The article by Dan Shaughnessy, “Basketball coaches are a society of borrowers,” talks about how coaches are constantly sharing and borrowing to make each other better. Here are my two favorite quotes from Brad Stevens:
“And I’ve always thought — and I got this from my boss at Butler — there’s not a monopoly of great coaches at any one level. It’s all over the map. I think that’s one of our responsibilities in coaching is to open our doors if people are interested in watching and talking about any of that stuff.’’
“I spend my whole offseason going to clinics,’’ the Celtics coach added. “Even when we plan something as a family on vacation, I try to figure out where coaches are in that area and go and stop by and pick their brains on what they are doing.”
The last sentence of the article sums it up:
The good coaches are the ones who never think they have the whole thing figured out.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE
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WNBA Finals Preview – Xs and Os
After two highly competitive five game series, we now have our WNBA Finals match-up. Game 1 tips off tonight and features the Seattle Storm against the Washington Mystics. Coaches should be tuning in, as both teams run some tremendous stuff offensively. Below is a breakdown of three sets to look for, which have been highly successful for both teams. Thank you to Ben Dull, from SplitThePost.com for providing all of the videos for this preview.
Storm – Flex Action (BLOB set)
This BLOB set involves Bird setting a flex screen for Stewart, then receiving a down screen.
Storm – “Horns Down”
The Storm have different Horns looks, but this ball screen that flows into a down screen is tough to guard in transition.
Storm – Empty side / Two Man Action
The Storm love to include Stewart in a “two man game,” on an empty side. They use DHOs, ball screens, and slips.
Mystics “Stagger Split Rip”
This set shows a double stagger, before a split, into a rip (rescreen) for the back cutter. Great counter to a traditional double stagger!
Mystics – “Zipper 15”
The Mystics use a zipper cut, to trigger this backscreen action with Toliver and Delle Donne. This is just one of the ways that the Mystics use a backscreen to get the basketball inside.
Mystics – “Drag Back STS”
This set uses a drag screen and throw back, to set up the screen-the-screener. Toliver shows a screen for Delle Donne, before she actually receives the screen for an open three.
Two actions that will be critical for both teams to figure out are the two-man game, with Stewart on the empty side. The Storm lead the WNBA in three point shooting, and that action puts the defense in a scramble situation. The Storm must be ready to guard the screening actions involving Toliver and Delle Donne. They use back screens, ball screens, and screen the screener actions to free up both players.
This blog will be re-posted on www.FastModelSports.com, with all set plays being diagrammed and available for download in the playbank. Look for this repost before Game 3.
Go follow @splitthepost and @DynamicCoaches on twitter.
You can also catch our most recent Dynamic Coaching Tools Podcast by clicking here.
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“Chicago Action” – Pin Down to Dribble Hand Off
In the 2022 ACC Championship, Virginia Tech used the same set to score 11 points against Duke.
“Chicago Action” became popular in the NBA when Coach Fred Hoiberg was leading the Chicago Bulls to the playoffs. The action features a pin down, into a dribble hand off. Now, teams of all levels are using Chicago Action to free up talented perimeter players. In the case of Virginia Tech, Hunter Cattoor scored 9 of his 31 points off of this set play.
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DCT | Chalk Talk | Episode 2
In Episode 2 of the Dynamic Coaching Tools “Chalk Talk” series, we breakdown “14-Chase.” This is a set that we first saw utilized by the Louisville men’s basketball team. We eventually used it with our team, and then it was also ran multiple times throughout the 2018 March Madness. Here is our team running the set.
Now, enjoy Episode 2 of “Chalk Talk,” and then take a look at the counter that can be used against switching teams.
Here is the counter, which is used against teams that are switching screens.
“14 Chase Punch” from @CoachBrotherton leads to an easy bucket for @JadaBball23
The Lady @VillageVikings lead by 14 early in the 3rd quarter! #BeUncommon #weareVILLAGE pic.twitter.com/XrQ9xicREN— Andy Johnson (@CoachAJohnson) February 23, 2019
If you have questions about this set, please contact us via e-mail at: INFO@dynamiccoachingtools.com