Mistakes

There are essentially two types of mistakes on the basketball floor. Mistakes of Omission and Mistakes of Commission.

Mistakes of omission are mental mistakes, forgetting and assignment, not using the proper technique, not being in the right spot, etc.

Mistakes of commission are mistakes of trying to make a play, fouling while going for a loose ball, being aggressive on a rebound, trying to force a pass, etc.

Players will make mistakes; coaches will make errant calls; referees, well if you listen to every coach in America, the next right call made by an official will be the first right one they've made all year.

Mistakes of omission should not be tolerated. Not knowing your spot or assignment is giving you the clearest communication that the player isn't all in. No matter the talent, if they're not committed your team will not achieve it's full potential.

Aggressive mistakes are the ones you should live with in the heat of the moment. Watch tape with your player and coach them up so they don't make the mistake again but live with it in the moment. Remember the player is trying to make a play to help your squad win. We've all made bad decisions on the sideline. Going zone and allowing a three, a play call that leads to a turnover or a forced shot, made the wrong sub at the wrong time, etc.

We learn from it as coaches, make sure you coach your players up so they learn from their mistakes of commission as well.

Theatrics and basketball

Watching the holiday action at the collegiate and high school level we've seen more than our fair share of sideline antics and theatrics by coaches. The BCR has always taken the position that the behavior of a coach on the sideline will manifest itself in one way or another on the floor by their players.

We saw a game today where the head coach literally waved his hands in disgust every time one of his players made a mistake. (More on mistakes in a later post). An assistant coach showed his displeasure during a 30 second timeout by not getting up and essentially pouting. How did it manifest itself? You know that every time a player, teammate, or referee made a move with the hint of mistake, the players on the floor overreacted and lost focus. That team lost by double digits. Where they better than the team they lost to? No, were they hanging around trailing by 10 most of the game? Yes. How did they react to mistakes by allowing their opponent to build the lead up to 16 or 18 on a consistent basis. If the sideline sideshow were tamed and the staff more focused on what was going to happen next perhaps they cut it to 6 and we all know how difficult it is to win when you let an inferior team hang around until late.

In another game we saw today, we saw what coaching your kids through a rough patch can do. USC was trailing Western Michigan by double digits early. Yes the same USC that beat #8 ranked Tennessee like they stole something over the weekend. Rather than pout or put on a show, Kevin O'Neil and staff kept plugging away at it and eventually USC turned up their defensive effort and got the win, ugly as it may be.

John Thompson of Georgetown said that he would rather learn lessons from winning than losing. USC's staff and team will most assuredly take a long hard look at their first half and still learn some great lessons, and also reinforce what stepping up their effort can do for them.

Unusual Free Throw Routine

Watching the Northwestern-Stanford game, a game which Stanford turned over (literally) the win to NU, we noticed an odd free throw ritual. Late in the game, Stanford fouled NU freshman, Drew Crawford, who during the obligatory close up on the free throw shooter was either talking to himself or the Stanford player on his immediate left.

Reading lips it looks a lot like he's saying a four letter word that starts with F and sounds a lot like duck...you. If we find online video of it, we'll post a link but something to be on the look out for.

Play of the week.

UCLA's Regular. Usually to free up Michael Roll for a jumper.

Chunking Your Season

The high school basketball season is roughly 4 months long, Part of November, December, January, February, and part of March. It's important for coaches to understand the different chunks the season provides and what goals you want to achieve during each section of the season.

Chunk 1 - Pre-Season and early tournaments.
During this phase of the season you really want to implement your philosophy with your pre-season practices (pre-season meaning before you play your first game).

Some coaches go two-a-day practices at this point to get more repetition and time on the floor so their teams are ready for play.

However you go about this you want to instill your team's offensive and defensive systems, how to deal with transition (offense and defense), and other basic systems that your going to install like BLOBS and SLOBS (Base Line out of Bounds, Side Line out of Bounds).

You also want to set the work rate and intensity rate you want your players to play with. Setting a solid work ethic and being consistent in your high demands are of the utmost importance early in the season. Just like in the classroom, if you fail to set the tone early you cannot go back and redo the first month of the school year or season.

Once you start playing games in and early season tournament you and your team may have set the goal of winning the tournament but as a coach you want to also see how different lineups will fare, how a player playing a different position will do, how a certain play or a defense will work. These early games are your feedback to see what areas you need to address. There may be areas where you thought were strengths but struggled with, etc. Pay close attention to these thing in early games and make the immediate corrections you need to ensure your season's success.

We'll examine the other chunks of the season in future posts.

High School Games

We've been spending a lot of time watching high school games of late. A few things we've noticed. Early on senior dominated teams tend to do well for the obvious reasons, it's not their first rodeo. Young players, even the future superstars, tend to make mistakes early and look over their shoulders for reinforcement. Very rare is a freshmen or sophomore who plays on varsity that plays with the confidence of a seasoned vet and is not nervous about making mistakes.

Watching shootouts and tournaments you see different coaching styles and philosophies play out in front of your eyes.

There are coaches and programs that act like the season is a marathon and play accordingly. They tend not to worry about winning games in November and December but rather focus on making sure that their teams are executing and putting forth the proper effort and learning the process on how to win.

