To Teach or To Play

This comment comes from Brian McCormmick and a post of his on the debate between which comes first: teaching the skill or playing the game.  The gist of the argument is that only recently and only in sports do we teach the skill first before the play.  Growing up, we just played.  We would play countless basketball games at the park and at recess before we ever played in our first league.  We learned the game by playing.

Today, we teach and give skills before we let the kids play.  We teach and rep skills and techniques, then we have them practice the skills in controlled, game-like situations.  As Brian states in his comment, we don't learn by teaching the technique first in any non-adult led activity.  We didn't learn how to crawl, walk or run by receiving explicit instructions - we learn by doing.  Once we learn, we refine our technique to improve our performance.  

Two questions that he asked below was, "Is throwing a ball a fundamental skill like running or jumping or is it a sport-specific that must be trained differently? Do we suffer so many arm injuries because we treat it as a special skill and not a fundamental skill?"

His full comments are after the jump and you can read the original article here.

Deliberate Play > Deliberate Practice

The popularization of the 10,000 hours idea has had a real affect on the sports training industry and youth sports in general; both positive and negative.  Athletes now are getting much more personal and individualized instruction at younger ages, and parents are shelling anywhere from $30 - $100 per hour for specialized and individual instruction.  While practice and repetition is important to growth and skill development, the article here from Brian McCormick on the importance of deliberate play uses studies to show that 10,000 hours of deliberate playing time is a better way to create better basketball players than 10,000 hours of deliberate practice time.

Jean Cote defines deliberate play as unstructured, play-oriented situations: basically, going to the park and playing in your pick-up games.  As the article states, deliberate play is the most effective way to improve as a basketball player.  There is nothing like seeing new moves from your favorite players, working on them alone or even with a trainer if you would like, and then working on them in real-game like situations that are unstructured - like pick-up games, 3 on 3, or open gym runs.

The quote below talks about a study done comparing the results of 18 weeks of deliberate practice vs 18 weeks of deliberate games:

Greco, Memmert and Morales (2010) studied the difference in tactical performance improvement in 18 60-minute sessions of deliberate play versus traditional basketball practice in 10 to 12-year-olds. The deliberate play group played small-sided games and advantage/disadvantage games, whereas the traditional group engaged in a more typical practice which included a “large amount of structured game exercises with exact guidelines…and more isolated activities of skill training (e.g. dribbling, passing)” (Greco et al. 2010; p.851). 

Whereas the traditional group showed no improvement, the deliberate play group showed significant improvement in tactical intelligence and tactical creativity. Tactical intelligence referred to the ability to find the ideal solution to a given problem and is referred to as tactical decision-making or game skill. Tactical creativity referred to varying, rare, and flexible decisions in different situations. Tactical intelligence was knowing where to pass the ball, when or where to drive, and when to shoot: good decision making. Tactical creativity referred to the special plays: instead of seeing the obvious open player, the player created a better opportunity for a different player. These skills developed through deliberate play in 18 weeks, but not traditional practices.

Its important to get repetition to learn and for motor learning purposes, but the game is about decision making, choices and feel.  Its about spacing, movement and making very quick decision on the fly.  As state in the quote below, deliberate playing helps improve skill at the same rate as deliberate practice:  

Greco et al. (2010) noted that motor skill development was not measured, and one could surmise that the traditional practice led to improved shooting or dribbling. However, they cited Magill (1998) who found that implicit learning (i.e. deliberate play) improved motor skill execution as well or better than explicit instruction (i.e. traditional practice). Greco et al. (2010) discounted the likelihood of greater improvement in motor skill execution by the traditional group, although it was not measured.

Teach the skills, give them opportunities to get their 'reps,' but the real learning and growth comes from the playing.  Make sure that they hit the 10,000 hours of the 'playing reps.'

3 on 3 - Small Sided Game to Grow the Game

The video above from Brian McCormick emphasizes the benefits of playing more 3 on 3 to develop your players.  This video focuses on developing youth basketball players, but the benefits can definitely be seen with your more experienced varsity and college players as well.  Geno Auriemma once said that basketball is just a game of 1 on 1, 2 on 2, and 3 on 3 situations.  Creating 3 on 3 games in your practices and part of your skill development gets players more meaningful touches helping them stay more engaged, thus helping them improve quicker.

