Motion Offense Makes You A Good Singer? Really?

If you teach your guys to run a real motion offense, and an aggressive dominating man defense, can it make them better singers? Or scientists? Or teachers? Yes, it can.

Many of you saw the report on Sportscenter about Julian Vandervelde (sp? Sorry, Julian, if I got it wrong, please don't pancake me for my bad spelling) and how he is an accomplished singer. During the report, he made a comment that struck me as revealing exactly what we're talking about in this blog. He said, "singing is a lot like playing offensive line, if you're off just a little bit, you will be off for the entire play. Or song."

Yep, the same is true with basketball. Sometimes to make a play work, a player has move a half a step one way or the other. The window is that small. Or the difference between shooting a good jumpshot and one that's just a little off can be as little as widening your stance just a bit to make a stronger base or making your shooting hand stronger by just a smidgen.

But, really, what we're talking about is finding that place in your gut, in your basketball soul, where you are entirely focused on the moment. Everything else is background noise. You catch the ball, after making the right reads, and you make a move. Or you see the ball on the other side of the floor and you see the play develop. You watch, bide your time, then explode into the passing lane and take it the other way. Being in that place where these things happen.

That's what good singers do. And good scientists.

The Flex Offense - Time To Love It?

I am involved with a team that is coached by a very good coach. So there's not much for me to offer. But this team has hit a trough, and it is staring up at some deep, rocky sides of that trough. So the coach commented to me the other day that he is seriously thinking of installing some kind of pattern offense - like the flex - just to get some movement and direction for his team. Giving his guys specific responsibilities and routes to run. Sounds great, right?

Except for one thing. We are not trying to teach the guys how to run routes, we are trying to teach the guys to play the game. So that when some idiot does require that they run a ridiculous pattern offense they will be able to make plays out of it.

But this is a short cautionary tale. If you are teaching your guys to play the game, rather than play your offense, you will run into troughs. And it will be to tough to climb out of that trough. It is inevitable. Because the teams you're playing against are going to get better, bigger, faster. Which means that what you knew yesterday is nor longer enough. You have to constantly build upon what you knew yesterday and develop new skills, reads, shot moves, and your understanding of the game. Yeah, it's going to be frustrating because it will seem like you are always starting over. But, as we discussed before, you have to decide if you're willing to risk your reputation as a coach to get your kids over this hump? Or are you content to coach for the guys in the stands and have your kids worse for it?

Up to you. I know where I will be. How about you?

Youth Basketball Confidence Builders

A critical error that I see happening, and I have to give credit to a fantastic AAU coach I know because he put it so well, is that too often we mistake building our player's confidence with giving them a false sense of security. I agree, and I've put it differently in my day, but his statement is more to the point.

See, you have to put your players in situations that require their maximum effort. And you have to continually be their cheerleader, because you want them to fail. Not fail spectacularly, but have them right on the edge where their maximum effort gets them ever so close to succeeding but not quite. Then, over time, as they grow and you work on their individual skills, one day they will be playing against a team that is one or two grades older then them and it will work. Your kids will blow by their defense and score. They will make a post move and score. And they will go back on defense thinking, "Hey, this is fun. That older guy can't handle me now, wait until I play a kid my own age. I'll OWN him."

That's confidence. Real confidence. That's what you're coaching for.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas.

And to all, a snappy crossover, a quick one dribble jumpshot, a strong core for a dominating boxout, and an understanding of how to play the game. That last one is the gift that gives all year round.

Enjoy

Christmas Came Early For Me

I was walking through a big box store today and I was stopped the parents of one of my players. This kid started with us as a fifth grader, and has been with us ever since. She's now in 10th grade. I really don't even remember how we got her, but we did. And I remember that when she first started, she was entirely unimpressive. A nice athlete, but no basketball skills to write about.

She's now playing for her high school team, and they got her playing J.V. and some varsity. But this kid is clearly as good or better than most of their varsity. She has developed some nifty dribble skills, is a decent shooter, and an absolute load to defend on the dribble and in the post. This kid is the kind that can carry a team on her back for a quarter or two. At least, and I mean at the very least, she's a top eighter. But they won't play her.

So anyway, I'm talking to her parents and they tell me that she said, "I can't wait to play for coach (insert my last name here) again."  Now that's pretty cool! So why the story? Because you will get the same kind of loyalty from your troops if you teach them how to play. Dribble skills, what to look for, how to get open without the ball, things like that. Then let them play, and fail, and play, and fail, and play, then succeed. Your kids will love to play this way and the beautiful thing is that you are teaching them how to play the game. Not how to play your game.