Sure we all want to win but maybe an early loss to an inferior opponent will give a coach the needed ammunition to get his team's focus for the long haul of the season. How many times have you seen a team lose a game it's not supposed to lose, then go on a tear and win everything? Why? We're guessing because their players come back to focus on the things they need to do to win.

Other coaches take the mindset that every game is game 7 of the NBA championship and must be won at all costs. While we love competitors and we love winning sometimes this mindset can burn out a team. How many games of your 30 game schedule are really "BIG" games? Probably only a handful, your top opponents in conference, a neighborhood rival, a school district rival, and maybe a top ranked team in the area will be your big games during the season until playoff time. If you take your team on a high wire act of every game is game 7 you could lose their sense of urgency when the really big game happens.

Sadly there are programs out there that are clueless in the early part of the season. Just showing up to a game with all players in uniform is a win for their team. Teams that are unprepared for a press, or a zone, or man to man defense show up all the time and are exposed early and often in this part of the season. We feel for those kids since more likely than not their season will be lost by Christmas and they won't get the opportunity to compete on a level playing field which is what this great game offers us.

Color Commentators

It is so difficult to find a good color commentator for the game of basketball. For long periods of time we've had to suffer with the likes of Bill Walton and watching the Kansas-UCLA game today, Marquis Johnson.

See if you can follow along here. He states that UCLA's guards will have at tough time attacking Kansas' defense because Kansas is so athletic and are underrated defensively. (We do not argue this point).

Then down 21-10, UCLA scores in transition and he says that is exactly what UCLA needs to do, uptempo the game....let that sink in for a second. A team that is over matched physically and skill wise should increase the number of possessions in the game. Again let that sink in....

Rule of thumb, if you have the better athletes or players you want to increase the number of possessions in a game. The more chances your players have to play, the greater the chance they will make better plays than your opponent and you will win. If you have inferior talent or athletes you want to LIMIT the number of possessions in the game so you expose your lack of ability and have a chance to stay in the game.

Someone please clone Bill Raftery, quick!

There is no substitute for game experience!

What a day for injuries. First Evan Turner goes down and is out for two months with broken bones in his back. Then Michael Finley goes down with an ankle in the Spurs game. Lastly word is Greg Oden's season is done with a broken knee cap.

The moral of the story coaches, if you're comfortable with the win, play your bench and develop them as players. You will need them to perform due to injury, foul trouble, or eligibility issues and you'll be glad you threw them into the fray BEFORE their needed to produce.

If it means a 15 point win becomes an 8 point win so be it. You've won, you've given your bench players time, and lastly you have a body of work on film with which to go over with them and get them better. Would you rather identify their mistakes in a win and get them seasoned or after you lose a game in which they were forced to play a role they weren't ready for? There is no substitute for game experience so play your bench!

Buying Time

Just had a conversation with a coach and we were commenting on a brilliant piece of coaching we saw on Sunday. As a coach you must be able to use the time of the game to your team's advantage by buying time for your starters to get a rest while limiting your exposure by playing reserves.

Watching the NBA game you will see starters go out in the last minute or 2 of a quarter and not return until the 9 minute mark of the second or fourth quarter. Coaches use the extended timeout at the end of the quarter and the first mandatory time out (first whistle under 8:59) to get that four to five minutes of clock time and extra 5 to 8 minutes of REAL time rest for their starters. When the Jazz played the Bulls in the NBA Finals, NBC made a point talking about player rotations and getting rest for John Stockton. They put up a graphic that he missed 4 minutes of game time and got something like 16 minutes of real time to rest.

At the college level you will see players subbing out right before the media timeouts (1st whistle under 16,12,8, &4 minute marks of each half) to extend their regulars rest. Often times coaches in college will feel out the game and see if they can buy additional time for a starter on the bench if the team is holding or extending a lead with the reserve in the game.

At the high school level there are no mandatory timeouts so finding these moments is more difficult but coaches should become experts at managing the game. Hypothetical case in point: There's a dead ball under a minute in the first quarter and you're going to be on defense and you know you're opponent is going to hold for the last shot of a quarter, why not put a sub in who won't kill you defensively and sub out a start who has a foul. How often have your starters picked up a pointless second foul on a drive or a rebound scrum on defense at the end of a quarter. There is a huge psychological boost for a player who starts a quarter not in foul trouble, they play more freely and aggressively, qualities that you want out of your players. The use of subs is critical in managing the game. Use the sub and their energy and keep your starters out of foul trouble. It will always come in handy to have your best five on the floor at the end of the game.

Oh and that brilliant piece of coaching we saw yesterday. With his starting point guard in foul trouble and his playing rotation a little out of whack, Kevin O'Neil of USC called a timeout right before an upcoming media timeout because his guys were gassed. So he in essence created two timeouts in a row for them to help their recovery. Unfortunately Nebraska hit a 3 late to beat USC but by managing the game, the Trojans made the game come down to the last possession.

Situation Play, Again

Watching the end of the Bulls-Bucks game on NBAtv and we're amazed at professional teams that don't know how to use the game and shot clock to their advantage.

Case in point, Bulls were chasing 4 with under a minute to go. Rather than attack the rim and get the quick 2 and foul to extend the game, they force up a contested 3 which is rebounded by the Bucks who then drew the foul. The Bucks split the free throws to go up 5. The Bulls come down and hit a 3 which would have put them in the lead had they attacked on the earlier possession.

