Tool of the Day Archive August 2008

August 28 WHAT MESSAGE ARE YOU SENDING? In their book Everyone's A Coach Don Shula and Ken Blanchard point out that there are 4 ways that how a coach reacts to a performance sends a message.  They believe that a coach can respond to an action by a player in 4 ways and that we must consider our intentions when we respond: 1. Praise-usually will lead to more of the same behavior or performance.  We must be careful that we continue to increase the performance level that receives praise or the players can stagnate and settle for doing enough to get praised and no more.  2. Redirection-"Coaching" or correction.  Working to improve the actions. 3. Reprimand-used for lack of effort, lack of following directions, or a behavior problem.  The authors feel that It is important that coaches distinguish between the use of redirecting and the use of reprimanding as more patience is required with #2 than #3. 4. Silence-open to interpretation, but usually interpreted as an acceptable performance by a player.  It could also be taken as apathy if there is consistent silence. This is good food for thought as we evaluate our own performances. If you have any interest in reading an excerpt from the book, it is available here on the Amazon web site.  Click on the link below, then on "Search Inside This Book." The "Surprise me" link will bring up various pages. Everyone's a Coach

Augst 28 NO EXCUSES, NO EXPLANATIONS The Indianapolis Colts have signs in their locker room that say: "No Excuses, No Explanations." They do have some very good players, but I think that this type of attitude has a lot to do with why they are the winningest team in the NFL over the past six seasons combined.  If we all strive to make that our personal motto, we are going to become more successful in everything that we do. Yoda from Star Wars puts it another way.  "There is do and do not.  There is no try."

August 27 SOME ANNOUNCEMENTS Basketball is my favorite sport, but I realize that most athletes play more than one sport.  If you are in a fall sport, you should give that your full attention and  concentration. If you are not in a fall sport, this is a great time to continue your individual workouts and participate in your schools pre-season conditioning and open gyms. We feel that now that school has started, it is very important for you to listen to your coaches (either fall sports or basketball if you are not in one).  We have always told you that if anything we say is different than what your coach says, you should do what your coach says because they know you and your team and we do not. Now that school has started, to put the priority as listening to your coach, we are going to cut back the players e-mails to once a week.   It will be different days.  We are going to match it up with something that we send to our coaches list that is motivational in nature.  We hope you understand that we are not stopping our service, just cutting back.  We will step it back up to every day next spring again.

August 27 PATTERN ZONE ATTACK We found this idea for a simple continuity zone offense to run against a 2-3 zone from Tara Vanderveer on youtube.  It gives you a method to dribble the forward away from their guarding spot and then run a player to the short corner. Tara Vanderveer Continuity Zone Offense

August 26 STEVE NASH ON PASSING This is a clip with Steve Nash discussing passing. Make sure you pay attention to his ideas about fundamentals and being able to pass with both hands. It is fun to watch the alley-oop and no look passes, but that is for show and not the types of passes that win games.  That is why your coach will always want you to stick with the fundamentals and so de we! Steve Nash on Passing.

August 25 TRANSITION DRILL In eeping with my promise to send out more ideas for drills, here is a fast moving transition drill that builds from 2 on 1 to 5 on 4. Gene Keady Transition Drill Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the drill.

August 25 HARD 21 DRILL Hard 21 is a great  drill to improve your ability to score.   All You need are two other players to play against, a ball, and a basket. The game  consists of one player trying to score  against the other two.  If  you score, you get 2 (or 3 if it is a three point shot) points.  You then get  to shoot  a  free throw--even if you weren't fouled.  If you make the first , you get a second free throw.  If you make the second you get a third.  If you  make the third you get the ball back with the opportunity to  go against the two other defenders  with a chance to score a basket  again.    Each made free throw is one point. If you miss or lose the ball, whichever of the  other 2 players  gets possession  becomes the offense and you and the third player are on defense. The first  player to 21 is the  winner. This game develops your ability to score and  forces you to play hard and be strong with the ball--plus, it is a lot of fun.

August 22 TWO DUKE MEN'S DRILLS These are two short videos of Duke Men's Drills. If you are at work or school and have a server that blocks video content, you will probably need to view these somewhere else. We sent out the 6 Point Contesting Drill in April, so some of you have probably already viewed it.  It is worth a second look if it has been a while. The new one we have today is a Help and Recover Drill.  You will need to scroll to the bottom of the page to see the video.

August 22 JAB STEP VIDEO We wrote about jab steps last week and came across this video that demonstrates triple threat and the jab step to pass on to you. Triple threat and jab step.

August 21 THE NAVY SEAL CREED I received this in an e-mail the other day and wanted to pass it along as it has some great lessons. In no way am I comparing basketball to serving in the armed forces. U.S. Navy SEAL creed.

August 20 THE WIDER, THE BETTER We believe that the best defensive stances are the widest ones.  Rather than having a stance where the feet are shoulder width apart, have them as wide as the player can have them without slowing his or her movement.  We teach and drill in practice that the defensive slide should be with executed with quick 6 inch steps rather than ever bringing the feet together.  Our opinion is based on the fact that the offense (whether with or without the ball) must attack the defensive players feet to move and the wider the feet are, the more we are sending them in an indirect line.

