Season Reflection #5 - Level 2 vs Level 3

So we just got a butt whooppin handed to us yesterday.

These things happen when you take a border line AA playoff team to a gym with your family's name on it, to play the best AAA team in the province. It also happens worse when your best player stays home like a baby because he'd rather claim the sniffles then suck it up after you chewed him out last practice and sent him home. Then your next leading scorer sprains his ankle on the jump ball, and they aren't even jumping.

Needless to say it was a struggle being out athleted, minus our two kids who could score at this level and not being able to be deeper then a team we were playing for the first time all year.

As my valiant little guys kept getting blocked over and over again as they caught the ball on their basket cut into the CIS sized men waiting at the rim. All I could think of was a Dave Smart video where he is discussing screen situations. He talks about the basic theory of slipping or pinning your player after the screen and the level 2 by the book that makes sense. The difference between level 2 and level 3 is your 5'7 kid recognizing he's trying to pin or slip into the middle of 6'10's and needing to make a better read.

Today I saw how limited we are not only do we not understand the next level of read and react stuff, not only can't we scan to see the 2nd layer of d before making a decision, even if we could I'm not sure how we would adjust and still score.  I guess step back and shoot longer shots we probably can't make. I hate zone. We might be the only team on the planet that you zone to get a 20 point lead and then go m2m to make it competitive for us.

Season Reflection #4 - Close

So two road losses to the top  two teams in our division by a total of 5 points. So between last season and this that is the last 5 in conference road losses all by less than 6 points. Obviously my first reaction is always what can I do?

The reality is that we win and lose games over 40 minutes. We play up and down getting everyone in and out regularly. Though we play this way to promote depth there are regularly players in the game who are best streaky and and worst routinely weak. As a result our positive streaks do not outweigh our negative moments over the course of the game.

I would still trust my 8-12 more then all of our opponents 8 -12. Unfortunately we seem to never be able to take advantage of their 8-12 with our top kids they way their top kids take advantage of ours. We continue to play team ball to score, when their best player or two we'll smell blood in the water and go for a quick 4-6 points exploiting that. Our best kid will be a layup then pass the rest of the shift. We get more greedy when we miss shots then after we make them.

The short term solutions are paying closer attention to matchups or shortening the bench. The long term are to make the bottom 6 players closer in skills to the top 6 so their is no noticeable drop off when they go in the game.

This feels like the conversation I keep running in circles with in regards to how we play zone. We get all sorts of open shots that we can't make. I don't think we need a new zone offense, we need to be able to shoot the ball better. That can't happen over the course of a week, but I'm not willing sacrifice long term player development to beat some 15 year olds that want to stand in the key learning nothing about how to defend. Oh, except that we can't shoot and that may beat us.

Season Reflection #3 - Song Time

We've instituted a pregame ritual this year. Before we leave for the floor we sing a doctored Version of Lukey's boat. Fundy's boat is not intended as a rallying cry but more as a commitment too each other. I figure if teenage guys will sing a silly song in front of each other then being comfortable communicating on the court shouldn't be a big deal?

Though what do you do if superstar won't sing along?

Fundy's boat is painted blue - Ha me boys!
Fundy's boat is painted blue, she's the prettiest boat I ever knew.
A ha me boys - a riddle I eh,

Fundy's boat's got a fine fore cuddy - ha me boys!
Fundy's boat's got a fine fore cuddy, and every inch is chinked with putty.
A ha me boys  - a riddle I eh,

Fundy's boat has high top sails - ha me boys.
Fundy's boat has high top sails, the sheets are planted with copper nails.
A ha me boys - a riddle I eh.

Fundy's boat is painted blue - Ha me boys!

Fundy's boat is painted blue, she's the prettiest boat I ever knew.

A ha me boys - a riddle I eh,

Season Reflection #2 - Leadership

Bill Bradley once wrote:

Leadership means getting people to think, believe, see and do what they might not have without you. It means possessing the vision to set the right goal and the decisveness to pursue it single-mindedly. In means being aware of the fears and anxietyies felt by those you lead even as you urge them to overcome those fears. It can appear in a speech before hundreds of people or in a dilaogue with one other person - or simply by example.

I love this quote. It helps me to refocus when I get concerned over things beyond my control. The last few weeks I've been worried about our leadership in house. I've got 2 players who kids certainly look up to athletically and skill wise who will be ones with the ball in their hands in big moments, but neither of them are kids that other players look to emulate or support. Neither is the sort of kid the others would take a bullet for. On the other hand I've got a kid that every one loves, the emodies commitment and hard work but in big moments he won't even be able to get open let alone take over the game at either end because of his phsyical deficiencies.

The solution I continue to remind my self of is to identify the problem. If I think the problem is leadership then I need to define what leadership is and then go looking to see where we fall short.

In this light I don't have a leadership problem. I know exactly who everyone is looking to and whose attitude and performance makes people around them better. I know who our leader is and so do the kids. We just wish it was someone else. They'll do anything for that kid but he isn't the one charging them on to victory. We'll just have to hope Calvin Sampson isn't right and that your best player doesn't have to be your leader?

I've had other captains that weren't my best players have great moments of leadership (though in their defense they were a lot closer to being our top performer then this young person):

- We were in the midle of what would have been a huge upset on the road vs. the one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the province at any level. At half time we had let a 14 point lead slip away to end up tied at 53. This was primarly due to the best of their 4 university bound players deciding to take over and end the half going on a 14 point run himself culminating in a huge dunk. As I came into the locker room my captain was going round the room trying to keep kids fired up and saying "Just because he can dunk doesn't mean their pg won't keep turning it over!"

- I had a Captain that was facing an overtime game vs a cross town rival we'd never beaten. At that moment 3 of our best athletes told us they had to leave because they had an commitment to another sporting event. Instead of fighting or getting mad, my captain grabbed everyone else and said "Forget them. If they don't want to stay and win thats too bad, but we're all staying to win this." They did leave, and we did win.

- We had a freshmen on the line in our gym game tied 4 seconds left. He made the first, but back rimmed the second. The other team grabbed the defensive board and that palyer took 2 dribble towards half and heaved a 50+ footer that went in. On the way off the floor our captain went over and grabbed the freshmen saying "Hey, you won that game. If I'ld boxed a little harder and made someone else get the rebound that doesn't happen."