Just follow my advice and you'll be fine. And your players will love to play for you. And, eventually, you will look like a genius just because you did the right thing by them. That's a nice Christmas.

More Boxing Lessons

I'm watching a game the other day, and the coach is all in an uproar because he wanted the wing to get to the optimum position for a post entry pass. This, to me, is ridiculous. Here's why. No two plays are going to be the same throughout the course of the game. That's the nature of basketball. There will always be slight, sometimes imperceptible differences from one play to the next. Of course, some differences will be huge and obvious, but that's not what we're addressing here.

No, what's critical here is that you DON"T teach your wings to get to a specific spot on the floor to execute the play you want. What IS critical here is that you teach your wing the skills to make the play. To make a post entry pass off the dribble, to read the defense, to have the dribble skills to get the ball to a point on the floor that allows for a good post entry pass, that kind of thing. And that you teach your post how to get open, how to post up based on how the defense is playing him, and varied post moves to finish the play.

Take A Lesson From Your Fastbreak

Remember yesterday when we talked about Jefferson's pattern offense? Here's the weird thing, they ran a great fast break. It was aggressive (not as aggressive as I would like, but that's just a style difference), and they had great spacing. When teaching how to run a fastbreak, I used to teach my kids to run around a cone that I had put at the halfcourt line about 3 feet from the sideline. This made the kids maintain great spacing as they came down the floor and gave them a great angle to attack the basket.

Now, here's my question. If you can see how well spacing and attacking works in a fastbreak situation, why can't you see the same advantages in a halfcourt situation? A reflex answer might be, "Well, it's five on five." True, but if you teach a real motion offense, you will be able to attack gaps in the defense and then you have off-ball numbers. Then, essentially, you have a fastbreak situation,

Just thinkin'

Pattern Offense Again? Really?

The pattern offense showed up again. We'll call them Jefferson.

So Jefferson ran their pattern offense exclusively from the beginning of the game to the end. It NEVER varied, be it against a zone or man it was the same thing the entire game. Again, I know you've heard this before but since I'm seeing so much of this garbage it seems that I need to drive this point home even harder.

First, you must teach your kids the skills to create and make shots out of your pattern. Here's what I saw: pt. guard making 3 foot entry passes that were terribly hard to handle. Lots of dribbling too high, lots of holding the ball above the head, And when they did make a move to the basket, it was always while standing straight up. And these are just the basics. That's not even addressing dribble skills, shot making skills, and all that.

Second, the pattern they ran was ridiculously bad. It essentially came down to a 3 man game at the elbow and both blocks. Here's a hint that you will find in my book (How to Coach Youth Basketball), Any pass that is shorter than 4 feet is incredibly hard to handle. The best players in the world have trouble with this pass- you will note that when they do throw them it is usually an underhand pass or a bounce pass.

Now, I'm not against the pattern offense. I've said this before. I'm against the pattern offense before you have taught the skills to make and create shots from it. Okay, I'll admit that I would never run a pattern offense again. I have in the past, but I've learned from my error. Are you willing to do the same?

Waxing Poetic? Or Philosophic?

The athletes who trains according to a regimen dictated by popular opinion is likely to damage himself.

In case you think what I'm telling you is new, I thought I would let you know that teaching/coaching basketball this way is not new at all. But before I tell you who said this, let's parse it a a bit.

What the speaker is talking about here, in a basketball context, is this: just because everyone else is running some stupid pattern offense, or entries that require more than three passes, doesn't mean you should be doing the same. And just because everyone else is spending all of their practice time working on their pattern offense, or the dozen or so entries doesn't mean you should be doing the same.

In fact, I am positive, absolutely positive, that if you coach your kids the right way, you will be criticized. If you are a high school varsity coach and you require that your J.V. and freshmen teams learn to play the game as I'm recommending, you will be criticized. Because most of your competition will be doing something else.

No, what you should be doing is teaching the game. Teaching your players how to create their own shot. Teaching your team to run a true, real motion offense - not a pattern.

The guy who said the above quote? A wise man, at least that's what everyone says. Bobby Knight? Rick Pitino? Pat Summit? No, none of those people.

The quote is from ---------------  Socrates.

The Pattern Offense - A Look From The Other Side

You remember yesterday we talked about how one team was running a pattern offense and nothing else? And they couldn't make plays from it? Now let's talk about what the other team did. We'll call them Other.

So Other was able to predict the pattern that Pattern was running - stands to reason, right? I mean, that's the advantage of ANY pattern, it's predictability - and defend it well. But Pattern did something else that kind of forced Other into playing real basketball.

