The end of the basketball season means the end of an era for legendary college basketball coach Don Meyer who coached his last game this weekend. If you are not entirely familiar with Coach Meyer's story, click here. It doesn't get much better than Coach Meyer, here are some video highlights:
My favorite quote: "I love the game of basketball but not as much as I love the player"
I'm always looking for nuances that help explain things. I like finding patterns and see how to apply them for added advantage. From some notes that I received a little while ago, here are some interesting "truisms" courtesy of Kevin Eastman, the Assistant Coach for the Boston Celtics,
TRUISM # 1: There is a direct correlation between the number of ball reversals and defensive breakdowns.
Our players have to understand that the hardest thing to do defensively is to close out — to be running out at a player from the help position. Having said that, we need to understand that an advantage our offense must look to create is to get the defense to close out as often as possible; we want the ball to be reversed from side to side. With our team I can tell you that our scoring proficiency goes up as the number of passes and ball reversals goes up. Of course we have a shot clock that forces us to shoot the ball quicker, but we still would like a minimum of 3 passes as we then know the ball is getting reversed. When we only throw 1 or 2 passes we find that it is very easy for the defense to load up to the ball
TRUISM # 2: The closer you run your offense to the basket, the more physical your screens can be.
We have found that the officials are more apt to let contact go when it is closer to the basket as they are used to seeing more contact down there as opposed to out by the 3 point line. We feel that is why the flex action is allowed to get away with some physical baseline and pin down screens, and why we have to be careful when setting a back screen out by the 3 point line. So give some thought to having some part of your offensive system where you run your stuff closer to the rim.
TRUISM # 3: The faster the ball moves, the closer the defenders stay to their man.
We have found that when we move the ball a little faster, the defensive players are more concerned with staying up with their man and tend to not jump to the ball and get in help position. We also feel that that leaves us with more room to drive it as the defenders are out of position just enough to allow us to get a good driving angle on them. I would say if you do not have a good scoring post man, you should look to move the ball a little faster at times and create driving opportunities. If you do have a good post man you would want to slow it down and give the post man a good look.
If you like any of Coach Eastman's stuff, or you just like the Celtics, then check out Kevin Eastman's DVD on Skill Development for Inside and Perimeter Players.
For all you history buffs out there (yes, I count myself as one of them), this is a short look at the Black Fives Era by ESPN's Outside the Lines. The Black Fives was a traveling team during the 1930s, a time when racial segregation was the norm. A great way to teach social history to students, through sports, enjoy...
Lorenzo Romar on Motivation and Leadership
Posted by bruchu Labels: *NCAA, Motivation and LeadershipFrom a few days ago on ESPN, this is a great 1 on 1 conversation about motivation and leadership with one of my favorite college coaches Lorenzo Romar of the University of Washington Huskies. I have to admit that his style of coaching is very much the way I model myself after, he's not much of a yell in your face kind of a coach, instead he's cool and calm but still holds his players accountable. Enjoy...
My favorite quote from the clip:
"Your reputation is what perceive you to be. Your character is what you are when nobody is watching."
In watching some local playoff games the other day, I caught one game where one team's M2M help-recover defense was causing the other team's motion offense all kinds of problems. When it comes to the playoffs, it's all about the adjustments, everyone knows what everyone else is running, so the ability to make subtle but important changes is crucial.
I came across these great notes from a coaching clinic conducted by Coach Bad Brownell that outlined some great adjustments you can make to your motion offense against a strong help defense team. In watching that playoff game, I thought a couple of tweaks could have helped them overcome their difficulties:
Motion Ideas vs Helpside Defense
General thoughts - move the defense:
- Ball reversal
- Player Movement
- Early Offense, flow into motion acting out of transition
Flare Screens
Use flare screens because the defense usually jumps hard to ball (over-committing) when playing help defense,
Screen and Skip
Screen in for the crosscourt pass, then skip to the open side. The side to side action really causes help defense teams a lot of problems, just like it does for zone defenses,
Downscreen Cutters
Pass and cut on the perimeter. Cutter cuts through the basket and receives a weakside downscreen by the offensive player on the weakside, then you can reverse the ball quickly to that open cutter,
Drive the Weakside
On the quick ball reversal or skip pass, your perimeter players need to attack the glass as defenders are temporarily caught on help rotation,
Penetrate and Fill Behind
Drive hard at a shooter's defender, and the shooter should fill behind for the open shot. Basic drive and kick principle,
For more info on drills to use for motion offense like the dribble drive, take a look at John Calipari's DVD on Perimeter Drills for the DDM. Coach Calipari is the head coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats.
Kobe Bryant Not Worried About Lakers Winning Without Him
Posted by bruchu Labels: *NBA, Motivation and LeadershipSome good stuff from Kobe Bryant today on Pardon The Interruption talking about how he's glad that the team is winning without him. How, the Lakers pride themselves in being able to make decisions independently, overcoming injuries, and the trust they have that if one of them goes down with an injury, others will step up.
It goes back to the point that you want your players running things. A sign of a well coached team isn't where the coach is dictating every movement or action, the sign of a well coached team is one where the coach is barely noticed, where the players can start practices themselves without the coach's every command.
Talking Motivation from Tennessee's Bruce Pearl
Posted by bruchu Labels: *NCAA, Motivation and LeadershipFrom the other day, here is a great 1-on-1 interview with Tennessee Head Coach Bruce Pearl. Some great 1-liner motivational tidbits that you can use with your team:
Champions are made when nobody is watching. What are you going to do separate yourself from others. What are they going to do to deserve victory.
Adversity doesn't build character, it reveals it.
Hard work alone won't guarantee success, but without hard work, I guarantee that you won't be successful. It's your choice, I choose to work hard, I choose to make sure our teams work hard to put our teams in position to have success.
It's easier to get something goin', than it is to keep something goin'. The difference between the good coaches and the great coaches is that if they didn't win a championship, they always competed for a championship. Creating the consistency to be successful.
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