle school program and the high school program was never great. Ego is the enemy...on both sides. 

Participation in offseason programs is necessarily voluntary. If winning is a top priority, then you need a viable offseason program. Viable includes content, continuity, and participation. When most players stopped coming, most lost out on development. As Taylor Swift would say, "Baby, just say, "yes."  

What could go better in a next life?

If I were heading a high school program, I'd set higher collaboration goals and expectations between the middle school and high school programs. Simplify and clarify. 

I coached my daughters at the beginning of the coaching journey. They turned out okay (top 30 players in the state), but I was even more limited as a coach twenty plus years ago. 

What are the enduring lessons? 

Be positive. Nobody makes a positive life from a negative attitude. 

Always keep learning. 

Always make it about the players. The players are the product. Build a program not a statue.

You can't eliminate politics. That's human nature.

Lagniappe. Set high standards. 

Lagniappe 2. Some assembly required. 

Lagniappe 3. Fake 'em to make 'em. 

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Friday, September 8, 2023

Not a Them Problem or a You Problem: Premortem Considerations


A program swirls in chaos. The first question becomes "who's at fault?" Don't make it a "them" problem or a "you" problem. It's an "us" problem. 

Do the premortem examination on a season. What failed?

1. Collaboration. Literally 'working together'...collaboration must succeed across multiple levels - coach-player, coach-team, coach-coach, player-player, coach-administration. Define your policy early and often. 

Ideally collaboration works across levels, too. High school coaches should recruit from and work with youth development programs. That offers hope of retaining top players within the community. 

2. Feedback. Give and get feed back to get sustainable competitive advantage. As President Reagan said, "Trust but verify." Don't lose games amidst uncertainty as players don't know their assignment and responsibility. 

3. Simplicity. Complexity breeds confusion. More isn't always better. Often repeated, Don Meyer's progression from blind enthusiasm, to sophisticated complexity, and mature simplicity. "What has not been learned has not been taught." 

4. Pressure. Strong teams exert physical and mental pressure on opponents with the ability to play "harder for longer." Mediocre teams succumb to pressure. Core concept: 5 versus 7 full court pressure, no dribbling allowed. You want to press us? Bring it on. 

5. Stubbornness. "I don't believe in analytics." Disbelief in change like the Four Factors (differentials in EFG%, turnovers, rebounding, and free throws - SCORE, PROTECT, CRASH, ATTACK) and positionless basketball concepts will come back to bite you. 

6. Not so Free Throws. Tom Hellen wrote, "teams that can't shoot free throws last as long in the postseason as dogs that chase cars." Train teams to make free throws and pressure free throws. We practiced four sets of ten each practice with a partner who could say or do anything except physically interfere with the shot. The daily winner faced off against the coach to avoid suicides. Usually it took at least 38 to make the finals. 

7. Ego. Ego is the enemy. Whether our attitude is "I know best" or "I've seen it all," neither are always true. 

8. The Dreaded S's. Selfishness, softness, or sloth (laziness) kill winning basketball. Hand out and review Jay Bilas's 'Toughness' article. I handed out the concepts as a laminated sheet. 

9. Skill. There is no substitute for great technique. As Coach Popovich says, "technique beats tactics." Don't go back to basics. Never leave. I believe in practicing shooting at least 30 percent of practice. 

"Every day is player development day." In my six years as a head coach of middle school players (25 total, three years apiece), two earned D1 scholarships. 

10.Conditioning. "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." Poor conditioning loses games. Be efficient and condition within drills. I think Brian McCormick's "no lines, no laps, no lectures" sums it up. Here are a few ideas. Maybe it deserves a rewrite. 

11.They don't call it special for nothing. Win special situations - BOBs, BLOBs, ATOs, best plays versus man and zone defense. Have your best on your game day play sheet. 

Be hard to defend both tactically and technically (skill) in key situations. We finished each practice with 15 minutes of special situations as O-D-O (offense-defense-offense) scrimmaging. 

Poor process guarantees poor outcomes. As entrepreneur Sara Blakely says, "obsess the product." 

Lagniappe. Skill development. 
Lagniappe 2. Repost (I think). Horns "Rip" 




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Thursday, September 7, 2023

BOLO. Ten Lessons from a Volleyball Blog

BOLO. Be on the lookout for learning across domains. Here are tips from my volleyball blog. 

1. Lagniappe. More on warmups. 

2 ."Don't second guess yourself." 

3. Who are you? 

Takeaway 1: Be the Example and Lead by Example

Takeaway 2: Value Feedback and Embrace Growth 

You want a bigger role. Do what it takes to earn it. 