So I guess leadership isn't always about who you would get the ball too, though it wouldn't hurt if it could be. We'll have to see where we go from here.

Basketball Season Reflection #1 - Superstar

I'm not a superstar's coach. I preach 5 guys on offense working together the open guy will make the shot, 5 guys on defense will stop 1 ball, and we talk about our 12 being better then anyone elses best 5-6.

The truth is after all that is said and done I expect our best player(s) to the be the best players every single posseision.Is that unreasonable? Probably, but if you can't handle unreasonable then having any interaction with me is probably not going to go well.

This year I'm in a position with the kid who holds the keys to our kingdom's success being a phenominal athlete and talent. The only issue is that if he were any more relaxed I would have to water him.

I am not the sort of coach who is going to draw up plays to make sure so and so gets their shots. I expect the team on the floor (with consultation from me) to recognize the options available and get the player in the best situation to score the ball. What I face is we still have kids who can't make unconstested anything, and a kid who could play at the next level willing to defer to them.

I'm sure if I talked to my coaching colleagues about this I would get advice about winning the kid over, or giving him more responsibility, or even trying to find a connection to inspire him to greatness. The reality is we have a pretty good connection, and he does mean well, its just not a big deal to him. When I say "its" I mean everything, win/loss, score/shutout, getting yelled at getting hugged, its all the same so long as he's out there running around he's ok with that. If he's not out there running around he just sits back and waits for his turn.

What do you do with a superstar who's relaxed indifference would make the Budha jealous?

Tryouts

Some lessons learned from tryouts:

1 - As the Stones once sang: "You don't always get what you want!" The team you envisioned is not always the team you get to have. As a player the position you wanted or thought you were going to have suddenly gets upgraded or down graded based on the turnout and what everyone else has done. How do you manage this? Dialogue. Kids, especially teenagers are not going to go to the adult in charge with their feelings first. They will go to their peers, teammates, and family first. Get all sorts of feedback that is not yours and then come at you with info and attitudes that weren't there intially. Be up front let kids know the score and have real conversations about the situation that you and they are both in.

2 - Doritos kids aren't ready for a marathon or a sprint. If you happen to have a tryout at a level where the it is the first time kids have moving up to a new playing field and set of expectations, bench the conditioning. You will be able to tell 20 minutes in who has wind and who doesn't. You also will not be able to tell who has any potential game if all your yougn kids can't move in stance, catch, shoot or play because they weren't physically prepared and you burned them out before evaluating skills. If you want to see who has heart, or build toughness or whatever other reason you could have for turning a tryout into a track practice, go ahead. Save it until day 2 or 3 though, you want to make sure you know who has what and what you want, before you start seeing kids drop and wondering they want you.

3 - Load the concepts. Especially in a read and react 24-8 game kids need to be able to co-ordinate their bodies, minds and the ball. Don't save introducing your offensive concepts or defensive concepts until the team is picked. You need to know who will keep up mentally before you see who keeps up physically. You can make them be in better shape much faster then you can effect the speed of their learning. Find out what your basketball IQ level is, you can run them later. Seriously, a player you cut is not going to run down the road and tell Coach x what your running. Besides if they do and that effects your chances of beating coach x I would spend more time making your kids better and less on your stuff.

4 - Why are they on your team? I constantly tell my kids that if they are on the team it is because I can see them being useful for us in meaningful situations. If that kid is not going to be then why are you keeping them. Its great that their nice, they work hard, they'd be a good teammate. What else could they be doing with all those attributes to make your school, community or another program better? Instead you let the kid come out, rot on the bench and he doesn't contribute positively to anything. I like having a hard working practice with lots of kids too, but I want it to reflect game. If they are on the team they should be playing, if they are not playing why are they on the team?

Winning Isn't Complicated . . .

Winning isn't hard! It requires hard work to win meaningfully but the formula is pretty easy.

1 - Be more skilled.
2 - Be in better physical condition.
3 - Work harder.
4 - Train Harder.
5 - Compete at everything like its the most meaningful think you do.

That's it. The only thing you can't train is genetics.

If you show up to a game more trained, more fit, more intense, more prepared and more able you win.

Think about it like this: One team has all the taller girls. The other team has all the shorter girls but they are as fast and strong/ faster and stronger with better skills, better work ethic and more preparation. How many people would believe the taller team would win???

"Many have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win." - B. Knight

Silly Defensive Question???

I get constantly teased by parent responses after the game."Its over there Coach!" or "I saw it coach!" The "it" in question is the basketball. The reason for the teasing is fans will hear me constantly barking out the seemingly obvious question "Where is the ball?"

Now a 250lbs man hopping up and down the sideline screaming about whereabouts of the only orange object in the game which has everyone's focus could be laughable. It is in fact! The issue is that I am trying to cue up an important concept in my kids defensively.

Our defense is predicated on the simple concept of: We want the ball!

What is the first step? Knowing where the ball is! What is the second step? Working as a group to get it.

My feelings on defense are pretty well known to people who watch us play at all. There is one ball, if you get it the other team can't score. Over the years we've done different things defensively: zone, m2m, traps, matchups . . . you name it I've tried it. The constant has been you pressure the basketball. If the ball is pressured we can get it.

If the player with the ball is allowed options we must defend those options. If the player with the ball has to dribble because it is the only option left to avoid pyschotic pressure then we need to defend one option. If you are guarding a player without the ball you need to shift to help stop the ball or cover for a teammate who is going to be helping stop the ball.

We go through a lot of the same questions and comments with first time players in the program: Coach my guy is a shooter! But I'll get beat on a cut! But what about the screens/ cuts to the basket? My answer is pretty standard, they can't score they don't have the ball. If we make the guy with the ball bounce it into trouble, then stop him and make him try to get it out of trouble he'll throw us the ball.

A player under tremendous pressure from one or two defenders is not thinking clearly or making great reads. They are trying to get rid of the ball without making a decision that is going to get them benched. So if we pressure them and leave their only options to be things that will risk getting them benched if it doesn't work, we should end up with the ball a lot and their best kids in a lot of trouble with their coach.