We like to incorporate different actions that we use in our offense and different actions of the teams that we will play against when we play 3 on 3 in practice.  If we are playing a team that uses the UCLA hi-post action, we will play 3 on 3 and start with a pass to the wing, UCLA cut and then play live, emphasizing guarding the actions how we plan to guard it in games.  We like to use DHO into ball-screens, so we play a lot of 3 on 3 games using that action into live.  It really teaches our kids how to get open when the defense knows what they are going to do, and how to read the defense to turn small advantages into big advantages.

Whether you are a youth coach trying to teach the game and getting kids to fall in love with this great sport, or a varsity high school coach competing for a state championship, incorporating 3 on 3 games into your practices can really help your players and teams grow.

Cleveland Cavaliers Transition Defense Drill

This is a good change up to the traditional 3 on 2/2 on 1 transition drill by the Cleveland Cavaliers in their training camp from 2016.

Cleveland Cavaliers Defensive Closeout Drill

The drill in the video above is a part of our closeout series that we do.  We usually do this leading up tot shell defense.  Our philosophy is to give up no open shots.  To make sure that we can do this, we have to work on flying to our man, closing out with a high inside hand, and chopping our feet as we approach the ball-handler so that she can't blow by us.

Here the Cleveland Cavaliers show a couple of parts of their closeout progression in their training camp from 2016.

Transition Defense Drill

Everybody loves to sprint on offense, but you have to teach how to sprint back in transition defense and get matched up.

1 - Load to the ball
2 - Inside the line of the ball
3 - Talk and match-up

Puts 6 seconds on the clock to get a clean shot and end with a block out.

Circle Trap Drill

A great drill to work on legal traps and anticipating the pass as an interceptor, and it works on being strong with the ball and being sure and tough offensively against traps.  It also teaches your players to be more comfortable in a trap, to not panic, and to have a plan for getting out of the trap.

Defensively, it teaches those on the ball how to play strong with their hands up so they don't foul in the trap without fouling, how to get deflections, and how to anticipate the next pass as an interceptor.

I like how he shows to use the drill in different parts of the court depending on where you are anticipating you want to trap and where you anticipate your opponents will try to trap you.

Courage > Result

Winners Fail | Losers Hide

This excerpt and notes are taking from the book What Drives Winning.  They have a great website and a really good Youtube page.

Its important to redefine what losing and failure is.  Take the emphasis away from the result and place it on the action.

Courage is about being willing to operate and step out of your comfort zone.

Courage has nothing to do with the outcome.  It is about being all-in.  Have a circle around you that is supportive and who value you going all in over the results. 

You have 2 options with it comes to a challenge:

1 – You can hide from it
2 – You can chase it

In life, you have 2 options when it comes to courage:

1 – You can go all-in and risk being taken out of the game for the chance to be great

Or

2 – You can eliminate the chance of being great by playing tentatively and not getting taken out of the game

Think of going all-in like a stoplight:  Imagine what it looks like to have a green light v a yellow light. 

What does it look like when you live with a yellow light?

- Scared- Tentative

- Cautious
- Worried about what is going to happen next or what somebody is going to sya

What does it look like when you live with a green light?
- Courageous
- Risk taker
- Living free
- Not concerned with what is going to happen or what people think of you
- No regret

Play Green by finding your comfort zone and living as much out of it as you can.  The more you are out of your comfort zone and in your courage zone, the more your comfort zone will stretch.

Don’t Be A Cosigner – of your life or of others

1 – Agreeing with someone, or a teammate, because you don’t want to upset the person

2 – Not saying anything at all

When people cosign, it is usually because:

1 – Afraid of conflict

2 – Don’t know what to say

One way to beat it is to role-play with yourself or trusted friends on what to say and how to handle a situation.  Another way to beat it is to give ‘best friend advice;’ give advice to a best friend who is going through the same situation.  

We usually have the answers within us, we just have to find it.

I once read in a book about the importance of the fences and boundaries that we set in our lives.  They keep people in and to a degree, they keep people out. You have to set boundaries for yourself on how you will allow people to treat you and what you are willing to deal with.  When someone crosses those boundaries, you have to have the courage to speak up in an appropriate and effective way.  Have courage to live the life that you want to live.

