Coaching realizations and issues coming out of nationals:
Personal Reflections:
Its not how you play, its how hard you play and how well you execute! - Going into nationals I had taken a fair amount of direct and indirect criticism, skepticism, and doubt over the decisions our staff had made in terms of how we play.
People seemed believe the following:
* You can't play 12 deep at nationals. At some point you have to shorten the bench to compete and let your best kids execute.
*NB can't play at pace with other provinces. We have less athletic kids so running, and pushing pace favors our opponents and not us.
*Defensively you have to win 1 on 1 match ups if you have to help and rotate then you'll give up easy shots and worse mismatch problems.
I was confident at the time I heard all of these, that we could in fact succeed playing the way we wanted and prove doubters wrong. Of course the proof was in the pudding so we had to wait and see if I was cracked. After nationals I think we can definitively say that you can play everyone, you can play in 90 possession games, and play rotational m2m and compete with a team from NB at a national level. 3-3 record, 6th place finish, 2 better quarters from finishing between 5th and 3rd, and the 2nd closest result of any team in the country vs the gold Medalists in a game in their home city. Statistically should speak for itself, but from our perspective - if you talk to our kids, parents and the basketball community we represented, we competed as well as we could have given our situation, talent and matchups.
The darkside of loyalty. - I've always been a big believer in that which comes before determining that which comes after. I tend to trust kids, and reward, those who show the most buy in to what we do. Kids that train more, practice harder, play our way and have done the little things we need to win over a period of time, are the ones I trust to play in the most important situations and moments. After reviewing some statistical breakdowns, re-watching game films when I'm not emotionally involved in the action and watching the movie "Moneyball", I noticed that I wasn't always playing the players having the best day or who's minutes were getting us the most production.
I tended to sub or determine playing time as a result of specific things that I liked, or players who did things I didn't like without weighing it against the other impacts on the game we were playing. In key moments I played players who I had known longer, had experienced previous success in those sorts of moments, or players who I had more faith in based on their practice performance. When you looked at the stats or game film though I see that my loyalty to players or style of play, in some situations and key moments, was probably not as productive as playing the hot hand or giving freer reign to a player finding a way on given day might have been.
Not poor coaching by the staff, but as the final determinant of who plays and doesn't, I want to work on being more aware of playing the moment and the player in the moment rather then the gameplan and incoming expectations. Probably one of the hardest things for a coach to do is to take a kid who has battled for them, practiced for them, won for them and in big moments sit them down and say "It's not your day today", and turn the reigns over to someone else. I need to do a better job of that.
The weighing of coaching control. - Even at national level tournament, this age group still needs to be about player development, so I constantly had to weigh choices against was what easy for short term success but was very coach driven, and letting players develop, communicate and problem solve at to short term detriment of the on floor product. Whether it was reads, inbounds situations, handling pressure or even how we defended or attacked situations, I spent a lot of time biting my tongue in terms of telling them about a quick fix or drawing up the solution or tactical adjustment. It is particularly frustrating when the majority of players do not come from programs where they make reads or choices, as 15 yearolds they feel like the have roles/positions and want coaches to position all the pieces is a way so they can only do things they feel confident and comfortable in executing.
We ask kids to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and when we give them adjustments we have them refocus on our concepts and key outcomes, asking them to problem solve with those in mind. On court communication and execution of fundamental basketball should be enough to handle most situations they encounter at this level, so as a staff we purposefully gave them the freedom and opportunity to make those choices.
While not unhappy with our results or the way we went about it, the coach in me looks back at situations and says that if for that game or that play I'ld taken over and given them the coach controls they were looking for we could have made it work too. Its always a balance particularly since the average player, fan or stakeholder is more concerned about the end result then the process. I think the important issue is to make sure you are upfront with everyone involved about why and how you plan about going about things. At that point you should all be on the same page and doing what feels right based on your principles will be enough.
Canada Basketball Evaluation:
Its not what you coach its important that you coach. Lots of feedback to sort through in the live feedback by CB. Having been mic'd up for a half and hearing the feedback on what someone else is seeing and hearing is powerful. I won't focus too long on the positives but obviously this could be a nerve racking experience as you wonder what the people working at the highest level in the country are thinking/saying. It was very rewarding though to hear that someone in the know is impressed by some of the things I take pride in.
I coach all game long, active moving and giving feedback regardless of score and situation. I'm also very . . . lets call it passionate and direct about what I'm seeing and feeling. It was great to hear positive feedback about the improvements they saw in our team and play all game long and have them credited to ongoing coaching by our staff and the constant expectation and feedback we give our players. The evaluator noted that our kids improved all game long because they were constantly demanded of and communicated with while feeding off the expectation and energy of the coaches. Its refreshing and revitalizing to have your efforts recognized particularly when your particular style is different form what you often see.
Power of Questions. One of the most powerful coaching tools we have is questions. Making our players recognize and think about their actions or the game by questioning allows them a deeper understanding and appreciation then simply giving instructions or directions. It is sometimes less effective or timely then providing them with the information you want imparted but overall allows them to reach similar conclusions and feel more confident and powerful then they would if simply given feedback. That is why I was glad to receive feedback on the questioning I do with my players during the game.