"Where is the ball?" If we stop it they don't score. If we get it they can't score and their coach is ticked off.

Know where the ball is and load up on the ball and the ball's options. No one else can hurt us until the get it. Pretty simple stuff.

Shooting fixes everything . . .

This may not acutally be true but it sure fixes a lot of things. I was on the sideline for a game this summer where we were the superior team but should have lost the game. We didn't adjust to the way the game was being officiated and sent the other team to the line 48 times and they made 39 of them.  We gave away close to forty points and had just about everyone in foul trouble, but it was a non issue and we won it running away becuase of how well shot the ball. (69% from three, 60% from two).

In fact, look at the NB womens results from Canada Games and the recent FIBA Americas qaulifier that the National Men's team played in. When the NB women and Canadian men managed shoot 50% or better from 3 and 40% + from 2 they won. WHen that didn't happen and the opposition made those numbers they lost.

On the other side of the coin the NB men at Canada Games lost a 2pt point game to BC and an 18 point game to Ont where they shot less than 25 % all game but held both teams well below their tournament averages.

In a 24 - 8 game there are just going to be more shots period. The team that has more better shooters is going to win. One good shooter is easier to defend against with a shoretended shot clock, while less time for offense means more times who ever has the ball is going to have to be the one to finish it. Everyone needs to be able to shoot it. Especially on the teams I mentioned and on all teams in NB, because as our kids progress through the levels we just don't regularly produce the size and athleticsm of athlete to be a Post or often a forward at higher levels. Most high level players that come from NB need to be guards and shooters. But that is for another post.

What makes us better shooters? Deliberate practice.

A high volume of meaningful shots practiced with focus on technique or competitive situation or both.

Technique we are concerned with:
- Start from a balanced ready position.
- We always over extend our shooting elbow when straightening, and over extend our wrist on the snap. Always the highest release possible with the most follow through possible. (Shooting it as hard as we can (properly) with our arms on every shot means our shot mechanics never change. When we want to determine range we add or subtract legs instead of messing with our mechanics. Would you rather need to master 100 different swings for golf, or have a 1 swing and a variety of clubs that made the adjustments in range.)
- Never leave a shot short.
- Proper footwork on the catch to be ready to shoot/or attack effectively.

Competitive Issues we are concerned with:
- Getting the shot ready and off quickly.
- Being able to shoot under pressures of: time, noise, speed, fatigue, a defensive contest)
- Being able to shoot it effectively and be ready to catch and shoot playing at game speed.
- Not changing the jump shot in a competitive situations.
- Ability to make the sorts of shots the player will get in a game.

Mexico Vs Canada

Just watched what is supposed to be a weak National Men's team play Mexico at a FIBA Qualifier. Canada 95- MExico 40

All I really learned was that once again good shooting can cure a variety of issues. Canada shot 60% from the three point line and were basically indefensible as whoever you left open drilled shots.

Mexico on the other hand spaced Canada's defense well early but was unable to make shots. As a result the more Canada scored and the poorer Mexico shot the tougher Canada's interior defense became. As the game went on Canada loaded up on the paint and blocked more and more shots as weakside defenders creeped closer and closer to the ball side. Mexico on the other hand had a tougher time defending as their defense stretched further and further to cover shooters.

The announcers were very complimentary about Canada's ball movement (30 assists) but its easy for offense to look good when you make shots and defense has to chase everyone. Mike Mckay has a great article on how 3 pt shooting changes the way teams have to defend.

http://www.basketball.ca/en/hm/blog/?sid=210

Finishes

How do you score inside?

You find way to put the ball in the basket inside the paint.

Now look at the average basketball game vs comparable levels of defensive & offensive skill and athleticism. How many baskets vs. defense come off a traditional layup? Not many. Now larger players can get away with simple 1/2 hooks or power lay ups because they have the strength and explosiveness to finish those ways. Most hoops though are of a more unconventional manner. If I learned one thing this summer coaching against national level competition the idea that shooters are protected is a notion that is reserved for kids games, not games officiated at a high level. PLayers going into traffic and too the rim at top levels are generally left of their own and so long as defense stays off the shooters arms, shoulders and head any other contact seems ok.

The person I heard best describe this was Dave Smart (coach of the 5 time CIS champion Carleton Ravens) who talked about 6 foot shooters vs 2 foot shooters. The examples he used where Phoenix Suns Leonardo Barbosa and Steve Nash (both NBA players and former national team players for their respective countries) Barbosa is a two foot shooter. He explodes up to the rim and all his releases are within the two foot space between his shoulders. Dunks, power lay ups and half hooks. Vs. most national and international competition he is all but unstoppable on the way to the basket. But vs the USA and in the NBA he is blocked much more often then the 7 inch smaller and much less athletic Steve Nash. This is because Steve Nash is a six foot shooter. On the interior he is almost impossible to block because he can release the ball from any space in the length of his arms vertically or horizontally so anywhere is a 6ft square block the ball can be released.

Once we get the development of athletes past the basic ability to finish (most of which should be on their own time training basic skills) we need to ask ourselves which is more effective. Training athletes and teams to get the basic shots they have trained out of our offense or do we spend time training athletes to make a wider variety of shots so less elaborate offense is needed to generate the type of shot they can make.

Types of finishes inside kids can train:

Power Layups

1/2 Hooks

1 Foot Layup Overhand (Inside and Outside Hands)

1 Foot Layup (Inside and Outside Hands)

Reverse Layups (1 Foot and 2 Foot inside and Outside Hands)

Floater

Finger Roll

Sky Hook

Wide Hook

Freeze/Pull Back

Short/Quick Release

2 Hand Dunk

1 Hand

Reverse Dunk

Tip In

Footwork that changes the angle of the inside finish:

1 2 step

Power step

Jump Stop

Pro Hop

Pivot-Pivot

Spin

Rocker Step

Slide By

Straight to Wide/Wide to Straight (Ginobli)

Western Canada

After seeing and playing several teams play from Western Canada you notice some trends as a result of players and styles:

1 -Help side or a lack their of. Most western teams do not make it to the key let alone the midline on the weak side. This a result of cutting based offenses, size of cutters and apparent belief amongst some officials that blocking cuts is a foul. As a result of not being able to impede the progress of huge cutters teams need to deny and chase them on the weak side so that when they cut they can continue to deny. This often changes on the ball defense to containment based because any break down in on the ball defense results in a finish chance inside.

