Tool of the Day Archive November 2008

November 24 PAT RILEY'S BLUEPRINT Pat Riley says that the road we travel as we build goes something like this: "From nobody to upstart. From upstart to contender. From contender to winner. From winner to champion. From champion to Dynasty." I hope that give you some perspective on where your program and career fall.  I really like the quote because regardless of what you have back from last year, what the future looks like at this moment, and what you have accomplished, you have another level to reach for or the dynasty level to attain. I am working to move the Coaching Toolbox from upstart to contender.  To increase the number of subscribers I am asking for some help if you have a few seconds.  This link is to a refer a friend page.  I have it set up so that if you refer two friends, you will receive Volume II of our quotes e-books with 100 more inspirational quotes.  Anyone you refer will only be notified by e-mail about our service and will not receive our e-mails unless they opt in.  We will not send them any e-mails without their permission.  I would greatly appreciate your help if you have time to do so. Here is the link to the refer a friend page. Refer a Friend Here is a link to Volume I of the quotes e-book in case you did not receive it when you subscribed or if you received a version with a watermark on it.  I had a problem with that, but now it is fixed. Toolbox Quotes Volume I.

November 21 ROY WILLIAMS SCREEN THE BALL SCREENER Roy Williams demonstrates a transition option to screen the ball screener, then isolate a post player with a staggered double on the other side.  It could be adapted to your half court offense as well. Even if you don't have a player that you want to throw set up the lob for, If the ball screener is a three point shooter, screener for him or her is a good way to get them a three point shot, so that is a possible variation of this set depending on your personnel. Sorry about the loud colored floor... Roy Williams Screen the Ball Screener

November 20 RUN AND JUMP DEFENSE Josh Stinson has a really good article on the Run and Jump defense at Perfect Practice.  If you are interested in adding it to your defensive system, or if you face teams that run it, this is a great resource. Run and Jump Defense.

November 19 THE WAY TO VICTORY Here is some Bulletin Board/Notebook Material that I picked up while working Indiana State's Boys Basketball Camp Several years ago. The Way to Victory.

November 18 BEATING TEAMS WITH MORE TALENT In the past two season the Butler University Mens' Team has beaten Indiana, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Gonzaga, Purdue, Maryland, Michigan, Texas Tech, and Ohio State and won the Pre-Season NIT and the Great Alaska Shootout.  Butler has had some very good players, but is not able to recruit the type of talent that these schools they have beaten can.  They have done it with a pack line defense, an offense that spreads the floor, uses a lot of shot clock, takes care of the basketball, and works to get open threes for their best shooters.
Their offense has featured high ball screens, the dribble weave, and several set plays.  I believe that the style will be similar this year.  If you are interested in watching how they play, all of their Horizon League Conference games are broadcast online at: www.horizonleaguenetwork.tv You do have to give them your e-mail address to sign up, but that has not caused a problem for me. The games are have been available as archives as well to be able to study them more in more depth.  Last year's were in the archive until the NCAA tournament started. In addition to Butler, there are some other very well coached men's and women's teams who have their games online and archived.  I think it is just one more source for picking up ideas.  I am sure that many other mid major conferences have a similar deal, so if there is a particular team you would like to watch, you might want to do some googling!

November 17 HORNS OFFENSIVE SET Here is a short video segment of The Horns Offensive Set or The "A-Set" as the video calls it.  We have a high ball screen set that we use the last 2:00 of a game if we are in our catch up mode.  It is not exactly this set shown in the video, but it is something for you to consider for a change at end of the game as you look to increase the number of possessions when you are behind. In my opinion, there are two good points in this video.  One is from Chuck Daily and Rick Majerus"  "Spacing is offense and offense is spacing." The second is that even if you are not interested in this set, it is good to have some type of set our movement early in your offense to help the players on the floor determine if the defense is a zone or a man to man. This link will take you to a page in the HoopClinics Shop that will allow you to see the segment of the video. Horns Offensive Set

November 14 GETTING MORE POSSESSIONS THAN THE OPPONENT Throwing out some food for thought on a new blog entry...Getting More Possessions Than the Opponent.

November 13 TAKING A CHARGE My beliefs about taking a charge: We work at taking charges with an imaginary four foot restricted area that the NBA uses because we feel that the closer to the basket you attempt to take a charge, the more likely there is to be a no call or a block. We also feel that it is next to impossible to get a charge called in the middle of the floor, so we do not attempt to take them there unless we are fouling to stop the clock in catch up mode at the end of the game.

November 12 WATCH FOR WHAT YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE Football Coach John McKay said, "Coaches have to watch for what they don't want to see and listen to what they don't want to hear." Click here to see the full article... 

November 11 THE ROAD TO BECOMING A GOOD PLAYER click here to read the full article.

November 10 DUKE MEN 2-1-2 ZONE ATTACK This is a very short segment of a DVD from Coach K showing him coaching his 2-1-2 or 2-3 zone attack in practice.  The point he makes that I like is that we all need to have some type of misdirection in our zone attack.  He makes the point dealing with a misdirection dribble for individuals, but in my opinion, we need to have some misdirection in our passing principles as a team as well when we attack a 2-3 zone. Coach K. 2-1-2 Zone Attack There were some problems with the link to the Coach Hurley Video from Friday due to our HoopClinics server being down.  That should be corrected now.  Here is the link.  Again, it is a sales page, but I think the content of the video is very good. Bob Hurley's Favorite Drills.

November 7 ST. ANTHONY'S STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING Here is a link to a YouTube video of Bob Hurley's Strength and Conditioning Circuit at St. Anthony's.  The video is about 7 minutes long.  The first 6 minutes is a relay with the players going several times on the same circuit.  Once you have seen enough to get the idea, you might want to forward to around 6:00 where they demonstrate a different type of push up with a medicine ball.St. Anthony's Strength and Conditioning. We also have another video of a two minute segment from the DVD "Coach Bob Hurley's Favorite Drills." Click Below to see that segment. It is on a page in our HoopClinics shop, but you can see the video segment even if you are not interested in purchasing it.  I did send this same segment out in September. Coach Bob Hurley's Favorite Drills If you like the video and want to let other coaches know about it, you can click on the Tell a Friend Tab.

November 6 PROGRAM BUILDING I came across this article by Jeff Janssen from the Janssen Sports Leadership Center.  It has some thoughts on building a lasting and long term program.  There are some other nice resources at this site. How to Build an Elite and Enduring Program - Part 1.

November 5 WALK THE TALK I have always enjoyed and found these Simple Truths videos to be helpful to me, our coaching staff, and our players and managers. Here is the video for this month: (Make sure your speakers are on) Walk the Talk. Here is the link to all of the Simple Truths videos we have sent out: Coaching Toolbox Videos Click on the "Inspiration" tab to see the other videos from Simple Truths.

November 4 NBA DRIBBLING DRILL We use a drill in the individual development segment of our practices that we call NBA dribbling.  We do the traditional zig zag drill with the addition of allowing our JV defenders who are guarding our varsity perimeter players to push, hand check, and bump them to simulate what usually happens late in a game that officials sometimes do not call.  We would rather insist on toughness with the ball and practice it rather than complain about not getting a call when we need it. "Contact is not an excuse to loose the ball," is the expectation that we establish. We monitor the drill closely and don't allow it to get to the point of cheap shots, potential injuries, or causing hard feelings that could result in a fight.

November 3 CONDITIONING WITH A BALL We like to use a basketball to do our conditioning.  Here is a segment of a drill that is a little different than the traditional 3-2 drill and involves a little more conditioning. 3-2 Drill.