Need to rant be warned. (Seriously a lot of ranting!)
Lets make a short list. The rule with my team is that if we are talking about more then 3 things we aren't talking about anything.
Let's short list the 3 things that coaches in NB (myself included) need to do a better job of coaching explicitly and getting our kids good at perfoming. This may not even be overly constructive on how or what we are currently doing wrong I may get into that down the road. All I really want to do is the first step, point out what I see and then what I would rather see.
1) Close Outs:
As a province we don't close out to lock down and compete. 99% of the kids that I see close out to show they are defending but really hope you take a somewhat contested shot or hope that their spacing and stance stop you from wanting to drive (at in hard straight lines). Luckily for them kids in NB don't shoot well and have been engrained that contact is foul so avoid it at all costs. Kids need to close out to compete. They need to arrive with the ball, in stance trying to dictate to the offense. Now I don't want to argue contain to pressure vs pressure to contain, I want to talk basketball. Here is the only place that me and most women can agree. We want the person responsible to show up on time, ready and willing to do whatever it takes to make this work.
Here is how to recognize an NB "I hope" close out. The "I hope" close out is square chest to chest at the same height as the offense, though they had to go from high to low to get there. The defender is at least an arm length off with arms down (or up at 45 degree angles as if the offense is going to do anything at a 45 degree angle outside their body and off their shoulders). They are flat footed with knees bent doing their best to look like they are in a stance and a good defender. Now, the hope is that the offense will see the defense there and not shoot it (or a path around the edges of the defender so they have a chane to slide and give ground to keep them from going straight to the rim).
What I would love to see regularly, is a close out that says "Here we go b!&@#, boy did you pick the wrong neighbourhood." Arrive coming from low to high into the reciever at the moment of the catch throwing hands and chin up and at the player to force them to worry about cleanly catching on balance, not playing basketbal or running offense. Be loaded with legs athletic and explosive. Down low with your face on the ball or the waist arms wide ready to dig or deflect. Little foot movements to stay wide but locked in on their tower to be able to react to movement. Square to force east west action but weight loaded to hip turn or bounce if they attack your body. On their shooting hand to prevent a quick release then in and off to compete on the dribble drive. Loud and active demanding they do what you want. Take away the shot, take away the blow buy, take away all but one possible action then work like crazy to take that away too. You know compete and play basketball.
2) Pass and Catch
Forget the gamer kids, the lazy kids, the fat kids, the kids dropped out of sport, the kids who've got too many other interests or opportunities, forget the kids who's situations are wacka doodle. Look at the kids you've got. The ones who are showing up and want to play. They've been so structured in their activity as kids and athletes that they'd have been better off, if instead of playing small ball they'd had an egg toss for 15 minutes a day at recess. They can't pass and catch. Sure they can make the ball come off their hand the way we want and it ends up close enough for the offensive player to end up with the ball, but I'm starting to think quality passing and catching is an art form. If I didn't believe the research says any skill was teachable I'ld be inclined to believe that good passing and catching was genetic and we've some how bred it out of kids.
Here's what I see. Passes that are to a general area or space. Its the equivalent of teaching a kid archery and saying just hit the target somewhere. I mean for me (who's never shot a bow) thats going to be a big deal for a couple of lessons but eventually just hitting the target is a little sad. Bio-mechanics? There is footwork and body movement involved in passing?!? Crazy talk! Kids see passing as throwing to a person. They are not the same thing. I also see recievers catching unathletically and then once they have the ball trying to obtain an athletic position. I see almost zero kids who can move at game speed, in stance, with their hands shot ready and then strongly catch a ball with good footwork. Most seem to be able to get you 1 out of 4. I can catch with good footwork but only if I'm standing pretty straight up and I'm going to have to play with the ball to shoot it. Or I can move around at game speed but can't get myself balanced to catch and use footwork so I'll use a momentum dribble or two before I start playing again.
What I would love to see. Kids who treat passing with as much importance as bouncing the silly thing into the ground. Passers and recievers who act as if the movements, decisions and actions they make are important to their relationships and team success. Use the footwork, pass types and body movements that your coaches expect and accept situationally to hit at speed, in a timely manner, a reciever who's moving low and explosively ready to catch and shoot or catch and stop, or catch to explode in a change of direction. Put every pass into someone's shot pocket so they have a chance to shoot it or at least make a basketball play from the proper position to start. Make sure the reciever is choosing to dribble not that they have to because of the pass or their own footwork/balance.
3) Shot Making:
I wanted to say shooting but thats not true. I haven't been at many basketball games or practices where getting kids or coaches to get shots at the basket was a real problem. The issue is I don't see a lot of quality shots that go in. I see tons of kids taking bad shots or shots from tactically determined positions to increase their chances of making enough to win. I do not see a lot of quality getting the ball in a stance and in a high shot pocket, to a vertical explosion of energy with a consistent extension of shoulders, elbows and wrists into a snap that has teardrops raining through the macrame.
This is tough. I know because shooting is probably the easiest thing to under and overcoach in athletes. Not enough coaching and habits form that become deterimental long term, too much and it becomes mechanical and unnatural so that they never develop confidence and comfort shooting the ball. This is about quality reps. I do about as good a job as most coaches I've seen at getting kids reps in practice time to shoot, and giving them the freedom and confidence to make and take shots. For me like most people though its quality. Volume of poor isn't much better than nothing.
What we need to see is more attention to detail as kids develop. Make every kid a jump shooter not a shot taker. Teach kids footwork and balance. Don't accept poor mechanics early because it works for them since their build won't let proper mechanics work as well. Finally, don't just encourage kids to shoot on their own. Make them shoot when their with you, talk to them about shooting when their not, make them believe that they can and should be great shooters. I would love to see more mini games lost because kids missed jumpshots that looked good, then won because they took a bunch of bad layups but forced enough in. We need all (more?) kids to be able to catch and knockdown. It will make offense better (and easier) it will also force our closeouts to be better and the reciever to be more focused on making a good catch and desirous of a good passer.