2 - Motion. Most western teams tend to run a motion style offense with multiple cutters resulting in lock downs or post ups at the rim. While size and skill make this an effective tactic, the balance, team play and movement are all surprisingly effective in comparison to Central Canadian Teams. Ontario and Quebec tend to use more iso and pick and roll reads to create 1 on 1's while western teams rely on off the ball cuts and reads to win the same battles.

3 - Skilled Size. The real difference between western teams and eastern team is the size of their skill. BC men start 4 players 6'6 pr larger 1 of whom plays like a traditional post. Alberta women have 9 players 5'11 or larger playing a variety of positions. We are lucky if our large guys and girls have post game. These are all skilled athletes with a future at the CIS level. How many 6'0 posts do we have in the men's game at our NB high school level. How many girls coaches in NB would let their 6'0 girl develop wing skills in games? The playing field is not level and finding a balance between training our teams to compete and our athletes to develop to compete at the next level is crucial.

Train to Play

How do you convince kids to train?

The issue that i struggle with is that the only way you get better is practice. Kids need to play and experience competition but at some point they have to put in the time to improve their game.

You don't become a world class chef just having dinner parties, you cook for yourself and on your own experimenting. How many penalty kicks do soccer players practice vs how many they get in a game? The latest research suggests that success is directly correlated to deliberate practice. Top performers spend many more hours of practice then their average counterparts.

The issue becomes for kids especially in smaller ponds (athletic communities) that the same 1%-10% of the population can have relative success in any sport by showing up. Most coaches, players, and supporters aren't interested in the long term development of athlete as much as they are the short term experience of the athlete or team in the context of their sport. As a result kids spend time moving from sport to sport playing and don't see the incentive to train.

Why would an athlete spend hours on their own in the summer moving form average shooter to good shooter to try to earn more playing time on the basketball court, when they can play in a soccer league and be an average player. In larger centres this is less of an issue because the depth of athletes is such that those who do not spend as much time training cannot fill out roster spots. They very best athletes continue to be the best, while the the second tier and bench players are sport trained athletes as opposed to average athletes.

Simply put the only way you get better is to practice, but how do we convince kids to practice when they can just play something else instead.

Canada Games Test Tournament

I spent last weekend watching the first tournament that our Canada Games boys and girls teams played. I just had a few observations on how that went:

1 - Speed Kills! In just about any aspect of the game, if you can get there first your team has a significant edge. First to rebounds, first to loose balls, first down the floor (both ways), ability to keep your player in front, ability to recover, ability to blow by. If you have superior speed and can still execute skills at speed you are well on your way. The NB girls that won the tournament had greater team speed (and individual speed in a lot of cases) they the opposition. By playing to that strength the lions share of the scramble points, hustle points, and uncontested points went to NB which was enough to win the games handily. The NB boys only struggled in the game vs. Nova Scotia when NS went a group made up of superior athletes and started beating NB players to spots with and without the ball in 1 on 1 matchups.

2 - Skilled Depth. It sounds simple but the team with the greater wealth of talent wins. If you can have 12 very skilled players up against 5/6 great players and some role players; over the course of a 40 minute game the skilled kids are going to come out on top. If they work and show skills they can balance out the ability of the stronger individuals on the other side, and they should win most intagbible categories as their always making a skilled play, and when the opposition goes to their bench they won't be.

3 - Bigs are overrated. While clearly the larger the frame you can have and be atheltic and skilled , the better it is for basketball. Pure post players however, can be overcome quite easily in the FIBA game. Better shooting, ball pressure, and speed of play doesn't allow them to be as effective as they once might have been. Players that dominated this weekend were long, athletic skilled wings or strong quards.

4 - Shooting. This weekends game was played on a large new floor in a huge open empty space in an arena. It was very clear who the shooters were with good mechanics and which shooters were streaky or relied on consistent environment. Both winning teams had more players that could hit open shots from 18-21 feet in this environment. Shooting is still the great eqaulizer.

5- Tactics. While at this level you might think tactics play a larger role, its not entirely true. Tactics are more a change of pace, or a way to test the opponents offensive or defensive principles. Sure a trap can still cause havoc or get you some quick hoops, a shift to zone might change the momentum, and a set piece gets who you want the ball. At this level most of the game is being played in breakdown moments and 2nd/3rd level reads. At speed and with such high caliber teams, the hardest working more skilled team often wins regardless over 40 minutes. Now in an evenly matched game at key moments the correct tactical call becomes huge because a quick lead or big shot can be the difference. The reality is training and natural gifts combined with intensity can still win the the game at this level. Everyone is better, but its not the NBA where everyone is a freak who can do everything, so tactics still don't seem as important as talent.

Posting Up

The first point I would like to make about posting up is the distinction between posting up and post players. Post players, or what I refer to as "bigs", are a rare and special commodity in our province. I say this because a true "big" is a phsyical specimen with a unique skill set designed for being superior in size to most of their opponents. They play close to the basket, and have different roles then most players.

The issue is that we don't have a lot of "bigs" in our province. The best NB boys players this year were a 6'4 point guard from Riverview and a 6'7 forward from Nepisiquit. THey'll both play at Acadia next year and neither will play the post. The point I'm trying to make is we will often see kids in our programs who are taller than the rest, and suddenly we teach them to be a post. Then they get to high school and aren't bigger anymore, or they have no options to do anything beyond their club/school because they wouldn't be a post at another level. My feeling is that we need to make our kids skilled face up players and if we are lucky enough to ever get a kid who is 6'6 - 7'0 who will be a legitimate "big" kid then we can worry about their interior game at that point.

That being said, one of the skills everyone needs to have is the ability to post up. Posting up is the skill of putting an opponent on your back to seal them away from the ball. This allows the offensive player to cleanly catch the ball, while maintaining contact they can exploit when they've made the catch. This skills allows people to catch by the rim uncontested, get an inbounds pass, or simply create space to catch to play 1 on 1. THe key is to post up a player not an area.