Now down two the Bulls foul and the Bucks split the Ft's again! They could have gone into the final possession of the game going for the win rather than hoping to tie and force overtime.

When down late extend the game by scoring quick and fouling. It's a higher percentage plan than jacking up 3 point bombs!

Lawrence Frank

It was difficult getting the text message this morning that Coach Frank was let go from the New Jersey Nets. Unfortunately at the collegiate and pro level your countdown to getting fired starts the second you're hired. Letting go of a coach of an unproductive team is much easier contractually than replacing the team so these things happen.

Seeing Coach Frank at a coaching clinic in Chicago a few years ago he was one of the most approachable and genuine coaches we've come across. It was the Cotton Fitzsimmons clinic (Ed Janka, if you're listening bring it back!) and it featured an all star NBA lineup. For 3 days NBA coaches came and went, but one coach was in the stands listening to every speaker for the entire event and that coach was Lawrence Frank. His clinic on early offense and attacking zones was well planned and we were amazed at the breadth of his knowledge.

It's our belief and our hope that Coach Frank will be patrolling the sidelines again soon.

Long Season in the Pac-10

From what we've seen in the Pac-10 this year, it's going to be a winter of discontent on the left coast. Having watched 3 UCLA games and one practice we've got a piece of advice for anyone who has them on the schedule, play a zone and shade Dragovic. Against Portland and CSF, the Bruins struggled vs the zone. The only inside player they have with any fire is Nelson who reminds us of Dennis Rodman, part inside warrior, part wild man. Nelson has an odd detachment on his face and doesn't seem to interact well with his teammates. Roll looked great in practice the day we saw him, however, he has yet to catch fire in a game.

Gonzaga

If you're going to play Gonzaga you need to be able to guard a side ball screen from the left side of the floor.

Denver Wyoming Update

Denver comes back and wins a game outside of it's tempo and beat Wyoming by 3. Ugly ball game with a lot of fouls and was essentially a free throw shooting contest. 94 free throws attempted by both teams. Wyoming's best player came up lame before the last media timeout and didn't return.

Interesting Matchup Tonight

While many people are tuning to the ESPN family for games, there's an interesting game on Fox Sports. Wyoming vs. Denver. Wyoming a long athletic up tempo team vs. a Princeton Offense slow down tempo of Denver.

Penetrate, Attack, Attack, and Attack some more!

Re-watched the Bulls @ Portland from the other night. Trailing 15 at the half the Bulls finally decided to attack the rim in the third quarter, taking it right to the Blazers cutting the lead to under 10. Luol Deng, John Salmons, Joakim Noah and Derek Rose all attacked the rim in the quarter getting east shots and converting. Here's a clip of Derek Rose finishing strong over Greg Oden.



Here Noah takes it in on Oden as well.



Later in the game the Bulls settled into their jump shooting ways and quickly got blown out. This has been a consistent theme for the Bulls since Scott Skiles was their coach as they lack a true post up player to get easy baskets and open driving lanes to the basket by forcing double teams. Rather the Bulls settle for contested jump shots.

The Pro game is different from college and high school in the sheer volume of games and the travel involved so it makes it difficult for players to bring the energy to attack the rim off the bounce over 82 games. Add in the fact that the players are physical specimens the pounding that NBA players take attacking the rim takes a toll so you get the Chicago Bulls, a settle for the jump shot team.

To be successful in the pro game you need a low post presence that will take the pressure off the shooters and give you angles to attack the rim on pass outs from the post. Plus you get fouled on roughly half of all plays in the post so you earn easy points from the free throw line. Watching NBA games you see the point of emphasis of getting the ball inside early so you pick up fouls on your opponents bigs early and getting into the penalty. Take a quick scan of Sport Illustrated's power rankings and the top 10 all have a go to post up player.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/chris_mannix/11/23/rankings/index.html?eref=sihp

If you attack the rim and the post early in the game, you won't play against your opponents best players at the end of the game so penetrate, attack, and attack some more!

Little Big Ten

Iowa is in some trouble this year. A lack of size, athleticism and depth are going to cause some big problems for the Hawkeyes this year. After losing to UT-San Antonio and Duquense at home and getting pummeled by Texas, the Hawkeyes trail at the half tonight vs. the Shockers of Wichita State. Someone ought to tell the Iowa Staff that they're not at Butler anymore and can recruit big 10 talent because it appears that the Missouri Valley team here is more talented.

Playbook Added

The Dayton Flyers sets vs. Villanova has been added to the BCR.

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Offensive Rebounding

Watching games today we come back to a recurring them on the BCR, Offensive Rebounding. It's so important to get the extra possessions that often help your team win or lose.

In the Villanova-Dayton game, Villanova used 12 offensive rebounds to gain extra possessions and shots. On at least two ocassions the offensive rebounds were converted into made 3 point shots and a old fashioned 3 point play on another. Dayton wound up losing by 6, perhaps the difference in the game. Being a disciple of Tom Izzo, it would stand to reason that the Flyers are in for a long session of the War Drill.