Pattern played this aggressive 2/3 zone and they extended it way out. The ran it very well. They helped, rotated, forced to the baseline (some of you may want to just influence baseline). But here's the problem they ran in to. They played it so well that Other was forced to try and run their offense from too far away from the basket. Rather than playing their zone to an objective, thereby sucking it back in when they achieved their objective, they just played it as they had been taught. Other got really frustrated and only scored 22 points in the first half. Every one of those points was a struggle.

Finally, out of frustration, Other went to the basket. What they should have been doing from the beginning. Suddenly, new passing lanes opened up, angles to the basket became wide open, and they began to get some cheap, easy baskets. But pattern was determined to stick with their zone - as if what they ran, and not it's execution, would make them successful. So they doggedly stuck to their zone and they forgot to just play.

Give Other credit, though. They went to the basket and meant it. It won the game for them. But the lesson here is this. First, teach your team the skills and the basketball I.Q. necessary to play the game. Then, when you run your zone or your pattern or what ever you wish, they will have the basketball skill and knowledge to make plays out of whatever you run. Then you can tailor your offenses and defenses to address a particular player, or spot on the floor, or shot. You become a lot more dangerous this way.

The Patterned Offense Does It Again

A few days ago I was watching a high school game. One team was clearly superior. Better athletes, bigger, more skilled, all that good stuff. I'll call them the Pattern team.

So anyway, Pattern team is up 7 at halftime after being up 10 early in the second quarter. They were running their offense well, lots of cutting, fairly quick ball reversals, good looks into the post. Sounds great, right?

The problem is, if Pattern team can figure out the movement the "pattern" than the other team can to. And that is exactly what happened. The other team began to get a feel for where the cuts were going, when the happened, when they wanted the high low.  And once they got a feel for the pattern, they were able to "play the play." They jumped into the lanes, anticipating where the ball was going. Pattern team never varied from running their offense. No entries, nothing creative from it. Nothing. By the fourth quarter they were reduced to trying to make plays from their pattern and they didn't know how to do that. They only managed 11 points in the second half and lost the game by 10.

Please, you don't have some super secret magic offense that is going to fool another team for an entire game. You just don't. Nobody does. Junk the pattern offense until you teach your kids how to create their own shot, what to do when a teammate puts the ball on the floor, how to play OFF of a pattern. Stick to that and you will be doing your kids right.

Let's talk about what happened to the other team tomorrow

The Cross Over Dribble

An hour on the crossover dribble? A full of hour of nothing but crossover dribble? Seriously??!!

Yeah, seriously. I was at a practice last week where the coach spent a full hour on the crossover dribble. He mixed up the kinds of drills that addressed this skill, but the main point was still the same. The cross over dribble.

What's just as important is that within teaching this concept, the coach was teaching a greater point. He talked about balance, keeping your weight within the circle of your feet, and not being afraid to use a little "shimmy-shammy" to get yourself or another player open.

So these 8 kids spent the first hour of their practice working on just the crossover. And the next ten minutes after that introducing the double tap. That's the progression you should be using to. And here's another critical point: while most of the other coaches his team will be playing against were studiously and enthusiastically working on their half-court offense, this guy was working on dribbling then he played 4 on 4 while running no plays at all. Yeah, his team might get beat this year. But the year is coming soon when all of these kids will have their way with those other kids who spent all their time working on offenses.

More on that later.

Oh and Ten and Lovin' It

Last week I heard a coach talk about going 0 and 10 for the season. Winless. Not one notch in the win column. And I loved it. Because this coach has it goin' on. He gets it.

He's the coach of a young girl's team. And while this team has scored its first victory, his point remains, they may not win another game the rest of the year. And I think it's great. It's as it should be.

See all of these kids are playing up at least one grade and some of them are playing up two. And they are having to work really hard just to keep up. They are a talented bunch, for sure, good athletes and pretty good basketball skills, but they are too small and not quick enough to really be effective. But the coach's point is that if they can work hard and do their stuff on this level, even though it won't work all the time, when they get against kids their own age they will do well.

... But Do They Have The Skills?

If you are going to run an entry over 30 times during the game, please practice the skills necessary to make the play work. Now, I get that the the high screen and roll is the hot thing- all the NBA guys are doing it, most college teams are doing it, then high school and younger teams should be doing it, right?

Wrong. Unless your team has the skill set to make the play work, you should not be running this two-man play. Instead, use the time in practice you would have spent working on the play to work on the skills necessary to make the play work.

More on that as we go.

Want your players to play really, really hard?