H0w do you teach kids to post up?

1 - The first step is to teach them to be comfortable and mobile with contact. Have them low in a stance, doing some pushing and pulling for space.

2 - PLayers need to learn that lower and wider allows them to hold space vs. contact and maintain position. Have one player position themselves as low and wide as possible to be strong and balanced. Have a partner (with increasing force) try to move them off a spot.

3 - Place a ball on the floor. Have both partners (using only their legs) fight to be closer to the ball then the other player without touching the ball. See how long one player can keep the other away from the ball using their back, butt and legs.

4- Once that is done have kids work in groups of three. Start with guided defense and work up to live play. One partner can have the ball and be trying to throw a straight line push pass to his partner. The third defender is trying to deny the ball into the offense. The reciever must post and position their body between the ball and the defender before they can recieve the pass.

What sort of footwork do kids need?

The basic footwork and body position is a step over or "swim move". The offensive player is low and tight to the defense. They then swing their inside arm out and around the defender knocking away arms and pinning the defenders torso. They step quickly over the closest foot of the defender, pinning the knee with their backside. They repeat this process until they have created an unobstructed line between themselves and the ball, with their defender on their back/hip.

Why post up?

The post up has many purposes.

The big one is that is takes the skills, footwork, and speed/agility often needed to beat an opponent and turns it into a game of who is stronger. So if a player were having trouble recieving a pass vs. and opponent of superior speed, agility or defensive aptitude they could use the post up as an equalizer.

The second advantage of the post up is it has contact already created. On any good attack of the defense, the offensive player has initiated contact and sealed a player off. The post up allows most of the work in initiating to be accomplished prior to the catch and it is only a matter of maintaining contact while keeping a hard angle in the direction you wish to move.

Finally it is a chance to be physical with an opponent. If you've got a player that is particulary fast or talented that you want to make work hard one defense, then a post up nullifies their speed and skill and requires them to exert a great deal of energy dealing with the contact. The other teams star cannot rest on defense if they are constantly being posted up, regardless of whether or not we intend to attack them with the ball.

1 on 0

The game is easy when you get a one on zero. At least it should be! If you can get 1 on nobody and can't score the rest doesn't matter because you won't win anyway. So everything I'm about to talk about needs to be prefaced by the notion that you have to be able to make shots.

How do you get a 1 on 0?

Run

When we get the ball who is running out? If the answer is not everyone then you've got a problem. If you can get even 1 player down the floor ahead of an opponent you've got a 1 on 0. In an ideal universe someone would have sprinted to the rim as soon as we got the ball and been there in the first 3 seconds of our possesion with everyone else down and ready to shoot somewhere between 5-7 seconds. This means if you've got anyone on the other team that gets caught up, gambles, doesn't hustle back or just isn't as fast as their matchup then you are getting a 1 on 0 look for someone.

Take On

If you can't get a 1 on 0 by running you should at least be able to get a 1 on 1. This means if someone can take on their defender and beat them cleanly off the dribble then we get a 1 on 0 for them or someone else. This isn't the same as backing someone in or playing 1 on 1 all the way to the rim. A take needs to be at speed and leave the defender behind. This way the ball handler gets a 1 on 0 or their teammates do when defense shifts to help.

Cuts

A cut is a chance to beat someone. Its not something we do for the sake of doing it. Everytime you cut you force the defense to react to you, if the defense doesn't have to deal with you then your cut wasn't very good. Once a defender challenges you then its a battle to see who wins. If you win you should get a 1 on 0 catch or put them in a position to need to close out so you can use your "TAKE ON" to do the same.

Screens

Screening is a team skills that reuires a good read no only by one player but by 3: the screener, the player getting screened for, and the ball handler/passer. In this situation you are using and reading to screen to get a 1 on 0 catch or force a close out/ mismatch to occur that allows a player to win a "Take On" or "Cut"


What to do once you get a 1 on 0?

This answer is easy use it. Look to score. Either your open and need to make a shot or you need to find your now open teammate as help rotates.

I'm a basketball/volleyball/soccer/rugby/cricket/handball player . . .

We have an on going debate in my school, my home, and amongst all my coaching friends and colleagues. The topic is the multisport athlete. The points of contention always seem to be what is the goal of sports at certain levels, how and when should you specialize and whether the nature/history of community dictate how the sport is managed. There are lots of issues but you can see why people have varying opinions.

Let me start by saying I was a dual sport athlete. Up until I was 17 I competed at reasonably high levels in basketball and swimming. Once in high school I limited my swimming to outside of the my high school basketball season and trained year round for basketball (this limited my opportunities but I swam because I was good at it, not because I wanted to be an Olympic athlete). Also growing up I tried a little baseball, soccer, and volleyball in competitive leauges. While doing things like sking, jogging, and a variety of sports recreationally.

I'm not interested in debating the finer points of if, when, and how you should sport sepcialize. Everyone has to make their own decisions. I am going to say if you want to compete in leagues with competitive teams that are producing high level athletes, its only fair to your kids to do the same things. That being said to create atheletes that perform at a high level we should follow what the science tells us, not what worked for some group, some time in the past.

So what do we know scientifically speaking:

Prior to Age 10 kids should play a variety of sports. The point of which is develop basic phsyical attributes and motor skills. This should be done through games and activity based learning. They should play a variety of sports every week doing each a couple of times with no one sport going for more than 6-12 weeks consecutively.

Between the Ages of 10-14 young athletes should play complitmentary sports (activities with similar movements and requisite general motor skills). They should begin training with sport specifc activities and select a prefered sport. This sport should have a high intensity training period lasting 20-30 and they should train 3-4 times per week for this sport, in addition to other sports activities. 75% of the their time should be spent training skills and physical attributes with 25% in actual preparation for competitive games/competitions.

Between the ages 14-18 (the high end range of kids opportunities in our area) kids should be sport specialised. They should be training 6-9 times per week during high intensity training periods in that sport. These periods should occur twice a year and total 42 weeks. Training should be 50% skills and phsyical attirbutes and 50% compettion specifc skills. Exercises and training should be geared towards their sport specialization.

