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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.

The Game’s Newest Assist

In today’s game, shooting is continuing to become an essential skill. This proves to be especially true as you study the highest levels of basketball. As the game has evolved, there are opportunities to find new ways to measure a player’s impact on the game. The traditional statistics tend to leave a gap in today’s game. How can we measure the impact of an elite shooter cutting off of a screen, drawing two defenders, and getting the screener an open layup? This type of impact can now being measured in the form of a CUT ASSIST. 

The video below shows examples of CUT ASSISTS by Klay Thompson and Steph Curry. 

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Using CUT ASSISTS in your team statistics will encourage players to cut hard, find value in creating scoring opportunities for teammates, and it measures the advantage that is created by the gravity of a great shooter. If you run a system that is predicated on cutting, you can take this one step further by giving a CUT ASSIST for any cut that creates an open shot. As you watch basketball, keep an eye out for the game’s newest assist, and watch how frequently a CUT ASSIST is the driving force behind great shots. 

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.

 

  • 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:

  • 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. 

20 & 10 CHALLENGE

Successful coaches are creatures of habit. They create systems and processes that allow them to attack each day in an organized way. While reading the book “The 5AM Club,” by Robin Sharma, we were introduced to the “20/20/20 Formula.” This formula offers a simple way to get a great start to your day. The 20/20/20 Formula includes:

20 minutes of exercise

20 minutes of meditation or in-depth reflection

20 minutes of learning or reading

We have been using this formula with our team. Our players receive off-season points, if they post their 20/20/20 Formula before 9:00AM. We made a couple of minor adjustments, so our program 20/20/20 includes:

20 minutes of exercise

20 minutes of reading or listening to a podcast

20 minutes of meditation or writing out a schedule for your day


Lastly, we are going to use this to start an exciting new Challenge for coaches! It is going to be the DCT 20 & 10 Challenge.
This challenge will be the 20/20/20 Formula, with a basketball twist, and it will last 10 days. The first group will go from August 12 – 21. 


Dynamic Coaching Tools (DCT) 20 & 10 Challenge

  • We will have 10 coaches in the initial group.
  • Each morning, coaches will exercise for 20 minutes, read for 20 minutes, and will meet on a scheduled Zoom call for 20 minutes. We will meet at 6:30AM (CT) | 7:30AM (ET).
  • The 20 minutes zoom call will be a web clinic. This short web clinics will be led by the coaches in the 20 & 10 challenge. Each day, a new coach will present, based on a schedule that will be shared with the group. Coaches can pick any topic that they want to present about, as long as they can present for 20 minutes.
  • At the end of 10 days, every coach who completes the challenge, will have a chance to launch their own group.

Are you interested in joining us to create better habits, optimize your mornings, and network with other coaches?
Fill out the form HERE. We have limited spots. If you miss out on the first 20 & 10 Challenge, we will offer you an opportunity to join us when we “run it back” at the end of the August.

PROGRAM BUILDING | The Talent Gap

As we continue to explain our Program Building Model , it is important for coaches to understand how to evaluate the TALENT GAP within a program. A talent gap is the cumulative attributes of the personnel within a program, as they relate to winning games. Here is a break down each of these attributes.


ATHLETICISM

Athleticism is the first thing that jumps out to people when evaluating a talent gap. We define athleticism as a combination between size, speed, and strength. We show a bias towards athleticism whenever we walk into a gym, during warmups, and pass judgement during layup lines. In most cases, we predict that the team with better athletes is “more talented.” The team with better athleticism might be more naturally talented, but that does not mean that they are automatically more talented. Below is the definition of TALENT.

Natural aptitude refers to natural ability, but the definition clearly includes “or skill.”

SKILL

Skill is the part of talent, which can improve the most rapidly with development. There are countless skills within basketball, but the skills that have the greatest impact on the talent gap are ball handling, decision making, and finishing. For the sake of simplicity, we include shooting within the finishing category. If a team is exceptionally skilled, they might actually be more talented than an athletically superior team. We ran a poll last month asking the question, “what is the biggest separating factor between the best team in your league and everyone else?” Athleticism and Skill tied with 44.9% each. This shows the increased value that coaches are putting on skill. It is time to also count skill towards the way that we judge talent.