I talked a few days ago about how basketball is a free, fluid, creative game. To play basketball at its highest level, players will do the most stunning things to creat shots or throw dime-ers. Think of the great things that you see when you watch an NBA game, or an NCAA game. The scoop-de-dos, the no-lookers, the fall away jumpers. Do you think those just happen? A kid walks on the floor already able to do those things? Of course not.

I few posts ago I described to you how one of the kids we have been working with had been doing really well in freezing her defense on the dribble. So she did that in practice one day and her coach told her, "don't do that again, that's just showing off." I could have screamed. What a silly thing to say.

But what did he really do with that comment? He took her creativity away. He took away a little bit of her zest for the game. He took away some of the emotion, the fun, the hugeness of playing the game. That's the kind of thing that too many youth coaches do.

What would have happened if he had applauded what she had done rather than castigated it? I'll tell you. She would have played even harder and she would be willing to do what ever he asked of her on the floor. Just with showing his appreciation for upping her game she would have performed much better. Instead, he wants robots. Shame! Shame! Shame!

Remember, I want to know what you think!

Hey, guys. As you follow this blog, remember that I want to know what you think. And if you find it useful, please pass it along to your friends. If you find it ridiculous, I want to know that to. One thing I've learned during my coaching days is that I can always learn something from somebody every day. Just today I learned about how passion should be a place where we can go to live life. Thank you to YS for that one.

And if you have a kid playing basketball at any level, you should pass this post along to his/her coaches. I think they will find it valuable, and it will at least challenge their thinking.

One thing my high school coach told me: If you know it all, then it's time to stop playing because the game is about to pass you by.

#11 You Be Doin' Bad

#11, you are awesome!!  Girl, I watched you play a week ago and I could tell you could play from the time you stepped on the floor to shoot at halftime of the J.V. game. Let me give you a whole bunch of "atta girl"s for the game that you have grabbed.

Now that I've said that to you, let me give you some free advice. Keep pushing. I counted at least 6 times during your game that you could have pushed the ball right down the face of the defense but you held up. Why? To run that silly, ridiculous offense? Stop it! Just stop it! There was no one on the floor who could stop you. Wait, I take that back. There was one player who did stop you. That player is you.

I want you to think of it this way. If you take the first quarter and establish your dominance, what do you think is going to happen? I'll tell you. The other coach is going to call time-out and furiously devise something to try and stop you. Probably a double team or some kind of sinking man defense. Now, when that happens, what should you do? Still look to score, but now you know that you have your team-mates as great options because the defense is keying on you. Do you want that #23 to go off for 20? Then get your 20 in the first half. You can do it, you got the game.

And if you don't bust for 30 at least once this year, shame on... well, shame on someone.

Coaches, if you have a kid with this kind of talent, stop bottling her up to run your offense. Turn her loose! Let her be the player that she really is! She has earned that level of respect from you.

Basketball should be creative and fluid

Basketball at its highest level is a game that inspires creativity. That's what you should be working on, inspiring your players to be creative, to use their imaginations to play one step ahead of their competition. I think this is one of those life lessons that basketball can specifically address. To grab life and use it. To take the rules of the game - or the rules of life - and see what you can do within those rules. To play - and live - larger than you ever dreamed possible. To embrace failing, to love to fail, because that means you are out there doing things.

I was at a game the other night and this really struck home for me because of what I saw. One team, we will call them Stillcher high school (those of you in my home town can figure this out - it's an anagram), was simply superior than the other team. Superior at every position, maybe the post was a push, but certainly better at every other position. And they had one kid - #11, you know who you are - that could have busted for 30.

Stillcher won, but the game was a squeaker. Here's why, I think. Stillcher was determined to run their flex offense until they got the shot they wanted, which was usually that little elbow shot, but sometimes they got a layup out of it. Now that looks really good to folks in the stands. They're saying things like, "Wow! Look how well coached they are." Or, "They can really run their offense great." But the question is: does that offense really utilize the talent they have? I don't think so. To me this is a coach who wants the team to reflect what HE knows, not what the players know. There's huge difference. We will address when we talk about NCAA and NBA basketball later.

If you are determined to run the flex for your youth basketball team - and I strongly, emphatically advise against it with every molecule in my body screaming no! no! no! - please make some adjustments to it. More on that tomorrow. I'll finish with this note: let your kids play the game. Don't make them play your game.

What Are You Willing To Do?

A few days ago I was watching a college game on T.V. and the color analyst made an interesting comment that, should any of you heard it, requires some parsing.