August 19 IT'S ALL IN A STATE OF MIND Today's Tool is for both players and coaches about the state of mind we all have to take to succeed. Here is the link: It's All in a State of Mind.

August 18 BASELINE ZONE ATTACK I found this short video over the weekend on YouTube. It has three ideas for ways to attack a 2-3 or 2-1-2 zone from behind. Baseline Zone Attack.

August 18 DWIGHT HOWARD ON REBOUNDING Today's tool is one more from the TNT NBA Fundamentals series. Dwight Howard on Rebounding.

August 15 THREE THINGS WE DON'T DISCUSS Our view is that there are some areas that should not be discussed with parents: 1)  Other Players on the Team 2)  Strategy 3)  Playing Time I think most people would agree that it is not appropriate to allow any parent to come in for a meeting with the coaches and bad mouth another player.  Our feeling is that in essence, if you talk about strategy or playing time, you are talking about other players in a roundabout way.  Strategy involves hiding weaknesses and playing to strengths which is based on personnel.  Playing time is a limited quantity in that if a parent lobbies successfully for an increase, must take it away from another player.  We believe that if you talk to one set of parents about any of the above, the right thing would be to talk to all parents.  There simply isn't enough time for that.  If all parents are informed of the policies and more importantly, why those are the policies, in a pre-season meeting, it will help with parent complaints, but nothing will ever eliminate them. When parent complaints do arise, John Maxwell's advice is golden:  Work to poor water on the fire rather than gasoline so that you can get on to the business of coaching.

August 15 BACK TO SCHOOL Remember that doing your best in school benefits you more than anyone else.  You work hard in your classes to benefit yourself, not for anyone else.  There are a lot of people who will push you to do your best--especially your parents and teachers. There are more brain surgeons in the world than there are professional basketball players, so most players aren't able to make a living at it.  But, if you love sports and do well in school and then in college, there are many, many opportunities for jobs in sports related fields.  But, it all starts with putting in more work than the average student.  To achieve more, you have to do more in class just like in basketball!

August 14 EXECUTION, NOT BASKETS We think that it is important to keep statistics in practice to give your players a measuring stick for their performances.  We feel that it is important to have a standard for offensive and defensive execution, not just baskets on offense or stops on defense.  Our reason being that if you are scrimmaging against your second unit or JV, you can score or stop them without the execution that you will need on game night against another team's first unit.  We can all come up with things that are critical to our team's success to measure in practice such as shot selection, putting the ball in the lane, or ball reversals and block outs, contesting shots, or communicating on defense.  It is our opinion that measuring what you want to happen and then giving that statistical feedback to players will result in the improvement of that area.

August 13 26 STATE TITLES Joe Newton has won 26 State Titles as a Cross Country Coach in Illinois.  There is certainly no magic formula for success, but his 8 steps are worth reading for both players and coaches:Joe Newton's Steps to Success.

August 12 FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH I put some thoughts down as to my views about closing out a game in the last few minutes with a small lead.  It is posted on the blog.  I would enjoy hearing any thoughts on the topic that anyone would like to leave on the blog as well.Here is the link: Closing a Basketball Game.

August 12 WORDS FROM THE KING Today's Quote of the day is from Lebron James and is the type of quote that young players should value and strive to emulate. It shows that even though many consider him to be one of the best, if not the best player in the game today, he understands that he is not bigger than the game itself. Here is what he said “I don't need too much. Glamour and all that stuff don't excite me. I am just glad I have the game of basketball in my life.”

August 11 WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM A MULE Click here to see this anecdote...

August 8 EVERYBODY, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, AND NOBODY Click here to see this anecdote...

August 8 ESTABLISH YOUR TERRITORY PART 2 A second way to establish your territory when you catch on the perimeter is by using the jab step.  When you jab at the basket, that forces the defense to react and back away.  Make it a forceful and quick step that is a believable "fake drive" and then step back to your triple threat position.  You need to return to the original stance to avoid being called for traveling. Some coaches call this move a rocker step.  Its purpose is to give you some room to maneuver and establish your territory. As you work on your game, work on combinations such as jab step, step back, and shot or jab step, step back, shot fake and drive.  As you become comfortable with the move, you will find which combinations work best for you.

August 7 NO DRIBBLE DRILL Running your offense in practice does help to promote needless dribbling, but in our opinion, the biggest benefit is that it forces the players without the ball to become better at getting open. Regardless of what you teach to get open, V-cut, L-cut, jab and pop, perimeter post up, etc... it forces better cuts, better screens, and better post ups.  It also requires the player with the ball to practice pivots and to hit the first open player.  Using those two items as the emphasis in the drill will create the habits you are looking for with repetition of the drill over time. An obvious disadvantage is that players can't dribble to get a post feeding angle, but we believe that doesn't hurt your post game because you have the rest of practice to feed the post.   Another issue is that it is tough to run and maintain good spacing, but that will improve as you coach them and with repetition.