Posting Keeping the Ball Up High

We always preach to our post girls the importance of keeping the ball high.  Here, Candice Parker initiates the fast break and keeps the ball high before converting in transition.  A great visual for all post players.

Simple 2 on 2 Rebounding Drill

The drill below is from the University of Arkansas.  A simple 2 on 2 rebounding drill.  I like how the coach also emphasizes making good outlet passes out of the drill.  

We will experiment with having our bigs stay on the ball, contest the outlook and look to chase and trap the outlet.  So, we will have our bigs chase down and breakdown on the outlet, simulating that they are trapping that pass.

If the offense gets the rebound, they get an offensive possession.  If the defense gives up an offensive rebound, they have to stay on defense with the next group.

High Ball Screen Reads

Here is a simple high ball-screen look with options for the kick out.  We run a continuity ball-screen offense.  We would tell our 4 to sprint into a second ball-screen no matter where the kick out is.  If the 4 gets the kick out, she would either take the shot or dribble into a hand-off and the rolling post would flash to the high post.

Learn Ed Cooley’s “Double Drag” Set Play

This is a good look in transition to get your point guard spacing to get to the basket and an option for a corner 3.

Elbow Play Against 1-3-1 Zone

Here is a simple 4 out 1 in look that starts in Horns to get a post up or corner 3 against the 1-3-1 defense.

Circle Up Into Transition

The secondary break being taught here isn't bad at all, but what I really like is the different way that they were able to flow into their transition out of the drill.  I am always looking for ways to start the drill, and we have used different starts, such as out of shell drill and out of a BLOB or SLOB play 5 on 0 or against dummy defense.

Minnesota Lynx 'Loop' Play

Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeves shows us her 'Loop' play.  We run a side ball screen, continuity offense, so something like this could be a great quick hitter to get us in our stuff.

This also has a post up option for the guard, which is good for us because we have a couple of big guards who are good in the post.

25 in 2 minutes - A Great Fast Break Drill

This is a great fast break drill that Cheryl Reeve admittedly stole from NBA coach Fred Hoiberg.  We really emphasize looking for skips in transition, and this will help reinforce that, along with making 'snap passes,' catching with two hands, running the court, and finishing fast.

Key Teaching Points
- Spring the court
- Snap passes
- No dribbles
- Great catches
- Finishing with speed
- Quick outlets
- Talk, talk, talk

Don't slow down and wait for the ball - sprint and get ahead.  

Jay Wright Swing Series: Driving the Ball to the Basket

Swing series is when you are guarded on the wing, step across the defender, give the target a passer, catch and go.  If your man is denying, you have to get that foot on top and be strong to and with the ball.

Rip it tight to your stomach and push it out in front of you.  If you swing out away from your body, a tough defender will take it from you.

SMU : Get Better at Catching and Driving To the Basket

A simple drill led by Larry Brown teaching his athletes at SMU how to catch, rip low, and attack the basket.  Great teaching points include:

- Rip the ball low to the ground
- Direct drive to the basket
- Get there in one dibble
- Establish a pivot
- Put the ball down early
- Both feet catch outside the 3
- Run through the pass
- Take it to the ground
- Get the ball below your knees
- Don't drag your foot
- Straight line drives
- Jab at the defender
- Run with it
- Swing it and take it to the ground

Rip and Drive
Crossover and drive
Rip through pull-up

How NBA Teams Leave Players Open To Help Their Defense

The video below shows how NBA teams in the playoffs play off of non-shooters to help on the other teams' better players.

Trapping Screens
:47 - It first shows how players aggressively help on cutters when their man sets a screen.  They often double team off of ball-screens, down screens and any situation where their man is involved in the screen.  Their defender also plays off and helps bump cutters, allowing the other defenders to help, hedge, and trap ball-handlers using screens.

Put Your Big On Non-Shooting Wings
NBA Teams also switch up their match-ups by putting a rim protecting or great help-side big on a non-shooting perimeter player.  This allows other players to pressure the ball and help with pressure, i.e. traps and hard hedges, while knowing that they have support at the basket.  This can also create mismatches on the other end, as the other team might have trouble finding their man in transition, ending up in cross match-ups.