He said, "He (the offensive player) should have pulled it (the ball) out and set something up and run some time off the clock."

Here's what happened to prompt the commentator's response. Blue Team is up 3 points with under two minutes to play. Blue retrieved a turnover deep at their defensive end and broke out on the dribble immediately - just as he should. Two of the offense (now defense) were able to get back and settle in just in front of the goal. The dribbler came at the basket hard and fast, made a dribble move, and split the defense for a shot. He missed and the defense got the rebound.

Now was the commentator right in his assessment? Probably. But what he didn't say is what you, as a coach, need to always remember. I watched most of this game (it was either that or go Christmas shopping) and I saw the Blue Team work extremely hard at both ends. They were aggressive and constantly taking the game to the other team. While the White Team probably had better players, they also were on their heels most of the game. Because of the intense pressure the Blue Team applied to them, they never really could get in a flow. Sure the Blue Team took some bad shots, threw some bad passes, but they also laid their guts out on the floor at both ends.

So the question becomes: would the Blue Team even be in a position to win the game if they did not play with this attitude? I think not. These were 9 guys who played to the maximum of their abilities BECAUSE THEY WERE ALLOWED TO!! If you want to control everything your team does to show what a brilliant coach you are then you are doing a dis-service to your kids. But if you are willing to let your kids make stupid mistakes, and maybe even lose a game - and you will look bad in the process - then you are doing right by them. And I'll bet that you will win more games than you lose if you do. But you will to have some guts.

So: do you got 'em?

Hey, What Are We Talkin' 'Bout?

I was at a high school practice the other day, and I got to thinking about what this blog is really about. Yeah, I knew before yesterday, but I am going to hint to at least a bit of what its broad scope is. Probably just as revealing as my explanation is what I witnessed at the practice that spurred my thinking.

But here is what I saw. A lot of standing, a lot of half-hearted play, and very little understanding from the players of what they were trying to do. You have all heard about setting goals and having the drive to reach those goals. And many of you have embraced that philosophy and it plays out in your every day life. And, to be fair, probably every basketball team (at least at the high school level and above) has goals for the season. Things like "win the conference", "Beat Watsamatta U", things like that. And many of those teams have other goals like shooting 70% from the line or 30% from behind the arc.

But what I'm talking about is not goals. It's purpose. And I believe your purpose can be broken down into small, chewable bites that reflect the larger purpose. And it is equally important in basketball as it is in life. We will talk more about purpose as we go along, but this is what is meant by a lot of coaches when they talk about their team having a personality. It is the team buying into their purpose and it comes out as their personality.

So what does that mean to you? The youth hoops coach? Simply this: you want to develop attitude and purpose with your team. And you do this by making sure your players know what their purpose is on offense and defense. And the beauty of this is that you can massage your strategy for different opponents because you already have a base from which to maneuver. In other words, you've taken away so much from your opponent that you can give up what you want to rather than accept what your opponent is demanding.

Let me give you another hint about what we are discussing in this blog. You don't develop purpose and personality by running plays or motion offenses. In fact, that is diametrically opposed to purpose. And your player's development. And fun. Most of all, it takes away from fun. Basketball should be fun, don't you think?

More to come.

Please Stop Doing This!

I was at a high school game a few days ago, watching the J.V. Remember when we discussed that one fundamental that everyone teaches that I am begging you to just forget? Well, it came up again.

Now, please understand something. I used to be that guy who demanded that the players use this fundamental. I used to be the guy that boxed in players with silly rules and constraints. I used to be the guy that practiced all the wrong things. But, unlike many of you, I was also the guy who was willing and eager to learn from the best. And I took every advantage of that. So forgive my pretentious pontificating, but I think I am justified because I have made all the mistakes you might be making right now.

Anyway, here's the play. Dribbler coming down the middle of the floor on a 2 on 2. Both defenders are in the hole and the other offensive player is settled in the short corner, wide open. So here comes the dribbler with no one on him and he tries to make a running pass to his teammate. It sails out of bounds. The coach got up and said, "If you had (insert silly fundamental here) you wouldn't have made that turnover."

How wrong can one be? In fact, if the dribbler had executed this "fundamental" he would have turned it over another way. What the coach should have said, what I would have said is, "Hey, next time take it all the way to the goal and make a move or just shoot the jumpshot." And that's what you should say as well.

As coaches, we have to look beyond the simple things that we have been taught in the past and really analyze what makes a good player. It's probably not what you think. And that's what this blog is for.

Please, any questions? Ask away.

