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Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Basketball: Transformative

Coaches can influence players positively and negatively. Telling a player or team, "I believe in you," can make all the difference.

That doesn't mean that coaches should oversell players. But when we confirm our belief in a player, it can be transformative. Players remember genuine expressions of confidence in their work and progress. 

At the end of her eighth grade season, I told Cecilia Kay, "you are the best player I have coached in twenty years of coaching." I encouraged her to represent Melrose in the postseason league all-star game. She was the leading scorer with 24 points. She followed that up with four years as an All-Scholastic and was one of six McDonald's All-America nominees from Massachusetts.  

Transformative techniques:

1) "Speaking greatness." "That was great BUT" underperforms "That was great AND..." Kevin Eastman says, "you can't fool kids, dogs, and basketball players." 

2) Video. "Video is the truth machine." Showing players positive video shows proven success. And Bill Parcells says, "confidence comes from proven success."

3) Media recognition. 'Statistical leaders' get regular media attention. Noting players who get less 'ink' supports players who impact winning yet may be less well known. 

Lagniappe. Bill Walsh changed everything for John Lynch. 

Lagniappe 2. 1-4 low BOB with screen-the-screener 

Lagniappe 3. Get separation with one dribble.  

 Lagniappe 4. Sacrifice. 

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Basketball: "Separate Ways"

Footwork is one way to separate. 

  • Cross step
  • Negative step
  • Reverse pivot into attack

The negative step provides a "launch step" to attack the basket. It may also draw a defender closer. 


Pete Newell's books and tapes on "Big Man Moves" taught separation with a variety of moves such as reverse pivot and deep step off the wing catch and reverse pivot into quick attack. 


You don't need dozens of moves, but develop multiple "go to" and counter moves. 

Lagniappe. The offseason offers time to grow athletic explosion. Weights, bands, and dumbells can all help. 

      6. Dynamic rack pulls pic.twitter.com/VSwyRFKx1l

— Gerry DeFilippo (@Challenger_ST) April 24, 2024 

Lagniappe 2. Standards only matter with accountability. 

— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) April 24, 2024 

Lagniappe 3. Pros know the importance of strength training. 

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Basketball: Make Teamwork Your Priority

Choose to be a great teammate. Make it a priority. Have joy in the process of preparation, practice, and competition. Celebrate the experience and your teammates.  

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Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Basketball: Compression Lifts Us

Compression liberates us. It ranks among the most powerful analogies. Compression makes better players, better coaches.

Velocity equals distance/time. Compression reduces time. Compression heals, cooks, informs, speeds, teaches.

Compression cooks as in pressure cooking. Steam "produced from the boiling liquid, raises the internal pressure above ambient. This higher pressure limits boiling and creates higher cooking temperatures, allowing food to cook far more quickly than at normal pressure." (Duck assist)
Compression 'edits' ideas and stories. Comedy writers have careers 'shaving syllables'. "What were the last words Washington spoke to his troops before crossing the Delaware?" ....... "Get in the boat." 
Superinvestor Warren Buffett advises people to list ideas and pare to the best ones. His '25-5 rule' follows that approach. 
In On Writing, Stephen King shares his distaste for adverbs. She 'ran quickly' becomes she sped, raced, or hastened. Michael Lewis says, "make a thirty word sentence fifteen." 
Soft tissue injuries include compression in the RICE acronym - rest/ice/compression/elevation. 

Simplify the playbook. Bill Belichick recognized the expansive Joe Gibbs Redskins playbook distilled to ten passes and three runs, the variety created by formation and motions.

In our basketball playbooks, limit the numbers of actions but disguise them with different formations. Or use a few predominant formations (e.g. spread, horns) and run core actions from those. 

McCormick's no "laps, lines, or lectures" preaches compression. Timing competitive drills compresses them. 


UCONN's "4 minute shooting" yielded 150 makes with a group that included future National Champions including Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson, and Morgan Tuck. 

Time compression challenges players or groups to set their "personal best" for makes in a given time. 

You know the expression, "good players need two dribbles, excellent players one, and exceptional players none." Footwork, cutting, and efficiency eliminate too many dribbles. Nobody pays by the dribble. 

Mentoring accelerates basketball learning. Mentoring can include on court instruction, video, books, and classroom teaching. 

