I've admired Hubie Brown for many years now. I try to catch any TNT game which he is broadcasting because in my opinion, he is one of the smartest basketball minds of all time. The year he won the NBA's coach of the year in 2004 (his second honor btw) with the Memphis Grizzlies, guiding them to 50 wins, was a monumental achievement. I know, because I watched painfully in Vancouver the Grizzlies become the fastest team to lose 1000 games in NBA history and have the worst winning percentage in all four major professional sports team history. Here is some great wisdom from coach Brown about developing a winning philosophy in basketball,

Winning Philosophy

- Can you get high percentage shots for your two best shooters?
- Who do you go to for the last shot?
- Must have one closers---

- Can they make the shot if open?
- Can they create out of a trap with a pass or by use of the dribble?
- Can they create off the dribble and get fouled?
- Can they make the foul shot?
- Can they handle defeat?

- Did you choose the right person to close?
- Always change your defense on the last play of the game...element of surprise. Make them face something new.
- Change defenses. Prepare for the 6 best league opponents from day 1.
- You must get more shots when you lack offensive talent. How do you get more shots?

- Steal the ball
- Block shots
- Hold you to one shot
- Get to the offensive boards
- Get to the offensive boards

I especially like the part above where coach Brown asks, can they handle defeat? I feel that before you learn to win, you need to learn to lose. To be able to learn from one's mistakes, move on, and become a better player/coach/person after losing. After all, losing happens in real life just as it does on the court. As teachers, it is our obligation to teach these life lessons and help them understand how the world works.

There is a wonderful 2-pack DVD from Coach Hubie Brown that has Volumes I and II from his Secrets of Winning Basketball series. Definitely worth checking out. I have a few Hubie Brown notes so be sure to check them out at the X's and O's Basketball forum.

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As the college basketball season gets underway, I thought it would be prudent to scheme a secondary break from one of my favorite coaches and the AP Poll number one team to open the season, the UNC Tar Heels. Hope you enjoy the new Blog Template as well...

Setup:

UNC likes to get O5, Tyler Hansbrough right away. If that option isn't there, they'll go into a variety of secondary breaks. The setup has O4 coming in as the trail man. and they'll start in a 4-out 1-in set.

O1, Ty Lawson will start on the right side and look to reverse the ball to O4 who can be Marcus Ginyard or Danny Green. O4 gets it to O3 the small forward.

UCLA Backdoor cut:

The play here is designed to get the ball to O4 coming off the UCLA cut from the upscreen set by O2, probably Wayne Ellington. O5, Hansbrough moves from block to block on the reversal.

O3 can either hit O5 on the quick hitter down low or the lob to the cutting O4 for an alley-oop dunk. It's hard to tell diagramming, but a bounce pass or straight pass wouldn't work as there is quite a bit of traffic, it really has to be a lob pass for a dunk or put-back.

Cross screen action:

Lastly, if the lob isn't there, O2 will set a shuffle ball-screen for O3. Simultaneously, O4 will set a cross-screen for O5. It's important that O5 come low-side for the ball.

O3 dribble drives to the middle off the screen and looks for O5, Hansbrough for a quick baby hook which he is so good at. Coming underneath is important here according to coach Williams as most teams will try to deny, this way O5 can pop up for the ball. O3 can hit O4 on the pick and seal as well.

For a great drill that works on finishing up strong on fast breaks, check out this UNC full court shooting drill.

Coach Roy Williams has a great DVD on his Secrets of the UNC secondary Break. As always, please check out the X's and O's Basketball forum to see what notes are available to download.

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I found not one, but two great defensive clips from the Riga-Lukoil game at the ULEB Cup action earlier today. Here, Riga does a great job trapping the ball-screen and forcing the other team into a long shot.Watch the video and then you can read my thoughts below (Lukoil is the red team, Riga is yellow).