That is science of it. I know these numbers may or may not work in individual settings. I also know that if your goal is not high performing athletes these targets are not needed. I would like to say again: if the goal of your program is to give kids a place and chance to play, you can do that without putting kids up against athletes who are training specifically to be high performance. Telling kids its ok to do less and just play more, while then making them compete with high performing sport specialized athletes is setting the kid, your coach and your program up for failure.

We do in fact have an offense . . .

The title is in response to a lot of the people that see us play and don't believe we're in fact teaching anyone anything on offense. Trust me we do. My favorite moment was year with our boys playing the best team in the province (at any level). After the game a local official said: "Your kids have to do something other then one guy dribbles and passes to the other guy to shoot it. There are guys on the floor watching those two guys play."

It was true we didn't execute very well and the only two kids who can compete against a team at that level ended up being the ones who could get open and get most of the shots. The point being I still felt we were running offense, our other kids just weren't skilled enough to run our stuff against them. We got open shots (or at least as open as we were getting when compeltely out matched). Isn't that what offense does.

As far as I'm concerned (and I've been wrong before, more frequently when my wife is present) offense is simple. You are trying to get someone a shot they can make. What makes offense complicated is lack of skills. If you can't shoot or people have to shoot from a certain area or range then suddenly you have to do all sorts of crazy things to get people the ball in those places. My feeling is that if we can shoot it, then all we have to do is beat someone one and one.

Once someone is beaten 1 on 1 with a cut, post up, mismatch off a screen, dribble drive, etc . . . then someone is getting an open shot. If no one helps then we get a layup. If someone helps late we get free throws and/a layup. If help is early then somone is open and by moving the ball someone should get an open shot.

Our offense basically is a lot of rules/concepts about spacing and movement to make it difficult for teams to help. We look to score by relying on individual skills. If we win then it is because we had better talent or we worked our but off defensively. If we lose its because we weren't better than their defense and our d wasn't good enough to get us the win by itself.

I know that there are many who feel the job of the coach is to put their kids in the best situation to win. Buld your system around the talent you have, blah. blah, blah . . . I'm coaching high school aged kids still learning to play the game. Most of them will play after school only in an informal or recreational way. Do I want their basketball experience for the rest of their life to be: go set a post screen and seal??? I want kids who can play. A kid who can get out and run with anyone and be able to shoot, attack, pass from all positions.

We have an offense. It is teaching kids to put themselves in situations where they and their teammates can use the skills they train to use. Why does it have to be more complicated then that. You can't do much better then an open shot can you???

Defensive Footwork Drills

As promised a while ago drills to follow up on the defensive footwork technique we are talking about:

(The names of the drills are inconsequential, you can call them anything you want that your kids can easily remember.)

Mirror Slides

Kids get into pairs. They face each other seperated by a line. (We use the foul line but any line will do.) One partner is the leader, the other is the mirror. The leader slides in a direction while the mirror does their best to match them move for move as simulataneously as possible. We force them to play between two set points, so they have to work on change of direction.

Mirror Images

Players get into groups. One player is on offense with the ball, one player is defending the ball. The remaining players are staggered behind original defender. They are all in defensive stance too. As the ball moves side to side or forward, the on the ball defender practices footwork. They "mirror images" all try to match the on the ball defender move for move.

Footwork Chase

Players get into 2 lines, each one beginning at the elbow and going to the near baseline. The first two players in each line face each other. In a defensive stance they move together working on footwork as they move to the other foul line before jogging back. The coach can vary the movments: all slides, slide to sprint (or any variation), make it a race, create a leader and a follower.

Triangle Slides

Players work with a partner. One with the ball pivoting, one in a defensive stance on the ball. As the offensive player pivots to protect or attack, the defensive player must make a quick 2 footed movement to take away the new angle. All the offense can do is pivot, the defense simply has to keep taking away the new lane created by the pivot.

Full Court 1 on 1

Players work with a partner. One on offense the other on defense. Have the player with the ball advance up the court while being pressure by the defense. The particular route or movement may be determined by your defensive philosophy but the key is to work on the defenses footwork. This drill can have several layers: offense just making the defense work, half speed, live one on one, etc.

These are just a few basic drills for footwork. Any thing you can think of is probably just as useful. Simply make sure that the focus is on proper defensive positioning and footwork not neccessarily the end result.

Teaching - Defensive Footwork - The Basics

I've been looking at how we defend on the ball and ways to train kids on the way up through their developmental teams:



1- It all starts with stance. No matter what age group I work with the largest issue is stance. In a defensive stance they must be low, strong, and explosive. The big mistake I often see is kids have their legs bent and lean forward with their arms out. This is not athletic. They need to be in a position of strength.



Look fors:

- Feet minimum shoulder width apart (inside of foot lined with outsdie of shoulder)

- Knee pointed forward, inside the width of their feet

- Heels not in contact with the floor.

- Butt down, back straight, chin out

- Hands should be above the height of the ball



Common errors:

- Flat footed - Not ready to move in any direction

- Head down or back bent forward, putting all the weight in one direction.

- Arms and hands down or in.

- Not in an athletic, strong. or balanced position to sruvive contact ro make an explosive move.



2- On the ball. This begins with a close out. In a close out the player must sprint at the ball carrier and once 2 sprint steps away, begin chop or "sttuter"stepping into the ball carrier in a defensive stance. They must position themselves in a manner which takes away whatever particular assest they are defending, they also need to take away as many directions of movement as possible so they can load up weight in their legs to anticpate the first move instead of reacting to it.



Look fors:

- Players are moving from low to high to get into position.

- 2 sprint steps away stance changes and choppy steps start.

- Hands above the ball.

- Chest & Feet square to the ball carrier between them and the rim.

- Chin up invading space.

- PLayers have taken away options from the attacker, so they can anticipate the next move.

- Feet must remain active.



Common errors:

- Players have straightened up or are too high on the way in and are dropping down into stance.

- Hands are in, on or below the height of the ball.

- Feet or chest are angled giving them an angle to attack.

- Defender is an arms length (or more) away allowing player to be a shooter, passer, and dribbler.

- No direction has been taken away so they weight is evenly distributed.

- Feet flat or legs straight.