Play of the Night 11.19.09

New Playbooks being added

We're in the process of adding several new playbooks to our site with the real start of college basketball season. Here's some of our growing list:

Michigan State
Gonzaga
Cleveland Cavaliers
Chicago Bulls
Arizona State
Washington
UCLA

Situation Play Part II

Rich McKay, head coach of the hapless Tampa Bay Buccaneers was once asked what he thought of his team's execution, his reply was that he was in favor of it. Your team's execution down the stretch will determine your success as a coach. Have you prepared them well? Here's a sample list of situations you may encounter

Channeling Hubie Brown here....

What do you do when....
Your ball, side line out of bounds (SLOB), down 2, no timeouts, 5 seconds or less

Your ball, SLOB, down 3, no timeouts, 5 seconds or less.

Your ball, Base Line out of Bounds (BLOB), down 2, no timeouts.

Opponents ball, who do you foul? Do you and your players know who their best FT shooter is, their worst?

Your on the free throw line, down 3, 2 shots, 3 seconds or less.
BCR Note: The NFHS really screwed high school coaches by not allowing players to go in the lane until the ball hits.

What play or option are you running @ the end of a game. What option are you running if your best player is fouled out?

Your team is on the free throw line, up 2, 1 shot, 0.5 seconds left, do you miss intentionally?

You're up 3, opponent is bringing the ball up 10 seconds to go, do you foul?
5 seconds to go? 3 seconds?

You're up 1, your opponent just scores to take the lead with 5 seconds left. Do you call a timeout or do you get the ball in and attack the chaos?

These are just some of the situations that you'll encounter over the course of a season, do you have a plan of attack and do your kids know it in case you don't have any timeouts left?

Situational Play

I hate to sound like Hubie Brown, but his clinic shtick of "What do you do, What do you do, What do you do, when...." has never been more true!

Coaches keep this in mind before you play your first game, how you play over the course of 30 (or 38) minutes will keep you in a game, but your execution over the last 2 minutes of the game will determine whether or not you win. We've seen enough bad play over the first month of this season to drive us absolutely batty as to whether these paid professional and collegiate coaches ever address situations (What do you do.....) how or whom to foul down the stretch, who should have the ball in their hands, what's your go to set at the end of a clock, what defense are in you on a make, etc.

Tonight the San Antonio Spurs, in the BCR's opinion gave a game away. Yes an NBA season is long and playing without 2 heavy minute guys (Ginobli and Parker) is difficult but Dallas took a 6 point lead late and RAN THE CLOCK DOWN without a foul. San Antonio gets the stop and then proceeds to hit a quick 3 to cut the lead in half but without enough time to do anything about it.

Trailing at the end of the game it's very important to extend the game and make your opponent hit free throws. If they hit, all credit to them, they deserve to win. If they miss you have given yourself and opportunity to sneak a victory from a defeat.

Gotta Love College Basketball

The first week of college basketball season is usually no more than Big University vs. Fodder tech. A guarantee game that is meant to be a 20 point win, thank you and good night.

But each year, smaller schools scare and sometimes beat Big U. UCLA loses a double overtime game at home and Iowa loses in regulation by double digits at home. Great to see the little schools take the money and run!

Playbook Added

Arizona State's sets against WIU added to the BCR tonight.

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Brandon Jennings Big Night

The BCR would like to give credit to Milwaukee Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings for going off and dropping 55 points tonight. In the pre-season we watched the young guard shoot and would have schemed our defense to go under ball screens and let him shoot. Last night he proved that he can shoot, now the goal all rookies strive for, consistency.

Attack!

Watching two games tonight, Bulls @ Toronto and UNC vs. UNC-Central and the keyword of the night is attack.

The Bulls got out to an 11 point lead throughout much of the third quarter and then stopped attacking the rim. Settling for jumper after jumper and eventually going cold losing by close to double digits.

During the first half of the collegiate game, UNC is in constant attack mode. Once the ball is secure all 5 white jerseys are flying up the floor and the ball is penetrating the paint. Currently UNC is on a 19-0 run. Granted UNC-Central is only in its third year of being a D1 school and is greatly outclassed, UNC is attacking, forcing help and then kicking for open looks.

Jump shots are a great avenue to attack, but making the ball move and therefore the defense move is the key to getting a wide open look.

New Playbook Added

A new playbook has been added to the collection, the Cal Bears offensive sets ran vs. Murray State has been added.

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Loyalty

As all our seasons are starting up, an interesting thought creeped into my head about the start of the season and the hope and promise it brings to all. Then I thought back to my first season of coaching where the head coach hammered home the idea of loyalty by the assistant coaches. I thought it was rather Machiavellian, why would we have to close ranks? Who would want to twist something any coach said to hurt the kids or the program or the coaches? It didn't make any sense at the time. The folly of youth!

As most veteran coaches know and this is a lesson that we will all learn at some point, loyalty on your staff is one of the most important commodities you can have. Obviously having several D1 or Pro players on your roster would be the first thing we all would want, but loyalty is a must. There are so many different special interest groups that will suck the life out of you, your team, and your program if you give even the glint of a problem within your ranks.

Parents who want their child to play more will approach assistant coaches with the seemingly innocuous question, why isn't my kid playing more? If you as an assistant answer with anything else other than your staff's party line you've just given that parent ammunition to approach the AD or principal to address "serious issues" with your head coach. Administrators and even teachers at your school can ask you how's things going and if you answer with anything negative, it will come back to haunt you and your head coach. It's a veritable minefield of potential problems from within your own school and district if the wrong thing is said.