Now, there are many ways to defend the ball-screen or pick and roll. Whole books and videos are dedicated on the topic. Here, Riga decides to trap the ball-screen and force Lukoil into a bad shot. Now, keep in mind, in Europe, they play FIBA rules with a 24-second shot like the NBA, so they don't have the luxury of a 35 second shot clock. So, the trap works really well here. Remember, if you decide to trap, you must teach your players to rotate while the ball is in the air, otherwise, you will give up open shots and layups.

The key to trapping the ball-screen is to have the defender who's man has set the screen run and jump out to prevent the dribbler from penetrating. The screened defender then trails and traps from below. Here is a great drill that I have used to practice deflections and trapping if you are looking for one.

If you're looking for more info, I recommend Jeff Lebo's DVD on half-court trapping techniques and doubling down. Coach Lebo is head coach at Auburn and provides a ton of great info on trapping and doubling. I also have lots of notes so head over the X's and O's Basketball Forum to take a look and see what I have.

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I was watching some Euroleague action earlier today and took this excellent clip from the Riga-Lukoil game at the ULEB Cup. This is a great sequence that shows great fundamental M2M team defense. When you watch it over and over, you can't not admire the way they move together to help and recover, stop penetration and force the long shot. It's like watching 5 Bruce Bowens out there. It's really what we'd like all our teams to look like when playing M2M defense. Watch the video and then you can read my thoughts below (Lukoil is the red team, Riga is yellow).



Some random thoughts from watching the video,

- I love how each defender really chases coming off the screens. No laziness, or cheating underneath. I actually don't like my players cheating underneath, I prefer that they chase and hustle hard. Cheating underneath forces you to compensate with switching, etc..

- Watch the middle defender, watch how he shows and recovers. He's help-side but he's active and on his toes. Too many times, I see help-side defenders and they're stationary, they don't move and when the ball gets reversed, they get caught napping because they're not active.

- Stop the penetration. I love defenders who can closeout and stop the penetration by themselves without help. The Lukoil defender does a great job of closing out to prevent the shot, then beating his defender into the paint forcing the pass out, he does this without help which is key.

- No unnecessary jumping. I hate it when players jump to block shots, especially on the perimeter taking them out of the play and creating a numbers disadvantage. All you need to do is get your hand up.

A great DVD that breaks down the man-to-man fundamentals is Geno Auriemma's 8 Essential Defensive Drills DVD. Coach Auriemma is the head coach of multiple national championship winning lady Huskies of UConn.

Head over to the X's and O's of Basketball Forum to discuss.

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Ray Allen hit the shot of the night in OT to give the Celtics the win, but I liked this play at the end of regulation by TJ Ford for the Raptors to tie the game. It's run very well and I think it's something that any of us could use in an end of game situation. Watch the video and then you can read my thoughts below.



It's a smart play because it combines a couple of great elements, the inbounder getting the ball back and the handoff. Here is how it sets up,

So Bargnani comes across while Bosh pops out. The mesh is suppose to act like a screen, but Bosh almost runs right into Bargnani. Anways, Bosh gets the ball up top from TJ Ford the inbounder.

Now, Ford heads directly at Bosh and gets the handoff, his man plays underneath but Garnett (Bosh's man) doesn't trap Ford because he's worried about Bosh on the roll so he lays off. This allows Ford to attack the basket beating his man and KG for an uncontested layup.

I like the handoff in this situation because it's safe and the likelihood of an intercept is low. The counter to this play of course is the fake handoff and Bosh pivots and attacks the hoop. This works well if the defense reads the handoff and jumps the handoff by getting out in front to trap the intended receiver.

For more game winning plays in special situations, check out Coach Morgan Wooten's DVD on Coaching to Win in Special Situations. Coach Wooten is the winningest high school coach in the history of basketball and one of my favorite coaching mentors. Also, check out the X's and O's Basketball forum for notes and other stuff.