"The exceptions make the rule." Demand spacing on offense but compression (shrink the court) on defense. Develop 'systems of help' with loading to the ball. 

Another exception is doing the work, Dan Pink's "do five more" or James Kerr's Legacy advice, "Champions do extra."   

Applying compression adds value in basketball and life. 

Lagniappe. Are we 'responsive' or 'reactive'? 

Lagniappe 2. Stay connected enough to coach anyone and be humble enough to learn from anyone.  

Lagniappe 3. Become a player with solutions not complaints.  

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Monday, April 22, 2024

Separation

Basketball is a game of SEPARATION, cutting and passing, separating and finishing.

During practice, emphasize to players how to create separation via:

  • Effort
  • Cutting 
  • Screening
  • Footwork (e.g. pivoting, negative step)
  • Off the dribble (e.g. hesitation/lateral glide, crossovers, combinations)
In this clip, Jayson Tatum illustrates separation with "attack off the move" or STAMPEDE. 


Lagniappe. What leaders do. Model excellence. 

Lagniappe 2. "Every day is showtime." Our actions are always displayed. 

Lagniappe 3. "Movement kills defenses." Distort the zone with movement.  

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Sunday, April 21, 2024

Getting Better at Getting Better

Sharing quotes, videos, and missives won't make anybody great. 

  • Players gotta play. 
  • Players must build skill.
  • Players must develop athletic explosion.
Find equal or better players to play against. 

Build skill with a mentor. Become your own coach and critic. 

Do the physical training work.  

Post by @kpstrength
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Lagniappe. Opportunity impacts outcomes. 

Lagniappe 2. Excellence in deceleration promotes separation. 

 Lagniappe 3. What's in your shooting workout? 

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Basketball: The Efficient Player

Numbers. Everyone wants "numbers." Possession enders get numbers via scores, assists, rebounds, and stops. 

Efficiency reveals itself in:

  • Points/possession
  • Effective field goal percentage (and True Shooting)
  • High assist/turnover ratios
  • High free throw percentage
  • Low turnover percentages
  • High rebounding percentage
Efficiency implies skill, toughness, and good decision-making. 
 
Who is the epitome of efficiency? Nikola Jokic


Playoff Game 1, Jokic

FG 15-23 
EFG% 67.4%
FT   1-2 (nobody's perfect)
Rebounds 12
Assist/turnover 7/0

The efficient player scores and assists with few turnovers and few mental lapses (bad fouls, missed assignments). Jokic's EFG percentage for the season is over 61%. Luka Doncic clocks in at 57%, 46th in the league. I was surprised to see Jalen Brunson at 54%, 80th. 

Caitlin Clark's EFG percentage in 2023-4 was 56.8%. 

That doesn't invalidate 'raw numbers'. Yet, detailed analysis of scoring efficiency adds nuance. 

Watch the game through multiple lenses - impacting winning, decision-making, teamwork, and efficiency. 

The Boston Globe's Gary Washburn shares this from Jamal Crawford today:

“When you look at Boston, you look at one of the best starting fives in the league. We all know that,” said Crawford, now an analyst for Turner Sports. “The only question I have for Boston is if they can keep their trust. And what I mean by that is, if they’re winning by 15 or 17, the ball’s hopping, the ball’s one of the stars of the team. But as the game slows down and they get in those tight games, will it be the same energy, or will it revert back to more iso-ball?

“I think when they use each other and then attack, they’re almost unbeatable, but when they get in those dogfights, they resort back to what they’ve been doing in the past. That’s their only thing, so I think trust is their biggest opponent in this postseason run.”

Efficiency matters, not just 'stats'. 

Lagniappe. Create, maintain, and use advantage. 

Lagniappe 2. Master change of pace and change of direction.  


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Saturday, April 20, 2024

Basketball: Declaration of Interdependence

Basketball is not a democracy. Let's contrast sport with part of a famous document, the American Declaration of Independence.  

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.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; 

Use basketball analogy. 

Truths. "If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride." Truths derive from the real not the imagined. Results are the sum of measurable possessions. Offensive possessions should generate quality shots and defensive possessions at worst mean "hard twos" (one bad shot) for our opponent. Contest every shot without fouling. "Video is the truth machine." 

Coach Lane taught us to 'win quarters'. Win possessions. The famous bit about "if you get a stop, everyone gets Jordans." Would you play harder, more focused, with more communication, more toughness? 