 

DEPTH

The final category in our talent gap is specific to a team. Depth is an important factor within the talent gap. Throughout the season, teams will face foul trouble, fatigue, and injuries. We measure depth in two different ways. The number of capable players and the versatility of your players. A team with eight interchangeable pieces might actually be “deeper” than a team with twelve different players. Depth is an important part of the talent gap, because it stresses the collection of the entire group. Below is a look at the talent gap.

 

 

In our last blog post, we talked about the three things that a coach must improve when taking over a program. Once a coach evaluates the TALENT GAP within the program, the next step is to work hard to either increase a positive talent gap or decrease a negative gap. In the coming weeks, we will share a Development Model, which will give coaches a plan to increase the talent within their programs.

For more information, you can contact us on social media (@DynamicCoaches) or via email (info@dynamiccoachingtools.com).

 

PROGRAM BUILDING | 3 Areas to Improve

In our last blog post, we shared our PROGRAM BUILDING MODEL. When trying to build a program, there are countless areas that need your attention. We encourage coaches to filter through this information and make it a priority to get to the W.I.N.

W.I.N. = What’s Important Now

It is our belief that there are three main areas that a coach must focus on improvement.

 

TALENT

Our next blog post will take a deep dive into the TALENT GAP. Coaches must evaluate and have a clear understanding of how the talent in their program compares to the other program’s that they are competing against. The quickest way to win more games is to improve the talent on the roster. A talented roster will have some success, based on the advantage created by a positive talent gap. Depending on the level of the program, talent can be improved through player development or recruiting.

 

COACHING STAFF

We recently ran a poll on our twitter page, asking “What is the biggest separating factor between the best team in your league and everyone else?”

As you can see, coaching only got about 4% of the vote. Coaching will take a talent gap and shrink or expand the advantage created by that talent. Due to that, we believe that improving the coaching in your program will help you win close games, and can help your program find consistent success. Improving your coaching staff can be about finding experienced coaches, aligning the skills of your coaches with the program needs, or even focusing on improving as a head coach. The best coaching staffs are full of “learn it alls,” who are constantly finding ways to improve.

 

CULTURE

We define culture as, “how we do things here.” The most important thing to understand about the culture of your program is that every single person around the program is going to make an impact. A strong culture can also impact the talent gap. Your culture can help you win big games and gives your program a chance to have sustainable success. How can you start the process of establishing and improving your culture? We will address that in an upcoming blog post. You can start with these two exercises and take a look at the example below.

CORE VALUES

What are the 3-4 things that will define your program. If you can’t limit it to 3-4, then you are spreading your attention too thin. One suggestion is to pick things that go beyond basketball and have a broad spectrum. 

 

“THIS IS US” (25 Words or Less)

Describe your program in 25 words or less.

 

 

 

As you jump into the process of improving your program, these three areas will make the biggest impact on your program. This type of narrow, focused vision will help a coach block out distractions and focus on the W.I.N. that we described earlier in the post. Want more PROGRAM BUILDING information? Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook ( @DynamicCoaches ).

PROGRAM BUILDING MODEL

TALENT

The number one factor to winning games is TALENT. While this might not be a popular reality, because some aspects of talent are out of the control of a coach, it is the truth. Without talent, it is hard to win games. Talent is made up of three main categories; athleticism, skill, and depth.

 

CULTURE

Culture is defined as “how we do things here.” Every person around a program has an impact on the culture of a program. Culture is the easiest area to impact, but the hardest thing to control. Sustainable success can be directly attributed to good program culture.

 

COACHING

Coaches have all of the power, but very little control. The best coaches recognize that their role must shift from driving force to quality control. The sooner that this can happen, the quicker a program has the opportunity to become an elite program.

 

The word ELITE is thrown around too frequently, but there is no denying that the definition of elite describes what every program is striving to achieve.


Want to know how you can become the driving force to making your program elite? Be on the look out for our next blog post, which will talk about the first three areas that a program must improve!


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TELLING vs TEACHING | Being a Great Teammate

We all want our players to be great teammates. We are constantly telling our players to put the team first, but are we intentional about teaching players how to do it? If you are teaching players how to be a great teammate, then it should be explained, players should learn how it sounds, as well as what it looks like to put the team first. Below are five steps to create great teammates in your program.

 

EXPLAIN WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A GOOD TEAMMATE

If this is important to your program, then it needs to be outlined within your core values. For example, two of our core values connect to being a great teammate. The first is RELATIONSHIPS. We talk about what it means to develop relationships and how it connects everyone within our program. The second is SERVANT LEADERSHIP. The purpose is to seek ways to serve others, which includes our teammates. By connecting being a great teammate to two of our core values, it empowers the fact that being a great teammate is more than an expectation. It is who we are and what we do.