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Chauncey Billups is one of my favorite players because of his ability to post up his man and use his size to score on smaller quicker guards. I liked this clip because it shows how you can gain a better position by passing, re-posting, then using your strength to over-power the defense. Watch the video and then you can read my thoughts below.



No need to scheme this one, Chauncey gets the inbounds. Tyrone Lue is defending him and does a good job of aggressively playing Chauncey. Seeing that Tyrone is on him good, he passes it back out to Rasheed Wallace up top. As soon as he passes it out, he repositions himself into the low block. He gets the post-entry pass from Rasheed up top, uses his strength to spin baseline and scores a short baby hook.

One thing that I try to teach my players is to constantly work for position, especially anyone playing in the post. Good post-play always starts with position, so getting the ball in a good position is essential. I posted earlier with Carlos Boozer showing some moves like the swim move and pick and post to gain good post position. If you get the ball in an undesirable spot like Chauncey does above, you can always pass out and reposition for a better post-up.

Tennessee assistant Jason Shay has come out with a couple of new videos. One of them is coach Shay's DVD on 18 post moves. If you're looking for some new moves or improving your post-up game, it's something worth checking out. I have Steve Alford notes as well as many others on post-play so check them out at the X's and O's Basketball Forum.

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One of the things that I really agree with as far as defensive strategy is concerned with is to be flexible. Much more so than on offense, I think on defense you want to dictate the terms of how the game is going to be played. I was reading through some notes and I found this great article from Ghassan Sarkis who is the Lebanese National team coach and has coached professionally in Asia and the Middle East. In it, he talks about his philosophy on being adaptive on defense. Here is an excerpt,

With my years of experience, I have learned that a winning defense consists of several important questions that need answers: How do we play defense? Against whom do we play it? How do we “change” it from one game to another? At what time do we change our defense during a game? Many coaches believe in a single defensive strategy, and their own egos then become their enemies. Many good coaches feel the necessity of changing a defense, but they take no action. It is important to be flexible in your defensive strategy.

Here’s a prime example: In 1999, my Sagesse team was playing their first ever Asian Club Final against a Chinese team. On our road to the final, we only played man-to-man defense, but the Chinese team proceeded to pick apart and destroy our man-to-man defense. During the first half, they punished us with their pick-and-roll and accurate catch-and-shoot shots off the screens. At half time, we were down by eleven points. During the intermission, I briefed my players on their mistakes and how we should adjust our rotations. One minute before the jump ball to start the second half, I summoned the players and asked them to change over to a 2-3 zone. I followed my sixth sense and just “changed.” It turned out that our rivals could not handle the surprise, and we managed to win this very precious international trophy thanks to a defensive change.

This willingness to “adjust and change” a defensive strategy is what will bring victories. We double team today and we don’t tomorrow. We deny passes, we trap the low post, we switch on catch-and-shoot screening, we deny middle cuts. Then again, we do the opposite things in different games against different teams. In my philosophy, it is the opponent’s offensive strategy that determines my own defensive strategy for each game. My players are ready to adapt to different defensive tasks rather than being “programmed” to execute a single task. Offensive skills vary from one player to another and from one team to another, and thus these skills should be defended differently. Defensive strategies are being scouted exactly like scouting the player’s offensive skills. This gives us more reason to be unpredictable in our defense.

In our own defense, we also use many different strategies. Sometimes we double the post, other times we use full-court pressure, and at times use a junk defense. Much depends on who we play and the players we have on the floor. Sometimes we have players that play better M2M, other times we have great trapping players. We drill our players on all the fundamentals but in games, you must be adaptable.

For defensive fundamentals, Geno Auriemma is about as good as you can get to learn from. Coach Auriemma's new DVD on the four cornerstones of half-court defense shows you some great concepts in helping you establish a foundation in which your defense will be based on. I have the original Sarkis article as well as Geno Auriemma notes so be sure to check them out on the X's and O's Basketball Forum.

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