All men are created equal. I coached girls. Only one woman's name, printer "Mary Katherine Goddard" appeared on the Declaration. The best scorers should get more shots than the 'average' player. Win possession with better shots from better players. 

The only way to know that is measuring - shot charts and analytics including effective field goal percentage. 

Pursuit of Happiness. Pursuit reminds us of Browning, "a man's reach should exceed his grasp." Pursuit doesn't guarantee achieving happiness. Remember what Brad Stevens said in analyzing players that he seeks "competitive character." 

Consent of the governed. The Founders' phrase implies 'getting buy-in'. The team must know and embrace the team philosophy, be on the same page, and work together. If a player doesn't meet those requirements, influencers ask, "why not?" 

Laying its foundations on such principles. Players can't 'divine' our core principles, beliefs, and values. President Reagan famously said, "trust but verify." Give and get feedback. Write and distribute. Simplify. Traffic in specifics. Here are suggestions among mine: 

"Basketball is sharing." - Phil Jackson

"Get more and better shots than our opponent." - Pete Newell

"The ball is gold." - Coach Sonny Lane

Teamwork, improvement, accountability. 

The best players make everyone around them better. 

Effect their safety and Happiness. Remember Chuck Daly's NBA players' want 48 - "48 minutes, 48 shots, 48 million." Players and their families care about minutes, role, and recognition. Dividing the pie is always hard. 

Light and transient causes. If it's not working, Kevin Eastman says, "do it harder, do it better, change personnel, $#&* it ain't working." I've been most proud of teams with competitive losses against superior teams. Keep messaging core beliefs such as "do well what you do a lot" and "do more of what works and less of what doesn't." 

Professional sports thrive with collaboration at the highest level. That's tough at lower levels. 

Lagniappe. "Threats, strengths, and opportunities." 

— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzellNBA) April 19, 2024 

Lagniappe 2. Cowher on culture. 

Lagniappe 3. Chris Oliver shares a play design, "Ram Ghost" 

 

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Basketball: Random Thoughts from an Old Guy for Younger Ones

Use a few thoughts from an old coach to young ones. 

1. Develop enduring relationships. My wife and I celebrated our fortieth anniversary visiting my high school coach and his wife for dinner. 

2. Cultivate a network to help players succeed long term. Encourage them to seek references and letters of recommendation. 

3. "Never be a child's last coach." Both our best player and the twelfth player should feel seen, heard, and valued. 

4. Add value. Vary practice to engage players and find multiple ways to develop player and team skills. 


5. Remember Brian McCormick's "no laps, no lines, no lectures." Conditioning within drills and scrimmaging adds efficiency. 

6. Everyone has to be in the game. Pat Summitt, Geno Auriemma and others review film of the bench. 

7. Maximize value of timeouts. "Practice" timeouts during practice. Focus on one or two ideas during timeouts. Less is more. If possible have three timeouts for the final four minutes (Dean Smith). 

8. Basketball requires maximum individual improvement in service of benefit of the team. Bill Russell said, "my ego demands the success of my team." 

9. The game is for the players. "Are we building a program or a statue?" 

10.Basketball is a game of SYMMETRY. Work to prevent on defense what we desire on offense. 


Lagniappe. Be like Coach Rav. 

Lagniappe 2. Our team can improve today by choosing better shots. 

Lagniappe 3. Work on getting your shots and a variety of shots. 




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Friday, April 19, 2024

Basketball: Timing

A post or comment often leads to a broader conversation.  

In Sources of Power, Gary Klein writes about "recognition-primed" decision making. Firefighters don't fly to fires to have meetings. They use knowledge and experience to fight the fire. Military radar operators assess flight paths and acceleration (timing) to judge whether an ascending object is a commercial aircraft or a threat like a SAM.  

Timing changes everything. 

1) CARE - concentrate, anticipate, react, execute. Defenders may anticipate a player's "favorite" move, get legal guarding position and a stop or draw an offensive foul. 

2) On-time and on-target passes turn separation into hoops. Look at the high post a certain way and he slips to the basket for an easy lob and score. Similar action occurs between a point guard and a backdoor cutter. 

3) In the "run-and-jump" defense, knowing when to leave, then "trap and go" to disrupt offense takes practice and experience. 