The evaluators reached an interesting point about the questions we used during feedback about them not getting to the answers we were looking for or it taking too long for them to get the heart of the issue. Why ask questions to get to the answer you want, instead of asking the question that gets you the answer they want. As a teacher the process of working through the learning in important, in games its simply important that they discover the key information that they need to adjust. I must keep in mind that being clever, critical or creative is not essential in this questioning. Unlike a classroom they are already engaged and want to discover the answer regardless of the type of questioning. I need to ask simple questions that lead them to give me answers. These answers and that they come to them is what's important, not how difficult the question was that they answered I need to work on being more directive in my questioning to save time and get us to the heart of the issue faster.
Expecting accountability and attention vs. working to ensure it. Biggest take away from the feedback for me was the feelings that I could do a better job of keeping my players accountable to their actions and ensuring we stay on plan. This was something I had always thought me and my staff did and exceptional job of but the evaluator pointed out 2-3 ways in which we could streamline what we were doing to ensure it was going on rather than expecting it.
A) COMMUNICATING THE PLAN - We always make sure our kids know how we want to play. Our goal is to force our style of play on others not adjust to what teams do. By keeping things focused and simple we are free to often substitute and provide reminders using simple key concepts that are about execution. It allows our kids the freedom to simply play without a lot of need to think or adjust. It also allows us to debrief players regularly as they come off the floor, and give them exposure to what is being said on the bench through frequent subs.
In doing this though we would often overlook opportunities to remind and re-enforce. Simply because we've only got one defensive scheme, and a concept based offense doesn't mean we can't prep subs. Just because we are talking to the bench or the bench is listening while we talk to players on the floor doesn't mean they can't be re-enforced individually. We can be giving players key concepts to look for, pointing out things that work on defense or even making sure they are identifying who individuals should match up with or be communicating with when they go on to relay a message for the staff. Not terrible just missed opportunities in a game where we were allowing our frequency of subbing in volume to improve focus and communication we could have been doubling it by using a coach to prep subs extensively while at the table.
B) ON FLOOR COMMUNICATION - I am constantly working the players on the floor. We also make on floor communication from player to player on offensive and defense a key part of our scheme (read
Noisiest Kids on the Block: Building a Basketball Soundscape) but the feedback gave us several ideas for how to tailor it to be more effective.
When I want to communicate an idea or concept to players on the floor, I simply relay the concept. I'm a big, loud guy and when I'm coaching during the game and even during timeouts the whole gym can hear me unless its the most raucous of environments. As a result that has always been my default communication method. In reality if I had a system in place whereby a certain player was responsible for relaying the message, or we had any sort of system in place I could hold player accountable to the new information. At this point they could not hear me or understand. If we built in a system for communication if something didn't get done it would be evident who didn't do their job communication wise and we can hold them accountable. In this case if I don't do my job communication wise, I'm already on the bench and there is no sub to make it better.
I always try to talk about things in generalities with our players, to get them working together to try to come up with a solution to get the game back to the way we want it to be played. If we are not moving the ball, I will ask them to reverse it or increase the ball movement. If we aren't handling pressure, I'll remind them of our reads and tell them to help each other to take care of the ball etc. I'm expecting that their teamwork and dedication to our task will solve it. In reality if I would be a little more directive individually I might be able to help us solve it easier. If the ball isn't getting reversed because the ball is being held to long at the top I can tell our top player (lets call her Joe) "Joe, catch the ball with our footwork so that ball gets reversed faster." In the pressure situation I could tell a backcourt player (calle her Alex) "Alex you need to seal or set a screen, either way you need to make sure the ball gets in under control." While we pride ourselves on team concept and 12 people working as 1, if I were more willing to simply risk 1 players feelings in the moment to be more directive we could problem solve faster.
The last tip we heard repeatedly was to have better systems in place for ensuring engagement of players on the bench. ie. Don't just talk to the bench or have players huddle in a timeout. Have players sitting in particularly places on the bench with a purpose. Have players know which coach is supposed to be talking to them about which things and have when the conversation is supposed to take place put in place. We need our coaches to constantly have 1 working the players on the floor, 1 the players on the bench and maximize communication. Have a seating plan in timeouts so all players eyes are on the same place, so all can make eye contact and so all players in the timeout are being held accountable. Even something as simple as building in a time or situation where we know coaches will be meeting to get on the same page, rather then conversing when something comes up. Just systems in place to increase the quality and volume of interactions between coaches and players
C) SITUATION PREP. - Situations arise in every game. As a coach I know we spend almost all our time in practice on the skills and reads we need to control the situations we want to correct. The rest if probably spent prepping how to get the game back to those situations when its not. In reality this means that most of our time is spent on the things that happen most often and very little is spent on that which happens infrequently. As a result you end up in situations in the game that you have little or no prep for and need more communication with your players.
Situations that come to mind that I know before now we never would go over in practice:
*What if you are late in the quarter and have fouls to give, you don't want to go to your foul call but you are ok with player gambling and being more physical to get a steal or turnover because the foul won't hurt you?
* You want a particular player to foul during the regular flow of the game to get a whistle or break the pace, but who it is matters?
*Missing freethrows on purpose to get rebounds?
*Defending when a player is down and you are shorthanded?
How (on the fly)would you communicate these quickly and effectively to get the result you wanted from your players? I have no other way then yelling at players I want. If we spent more prep time with a call or signal for bizarre situations kids would recognize, and spent more times in practice on situations then it would be easier for us to have success in these situations.