Kurt Warner went from a college backup to Arena Football to Canton, the NFL Hall of Fame. 

4. How can a freshman lead? 

  • Be punctual.
  • Take care of business at home. 
  • Excel in the classroom. 
  • Be prepared. Understand the game plan. 
  • Be the 'most coachable' player. 
  • Never be a distraction. 
  • Lead the equipment set up and take down team.
  • Attach yourself to Grace and learn every tip on playing the back row. 
  • Bring energy and energize teammates. 
  • Be the most enthusiastic reserve. 
  • Work your hardest. "Never cheat the drill."
  • Be ready to play when you get your chance.   
5. Constantly work on process. 

  • Listen better. 
  • Be a mentor. Find a mentor. 
  • Support and energize your teammates. 
  • Get more sleep. 
  • Eat better. 

 6. The simple truth...

In Robert Townsend's Up the Organization (1970), one chapter contains a single sentence. "Thanks is the cheapest form of compensation." 

Life and sport are like that. If you want to be 'the guy' then be the guy. 

7. Become a master. Do the right things because they are right.

Be on time. Be stretched out when practice starts. Help with equipment.

When a coach calls you over, sprint.

Maintain eye content and listen. 

Leave the gym in at least as good condition as you found it. Dispose of empty bottles. Never leave "tape balls," litter or water bottle puddles. 

Small habits reflect who you are and who your team is. Take pride in who you are and set standards for teammates.

Say thank you often. People notice.

8. Patience.

9. Keep it simple. 

Part of delivering is accountability...holding yourself to a high standard. Whether senior or freshman, performance is the norm. Back row? Keep the ball up. Front row? Put the ball down.

10. See the game. 

Karch Kiraly discusses reading plays. 



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Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Basketball Values - More Than Words?

Ask any coach about values and we'll hear a long list of noteworthy ones. Kevin Eastman summarized many in his book, Why the Best Are the Best. 

 The 25 power words of champions:

  • Truth
  • Action
  • Intentional
  • Preparation
  • Accountability
  • Trust
  • Sacrifice
  • Discipline
  • Commitment
  • Belief
  • Unrequired
  • Choices
  • Circles
  • Competition
  • Passion
  • Habits
  • Urgency
  • Standards
  • Courage
  • Curiosity
  • Respect
  • Adjustment
  • Humility
  • Investment
  • Talent

Also worth considering are integrity, sportsmanship, and toughness. 

You'd probably agree with Eastman's list and supplemental concepts. Then ask why we've all seen the following:

1. Some coaches start working and abusing the refs from the opening tip. I saw one get tossed at forty-five seconds when nothing had objectively happened. Did he have a flight to catch? Teach respect for officials. 

2. Yes, basketball is a collision sport not a contact sport. Some coaches teach 'gorilla basketball'. I don't mean playing hard, clean basketball with basketball plays. If your team delivers a steady stream of cheap shots and dirty plays (e.g. moving screens and elbows), that's on you. If you want to coach full contact sports, coach Mixed Martial Arts. 

3. Coaches go through the handshake line with a 'puss'. "We would have won if we made any shots." At their best, players learn what we teach. No wars ended or international boundaries were established based on the outcome of a middle school basketball game. 

4. Coaches run up the score as though Vegas has a line on the game. For whatever reason, sometimes one team is far superior to the other. What on earth makes coaches leave starters in to press and grind the losers into dust? Or take a time out in the final minute up thirty to run additional special situations plays? 

5. "Never be a child's last coach." I don't care whether it's sixth grade or college basketball, calling kids out as 'worthless', 'useless' or worse says everything about you. If we expect players and fans to "always do your best," then look in the mirror and start there. 

Coaching should be a noble profession as we teach worthy values to young children and future leaders. Act like it. 

Lagniappe. Earn more chances. 

Lagniappe 2. Do the right things. 



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Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Basketball: Ten Big Ideas from MasterClass

Take big ideas from leaders in other fields and our own. Here are a few from MasterClass, a continuing education program I enjoy daily.

1. "Do something for your craft and something for your business every day." - David Mamet  


Mamet wrote and directed Redbelt.

2. "Aim high." - Sara Blakely  Blakely turned a limited career as a copier salesperson into a five billion dollar company helping women look better in her Spanx undergarments. She advises, "Obsess the product." 

3. "Bring the best version of yourself." - Samuel L. Jackson  Jackson is a ubiquitous screen presence who loves acting. Part of his 'secret' is not just acting but treating everyone on the set well. 