4) When receiving a screen, learn to 'wait' for the screen, set up the cut, and explode. We taught players to say, "wait, wait, wait" to help. 

5) Timing the steal off the dribble is personal. Players like Kawhi Leonard go for the downbeat. I preferred attacking the upbeat. Leonard also goes for "poke" steals with the outside hand and other techniques.  


6) Timing is awareness. 

7) Disrupting timing adds value. Fly-bys on three-point shooters forces some to reset after a shot fake or to side-dribble. Many players are less efficient than with catch-and-shoot threes. 

Lagniappe. Get players on the same 'team defense' page.  

Lagniappe 2. Excellent thread on cutting.  

Lagniappe 3. Curry mechanics, an excerpt from his MasterClass. Few young players have the discipline to warmup correctly. 

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Thursday, April 18, 2024

A Letter to Grandchildren About Teams

Dear Kids,

Team sports may not be your thing. That's okay but "life is a team sport." Great things happen when people work together.

You are on teams - family, school, community. Nobody begins great. A weight lifter may start out as a king-sized baby but that's not enough. He or she needs help. When you're lucky, parents, teachers, and trainers raise your arc of progress.

On your teams, learn how to make teammates better. At home, that might mean making your bed, clearing the dinner table, or helping your sister with homework. 

At school, don't be a distraction. Pay attention. Share. Play fair. Always do your best. 

Someday, maybe you'll play for your city. Put the team first. What you do and what you don't, both count. Be a good teammate. Learn to be happy for others' success. 

Don't be selfish. Don't be lazy. Don't be "soft," the opposite of physically and mentally tough.  

Fall in love with practice. Be excited for the chance to improve. Be focused to get the most from practice. Practice with purpose, on offense, on defense, on individual and team skills. Be the hardest worker; "never cheat the drill."

At times, you may think, "I can't do this." Have the courage to leave your comfort zone. 

Some days you and your team will excel. Other days, you will struggle, maybe fail badly. Stay in the fight. Get the 'full benefit' of experience. Learn from the wins and the losses. Be humble in victory and gracious in defeat. 

Days will come where you don't know if you can keep going. One more lap, one more sprint will seem impossible. Find the belief, find the will, find the words. 

We love you whether you win or lose, whether you play the whole game or sit on the bench. "You got this." 

Love,

Grammy and Papa


Lagniappe. It's hard to get to 1.0 points per possession if you can't make layups, free throws, or take care of the basketball. 

Lagniappe 2. Got Smitty?  

Lagniappe 3. Learn 'winning actions'. 


 

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Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Basketball: Identity

Be true to yourself. Developmental players need development. High school players have additional priorities. Be proficient at:

  • Defeating pressure defense
  • Half-court offense
  • Half-court defense
  • Pick-and-roll defense
  • Transition defense
A couple of points that emerge in Coach Grant's philosophy include getting separation and doing so with urgent cutting. Many offenses fail because players don't set up cuts and don't cut hard. 

"We can't run what we can't run." Fundamentally-skilled players adapt and execute many offenses. If our players lack skill, then our offensive choice won't matter. 

Ambitious coaches and players understand that "the obvious" wins: 
1) Do well what you do a lot.
2) Excel at offensive and defensive identity. 

Match your offensive and defensive identity to your players. A 'perimeter offense' fails without shooters. "Non-shooters are always open." Some teams want to force square pegs into round holes. "Kill your darlings" eliminates stuff you like but doesn't work. 

Defensively, no easy shots. If we can't contain the dribble for whatever reason, then deploy alternative defenses (e.g. zone or hybrid defenses). 

Lagniappe. Disguise your intent. 

Lagniappe 2. Playing out of hard stops separates. 

Lagniappe 3. Many young players want to switch ball screens. Being able to trap (blitz) them can generate live ball turnovers. 

 


 

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Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Basketball: Player Development

"Every day is player development day." - Dave Smart

Player development pays everybody. It pays the player, the family, the player's next coach. The only "loser" is the player's competitor with less skill, will, size, or athleticism.

Think back to Don Meyer's, "would you rather have two better players or two new plays?" Make our own players. 

Find resources to help develop players. That includes a lot of territory - older players, assistants, old guys willing to rebound, online video drills, coaching clinics, FIBA videos, whatever.