Loyalty is also a must for any assistant who aspires to be a head coach one day. We've all heard horror stories of assistant coaches who say something behind their bosses back to create a conflict and have that head coach removed. It's an all too familiar story. A word to any one who thinks this a good way to become a head coach, beware. Word will get out quickly on how you ascended to your position, you will be found out and at that point you will quickly become a pariah in your coaching community.

The best way for you to become a head coach is to be a loyal assistant. Tell your head coach that you want to be the big man one day. If they're worth anything they will groom you, tell you the ins and outs of being the head coach. Work camps, increase the number of coaches you come into contact with, improve your knowledge of the game. These are all ways you can put yourself into position to become a head coach. You may think you're ready but believe this, it's a completely different world moving over 18 inches to the first chair on the bench. The number of distractions that take the focus off your coaching of the team increase twenty-fold and it's not as easy as it seems. The key to being a successful coach is handling those distractions and still coach your team. Having loyal assistants you can trust helps in that endeavor!

Anyway, as basketball season gets started, the BCR wishes you nothing but the best of luck this season!

Role Players

We've used this term in our scouting reports, role player, picks up garbage points and immediately our players dismiss that player.

Perhaps we need to word it better but the role player who picks up the scraps is a player who can routinely beat you. We've re-watched the Dallas New Orleans game from the other night and with superstar Dirk Nowitzki on the bench, none other than Erick Dampier put the nail in the Hornets coffin with an offensive rebound late in overtime.

As coaches we all appreciate the effort that these players give. Usually they're the ones who guard the other team's better players, do the dirty work of screening, reversing the ball or crashing the glass all without complaints that they're not getting plays called for them.

When a player like that gets a key basket to finish off a game, we take notice and appreciate that players effort. Now if there were only a way to word it in our scouting reports so our players appreciate how dangerous a player like that is!

Utah Jazz Close one out

The Jazz were able to stem the tide of their little run of adversity and beat the Spurs last night. The BCR marvels at how well the Jazz run the most simplistic sets with little tweaks and nuances and still beat teams who run set after set after set.

The Bulls pull off an impressive defeat of the Cavs in Cleveland, could this be the harbinger of things to come for this Bulls squad? Has Luol Deng finally arrived? He's averaging 17 and 10 through the first few games, can he maintain this pace for all 82 games?

Set of the Night

The Clippers ran this wrinkle on a standard set the other night.

11.2.09 Update

Shock team of the night, Houston Rockets. Playing without Yao Ming or Tracy McGrady the scrappy Rockets go to Utah and throttle the Jazz by 17. Some hot shooting from behind the arc helped propel the Rockets to an easy win on the road.

Disappointment of the young season, the New Orleans Hornets. Do they have anyone who wants to consistently play besides Chris Paul? Paul scored 32 and had 13 assists yet lose to the Knicks.

Earlier this month we wrote about veteran leadership helping your team. On Monday, Mehmet Okur showed some veteran savvy against the Rockets. Maybe this happened out of frustration or maybe this is the way he plays balls screens but twice on vertical ball screens set by the Rockets to free Aaron Brooks, Okur eliminated the possibility of a roll or a re-screen by simply placing two hands on the screener and shoving them out of the way towards half court. How these weren't fouls escapes us but it was very effective in creating a double team on Brooks.

One Week Til the REAL Season Starts

The NBA is nice, but the real games start on Monday November 8th. We've been attending college practices of late, it's nice to see getting teams geared up for the season.

Exhibition games are nice but we don't take much stock in them.
For example, Notre Dame struggled with Lewis University yesterday with their regulars playing after the last under 4 timeout. Does anyone expect Notre Dame to struggle?

USC was losing at halftime to CS Dominguez yesterday, missing 4 starters. USC will struggle but not enough to lose a game like that.

Michigan State beat Northwood badly yesterday but it was ugly, even for an exhibition game. Their execution on "IN" was good as well as "DBD" since renamed horns but overall it was a bad game to watch.

Veteran Leadership

We attended a couple of junior college practices this week and watched one team who had 4 regulars out due to injury and other issues which got us thinking about how important veteran leadership is.

Just watching the practice and how the players reacted to the change of drills you could see the coaching staff get more frustrated as practice went along as first year players struggle with recognizing a drill and getting it started quickly. As most of us deal with, practice time is finite, we don't have the luxury of wasting time in the gym as there is another team or group coming in after you. Wasting valuable time while players figure out what spots to go to or what to do next is the last thing that you want to be doing in practice.

However, it is exactly this kind of recognition that separates good teams from mediocre teams; the ability to quickly realize change and capitalize on it. The old adage rings true, the best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores.

The role of veteran leadership also helps mentor players, not only in where to go and what to do, but what to look for in a certain game situation. If you're running a zone offense and a hi/lo feed is available on a reversal, a veteran can point that out and reinforce the coach's philosophy on playing a zone. There are thousands of nuances within the game that a veteran can transmit to a younger player than can increase their learning rate.