 

TEACH PLAYERS WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE TO BE A GREAT TEAMMATE

One of our favorite activities to do is the “Rock, Paper, Scissors Challenge.” In this activity, players do a best of three series of the game Rock, Paper, Scissors. The winner finds another teammate to play against. The loser becomes a “HYPE GUY” for the winner. You continue this until you have two players remaining in the Championship. At that point, they have a team of “HYPE GUYS” behind them. It creates a fun environment. At the conclusion of the Championship, we let our players know that we expect our bench to be full of “HYPE GUYS.” Now that we have taught our players what it sounds like to be a great teammate, it can be an expectation for the players.

 

 

TEACH PLAYERS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE TO BE A GREAT TEAMMATE

Similar to teaching players what it sounds like to be a great teammate, this lesson allows us to hold players accountable. The best tool for teaching players what it looks like to be a great teammate is film. We will use clips from other teams at the beginning of the season. As the season continues, we will use clips of our own team. It could be all four players sprinting to help up a teammate who has gotten on the floor. It might be our bench celebrating a positive play. It could be a teammate giving positive reinforcement to a frustrated teammate. Too many coaches want to point out the negative behavior on the bench. While this is a form of accountability, it is also highlighting the behavior that we do not want. It can be much more powerful to show positive examples, and then find a way to reward that behavior. Another way to teach players what it looks like to be a great teammate is to meet them on their level. In this case, we are talking about social media. A tweet or instagram post that promotes being a good teammate will reach some of your players better than a lecture. A social media post is a great way to utilize messaging that players want to absorb.

 

 

SHARPEN THE SWORD

Like a fundamental skill, being a great teammate requires repetition. If you want your players to be great teammates, you must continue to “sharpen the sword,” to avoid the message becoming dull. Like any fundamental skill that we teach, you should be constantly looking for positive examples to reinforce your expectations.

 

ACCOUNTABILITY

After you have taken the steps to teach and reinforce the expectations of being a great teammate, it is time to hold your players accountable. One common mistake is that coaches hold their bench players more accountable for this behavior. While all players must be held accountable, your best players must be held to the highest standard. This will resonate with your players and it highlights the importance of being a great teammate.

 

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TELLING vs TEACHING | Communication

We are launching a new series that we are calling TELLING vs TEACHING. This is motivated by a recent video that was posted by Brian Kight. Check out the video below, to learn about the most under-coached profession.

 

 

How is it possible that coaching is the most under-coached profession? The answer is very simple. There are no clearly defined requirements to get into coaching. To take that a step further, we are seeing more coaches TELLING players what to do, as opposed to TEACHING players how to play the game. Below are some of the examples that you might hear in a gym:

“You’ve got to finish that!”

“Talk on defense!”

“Take care of the ball!”

These are all examples of TELLING, when experienced coaches understand that the key is to spend your time TEACHING your players. Here are some “teaching” examples, which align with the same “telling” statements from above.

“Keep your eyes and chin on the rim!”

“Talk it, touch it, switch it on the ball screen!”

“Get to two feet in the paint and throw to what you see!”

While these are general examples, it is most important that coaches recognize the value of TEACHING players how to play the game. TELLING players what to do is counter productive for an experienced coach, because the goal is to create an environment that is conducive to learning and improving.

The topic of the first blog post is to discuss communication. One common misconception is that players do not want to talk. In most cases, the problem is actually that players do not know what to say. Most coaches have been around teams that talk, laugh, make jokes, and are loud off the floor. As soon as players get into a practice, they stop talking. It is not an unwillingness to talk. The problem is that no one has taught players what to say. How much would your team improve if all of your players communicated like PJ Tucker in the video below?

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Before we can teach our players how to communicate effectively, we must equip our coaches with a process to break it down with their teams. If we don’t coach the coaches, then we will be back in the habit of telling our players, instead of teaching them. Here is a great way to break down communication into three phases for your team.

PHASE ONE: What are you doing?

In Phase One, players are encouraged to simply talk through what they are doing individually. This might sound like, “I’m in help. I’ve got the ball. Jump to the ball. I’m in a gap.” This is the starting point for players. The key is to correct terminology, but never tell a player that they are wrong. We want to build confidence!

PHASE TWO: What do you see happening?