A Wonderful, Fantastic Smack-Down

A few days ago I was asked to sit on the bench with a young coach who is coaching a boys 7th grade team. I know this guy very well, and he absolutely has it going on. He gets it. So he's playing in a 7th grade league and most of his guys are smaller and younger, so he has his hands full from the get-go.

The game begins and we're hanging around for a little while. Mostly because the other team's first group was nervous so they didn't start too well, and the second five is just bad enough to where we could stay with them. Then the first five gets in for their second rotation and the game quickly gets out of hand. By halftime, we're down 10. By the end of the game we're down 24. That's a real beating considering the fact that it was running clock and all of that.

So he turns to me as the last seconds wind down, "Well, what did you think?" he says.

I looked at him and smiled, "I thought they played great," I said.

"Yeah, me to," he said as he rose from the bench to greet his team coming off of the floor.

Now why did we say that? Because we both knew that we will catch that team and pass them up. We were the more aggressive team throughout, and we played harder at both ends of the floor. We lost because we either didn't have the skills or the size to run with this team.

You see this is the point. While the other team was running their patterned offense, thinking they were being successful because their greater size and speed made it harder for us to keep up, we tried to pull off our dribble moves. Failing every time. Basketballs were more like dodgeballs in that gym. But we tried and tried and kept on trying. And with each failure, we got a little bit better. But the more we try to use our skills in a real game, the better we will be. And one day, if some idiot coach makes our kids run a patterned offense, they will have the skills to make any offense work.

Even the flex.

Whadya Think Yer Doin'?

Hey, if you are finding this information useful, please drop us a comment. If you're not finding this information useful, please drop us a comment. And pass this stuff on to your buds, your kids coach (at any level), and anyone else you can think of.

We are happy to answer any questions you have, so fire away. But don't expect us to step off the ground we've staked out. We just don't see that happening. Nevertheless, if you want to know what we mean, or you need some advice on coaching your team the best way possible, just ask.

So come on people, spread the word of hoops literacy.

Interesting rest stop on the highway to hoops stardom

I was at another coach's practice last week and an interesting question came up. Now this guy is one heckuva coach. He's got it going on, and he GETS IT! His team is highly skilled and because of that he is able to run and execute any entry he wishes. But a disagreement came up.

This is the play: Offense broke the press and found themselves with a two on one. Ball on the left wing, other offensive guy on the right wing and the defense was deep in the hole. The guy with the ball on the left wing tried to pass to the other wing, who was making a cut to the goal. Of course the defense picked it off and the coach stopped the action to correct his players.

"When you are faced with a defender that wont come get you," he said, "you have to either shoot the mid-range jumper or pull it out."

I went to him after practice and asked him why, because I vehemently disagree. He explained that he would prefer that his guys shoot the jumpshot, but if they are not willing he thinks they could get a better shot by pulling it out.

Here's my disagreement: when you've got young players you want to get them into the habit of attacking all the time. So I would have told that guy to either shoot the jumpshot or attack the basket and make a move. It's my belief, and this is ground I will be hard pressed to move off of, that you attack all the time. Now I recognize that for the first few years your guys will not be able to pull off the move to score, but eventually they will. And now you've got a guy who can create a shot from that position on the floor. You can always revert to shooting the jumper.

He agreed and he recognized that he has the advantage of having guys who are already highly skilled. So he has a lot of options on what he can do. And that, friends, is EXACTLY the point of this blog.

3 Man Weave

May I comment on the 3 man weave? And/or the 5 man weave? I happened by a freshmen girls basketball practice the other day and I got to watch their warrior-like attempt at running the 3 man weave. Now they tried hard, but, come on, there was more travelling going on than O'Hare International Airport. And the passing? Horrendous! Each pass looked like a hot air balloon taking flight.

But make no mistake, I don't blame the players. They don't know. No my question about the 3 man weave is this:

Why?

Why are you even running the three man weave? Can anyone tell me when in the heck any team in the history of basketball broke out into the three man weave when they were going down the floor. It's not like a broadway show, where the participant can break out into song at the oddest times. It's basketball. Where you should be looking to score.

Please, just stop it. The 3 man weave teaches nothing. It's a filler because you can't figure out anything else to do. Stop it. Stop, stop, stop.

The Most Useless Fundamental In The Game

Yesterday I was confronted yet again with that one alleged "fundamental" that is taught over and over again, yet very few have stopped to ask, "Why?" Now, I'm not going to reveal what it is just yet, but I will say this: I spent the last month trying to drive that thinking out of my players only to have it rear its monstrous, ugly, boil encrusted head again. I am sick to death of watching high school and youth programs spend precious minutes and waste a lot of coaching hot air on this ridiculously passe and wrong-headed skill. And, perhaps even more frustrating, teaching this skill does not make players more effective it, in fact, makes players LESS effective.