How To Counter
One of the best ways that offenses counter the defense playing off of a non-shooter is by a well-timed cut.  When you cut and relocate against a helping defender, you can get easy lay-ups, as seen in the video.  This also puts you in great rebounding position.  

One other observation seen in the video is how effective putting your non-shooter in the short corner can be (5:45).  It goes against modern basketball wisdom to hurt your spacing, but as stated in the video, if your defender is already sagging off in help, your spacing doesn't matter as much.  The narrator calls it the 'dunk-it' spot, and it puts you in position to get a dump down layup or in position for easy put-backs (6:00).  

At the NBA level, it is well-documented that the 3 point shooters' shooting percentage goes significantly up when they are in the corner, so a good counter is to put your shooter in the corner and work in practice to help them become a better corner 3 point shooter (7:00).

7:40 - When they have a big guarding a perimeter player, get the ball to your best player and screen with the man being guarded by the post.  Doing it up high puts a lot on the big trying to stop your guard.

Steve Kerr EXCLUSIVE: SECRETS To The WARRIORS Offense

The video below is a great interview where Coach Nick from BBall Breakdown speaks with Steve Kerr about the GS Warrior offense, his coaching influences, how he teaches and practices what they do, and his philosophy on sharing the ball and movement.

His offense came from many different coaches and mentors:  Phil Jackson and Tex Winter triangle actions with the split cuts out of the post, Motion strong and weak from Coach Pop, 21 Action from Mike D'antoni and Alvin Gentry, and Rick Adelman's corner offense.

Kerr likes to introduce and teach concepts more than plays, which gives the players freedom to do what they do with structure.  He talks about the importance of repping what they do so that the players know their options and how to read and react with pace.

Coach Kerr also talks about how the ball has energy and needs to be shared and the importance of keeping everybody involved in the offense.

Catch the full video below:

Help Defense Simplified

If you are by the ball (on ball defender, in gaps, or one pass away), you have to stop the ball.  If you are away from the ball (more than one pass away) you have to help everyone by the ball by watching cutters.

Utah Jazz Plyometrics and Quickness Drills

Utah Jazz Strength and Conditioning coach Mark McKown and Jeremy Evans show what drills he puts the players through to help with explosiveness.

We have started to incorporate this into our conditioning work.  For example, we will do 5-20 seconds of quick jumps into a sprint.

Simple Peer Pressure Drill Geno Auriemma Uses to Begin Practice

Geno Auriemma - UConn Leadership Conference

'We trust you until you give us a reason not to trust you.'

'Just be great at what you're good at.  You know you're really good at something.  Identify it and then work your brains out to be great at it.'

The Importance of Learning Accountability ...

... and not how to make mistakes and excuses.

The importance of holding yourself accountable, now as an athlete, and in the future as an adult and a professional.  Right now, showing up late, or missing an assignment, or not blocking out does not mean the end of the world.  However, at some point, coming in late or turning in an assignment late at work could cost you your job.  When the stakes get higher, it is important to know that you have spent your career learning how to make mistakes and how to make excuses.

Coach Auriemma on Feedback: Stop Treating Women Like Women

It’s not even about winning or losing.  It’s about getting the best out of every player.  Being a woman does not change their job description.  You never go after somebody’s heart or their core; you go after what they did.  You coach actions.

How To Beat a 2-2-1 Press

The 2-2-1 press is a common full court defense used to slow down the offense, making them second guess themselves with soft traps and playing the passing lanes.  Its important for your players to have a plan on how to attack this press and how to move, manipulate, and read the defense.  The video below shows a simple but effective way to attack a 2-2-1 press.

Most teams have one guard on the ball and the other guard taking away middle, allowing the guard to guard pass.  By allowing you to reverse the ball, they are hoping you use up your 10 seconds in the back court or turn you over when you start to panic when rushing to get the ball across the timeline.

Being aggressively patient and knowing who to attack and when is key to beating the press efficiently.  Having your guards beat their man and attack the forwards on the wing makes the defense rotate and opens up their teammates.

When you attack the forward, the lob to your teammate leaking up the court should be open, as shown above.  From there, the 4 can attack the 2 on 1 with the 5 or hit the 3 coming down the middle.

If 1 attacks the forward and the bottom defender comes up to steal the pass to the 4, 1 can look at the 3 in the middle or the skip to 5.  When the 3 gets it, attack the basket and you will get a layup or numbers advantage.

