Revisiting Mismatches

This weekend at a coaching clinic I took away a bunch of little things vs. any one big thing. The little takeaways are really where I'm out now as my coaching philosophy and preferred style of play are more developed then when I was young.

A passing comment that caught my attention was that some teams major concept or focus is to attack weakness on offense. There are teams out there who's entire offensive strategy is to find people who can't/won't do things defensively and make them do them. Rather then go out and run their stuff or challenge defense to stop them, they gear their attack to exploit your weakest link no matter what that is game in and game out.

This had me revisit a popular blog from the past so here we go again about mismatches:

As a concept based offensive coach I am constantly amazed at the assumptions I make about kids understanding of the game. Mismatches are a huge one. We are trying to break down the other teams defense to get someone a 1 on 1 they can win, to create a 1 on 0 for us to score using movement. As simple as that sounds, I would like to believe that players would then immediately find the easiest way to beat someone (our best matchup to take advantage), but I am wrong. Kids limited understanding of mismatches does not seem to extend beyond physical size into skill vs skill or situational concepts. They aren't trying to exploit their matchup's weaknesses, they are more concerned with playing to their strengths. Forget about a number of teammates working to attack the weakest link on the floor.

We'll feed undersized basket cutters heading into a wall of posts. We'll have an average ball handler trying to break down an athletic defender. We will pass up pull up jump shots at 8 feet by our best players, only to see them fire tough passes to post players (who can't handle) at 12 feet who will end up in a close out situation. The decision making is mind boggling.

I think this is a result of 3 problems:

Problem 1

A lack of exposure by today's youth players to pick up ball that honed most of the previous generation's game. Playground players just found the weak link, or the chucker , or someone's little brother and attacked that whenever anything got meaningful. Today's kids have grown up in such a structured sport environment where everyone gets to play, and we should all get a chance, that some of the innate primitive instinct to find the weakest in the herd and take them down has been lost. They have accepted we (the coaches) know what we're doing so they blindly do what they think we see as the right thing regardless of situation to succeed. Coaches in those situations have given them too much offense and structure so though aren't thinking the game, they are just doing what they are told.

Problem 2

 Over developed sense of self and others. Today's athlete has grown up empowered, aware of their rights, empathizing with the feelings of others, and learning to respect their environment and those in it. Bullying, judging, taking advantage of others, disrespect and selfishness are all looked down upon and to be avoided. (Yet those traits are exactly what attacking a mismatch is all about.) Confidence in themselves as people may give them a false sense of confidence in their game, but more importantly their sensitivity and respect of others doesn't allow them to mercilessly and eagerly attack and exploit  other individuals naturally. In fact in the rare cases where youth coaches get players who will, in most cases they are told to share the ball and given some speech about being a better teammate and giving everyone a chance. How you treat people off the court is not the same as how you compete vs an opponent. I'm not promoting poor sportsmanship, but I love and respect my dad and brothers. When we play pick up its not a love in. 

Problem 3

Coach as sage. Adults run their houses, their schools, their recreation, their sports, their free time, their structured time - we run just about everything their is to run in the lives of young people. (hmmm and kids seem to have bad instincts in a lot of on and off the court situations). We then also take players and too early structure their play. Particularly on the court coaches will recognize an advantage and set up plays or their whole system around this advantage. Players then execute the system because coach said so without understanding why, they don't see what they are dong as exploiting their advantages it is just how they play. Then when they go to another team or level with different strengths they either struggle because they can't adjust or the coach makes the adjustments for them again.

SOLUTIONS

- We as coaches must model and teach more and more. The only way to ensure a kid knows anything is to make sure they learn it from you. Teach them how to find and exploit mismatches at an individual and team level.

- Coaches need to improve their players understanding of the game and the reasons behind "What-Why- When". Ask them questions that guide their thinking. Make them play a way where they make decisions based on principles vs following structure.

- Youth basketball needs less plays and more concepts and opportunities to play. Structured freedom to play, rather then smaller less skilled versions of elite level games. We need to better train and educate coaches on how to better train and educate players. 

- Players must be praised for using and reading a mismatch properly regardless of the outcome. Conversely players who attack in bad situations, times and places must understand this and be held accountable regardless of how it worked out.

- Kids must be encouraged to shoot more often and improve their shooting. This will stretch the floor making one on one matchups and skills more important then running structured offenses to get your kids who can finish closer to the rim to score and succeed more often. Teach kids skills to be better players, not do things that win games at their level.

- Every kid must have the skills to exploit their advantage. If they are being guarded by the worst on ball defender, they must be able to handle. If they are being guarded by a sagger they must be able to shoot. Until a kid is fully physically developed and mature don't give them a position or job. Make them  a player.

- Do not exclusively use a punishment/reward system to motivate understanding. Punish/Reward returns are only high for basic physical tasks. When dealing with basketball IQ and exploiting advantages players must be given autonomy and freedom of creativity while being given feedback to improve.