3- Moving your feet. This is about hard work and good technique. If you are faster than your opponents you can basically do whatever you have to do to get there, but too many kids who are fast when they are young learn bad habits and as they get older cannot defend properly. At a low level we must teach kids to slide (which as a term is misleading) and then as they progress up through develop the ability to adjust from sliding to sprinting then back to sliding as a means of dealing with more advanced offensive footwork and athleticism.



The term "slide" does not really convey what the defender must do with their feet. The feet must make explsoive, lateral hops/chops to keep the defender moving, while allowing them to change direction. The weight must be on the push leg, with the knee angled well inside the plant foot. Then it is a quick lateral movement with both feet into the desired space. The arms should be pumping actively in the desired direction. The goal is to create 2 foot movement for every one of the offenses, beat them to desired space and all while staying in as low and explosive a stance as possible.



Look fors:

- Arms up and angled.

- Constant low stance, with heels off the floor.

- Movement resembling a push, or jump

- Quick, simultaneous movements with both feet onto new territory.

- New position should not overlap old position.

- Arms pumping laterally.



Common Errors:

- Arms are not up or moving. / Arms are reaching into or on the defender.

- Player is bobbing up and down, not staying in constanct stance.

- Movements resemble step and pull, or shuffling.

- Movements are 1 foot at a time.

- New position overlaps old position.

- Defender steps instead of "sliding".



Slide to sprint:



At higher levels vs athletic and/ skilled kids, if you haven't shut down the dribbler in one or two steps by the offense you will not regain position moving laterally while they move forward. At this point the defender needs to learn techniques involving arms and hip turning the sprint to get into a position where they can shut down the offensive player.



Arms - At low levels it is easiest to teach players not to reach in or put arms on the offensive players. At higher levels to negate skill, athleticism and the reality that they will be attacked with the free arm, kids need to learn some techniques. The first is an arm bar. If a player is creating space with their shoulder, use their forearm to get an angle or trying to get into contact with your chest or side players must arm bar. Your inside forearm must be placed above the height of the ball on the bicep or shoulder of the attacking player. The arm must intially be at a 45 degree angle or less and then extended to the 90 degree. As the arm extends you must move backwards in a two foot hop, keeping legs bent and muscles loaded for movement. After you re-establish position immediately remove your arm.

Hips - Generally your hips and chest should be square to the opponent between them and the rim. When unable to slide and keep in front the defender must "hip turn" in one movement the hips (and legs down to the feet) switch from square to hip tp hip. Since the defender does not need to expect space or time to adjust it is important to keep contact hip to hip. (If you lose contact the defender can change direction and pull back leaving you out of position.) Run hip to hip until the offensive player must slow down (out of room) or until you can get an angle to "hip turn' back in front in defensive stance and "slide" again.

Look fors:
- Arm comes up high @ 45 degrees when offensive player intiates contact.
- Arm extends as feet hop back to create space.
- Hips, feet, and legs all switch position in one movement.
- Contact is maintained until position is re-established.

Common errors:
- Arms end up on the body or lower arms of offense.
- Player extends arms without moving feet creating space instead of holding it.
- Arms remain on player when not recovering.
- Players are stepping out of slides into a run, in stages.
- Contact is not maintained, offense has room to escape.


In the next entry I'll include drills to support these concepts.

Players not plays.

I read a quote once that went something to the effect - "If your X's are twice as big as the other guys O's, then your X's look pretty good when they run your plays."


What I continue to take away from this quote is no matter what you run (or whether you run anything at all) your success is determined by the quality of your players against your opponents. For a long time I thought my job as a coach was to put in a system that if run properly would give us an advantage over our opponent. I've had high and low amounts of success with this concept. The two determining factors often tended to be how good the players in the system were and the level of our competition. You very quickly learn everyone has a system and if their ahtletes are bigger, faster, and more skilled their system wins.



Now I just try to make my players more skilled and work harder than our opponent. The reality then ,and now, is that we beat the other team when we play better, smarter, harder. Teams with more talent, size, skill or effort beat us everytime if they can at least match us in the other categories.


Now I spend less time on plays and more on skill. I want 5 players on the floor that can shoot it, and beat their player 1 on 1. I want 5 players who can handle the ball and make decisions. When you have 5 players that can do these things on the floor the game becomes so much simpler to coach and play. The guy with the ball makes a read to attack, everyone else reads and reacts, open guy scores the ball.


The same is true on defense. I don't need 6 different things we do on defense. I need 5 players that can use strength, footwork, and hustle to stop the ball. When we rotate, hustle, angle and battle harder then the other guy we win. When we don't, we lose.



Why do it:


1) You are actually coaching kids to play. Not making cogs in a system.

2) You end up with skilled kids that can play anywhere, any way for a lifetime.

3) Your job gets easier. Your not making adjustments for every detail and the emphasis becomes players learning, not you teaching.


4) Its player owned and operated. At game time its their reads, commitment (prior to and during), and ability that controls the outcome.



Why not to do it:


1) If you as a coach can't live with mistakes. This won't always be pretty, especially while the skills, minds and feet co-ordinate. If you need to mirco-manage and can't live with trial and error. This may not be for you.


2) If you can't live with short term butt kicking. In the developmental years and early on in their careers they are going to get beat. They will get beat because other teams use systems that maxmize the strength of their team without improving them for the future. In mini their big kid will score 20 pts a game on you because he/she was told to go stand by the rim and shoot. Your big kid is turning the ball over and feeling confused because they have to handle, pass and play on the wing. Short term success for them. In the long run your kids will be the better player in the short term they may lose.


3) If it is about your stuff. If you aren't ready to let kids go off plan, make reads, find their own ways to be successful, this isn't for you. If you have to know what your kids are going to do every second, not for you.

4) If you have clearly defined image of what you want every kid become. If in your mind you look at kids and have them pegged, pigeon holed, labeld or categorized this may not work for you. Tall cannot always = post and little cannot = shooter. You need to be willing to let kids work stuff out on their own for their own purposes not yours.

Getting a little handsy . . .

So I've been reading. What I've been looking at is the FIBA rules and the "Tower Philosophy" of advantage & disadvantage. I'ld like to say that this reading is beccause I have a genuine love of the game, but my movtives are a little more mercenary. I'm always looking to gain the extra understanding, language, or technique that I can pass on to help my kids be successful. My current adventure is out of a desire to reconcile what I'm seeing, experiecing and needing to coach in my summer work with BNB and what I'm seeing, experiencing and needing in my high school coaching.

