A Coach's Diary

With the emergence of Steph Curry as one of the dominate forces in the NBA game, the term 'gravity' has made its way to the basketball court. Gravity in basketball terms simply refers to the pull that a certain player has over the defense, or, how closely you have to guard a player at any given time on the court. Steph Curry has strong gravity because no matter where he is on the court, all defenders must know where he is and be close enough to him to close out and take away shots.  Great shooters such as Kyle Korver also have strong gravity off the ball. Great drivers, like Kyrie Irving, also have strong gravity, but with the ball more so than when they are off the ball (although Kyrie is also a high level shooter).  When Kyrie has the ball in his hands, the defense has to shift towards him early enough to keep him from getting to the basket. Great rebounders, especially on the offensive end, can also have strong gravity.  Guys like Tristan Thompson have strong...

This article comes from Hoopthoughts.Blogspot.com regarding the characteristics needed to be a successful head coach. Bill Polion, one of the NFL’s best general managers, in his book,  "The Game Plan: The Art of Building a Winning Football Team," gives great insight to what he is looking for from a head coach.   Below are the 10 characteristics that he finds most important in a head coach: The 10 characteristics he outlines are: 1 – Organization 2 – Leadership 3 – Communication 4 – Emotional Stability 5 – Vision 6 – Strategy 7 – Flexibility 8 – Judge of Talent 9 – Public Relations 10 – Player Respect You can read the article in full below.

With the Warriors and Cavs facing off in the finals for the 3 rd straight year, it’s been fun being able to watch two completely different styles of basketball facing off against each other. On one hand, you have the ‘Flow’ of the Golden State Warriors motion offense where the set screens, get ball and player movement, and ball reversals in looking for great shots and scoring opportunities by taking advantage of defensive breakdowns.   On the other side, you have the Star Power of the Cleveland Cavs where every offensive decision is made by one of the stars.   They spread the court and breakdown the defense and create scoring opportunities by taking advantage of their 1 on 1 matchups and ball-screens.  

Ganon Baker has trained thousands of basketball players the world over — ranging from junior high schoolers to NBA and WNBA players. Below is an article written about his journey to become one of the most well-known trainers in the world.   Here are a couple of my favorite responses: DP: If you had 15 minutes with any player, boy or girl, any level, and you had to divide that up, what are the three most important things you could tell them about being a better basketball player? 1 – Show them how to work hard 2 – Show them how important it is to study the game and be mentally prepared 3 – Find their kryptonite and help them overcome it DP: Are you a fan of anybody in particular? GB:  "The Spurs. Their style, their culture. They buy-in to coaching, they respect the coaches. A lot of teams don't listen to the assistant coaches.   That’s why I love the Spurs.   They do it the right way.” DP: You're in your 17th year of training. What keeps driving y...

Nate ‘Tiny’ Archibald was a small point guard from the Bronx, NY.   At 6’0, Tiny was a smart, tough, and flashy point guard who groomed his game on the playgrounds of NY before taking his talents to Arizona Western College and then to UTEP.   In 1970, Tiny was drafted in the 2 nd round by the Cincinnati Royals.   After playing so well coming off the bench, the Royals ended up trading starting point guard Norm Van Lier so that Tiny could run the show full time. Early in his career, Tiny was unguardable offensively.   He was quick, ambidextrous, and could finish around the basket with creativity, much like Kyrie Irving today.   In his 3 rd year in the league, he became the only player in history to lead the league in scoring and assist.   His 34 points per game broke the NBA record for a guard, and his 910 assists was an NBA record at that time.   Tiny was also named MVP that season.   He was very unselfish but knew when to take over...

LeBron James, Draymond Green, 2 Chainz and special guests come together at a local New Orleans barbershop to talk the NBA, Olympics, music, football and more.    They hit on many topics, including what its like to play in a classic game 7, playing for Coach K in the Olympics, ‘the process,’ LeBron’s decision to come back to Cleveland, and guys in the NBA who don’t know their roles and DON'T KNOW HOW TO PLAY!  

There are a lot of guys who have no idea what their roles are.   They have no idea where to shoot.   There are guys who DON’T KNOW HOW TO PLAY. LeBron James, Draymond Green, 2 Chainz and special guests come together at a local New Orleans barbershop to talk the NBA, Olympics, music, football and more.    You can see the entire video here: At about the 9:25 mark, Record producer Steve Stoute starts out talking about business resumes and the fact that for all of the skills that are on resumes, they never talk about a person’s work ethic.   He says that everybody gets credit for stuff that you didn’t do when you are part of a team because that is part of being on a team.   But he likes to ask, 'What role did you play in driving the outcome vs. being a teammate of the outcome?"    Great coaches, great CEOs, and great managers have to decide:  Is it the guy or is the environment that the guy was in?   Are you the driver or just a...