4. "The movie is made in the editing room." - Ron Howard   Howard divides the work into planning & preparation, shooting, and editing. The same applies to coaching. Revise what needs revision. Do more of what works and less of what doesn't. 

5. "Look for the best version of the truth." - Bob Woodward, investigative journalist. Woodward knows that the whole truth is unavailable, so seeks to uncover what is. He relies on evidence, written or spoken (taped interviews). When a Supreme Court clerk challenged him about the accuracy of a quote in The Brethren, Woodward invited him to his home. He showed him the quote in the clerk's handwriting. 


6. Be relatable. Navy SEAL leadership expert Jocko Willink explains that team members must relate to actions. Actions done for the leader or shareholders won't be meaningful unless it helps team members have advancement and other benefits. 

7. "Cooks cook to nurture people." - Thomas Keller  Coaches coach to help others grow. Growth won't always translate into wins. Get the best results from the ingredients available with the right 'time and temperature'. 

8 "Study your mentors' mentors." - Usher  Usher studied James Brown, Gene Kelly. My first basketball mentor was Sonny Lane, who derived great influence from John Wooden and Dean Smith. We had a poster of the "Pyramid of Success" in our team room in 1972. I gave laminated copies to my players. One player carried hers in her gym bag daily. She wasn't an elite player. She was a great student and a three-sport captain. She's a graduate of Annapolis. 


9. "Always be on time. Never be an A*hole." - Helen Mirren   Mirren was asked what it took to become a success. Her answer works in every field. Phil Ford talked about "Dean Smith Time." Ford sets his watch ten minutes ahead, so he's never late. 

10."Kill your darlings." - David Mamet  Everyone has our pet sayings, beliefs, and values. They don't always belong in a piece. Comedians spend a lifetime "shaving syllables." Edit our drill book, our playbook, and our teaching methods. 

Bonus. 

"Read. Read. Read. Read. Read." - Director Werner Herzog   Herzog's first lesson to students is to read more. Read great prose, like J.A. Baker's The Peregrine. 

Lagniappe. 


Lagniappe 2. Extras. 
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Monday, September 4, 2023

Basketball: The Unknown Unknowns


Secretary Rumsfeld took grief for the unknown unknowns, perhaps unfairly. 

Known unknowns. Although more exist, three big ones are:
  • Usually, we have limited scouting of opponents. Hard to limit their strengths and target weaknesses without information. 
  • Early on, we don't know our response to pressure both physical and psychological. To tame either challenge, practice advantage-disadvantage. "Make practice hard to make games easier." 
  • How players will adjust to new, higher level of competition also belongs to the known unknowns. 
Unknown unknowns. 
  • Players or teams struggle. Find out, "are you okay?" Players may not bring family, personal, or academic problems to us. With younger players, we had no captains to serve as liaisons to help us realize the struggles. 
  • Character. At every level of play, from youth to professional, coaches know less about 'character' than we think. With young players, mostly no track record exists. The Patriots' assistant Michael Lombardi, got insight with relationships with SEC sororities. What coaches might not reveal, sorority members willingly reported. 

"There's no such thing as a sure thing." 

Lagniappe. 

Lagniappe 2. 

 

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Sunday, September 3, 2023

Basketball: Willink's Laws of Leadership


Navy SEAL Jocko Willink shares deep insights into leadership in his MasterClass. It's brief but good. 

I. Cover and Move. Teamwork comes first. Everyone works on shared goals. Work together. Rely on each other. Succeed or fail together. 

II. Keep things simple. Many tasks are "inherently complex." Simplify where possible. This reminds me of the Feynman Method. "Complexity breeds errors." 

"I can only remember three things. What do you want me to remember?"

My themes for basketball are: teamwork, improvement, accountability. My volleyball themes would be: back row - keep the ball up; front row - put the ball down. 

III. Prioritize and execute. "If you try to solve all your problems at the same time, you won't solve any of them." Take a breath. Define the problem first. 

Stay calm. Emotionality disengages people. It distracts from execution. 

During timeouts, coaches focus on one or two key areas. "Transition defense," "stop with the bad fouls," or "let's take care of the ball." 

IV. Decentralize command. The coach is not on the court. Everyone leads. Know your responsibility and work with others to execute. Talk to get everyone on the same page. 

It's hard but necessary for coaches to relinquish control. Willink feels that "ownership" and "freedom" are the most powerful motivators. 

Leadership requires a set of skills. Acquire them. 

Summary:

  • Teamwork
  • Simplicity
  • Execution
  • Decentralize
Lagniappe. 

Lagniappe 2. BOB Elevator Slip 

 

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