Hustle Plays that Matter - Offensive Rebounding

We all know that effective offensive rebounding gives you extra offensive possessions and easy scores on put backs and wide open shots on the ensuing defensive scramble. Here's three illustrations from this week of NBA basketball that prove how important the extra effort on the offensive glass pays off.

Thursday night, Bulls vs. San Antonio. The Bulls shot less than 40% for much of the game but were buoyed by numerous second chance points. A key play was the last possession of the first half, the Bulls take and miss a shot, Luol Deng outworks the San Antonio bigs and kicks it out to a wide open Kirk Hinrich who knocks down a buzzer beating 3 pointer which enables the Bulls to take the lead going into half time.

Saturday night, the Mavericks vs. the Clippers both teams playing the second of game of a back to back. Clippers down 2 possessions, Dallas ball with 2 minutes to go. Dallas misses two shots and gets both offensive rebounds allowing them to burn a minute off the clock and ice the game.

Sunday afternoon. The Orlando Magic vs. the Raptors. Orlando up 7 with just over a minute to go, miss on a shot and poke out the offensive rebound to burn 30 seconds off the clock before the Raptors are forced to foul.

Too often we get so wrapped up in defensive transition that we neglect the offensive glass and the easy points and fouls created by going to the glass hard. Send your 3, 4 and 5 men to the glass hard on each shot attempt and keep possession and get easy baskets. If you have the ball, your opponent can't score!

Halloween Play of the Night

Dallas Mavericks again running their kick back series, this time into a step up screen and lob for their 5 Erick Dampier which broke the back of the Clippers twice tonight.

10.31.09 Wrap Up

The Clippers again show why they are the most hapless franchise in the NBA. Tied at the half at 55, the Clippers allowed the Mavericks to take a double digit lead in the third quarter. They storm back with efforts from their bench and Chris Kaman to tie the game at 82. Then down the stretch, with 2 minutes to go they make 3 fatal errors.

First error is giving Dallas a 1 minute possession by not finishing the play and boxing out. Dallas took the clock from 2 minutes left to under a minute.

Secondly chasing 3 points, the Mavericks knock the ball out of bounds for a Clippers BLOB (Baseline out of bounds) with 3 seconds left on the shot clock. Jason Terry cheats the play and doesn't allow Eric Gordon to complete the screen the screener action (BLOB 1 was the play call) and Chris Kaman is forced to pop out to get the ball in. Only problem is Kaman doesn't know that there's 3 seconds left on the shot clock. Turn over. How does the bench not let the players on the floor know how many seconds are left on the clock? Inexcusable.

Last error, Dallas ball, between 35-40 seconds left, ball in Jason Kidd's hands down 5. This is simple game management by a coach, you are down 2 possessions, you cannot play defense for the entire clock and hope that you get a stop, you still need to score twice. Yes you would prefer to foul Shawn Marion, but out of the three players who are likely to handle the ball in that situation, Kidd, Terry or Nowitzki, Kidd is the worst free throw shooter of them. Force him to make a pair and extend the game. Instead the Clippers allow the Mavericks to run the clock down and Nowitzki hits a tough fadeaway to make it a three possession game. Poor game management by Mike Dunleavy.

10.31.09 Update

Happy Halloween. Plenty of games tonight.

Knicks come from 20+ down to force overtime, but perform badly and lost by double digits. Gallinari shot lights out for a stretch in the third quarter but seemed happy to hover around the 3 point line.

Washington recovers from their loss the other night to Atlanta and handles the Nets who really seem to lack any substantial firepower.

San Antonio takes a young Kings team to the wood shed with all the Spurs regulars sitting in the fourth quarter. You can add Spencer Hawes to the list of improving young bigs.

Game of the night, a rematch from a few days ago, Portland @ Houston. Houston took a high single digit lead early in the fourth and held on as Brandon Roy poured in 42 points. Roy loves the left elbow for isolation plays with a shooter buried in the left corner.

The Bucks win against the Pistons who are really searching for an identity. Acquiring firepower like Ben Gordon and Charlie Villenueva really boosts an offense, but their lack of effort on the defensive end will make wins hard to come by. Rookie head coach John Kuester will have his work cut out for him. The Bulls never really considered bringing back Ben Gordon because of his lack of commitment on the defensive end. Seems a change of scenery hasn't improved that element of his game.

Will have a recap of Dallas' second night in LA against the Clippers a little bit later.

Rick Carlisle- Coach of the Year candidate

In the book Seven Seconds or Less, Jack McCallum discusses Shawn Marion's dislike for playing the 4 thinking he's better as a 3. After watching tonight's Laker game, Rick Carlisle should be nominated for coach of the year. First he has Marion understanding that he's not a 3 (he simply cannot shoot!) but he's an extremely hard guard at the four spot. He's too athletic for virtually all 4 men going to the basket. The Mavericks ran a step up screen and roll to death in the fourth quarter with Marion being the beneficiary of many easy looks from Kidd and Barea.

Carlisle also gets the nod for switching to a zone around the 9 minute mark of the fourth quarter. The Lakers made a push at the end of the third and start of the fourth putting a little full court press and made a dent in Dallas' lead. The switch to the zone took the Lakers out of their rhythm and Dallas was able to walk away with the easy win.

Kudos to Coach Carlisle sticking to the zone as well, on the first possession of zone Shannon Brown had a thunderous put back dunk that would have had most coaches get out of the zone in a hurry.