So why in the heck are you teaching it? Because when your players execute this skill, everyone in the stands will say "ooohhhh" and "aaaahhhhh" at how well coached your team is. "Look at them!", they will say, "that coach really has taught them well."

And that's the only reason there is. So stop it!!

Competing Theories Part Deux

Tonight I witnessed again two competing theories in action. One team played free, fluid, and aggressive. But this team was also smaller, younger, and less experienced. The other team was taller and seasoned. They knew their offense well and ran it with the idea to score. And they won handily.

So what does this do to our theory that younger players should be concentrating on individual skill development to the outright exclusion of running offenses and plays? It supports it completely. Because while the younger team did get beat rather easily (they were never really in the game), eventually they will compete and beat the other team. So if you are coaching the younger team, you will have to sit there stoically while your team gets pounded, secure in the knowledge that you're doing the right thing for your players. If you're in the other camp? Coaching the older team that ran its offense so well? You might be tempted to pat yourself on the back thinking you are doing right by your team because you won so big.

No, you didn't. Get over yourself.

Time To Think About Your Practice

I was walking near a park the other day and several soccer teams were having practice. I saw in each of those practices, there were maybe ten teams working out, all the coaches making the same error. Yeah, it's soccer so maybe this point doesn't translate well. But, yeah, it does, because I see this error tons of times in every practice of every sport.

Kids were dutifully lined up to wait their turn for a drill. The drills were common, most involved kicking the ball at a target, the net, another player or coach, some variation of the same drill. The coaches rolled the ball out in front of the player and the player kicked it.

Some kids kicked it well, most did not, but that's hardly the point. Well, actually, that is exactly the point. How is a young player going to learn to kick the ball well? With enough force? With the correct part of the foot? And eventually manipulating the spin on the ball to maneuver it in flight?

That's easy! By kicking it. Kicking and kicking and kicking. Over and over and over. But what did I see? A bunch of kids dutifully waiting in long lines for their turn to kick. There was a lot of chatter by the kids at the end of the line and very few, if any, managed to hear and internalize what the coach was teaching because at the end of the line they are too far, in time and space, from the action.

Solution? Forget the lines!  I know it's easy to call out "Put a line here" and the kids will all form up like they've been taught. Your practices will look organized and the kids will look like they are being taught by someone who knows what's really going on. It looks great, I get that. But will that tactic get them the most turns at the ball as possible? Not hardly. Grab a parent and have two groups work the drill. Better yet, grab two parents and the coach can oversee both groups. No parents around? Make a player toss the ball to the next in turn.

Yep, your practice will sometimes look like mass confusion, and it will often devolve into chaos. But that is your job as a coach, to organize several activities at once so that your players get the most out of your limited time with them, then keep them on task. And the alternative? Beautiful straight lines with kids doing what they're told. This will make you look good as a coach but this will not make the players as skilled as possible.

More to come..... so stay tuned.

In the last few days I witnessed competing theories in action. At least competing theories regarding what to teach  in youth basketball. I happened to be watching a game on Friday where one team clearly had better, older players than the other. But the younger team came into the game with a much different attitude or approach. Here's what happened:

The older team was determined to run through their set of plays, there were four I think. But their skill level would not allow them to execute a play against even the most passive defense. The younger team was determined to just play. I saw them attempt no plays, there were no "formations" on offense, and they played an aggressive man defense that at its core was "get the ball".  As you can guess, the younger team won. By a lot. And after the first quarter it wasn't even a contest.

But, if you are a follower of this blog, you know that winning is not the point at this age. What struck me like a Stoudamire dunk was that as the game progressed, you could see the younger team embrace their confidence, enjoy allowing their bodies to respond to what they asked of them, and generally have fun playing at such a level that they were completely exhausted by the end of the game.

That, people, is the point.

First Scrimmage

We had our first scrimmage yesterday. And I have to tell you, the kids loved it. I mean they had a blast. But here's the key I want to impress upon you, because you're thinking the kids loved it because kids love to scrimmage. No, I don't think that tells the whole story here. Let me fill in some blanks for a second.

All we have done in practice is work on individual skill development. Dribbling, one on one moves, shooting, that kind of thing. Here's what we didn't do. We didn't waste any time practicing plays or offenses or defenses.

I think I mentioned before that this team I'm blogging about is a girls team. None of whom are expected to make varsity and all of them are terribly inexperienced. We scrimmaged a bunch of boys a year younger, but still stronger and faster than us.

