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
-
Ball Screen Reads: Derrick White
Who is the most efficient ball screen player in the NBA (minimum 100 possessions)?
Most people would guess Damian Lillard, Luka Doncic, or Chris Paul? While all three of those players are really good, the correct answer is Derrick White of the San Antonio Spurs. Including his passing, the Spurs have a PPP (Points Per Possession) of 1.13 when he is the ball handler in pick and rolls. That is the best in the NBA.
Below is a video that shows three basic reads from Derrick White.
- Defender goes OVER the screen
- Defender goes UNDER the screen
- Derrick White REJECTS the screen
-
Three Ideas from the Football Field
Coaches like Buzz Williams and Tom Izzo regularly reference the way that Football coaches do things. They also credit football coaches for making a positive impact on their programs. All basketball coaches should be looking around for great ideas, and other sports offer some opportunities to learn and grow. Below are three ideas, which basketball coaches should steal from their football programs.
1 – Script your first few possessions of the game
A great way to help your team find a rhythm offensively, is to script the first few half court possessions. The number of possessions is dependent on your teams ability to retain information and then execute. We like to script our first three possessions, as well as our first baseline out of bounds play. By scripting it, we are able to put our players into a comfortable position. We can select the set, based on something that we scouted on film. The players that are in a position to make a decision, or take a shot, have practiced that specific scenario the day before the game. This builds confidence. Furthermore, this is especially successful in hostile road environments, as you try to take the crowd out of the game.
2 – Put an Assistant Coach over both sides of the ball
As a Head Coach, one of the hardest things to do is to give up control. In reality, we need to recognize that we have all of the power, but no control at all. We can work on things, but it is up to our players to execute. We can ask our Assistant Coaches to be engaged, to buy in, and to help develop our team. Football coaches make the ultimate decisions, but they also hire an Offensive and Defensive Coordinator that they can trust. These Assistant Coaches play a major role in the success of the team. It also allows the Head Coach to focus on a specific side of the ball, without the other side feeling neglected. In practice, we might want to focus on the defensive side of the floor. Who is holding the offensive players accountable to do things the right way? Assigning an Assistant Coach to each side of the floor, will allow the Head Coach to focus on specific aspects of the team development, while also ensuring that nothing is neglected.
3 – Stress the importance of Special Teams
Football coaches make a huge deal about the impact the Special Teams have on the game. What are Special Teams in Basketball? We view Special Teams as baseline out of bounds plays and sideline out of bounds plays. Other coaches will add factors, such as points off of turnovers, second chance points, or free throws made. Simply using the out of bounds plays are very easy to track within the game. If your team is able to find an advantage within the “Special Teams,” it can be especially important in close games. Look back at last year’s numbers and see what impact the “Special Teams” had on your team.
For more ideas, feel free to contact us via e-mail INFO@dynamiccoachingtools.com
or on Social Media: @DynamicCoaching
-
Planning for the “Positive” is Different in 2020
Coaches are creatures of habit. We want things done a specific way, which in most cases is “how we have always done it.” As the coronavirus has shown, the best coaches must find a way to adjust, adapt, and accept the things that are out of our control. In this post, we will provide some suggestions to help you work with your administration to provide a positive experience, put safety first, and we hope that it will help you finish the season with your team on the floor.
HAVE A PLAN, BEFORE THE FIRST “POSITIVE”:
- There is a strong chance that someone in your program is going to test positive for COVID. Accepting that will allow you to move forward with planning for this reality.
- What if the Head Coach tests positive, or is exposed, and has to miss a minimum of 14 days?
- What if an Assistant Coach tests positive, or is exposed, and has to miss a minimum of 14 days?
- What if your best player tests positive, or is exposed, and has to miss a minimum of 14 days?
ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THESE SITUATIONS?
When Alabama Football Coach, Nick Saban, had his first false positive (he recently missed a game, from actually testing positive), I was impressed with the Alabama Football program’s response. It was organized, there was no panic, and they continued with their business. As Matt Zenitz wrote in THIS article for AL.com, the goal was to make things “as normal as possible.” There is also a video press conference where Saban acknowledges that they had a plan if any of the coaches were to test positive. So how do YOU go about preparing this plan?
STEP ONE: Put your coaching staff responsibilities to paper. Share this document with your staff. Here is an example from our program. We also have a program guidebook, which dives deeper into the specifics of each coach’s roles during practice, as well as before, during, and after games.