August 7 ESTABLISH YOUR TERRITORY When you catch the ball on the perimeter and don't have an immediate shot, drive, or pass, in addition to being in triple threat, you must establish your territory so that the defense does not crowd you.  Be strong with the ball and swing it decisively across your body to back the defense off.  Depending on where you caught it, you might need to swing it back to get into triple threat.  Make sure that you are not inviting a steal or tie-up, but that you are claiming the space between you and the defense as yours, not his or hers.  Be strong and quick as you rip the ball from one side to the other! We are going to discuss another way to establish your territory tomorrow.

August 6 FINISH STRONG These Simple Truths movies have been very well received when we have sent them out to both players and coaches.  Make sure your sound is turned on.  We hope you enjoy:Finish Strong In case you missed the others here are links to them: 212 The Extra Degree     What it Takes to Be Number One         The Power of Attitude Rock Solid Leadership          The Dash          Great Quotes from Great Leaders

August 5 16 OTHER COACHING SITES Our goal with the Tool of the Day is to bring you useful basketball coaching resources.  Today we are focusing on some online resources.  You may have been to many of these sites, but we hope that you might see a few new ones for some fresh ideas. They are listed in the links section of the HoopClinics blog, along with several coaching articles and a few videos.  You will need to scroll down once you get to the page and look at the right sidebar for the links. We will continually be stocking this blog with plenty of other basketball coaching tools in the weeks ahead.  www.hoopclinics.com/blog In case you missed it, the first tool we sent out was a video on teaching the 2-2-1 full court press and also a few offensive press break options. If you are interested in seeing it, please go here to sign up:  HoopClinics.

August 5 THE BEST OF THE BEST Regardless of what you think of our Men's Olympic Team as Individuals and as players, they are setting a great example for all of basketball with their sacrifices for the team in the exhibition games leading up to the Olympics.They all appear to put the team first, not worrying about starting.   Kobe Bryant was sixth on the team in scoring at one point and told Coach K that he wanted the role of defensive stopper.  I hope that in addition to being able to enjoy watching team USA and the other great international players and teams, that our Olympians will continue to set an example for all players with their team first attitudes.  A team first attitude by every player is a must, no matter what the level of play, for basketball to be played the way it was intended.

August 4 RELIABLE, BUT NOT PREDICTABLE As coaches, we all need to find ways to stay away from predictability with our teams, day to day during the season, and year to year over the course of a player's career. Hold meetings in different places, do different drills at different spots on the floor, have the first team where a different color scrimmage jersey than normal, make variations in your drills, change the order of the segments in practice--work on offense first, if you normally do defense first, change the locker room's postings or setup, etc... Those small variations help keep things fresh for your players and doing something differently will increase their attention with the new stimulus. We can still be reliable in what we emphasize, expect, and stand for, but we need to find new ways to engage our players' concentration and awareness.

August 4 THE FINISHING FIVE It is a good goal to shoot to be on your team's starting five.  But, a better goal is to be on the "finishing five."  Coaches start the team that gives them the best chance to get off to a good start, but they finish the game with the players that give them the best chance to bring home a victory.  Sometimes those groups are the same, but sometimes they are not.  Like the closer in baseball, basketball coaches show confidence in you when you are on the floor at the end of the game.  That is when the deciding plays are made. The best compliment a coach can give you as a player is to have you on the floor at the end of a tight game.

August 1 HOOPCLINICS! Today's tool is actually a series of several tools that you can sign up for in addition to what you will continue to receive from The Coaching Toolbox. As we have mentioned in the blog, on our site, and in a few of your daily e-mails, Coach Josh Stinson from Perfect Practice has teamed up with us here at The Coaching Toolbox to offer you a lot of great coaching material.  If you are interested in signing up, you will receive a series of e-mails during the month of August from the website that we have created for our partnership: HoopClinics The first tool you will receive today is a video on teaching the 2-2-1 full court press and also a few offensive press break options. If you are interested in seeing it, please go here to sign up:  HoopClinics.

August 1 ABOUT PRACTICING DEFENSE... I received an e-mail about yesterday's players e-mail from a good friend who I used to coach with, Bruce Zimmerman.   He has a very analytical mind--especially when it comes to basketball. 
In response to my statement that it is difficult to practice defense by yourself, he replied that "Developing the fundamental stance and sliding action of defense can be accomplished individually.  You and Mike (Sorrell) taught me drills that accomplished this... Just as shooting rim flips by yourself helps develop your shot, a player never really sees the true results of this practice until they are in a game shooting over defensive pressure.  Practicing stance/slide technique can be done individually and then applied in a game situation." I am in complete agreement with him.  My point about not being able to practice defense by yourself is that it must fit in with what your coach and team's schemes are.  However, you can practice lateral movement, defensive stance, denial sliding,  swing steps, and other  movements, just make sure that you are practicing within the team defensive concept and use your imagination as to where your teammates and the opponents will be. However, I know Coach Z is in agreement with me that it takes longer to develop the offensive skills.