If both of those options are taken away, the reversal is always there and you have the same options on the other side, but with a defense out of position ready to be attacked.

One thing to look for on the reversal is the guard defending the middle sprinting to cut off the 2 too quickly.  This might leave the 3 open in the middle before the other guard can get to the middle.  That is why its important to have a plan and being ready to attack with a plan.  Having a plan and attacking takes advantage of the defense having to sprint and rotate.

To beat it, its important to work on being able to make different types of passes, including the over head pass, and its important to stress making strong passes, using ball fakes, and meeting the pass on the catch and catching with two hands every time.

Working on 2 on 1 and 3 on 2 drills are important as well, so that you can take advantage of numbers situations and make the defense pay for pressing you.

What Will Your Student/Athletes Say About You? What Is Your Legacy?

During our 2 week professional development leading into the new school year, we had an inspirational speaker come in to talk to us about maintaining our well-being as teachers and living 'our best life' so that we are able to give our students and athletes our A-game every day.  Early in his lecture, he brought up this scenario:

"Imagine, 20-30 years from now, a few of your former students or former athletes are sitting around at a bar, or a coffee shop, or a birthday party.  Do they even remember you?  Do they mention you?  And if you are brought up in conversation, what would you want them to say about you and their time with you?"

As speaker Alex Saenz then told us that morning, every day you are on stage for your legacy.  We are living, every day, our legacy.  What legacy are you living?  What legacy are you leaving to the one's you serve and lead?

He also stated that we all build a reputation and that your students and your peers notice everything you do.  John Wooden famously stated, 'be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.'  But it’s also important to be concerned with your reputation because that is symbolic of the work you put in, how you serve others, the relationship you do or don't build with the people around you, and the legacy you are leaving behind.

So as you go into this school year, or into a new week, or even a new day, think about what you want your legacy to be.  One day, the team’s record will be forgotten, stats will be lost and nobody will remember what they got on that state test.  But will they remember you ... their teacher and their coach?  Will you have made enough of an impact in their life?  And if you are lucky enough to be remembered, what will they say about you?

Every day you are on stage for your legacy.  We are living, every day, our legacy.

Don Eddy One on One Play

The teams with the best players have the best chance at success.  Discipline, structure, togetherness, and great plays all factor in as well, but all other things being equal, players win games.  So, its important to help your players get better in 1 on 1 situations.  Plays are setup to get you in a 1 on 1 situation where you can make a play.

Below are notes from the older Don Eddy video above.

Be a threat every time you catch.  Use your jab series to feel out and move the defense.
- Ball in your pocket
- Back straight so you’re ready to shoot
- Ball is ‘set’ in your pocket
- Fake the drive to shoot/ Fake the shot to drive
- Fakes are short steps, drives are long steps

Live Ball Moves
- Show and Go
- Jab
- Cross step
- Rocker step
- Shot fake
- Opposite

On The Dribble
- Cut off dribble
- Counter dribble
- Retreat dribble
- Shot fake
- Power shot

Drill It

- 1 on 0 is a great way to introduce and rep the moves
- Dummy 1 on 1 is a great drill to teach the drills in one on one situations. 
- King/Queen of the court is a great drill to practice this move in live situations

Learn how to play off your defender; don't just rely on predetermined moves that you have in your head.

Hank Iba's 6 Steps to Winning More Basketball Games

All credit to this post goes to Hoopskills.com and you can read the original version here.

Legendary Hank Iba (Henry Iba) coached Oklahoma State to two NCAA Championships and the United States Olympic team to two gold medals (and one silver medal) with teams made up entirely of amateurs. Coach Iba used to teach that there are six main areas of focus if you want to win consistently. The more of these areas that you and your team master, the more games you will win. If only a couple areas are mastered, then you're possibly in for a long season.

1. Transition Defense - Good transition defense helps eliminate layups, open threes and fouls while scrambling to cover up, which greatly increases your chances of winning. Teams should have separate plans for getting back after missed shots and turnovers and also for getting back after a made field goal or free throw. Being strong in this area lets the defense play 5 on 5 instead of playing 3 on 1 or 4 on 2.