Young Bigs

There's an adage that says young bigs take longer to develop than guards. In the first week of the NBA season we see that maturation process happening in 3 bigs.

Andrew Bynum of the Lakers is healthy and playing very actively, going to the offensive glass hard and finishing well around the rim. What we like about his game is he does a decent job of keeping the ball above his shoulders on rebounds and put backs and he goes up strong.

Brendan Haywood might not be considered a "young" big as he's been in the league for a while but his offensive game has really developed since missing most of last year due to injury. He's become more effective at facing and putting the ball on the floor and using his body to create space to get his shot off.

Joakim Noah had the play of the night on 10.30.09, he hit a 15 footer from the right elbow which made his teammates jump off the bench with excitement. His shot will never be considered nice, in fact it's in the running for all time worst, however, his work around the basket has gotten much much better. His confidence in his left hand jump hook is growing and so are his offensive numbers.

Lamarcus Aldridge has gotten much more confidence in his outside jumper and is becoming a nice compliment to the two headed monster of Greg Oden and Joel Pryzbilla. We would be remiss in failing to mention Aldridge's ability to finish around the rim.

We're still withholding judgment on Greg Oden as he's still a pup and only in his 3rd full season of high level competitive basketball but we like the growth we've seen in year 2 of his pro career.

Set of the Night 10.30.09

10.30.09 Update

The Boston Celtics shot the lights out in the 3rd quarter to take an already uncompetitive game to bed early. Paul Pierce and Eddie House nailed shot after shot on the perimeter as the Bulls had no answer.

In the first half of the Dallas-Lakers game, the Mavericks role players have had an outstanding half making shots and competing against the defending champs. What a difference a night makes in the NBA!JJ Barea made some shots which then forces the Lakers to play him tougher on pick and rolls which then opens up his teammates on the roll.

In other games the Wizards folded to the Atlanta Hawks down the stretch and the Sacramento Kings made a nice stand after a lackluster opener with Martin and Evans having big nights to take New Orleans to the wire.

October 30, 2009 Preview

Best games of the night,

Chicago @ Boston
Dallas @ Los Angeles
Washington @ Atlanta

Early reviews
The Celtics defense may be the most suffocating defense out there. Holding Charlotte to 59 total points and then holding the Bulls to 32 at the half is indicative of that.

Rajon Rondo may not be able to hit a jump shot consistently but he may be the best in the league at poaching outlet passes and stripping big men of rebounds if they bring the ball low. Also for him to create more space for his teammates he must be able to hit a pick and roll jumper and force teams to play him differently, right now everyone simply goes under the ball screen on him and clogs his driving lanes.

The Bulls' length is impressive with Salmons at the 2 guard and Deng at the 3. A few years ago teams used to exploit the diminutive back court of Hinrich and Gordon, now the Bulls have the size to match up with any big guards in the league. The Bulls really played lousy offensively in the first half against the Celtics.

The Washington Wizards cannot handle the ball against the Atlanta Hawks. Time and time again the Hawks pressure on the ball has resulted in turnovers, bad offensive sets, and forced shots. DeShawn Stevenson looked lost in the first half against what looked like a token man press by the Hawks. Coming into crunch time now, check back for a recap.

A coaching tree that needs to be planted and grown

The media makes a great deal out of "Coaching Trees", coaches who's assistants go off and become head coaches at other franchises or schools. Much is made of Tom Izzo with Tom Crean, Brian Gregory, and Doug Wojick all becoming fairly successful coaches at their schools.

Watching the Minnesota Timberwolves last night reminded us of a coaching tree that has failed. Coaches who have used the Sideline Triangle not named Phil Jackson have had little success in the NBA, Kurt Rambis will struggle to succeed with this group of personnel and Jim Cleamons and Tim Floyd failed miserably with the triangle. It's similar to the missteps people had with Pete Carril at Princeton, how the system was great, etc etc. Yet teams who run the Princeton offense tend to hover at or below .500. Guess it's easy to forget for that entire time the Princeton offense was en vogue, Princeton was also consistently getting the best players in the Ivy League.

This begs the question, why do we not hear about coaches born of Jerry Sloan's tree? Granted tonight wasn't a great night for the Utah Jazz but his teams have always run consistently good stuff (coaches language for play sets), they rarely beat themselves and seemingly win 48+ games a year. Yet are there ANY notable coaches who were assistants under Sloan? It goes without saying that a UCLA screen for a jumper is not exciting but if you have effective shooters it wins games. In Sloans 20+ years at the helm of the Utah Jazz, he's had 2 sub .500 seasons. That's an incredible feat.

True to his quiet nature, you won't hear about Jerry Sloan's excellence but remember this coach, when you run your UCLA into a Rip, into a Back screen for a lob out of a time out, us coaches are watching and appreciate your team's execution and your longevity.

Set of the Night, 10.28.09

More plays available at www.basketballcoachesreport.com

10.28.09 Recap

Well the Boston Charlotte game was ugly. Boston took an 8-0 lead and then found an extra gear in the 3rd quarter to put the game away. All apologies to Dallas for yesterday's criticism on not having a legit 3rd or 4th option. Charlotte doesn't have a legitimate FIRST option in it's lineup.