STEP TWO: Discuss and plan how responsibilities will shift if each individual coach (or collection) of coaches has to miss time.
STEP THREE: Let your players know that you are planning for this to take place, so that is mentally prepares them ahead of time.
Another area that coaches should plan and adapt, are practices and game day procedures. Here are some of the things that we have put in place.
- Everyone must wear a mask inside of the building at all times.
- No more than four players allowed in the locker room at a time (this allows for effective distancing). Your locker room might be different.
- Players bring their own water bottles.
- Players are temperature checked and screened before practice. We also apply hand sanitizer at that time.
- Whenever we “circle up,” we have used floor markings (volleyball 10-foot attacking lines) to keep our team spread out.
Thankful for the opportunity to coach our players today!
Our first official practice is in the books. Proud of the effort and energy that our team brought to the floor!#Ubuntu #LadyVikingsHoops #WeAreVillage pic.twitter.com/wJB1ZfZoF9— Doug Brotherton (@CoachBrotherton) November 3, 2020
- Coaches where masks throughout practice. CLICK HERE to find the mask worn by a lot of college coaches, which I have found to be the best mask to wear when coaching.
- I ordered a 3-pack of the BLACK mask for our Assistant Coaches too.
GAME DAY
- We committed to NO SPECTATORS for all home games. This was a decision from our administration, which we supported. While we miss having fans at the game, it does increase our opportunity to successfully finish our season. We are streaming all games via the NFHS Network.
- If you don’t have a budget to stream games, you can easily stream FOR FREE, via YouTube. It might not be the best quality, but it is better than missing multiple games due to the spread of COVID.
- Bench setup has been adjusted, to try to mimic the NBA benches. After the success of the NBA bubble, we found a cost affordable way to create a “safe space,” for each player.
- Each player has their own assigned seat. The first row of chairs are our four coaches and our first sub. The third row of chairs are our starters. The second row are for our bench.
- Each player has a plastic basket behind their chair, for additional masks, their water bottle, towels, a ziploc bag for masks that are already worn, and hand sanitizer.
Timeout organization
- This is another area that coaches should consider. In the past, a timeout would have looked like this:
ALL ACCESS inside the huddle with @CoachBrotherton & The Lady Vikings 🏀 Team. Lady Vikings lead 34-16 in the 2nd quarter!@Villageteams #LadyVikingsHoops#weareVILLAGE pic.twitter.com/Zeqgs94Zt9
— Andy Johnson (@CoachAJohnson) November 2, 2019
- We have now changed our timeouts to increase distance between players, our players wear masks, and we do not share chairs.
- We purchased six stools via Amazon. We keep them against the wall, at the end of our bench.
- For full timeouts, our assistant coaches are responsible to set up the six stools on the corner of the court, near our bench.
- Players in the game grab their mask and water bottle, before coming to the stools.
- Players who are not in the game stand behind the stools.
- At the end of the timeout, our coaches wipe down the stools with Clorox wipes and place them back against the wall.
- For 30-second timeouts, we remain on the floor, spread out in a semi-circle.
LOCKER ROOMS
- We are NOT using locker rooms on game days this year. There is no reason to put 12-15 people into a small space, for an extended period of time. Instead, we have created areas in our gym, using the same stools that we have for timeouts.
- We set up 15 stools into a semi-circle, on the sides of our bleachers. A chair is placed in the middle for the coaches. At halftime, our players all put on their mask, grab their water bottles, and walk over to our meeting area.
- Stools are spread out, in multiple rows.
- At the end of halftime, our assistant coaches wipe down the stools with Clorox wipes.
- We have the same set-up, on the opposite side of the bleachers, for visiting teams.
- The same process is used post game.
There are a lot of other processes and procedures for coaches to consider, but these have worked well for our program. The key to having a successful season, is the same as helping your team improve. We must eliminate our ego, avoid being stubborn, and adapt for the betterment of our program. If we are stubborn to our old ways, the pandemic is sure to shorten our season. We can finish the season on the court, if we all work together, share best practices, and are willing to be flexible. Lastly, there is no perfect solution, for the imperfect situation that we find ourselves in, but we must always remember that our main mission is to provide student-athletes with a worthwhile experience.
- There is a strong chance that someone in your program is going to test positive for COVID. Accepting that will allow you to move forward with planning for this reality.