So what happened? We kicked their tails up and down the floor. And it was a blast. WITH NO OFFENSES, NO PLAYS, NOTHING LIKE THAT! That's the point of this blog: how to make your players better players. I remember we scored on three out of bounds plays - scored three times out of three tries, simply because we have been working on how to get open and what to do with the ball when they get it.

And the kids loved it!! They saw how all the hard work - and the KIND of work we've done - is paying off. Besides that, they like scoring a lot of points. That's fun.

Double Tap Dribble

As I mentioned in my previous post, we introduced the double tap dribble two practices ago. As expected, we are quite far from mastering this skill. Still, my post today has two functions.

It's critical that the first thing you teach about dribbling is the pound dribble. You have your players stand on the end line - that's the baseline - and dribble with their right and left hands. No dribble moves. Just pound it. And you have to emphasize to your players that they need to pound the ball into the floor absolutely as hard as they can. Left then right then left again, of course, because most will be weaker with their left hands.

Next, we introduced the side-to-side dribble. You are after developing a swinging motion, rhythmic, their bodies low. Make the players work on speed with this dribble. Side-to-side as quickly as they can. Of course they will mess up - but that's good. That means they are pushing themselves beyond their comfort zone.

Now, incorporate the double tap dribble and have them pull the basketball to the other side with the same swinging motion you've practiced before. One pound dribble with the right, then double tap with the right, then pull it quickly over to the left.

Practice today!! Yeah, time to strap it on one more time. But this post is about a narrow specific dribble skill that you should be teaching - but probably are not. We have had 6 practices so far. Not very many, but with school ball starting soon and busy schedules, that's all we could do. During those 6 practices we have worked primarily on dribble skills and 1 on 1 moves.

Wait! - we do this great drill called the ankle breaker drill. More on that later, more than any other drill this but it has done more to improve the confidence of our kids.

So today we are going to introduce the double tap dribble. This dribble is critical if your players are ever going to pull off a quick, shifty crossover. You know the one, used a lot coming off ball screens, you get the defender leaning one way, then freeze them with a double tap and pull it to the other side lightning fast and  explode to the basket. The defense will be standing there wondering what in the world just happened.

We will start by having the players double tap on one side then pull it over to the other as quick as possible. Right to left for a minute, then left to right for two minutes. The key here is that the players need to have basic dribble skills already: staying low, pounding the ball, doing a simple crossover. This is that next step kind of dribble.

By the way, we teach a crossover only because their school coach will want to see it. We never use a crossover in live action. We always go between the legs or  behind the back. You're probably wondering why.....  Stay tuned.

What, exactly, are you coaching for?

Okay, so I took a small team to a tournament a few weeks ago. The bulk of our team is not very good, but that's okay, we're just at the beginning stages of putting this team together. We're still working on dribbling and scoring - you know, the stuff that good players do. Our younger boy's team is going great and the younger girls team is making huge strides. But this one is a year away from really making some noise. Anyway, we get there and we find that one of our players is sick and can't attend.

Uh oh. It's never, ever good to sign up for a tournament then not play. That kind of stuff gets around fast and that is NOT a reputation you want. So I called some players from another team I knew and asked them to play.

Problem solved, right? You would think so, if your intention is to just let kids play and get better. Sadly, that's not everyone's intention. The coach of those kids I scrounged up got wind of this and through a massive hissy fit. And his players were not even going to play on that weekend. Yeah, having them sit at home watching T.V. is really going to up their game. It seems he had another team in this tournament and he was counting on winning the whole thing with that team. And he didn't want his older kids beating his younger kids.

Now, here's my problem. First, and you will here this a lot as you follow this blog, if you are in a tournament that you can win, then you're in the wrong tournament. If you want your kids to get better, particularly in the early stages of your team's development, you need to play in tournaments where you get pounded every game. Once you're holding your own, it's time to move on to bigger and better tournaments. But more on that later.

"But what about their self esteem? Won't that ruin their confidence?" you ask.

To that I say, "Meadow Muffins." No, your team will be much better off if it is tested - and tested hard - in every game possible.

Second, if you need tournament wins to attract players to your AAU or club team, then you are doing something wrong. Primarily, you're practicing wrong. No, what will attract players to your program is that the players LEARN HOW TO PLAY!! Some players - and their parents - won't want that. And that means you don't want them. They just want to be the star of their junior high team. Okay, fine. Go somewhere else. But their talent will top out by 9th grade. So be it. But you are after something entirely different.

At least you should be.