The team of the night was the Denver Nuggets. A close game for 3 1/2 quarters was blown open late with a spectacular steal and dunk of a poorly thrown outlet pass by Paul Milsap. Carmelo Anthony rocked the Pepsi Center and then Kenyon Martin followed up a miss with a thunderous 2 handed dunk to put the momentum squarely in favor of the Nuggets. Ty Lawson was very impressive running the second unit and was very effective getting to the paint.

Sacramento and Charlotte are in for long seasons and New Orleans shockingly did not play well at all against the Spurs.

12 Games tonight

12 NBA Games to select from tonight, we'll be focusing on the Charlotte Bobcats and Boston Celtics as one of the premier teams in the East takes on one of the legendary coaches. We'll see what Larry Brown has cooked up for the C's.

Also San Antonio hosts New Orleans and in a divisional game the Jazz take on the Nuggets.

Dallas Hawk Flare Action

This action is run to get Nowitzki into the post or Terry coming off a flare.

Readying for the attack

This is an exciting time of year. The NBA is underway. The NCAA has started practice and will start playing games in a few weeks and most high schools will start practice in the next two weeks with games less than a month away.

After watching some college practices this week it brought to mind a dilemma that all high school coaches face. Many states limit the amount of work you can do in the off-season, unlike college where the coaches get a mandated number of hours during the week. Watching the first week of practice many college programs were already well into installing and running sets with the fundamentals established and rehearsed in the fall during those individual workouts.

What's the right approach in getting ready for the season for a high school program? Many states face a crunch of 12 or 13 practices before you start playing games. How much time do you spend on fundamentals vs. installing offenses, defenses, ob's, etc.

There are many variables to consider when starting a season:
Do you have a veteran team that knows your sets and only needs to be reintroduced to them?
Do you have a young team that needs to learn your sets?
Are you a new coach to your school or are you established and have been running your system throughout the summer and previous years?
Are you a surprise and change coach and need to have more plays and defenses in your arsenal?
Are you a simplicity and execution coach who relies less on plays and more on the fundamentals?
Do you do your players a disservice by focusing on plays and neglecting their fundamental development?

Unlike college and the NBA, high school coaches have a finite amount of time to prepare for the season, using it wisely is of the utmost importance. The answer lies within you and your philosophy.

Games Added to the File

Dallas vs. Washington 10.27.09
Boston vs. Cleveland 10.27.09
Houston vs. Portland 10.27.09
Lakers vs. Clippers 10.27.09

Subscribe to www.basketballcoachesreport.com to see their key sets.

GILBERT ARENAS IS BACK!

Finally basketball games that matter are here! Here's a quick recap of the games for 10.27.09.

Gilbert Arenas is back. Gone are the nicknames and side shows and welcome back to his explosive game. He owned Dallas tonight and every time Dallas threatened Arenas made them pay. Watch out for the Wizards, their supporting cast is solid and getting better and Flip Saunders has already made an immediate improvement.

Shaq's new nickname should be the "Big Speedbump", he slows down any offense he's involved with. Recently he said that maybe he should have studied the playbook more in the off-season? Um, correct me if I'm wrong, you're still a pro and knowing the plays is your job.

Also Cleveland has some issues with their bigs. Shaq and Ilgauskas can share the floor on the offensive end as Big Z can space the floor and knock down some open jumpers but the two of them on the floor at the same time are a nightmare defensively. Time and time again in the fourth quarter the Celtics ran pick and roll to the middle of the floor with Rasheed Wallace spacing out behind the 3 point line for a jumper. They got this every time they wanted it. Cleveland has a lot of work to do defensively with those two on the floor at the same time.

Subscribe to www.basketballcoachesreport.com and you'll set Boston's sets in the 4th quarter as they beat the Cavaliers.

The Wizards were the team of the night, they were really impressive and they have some nice pieces. Mike Miller stretches teams with his perimeter shooting and his overall basketball IQ is higher than I gave him credit for. Brendan Haywood was very active on the glass in the fourth quarter and looks recovered from last year's wrist and this pre-season's ankle injury. I love Caron Butler who's as good as it gets as an NBA third wheel (Jamison being the second). Lastly Randy Foye did a great job knocking down jumpers when the Mavericks played the pick and roll by going under the screener.

So far Houston has looked listless against Portland who is impressive with Andre Miller running the PG for the second unit. Houston made a good comeback to close the game to single digits late in the game before Portland finished them off. Portland's versatility is exceptional. On one possession Brandon Roy guards Luis Scola then plays the point on the offensive end. I can't imagine trying to match up with Portland.

Dallas really struggled last night. Here's a good rule of thumb for Rick Carlisle, keep two of these players on the floor at all times as they're your only offensive threats: Dirk, Terry, & Marion, and we're not quite sold on Marion unless it's in the open court. Jason Kidd is a threat only in transition, Erick Dampier is a solid defensive role player but not a threat on offense. Unless they come from Terry and Nowitzki, points will be hard to come by in Dallas this year.

Additional Games

Dallas vs. Detroit 10.15.09
Cleveland vs. Washington 10.15.09

Have been added to the directory....

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Games Broken down

10.9.09 Wizards vs. Mavericks
10.10.09 Bulls vs. Bucks
10.10.09 Denver vs. Indiana