2. Half-Court Defense - Numerous studies have all shown that FG % is the #1 statistic that influences winning. In other words, if a team can constantly force their opponents into shooting poorly they are going to win the vast majority of their games. Good half court defenses take offenses out of their comfort zone, don't foul and only give up difficult shots by non leading scorers. Coaches often give this one area more attention than all of the others.

3. Fast Break Offense - Effectively running the break gives a team the chance to get some cheap baskets and is still the best way to get an uncontested three point attempt. Teams that run and consistently scores before the defense sets up often forces opponents to play smaller if their "Bigs" can't keep up. One of the most important benefits of fast breaking is that it gives your team "spurt ability" and the opportunity to come from behind if necessary.

4. Half-Court Offense - Great half court offense is basically about accepting roles and understanding good shot selection, regardless of which offensive set is used. Winning offense is NOT equal opportunity but instead is committed to getting the best shooters the most shots. This can be accomplished by always looking for favorable mismatches, consistently feeding the hot hand, and setting limitations if running any type of motion offense. (Five passes unless getting an uncontested layup, post must touch the ball, two designated shooters until end of the shot clock, etc.)

5. Defensive Rebounding - Use one of the four boxing out techniques (Front pivot, reverse pivot, hit & go, or face guard) to keep opponents from generating game changing second shots. Teams that want to fast break obviously need the ball to get things started and should consider a missed shot and subsequent defensive rebound as the first phase of their offense.

6. Offensive Rebounding - While defensive rebounding is mostly about proper positioning, offensive rebounding is all about desire and anticipation. Many coaches feel that there is no such thing as a bad second shot and motivate their non scorers by telling them they can shoot every offensive rebound they secure. We send four to the glass and try to consistently get two perimeter players crashing the boards after getting a running start. (We work very hard on our transition defense and you must too if you are going to send four players to the offensive boards!)

Too many teams overemphasize just one of the six areas at the expense of the other five. While those types of teams may win some games, they lack the balance necessary to be a dominant, championship program. Coach Hank Iba's teams were well known for tough, hard-nosed, physical defense and methodical, ball control offense. However, even though those areas were his team's main strengths, he did not neglect to emphasize the other four areas. As a result his coaching career became so legendary that one of the national coach of the year awards is named after him.

Steven Adams Rolling Off The Ball Screen

Steven Adams is a very solid big in the NBA.  He is not flashy, and he doesn't not have myriad of post moves, but he can be effective, especially receiving passes rolling to the block off of pick and roll action.  The video below shows the different options Adams has rolling to the basket.

For our girls, we want them to be able to execute the following moves on rolls for either a layup or to draw a foul:

On The Roll
- Regular layup
- Reverse layup
- Power layup (with or without a shot fake)
- Power reverse layup (with or without a shot fake)
- Step across and finish (with or without a shot fake)
- Catch into up and under
- Dribble into up and under
- Catch and shoot

On the Pop
- Catch and shoot
- Catch and rip through for pull-up or shot
- Jab baseline into drive
- Rocker series

Kobe On Doubt | Embrace It

“I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have fear of failure. I have nights when I show up at the arena and I'm like, 'My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don't have it. I just want to chill.' We all have self-doubt. You don't deny it, but you also don't capitulate to it. You embrace it.” 

― Kobe Bryant

The Final Minute of Duke/Butler 2010 National Title Game

Duke ran a couple of good 'Floppy' variations.  Butler had its chances to tie or take the lead, including a great look at the final 3 from Gordon Hayward, but Duke held on for the win and the National Championship.

Dick Bennett Soundness Drills

You have to be able to take care of the ball, against pressure, to be able to run any kind of offense with success.  Dick Bennett has a couple of drills that he call 'Soundness Drills' to improve his teams ability to take care of the ball and to improve their poise and decision making.

In the drill above, called 1 on 2, he has one ball handler trying to advance the ball against two defenders.  Your ball handler has to have poise, know how to protect the ball with both hands, has to be able to retreat dribble away from pressure, and has to know how to attack when time.

We have expanded this drill to teach scoring at the end of it.  We want our 1 offensive player to try to score.  Then, make or miss, we have the 2 defenders come back on offense in a 2 on 1 situation to teach how to play 2 on 1 basketball on offense and defense.  We also use this drill as an opportunity to teach how trap and take proper trapping angles.