My issue is with what to tell my kids. As a coach there is nothing more frustrating then telling a kid one thing and having him/her come back in the middle of a game upset because an official has contradicted something he/she has been told. The kid doesn't want either adult upset with them, what is a kid to do. I find this more often happens with hand, arm, body placement at both ends then it does with issues of violations or offensive skill execution.

What we need is an example. Case in point. Offensively and defensively we tell our girls (age 15-16) in the summer that there is going to be contact so they have to intiate it. "You can either, be the player getting hit or the one doing the hitting." Then they will go out and swim over on cuts, knock down arms in passing lanes, get forearm contact on screens, meet cutters with a forearm and hip, get hands in and out on the ball handler to keep distance and stop them from using their arms. We seem to have success and have been complimented on our aggression and physicality. Now when we come back to high school boys (age 14-19) we try to send the same message about being the aggressor we end up in foul trouble. I ask them to be proactive: jam and force the issue attack at both ends and we are told to back off. We are told we cannot reach, can not invade space, can not wrap. I hear a logical explanation and ask my kids to adjust because that is all we can do.

The issue comes down to advantage & disadvantage. Not all contact is basketball is foul, if it were then we would be out all night getting a half in. So the official uses their baseline rules about position and spirit of the game, while not allowing rough play, to determine whether illegal contact clearly and immediately gained an unfair advantage for one player or the other. What I struggle with is finding the middle ground to work with my kids. I struggle with how the same action can be good tough play in a 15 year old girls game, but excessive between to 17 year old boys.

Do not misunderstand. I have almost never recieved an explanation from an official that was not satisfactory. I may not have agreed with it at the time, but their rational is always within the scope of the rules. My frustration is managing the scope.

I had a young coach ask me the other day: I see a lot of reaching going on in games, and I tell my girls to keep their hands out . . . what is the rule.

I did my best to explain it as I understood they should not be using their hands to impede or make illegal contact with the offensive player. I also tried to explain that depending on the effect, or result, of the contact is going to determine a foul or not. I finally conveyed that each official is going to see it differently and kids will need to adjust. In closing I explained that we teach our kids to play with hands off at first, then we teach counters to offensive reads that require more and more phsyicality.

The fact is there is no right answer. There is what the rules say, but the rules are situational. There is what the official says, but every official feels a little differently. There is what I say, but different coaches teach things different ways. The simple truth is you have to teach kids how to do it all: hands on, hands off, in and out, arm bars and counters for the all those things. If you do not they will end up in a situation they are not prepared for skill wise or mentally.

The Defense

Contrary to some of the scores we give up I feel like we have a pretty solid defensive philosophy.

I have never been much of a believer that statistical differences are an indicator of good defense. Just because I can hold someone's score down doesn't mean I play good defense. It could, but I could also mean that: I'm holding the ball on offense for long periods, keeping the ball away from the other team, and using a couple of kids who can defend on their top players while everyone else is just letting the other team shoot. To me that's not good defense.

Coaches talk about turnover ratio, but again what we do on offense has as much do do with that number as our defense.

My judge of the success of our defense is the reaction of the opposition to it: are they having to call timeouts to dicuss things, are they needing to be reminded to calm down, are the looking to the officials for help, do they get furstrated and make notably frustrated decisions. My favorite defensive moment as a coach came in a game where late we got called for a blocking foul trying to trap the ball. The opposition threw the ball at our kid and said "Don't you ever f%^&ing quit!".

Why do we defend the way we do (what we believe about defense):
- It is harder to play and make decisions under pressure.
- It is harder to play and make decisions when playing at speed.
- More defenders and ways to stop the ball is better than less defenders.
- Less options and choices for the offense is better than more.
- Having the defense know what the offense is going to have to do is easier for us to attack, then reacting to the offense.
- We want the offense to have to execute skills at speed for 94 feet every possesion.
- A physical game, played at high pace, under constant pressure will favour a team that has better coached, skilled athletes over a group with a couple of solid individuals trying to execute a system.

How do we defend the way we do (what we are trying to do):
- The player with the ball must be forced to dribble it. They are not allowed to be passers or shooters.
- All dribblers must be forced to the sideline and baseline.
- Everyone defensively must be in a stance all the time.
- Job of players off the ball is to attack the dribbler and cover for attacking teammates.
- The ball cannot be unguarded.
- Everyone moves with the ball in the air. Picking up closest men once the ball is guarded.
- Any ball inside the 3 point line or at a checkpoint is doubled. Any ball in the key is collapsed by everyone.

No I in team . . .

Welcome to generation unplugged. I am constantly dealing with kids who don't believe things are a big deal. They've grown up with options, untilties, settings, multitasking, and an ungodly amount of gadgets and gizmos. As they grow up they have faced the simple truth, if something is hard or I don't like it I'll shut it off and try something else.

The lesson they've learned is if I'm not good at it, if its hard, if it makes me feel bad or even bored: go do something else. Its great. We have a generation of creative, multitasking individuals that are natives in the technological world where we are only immigrants. They communicate percieve and understand concepts that are a foreign to me as swedish.

The issue is I'm in charge. I'm running a team where you sacrifice your feelings, stats, and desires for the good of the team. I ask a group a teenage kids to put team first in a world that is designed to appeal to their feelings first. Its a polarity shift that I find harder and harder to get across to kids. Your needs come second the groups needs come first.

Together Everyone Achieves More: right!!! Their idea of together is downloading music from the friends my space, my idea of togetherness is putting up a tent in the freezing rain with your friends because that was what you did. Draw a charge for your teammate, cover for your teammate, get on the floor for the team. THey want options, I want blood.

The solution: teach the skill they need. Learning to overcome, learning to suffer for the good of the group, learning to compete and overcome for some else not yourself. Growing up taught us these things, in our games, with our friends with the choices we had. If their life hasn't taught them, I have to teach them. I have to sell team. I have teach them the internal conversations and perseverance that life taught us.

We have to create the identity and skills for them to learn, adpot and buy in to.