In Phase Two, players are talking about what they are doing, but also what they see happening. This is where the communication starts to involve their teammates. This might sound like, “I’m in help. Cutter coming through. Ball screen right. Ball screen right. I’m hedging. You’re back. I’m here.” It is being able to communicate what is happening in that particular moment. Once again, as a coach, we want to hold players accountable to communicating with our terminology, but we do not want players to ever feel like they are wrong. Furthermore, this is where you will see breakdowns in communication between teammates. It is essential that you encourage players to work through it. Coaches should take the role of mediator, to keep communication productive, but should not shut down the back and forth between players.

PHASE THREE: What is going to happen next?

In Phase Three, players reach an elite level of communication. This involves being able to recognize and call out actions before they happen. It is unlikely that you will get your entire team to this level, but the best teams have a couple of these types of communicators on the floor at all times. Phase Three communication might sound like, “Ball screen coming. Ball screen coming. Be ready to switch it. I’ve got help on the slip. I’ve got help on the slip.” In this example, it is recognizing an action early, communicating the plan to teammates, and also acknowledging coverage for a potential counter from the offense. 

As you look to create better communication with your team, the key is to TEACH players how to talk. If you find yourself saying, “we need to talk,” then you should consider stopping and going one layer deeper to discover why your players are not talking. A mediocre coach tells the players what to do. A great coach teaches the players how to learn what needs to happen. If you take ownership for becoming a better teacher, your teams will improve, and your program will be on the path to sustainable success.

Do you have thoughts on TEACHING vs TELLING? You can share them by connecting with us on social media (@DynamicCoaches). You can also e-mail us at: INFO@dynamiccoachingtools.com

ABC’s of Bad Coaching

Go to social media and you will see a constant trend of “coach bashing.” Parents complain about coaches. Players complain about coaches. High school coaches claim that AAU coaches are ruining the game. AAU coaches claim that HS coaches are too political and hold their players back from maximizing their potential. So, do bad coaches exist?

Yes. Bad coaches are everywhere. There are bad high school coaches, bad AAU coaches, and bad collegiate coaches. “Bad” is a relative term, which depends on who is judging the performance of each coach. Before this starts to sound too negative, which we might have already passed that point, we need to explore what makes a “bad coach.” Below you will find the ABC’s of “bad coaching.”

 

A| About Me

This is the coach that thinks that the 45-point win is about his coaching ability and not the massive talent advantage on his roster. When a coach makes the success of the team about themselves, they lose sight of the number one objective for all coaches, which is to serve their student-athletes. The “about me” coach can not move past their ego, which prevents them from empowering their players, and ultimately stunts the development of the people within their program.

 

B| Blame Others

Some coaches are undefeated, if it weren’t for those darn officials. Bad coaches find countless reasons to avoid taking ownership for the challenging moments that come with the job. When the team suffers a loss, the players are referred to as “they.” You might hear something like, “they didn’t want it bad enough.” Good coaches are able to take ownership for the challenging moments, and maintain the focus on what “WE” need to do to work through challenging moments. Bad coaches that “blame others” survive by pointing a finger at the uncontrollable things, which take the attention on things that the coach could be doing better. Blaming others is like vomiting around your team. You feel better afterwards, but everyone around is disgusted, doesn’t want to be there anymore, or is also vomiting out the same blame that started with you. 

 

C| Complaining

This bad coach is always talking about what could be accomplished, if they had the same advantages as everyone else. Complaining is frustrating to everyone else, does you no good, and does not move your team forward. Instead of being jealous and complaining about what a successful program has, use that energy to study other successful programs. Unfortunately, complaining gives a bad coach the satisfaction of deflecting the negative attention. All coaching jobs are not created equal, but all coaches are also not created equal. Bad coaches complain, because it makes them feel better about themselves. Good coaches spend their energy attacking the challenges, so that their competition will eventually complain about the program that they have built. Bad coaches are about themselves, they blame others, and there is always something to complain about which establishes a negative and losing culture.

 

Thankfully, we can find incredible examples of coaches who are avoiding the ABC’s of bad coaching. These coaches take ownership and accountability for everything in their program. By taking ownership, the coach is empowered to find a way to embrace challenges, improve each day, and eventually build a championship culture. Coaching is a challenging job and the ABC’s of bad coaching will tempt all of us. Put your players first, take ownership for challenging moments, and maintain a positive outlook and your program is destined for a bright future.

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