In the video above here, the emphasis is on getting open one pass away and moving the ball.  This team does a great job of making 10 passes, and you can see that they are well coached.  As teams improve, I give them restrictions, such as 1 or 2 or no dribbles, or giving the defense extra defenders to make it tougher on them.

These 2 drills are really good for teaching and emphasizing taking care of the ball.

Brad Stevens: Why Is Positive Coaching Important?

'Be Warm and Demanding'

As Brad Stevens states here, the most effective leaders teach athletes how to persevere and to have more grit, and to do so, it is important to find the balance between being warm and demanding.  These leaders are approachable, but on the court, there is a demand and an expectation that everyone is going to work and perform at a high level.

Demand excellence, but remember, we are still dealing with human beings with human emotions, and we have to be receptive to that.

via: positivecoach.org

Brad Stevens Boston Celtics Late Game 2-3 Defense

Brad Stevens is a rising star in the NBA.  His ability to draw up plays, especially in special situations late in game, are well talked about in coaching circles.  Here is a good video showing the Celtics running a nice 2-3 defense in late game SLOB situations.

One way I see to beat this is to flood the backside.  Send a player to the backside block, one to the backside wing, one to the top of the key, and one to the high post.  The middle and backside forward would have to make a decision on who to leave open, and I would think they would leave the back side wing open, giving you a long close out to attack.

Thanks to Half Court Hoops for the video breakdown and pdf breakdown: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jf5n0ospn80...

Geno Auriemma On Shot Selection

Two biggest issues that Geno sees right now is 1) teams are playing too fast and 2) bad shot selection.

Shot selection might be the most important thing that you can teach your team.  Everybody thinks that they can make any shot.

Shot selection is the biggest killer of offense because the wrong guy is taking the wrong shot, you can't rebound when you don't know when a shot is going up, and you are out of balance and can't get back on defense.

Rule #1
When you are open, you have to shoot it if that's the shot you work on everyday.  Everybody knows and expects it and is prepared to rebound.

Rule #2
If you shoot when you aren't open and somebody is, that's the last shot you get that game.  Thats where selfishness begins.

Because Of 4 AM

-->

-->

The following article comes from an article that I found on Linked In from Brett Hagler.  You can see the original article here.

Kobe Bryant recently shared an all-time great mindset, manifested into a subtle quote that not many people noticed. It's been three weeks and I can't get it out of my head, so I wanted to share. You can take it literally or (mostly) metaphorically - both work and can be applied to the dream you're chasing. 

The quote came from Kobe when he was on stage accepting the 'Icon Award' at the ESPYS.  He was addressing fellow athletes: 

“We’re not on this stage just because of talent or ability,” Bryant said.

“We’re up here because of 4 a.m. We’re up here because of two-a-days or five-a-days.

We’re up here because we had a dream and let nothing stand in our way. If anything tried to bring us down, we used it to make us stronger.”

There are thousands of athletes that had similar or even better talent than Kobe. Just like there are thousands of executives, leaders, sales managers, artists, musicians, writers, etc. that have the same and more talent than you and me. 

But at the end of the day, it doesn't come down to who has the most talent or intelligence. It comes down to who is willing to make the choices that others are not willing to make. 

Who is willing to shoot baskets in the dark when everyone else is sleeping? Who is willing to prepare more for an interview? Who is willing to practice their speech 10X more than anyone else? All are choices we make. 

The Dream 

If the dream is small, there's no point to do things that others won't if your end goal is not something "extra-ordinary." There's just no reason for the "4AMs." Which is totally cool and fine!

But if the dream is big... the game changes.

The 4AMs and two-a-days become intentional choices. The hard things over the easy, comfortable things become routine. The discipline to put off instant gratification is the standard process. People will say "you're obsessed, you're not normal!" and they're right because its not a normal journey. A big dream is something extraordinary: very different from what is normal or customary.

And over time, as I'm beginning to realize more and more, the choice to take this journey is ultimately the reward. 

What's your 4AM? 

This quote is not saying everyone should get up at 4AM or do five-a-days. It's metaphoric. The idea is that if you have a big dream, then you have to fall in love with doing things that others won't to accomplish what others can't. 

Two great resources on this topic: Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Gritby Angela Duckworth.