The Holy Grail of development often comes from high end trainer videos online - Drew Hanlen, Chris Brickley, Kevin Eastman, Don Kelbick - and older videos from coaches or players like Pete Newell, Pete Maravich, Steve Nash, Steve Alford, whomever. "I don't know who I don't know." 

Here's a clip of Tyrese Maxey working with Drew Hanlen. 

Don't get stuck on the 'cult of personality'. Whether you like a John Calipari, Rick Pitino, or anybody, find material that 1) you trust and 2) you can teach and use to develop. 

If you see a Kevin Durant "float dribble" video and your opinion is, "whatever, it's just a hesi variation," ask "are my players getting separation with it? Will this video help them separate better? 


Basketball is a game of separation and finishing. Basketball actions like jab series, wing attack series, post play, and pick-and-roll blend separation and finishing. 

Every player won't have the commitment and aptitude to become the high ceiling player who plays at the next level. Teach to the player. Sixth graders don't read Shakespeare and that's fine. If you get the prodigy who's a sponge, functioning above grade level, teach more. 

I had the chance to coach such a player, Cecilia Kay, valedictorian, a four-time All-Scholastic, McDonald's All-America nominee, Boston Herald "Dream Teamer," league MVP, Division 1 scholarship recipient. Here she puts up big numbers against the 2024 D2 Massachusetts State Champion. Her team beat them twice. Her school was banned from all postseason sports because of alleged baseball infractions.   

Ideas?

  • Be curious. 
  • Study the game.
  • Study the coaches.
  • Watch basketball and "think along" with the coaches - strategy, tempo, special situations
  • Write (journal, blog, both)
  • Study writers (perspective and craft - Gladwell, Michael Lewis, Hemingway, Tolstoy)
  • Analogy. Analogy brings disciplines together. 
  • Simplify. Make readers smarter than we are. 
Lagniappe. Learn to be uncomfortable. 
Lagniappe 2. Brad Stevens 'must have'. 

Lagniappe 3. One minute at the opening of practice. 

 


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Monday, April 15, 2024

Basketball: "Full Benefit," Analysis of Success and Failure

This topic arrives courtesy of Coach Brook Kohlheim (@CoachKohlheim). Full Benefit derives from learning from the negative. Paul Marobella writes, "Learning leadership lessons from all corners of team-oriented situations is a passion for me."

Understanding success and failure marks leaders as they learn from mistakes and avoid repeating them. 

First, a few excerpts:

"It’s a mindset that encourages one to squeeze every ounce of value from every situation. The highs, lows, and in–between hold a lesson, an opportunity for growth and learning."

"Imagine seeing a crisis not as a catastrophe but as a classroom."

"The essence of ‘Full Benefit’ lies in continuous learning, adaptation, and improvement."

This reminds me of Adam Grant's book Think Again and his advice of keeping a "rethinking scorecard." What 'truths' or widely held beliefs deserve closer scrutiny? This might represent anything:

  • How important are analytics?
  • Can the "Four Factors" be applied to other sports?
  • Are our 'draft' or 'recruiting' principles working? 
  • How can we improve our player development? 
  • What players are 'misvalued' - over or undervalued? 
  • Knowing that isolation points/possession are lower than many other play types, why do NBA teams invariably choose them for the final possession? Tradition, convention, ego? 
  • What are examples of "sunk cost" fallacy? 
Any of these questions could become their own study. 

The 'After Action Review' or 'Postmortem Examination' following a game or season might add clarity or confusion depending on both methods and results.  

We could trend player and team performance (subjectively and objectively).

For players with unexpected over- or underachievement, ask why? Did performance reflect role, growth, injury, style of play, outlier game(s), personal issues (family, friends, academics)? 

Did we examine operations from both internal (teamwork, competition, relationships) and external factors? 

Have we examined our preparation, practice, game planning, substitution, game management, and "operations trajectory." Were we the same team at the end of the season, worse, or much better? 

Have we used "Full Benefit" to thank those who contributed in the many aspects of team and to organize offseason changes where we fell short? "Thanks is the cheapest form of compensation." - Robert Townsend

Bias limits reliable self-grading of our coaching. Setting up 'metrics' for objective trending in advance might help. The court is our classroom and laboratory and our Trafalgar and Waterloo. 

Lagniappe. 

Lagniappe 2. This is gold. If a team lacks the individual skills to contain and to attack, they fail. 

Lagniappe 3. Weighty.  

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