Over the past decade much has been made of Phil Jackson's philosophy of playing through an opponent's run without calling a timeout. Having seen this philosophy and having tried it, we've come to the conclusion that if you want a moral victory, don't call a timeout. You can go into the locker room after your loss and tell your team that they need to improve their mental toughness. If you want to win the game when the wheels are falling off the car, call the timeout and regroup.
Case in point, the Dallas Mavericks vs. Atlanta Hawks. Atlanta up 8, Dallas goes on a tear and Atlanta "plays through it". Eventually Dallas takes the lead and the game goes to overtime where Dallas is able to pull out the victory.
Here's why we would have taken the time out.
1. Atlanta was getting outworked by Jason Kidd (who put on a show getting a triple double). Kidd got an offensive rebound off a free throw, stole the ball from a post player from the blindside, and knocked down several jumpers. He even beat Atlanta's coach to the spot and got a technical called for the coach being on the floor.
2. Dallas' zone defense gave Atlanta's offense fits, there were too many settle for jumpers possessions late in the game. Yes Mike Bibby hit some big shots, but there was little penetration of the zone and a timeout could have set up a better attack.
3. Momentum. Dallas ripped off an incredible run, Jason Kidd energized the entire Dallas lineup. Call a timeout and cool their jets.
Instead Dallas gets the win on the road. Now will this loss benefit Atlanta in the future? We don't know. But if it costs them a higher playoff seed and an earlier exit, it wouldn't have been worth it.
February 27, 2010
February 17, 2010
Managing Expectations
It's February, teams are coming together for their stretch run or falling apart at the seams. One of the keys to having a successful stretch run and season is to manage expectations. With message boards, newspapers, sport dedicated websites, the scrutiny goes all the way down to the grammar school level. That accompanied with the usual array of player, parental, and school influences make for an intense cauldron of pressure for modern players. Results of games are broadcast near instantly. Anonymous message boards levy harsh criticism of players (they are still kids right?) which is undue pressure on any teenager. If expectations aren't managed properly it can crush a player or a team.
Teams that are coming together have set realistic expectations and set manageable short term goals and met them throughout the season. Players are confident and happy in their roles and are playing hard and having fun. These teams are "gelling" at the right time and are poised for a good finish.
If you spent your preseason talking to your team how you were going to win conference and you're 3 or 4 games out of it right now, your players are probably going to be tuning you out because you've lost your credibility. At that point you are holding on to a tiger by the tail and hoping to ride out the string. Players aren't content with their roles, team chemistry is a mess, and everyone wants to go home right after practice or a game. If you're coaching at the high school level you probably have your fair share of parents voicing their displeasure about little Johnny's or little Suzy's playing time, lack of awards or newspaper recognition, or scholarship offers.
If a player had the expectation that they would be all-American, all-conference, all-area, or pick up a scholarship offer and those goals haven't been met you need to refocus their goals on the near term. Go out and own the glass, or take care of the ball, or make the hustle plays to help us win can help keep a player who's lost their way stay in the game. If a player is worried about the external things out of their control, they cannot focus on the things that they can control, their performance.
All is not lost! Simply refocus your team and individual goals into short term, attainable goals. We want to win the rest of our home games or we want to sweep the weekend. If faced with a difficult opponent, we want to hold them to 40% shooting and no second chance points, etc. Giving your players something to aim for, and more importantly something they can buy into for the stretch run will ease a "missed" season.
You and your staff can spend the off-season wondering where things went amiss. Stay in the game and refocus your kids to make the last part of your season a success.
Teams that are coming together have set realistic expectations and set manageable short term goals and met them throughout the season. Players are confident and happy in their roles and are playing hard and having fun. These teams are "gelling" at the right time and are poised for a good finish.
If you spent your preseason talking to your team how you were going to win conference and you're 3 or 4 games out of it right now, your players are probably going to be tuning you out because you've lost your credibility. At that point you are holding on to a tiger by the tail and hoping to ride out the string. Players aren't content with their roles, team chemistry is a mess, and everyone wants to go home right after practice or a game. If you're coaching at the high school level you probably have your fair share of parents voicing their displeasure about little Johnny's or little Suzy's playing time, lack of awards or newspaper recognition, or scholarship offers.
If a player had the expectation that they would be all-American, all-conference, all-area, or pick up a scholarship offer and those goals haven't been met you need to refocus their goals on the near term. Go out and own the glass, or take care of the ball, or make the hustle plays to help us win can help keep a player who's lost their way stay in the game. If a player is worried about the external things out of their control, they cannot focus on the things that they can control, their performance.
All is not lost! Simply refocus your team and individual goals into short term, attainable goals. We want to win the rest of our home games or we want to sweep the weekend. If faced with a difficult opponent, we want to hold them to 40% shooting and no second chance points, etc. Giving your players something to aim for, and more importantly something they can buy into for the stretch run will ease a "missed" season.
You and your staff can spend the off-season wondering where things went amiss. Stay in the game and refocus your kids to make the last part of your season a success.
February 10, 2010
The State of the Union - Collegiate Style
Well there's been a flurry of basketball related articles regarding the business of college sports. It makes the authors of this blog shake their head when reading of some of the perverted uses of "higher education" and how this industry fails to police itself.
The past few days have seen several guests of the Mike and Mike talk show, talking about the NCAA's "1 and done" rule. First off for all of you who hate it, it is not an NCAA rule. It is a collectively bargained NBA-NBAPA rule. Secondly many of the same pundits who applauded the rule are now bashing it saying that kids don't go to class and that the players are one year rental players. Well that is something within the purview of the NCAA and Bob Knight has been an outspoken critic of the NCAA's handling of the matter. Why can't kids and college be held accountable to actually go to class? These are colleges aren't they? That's what people who go to college are supposed to do, attend class and maybe learn something. I guess so long as the billions of dollars pour into college athletics then university presidents will ignore this eyesore. Ignorance is bliss, and to the athletes who play college sports, all in all you're just another brick in the wall of NCAA hypocrisy.
What is further maddening is the idea put forth in this article on espn.com, that only 20 universities annually break even financially. Where then does all this money go? When will the government stop the facade that collegiate sports serves a tax exempted educational purpose? Were the television contracts not enough? Were the licensing and merchandising contracts not enough?
Dana O'Neil's article on UNo Athletics.
The past few days have seen several guests of the Mike and Mike talk show, talking about the NCAA's "1 and done" rule. First off for all of you who hate it, it is not an NCAA rule. It is a collectively bargained NBA-NBAPA rule. Secondly many of the same pundits who applauded the rule are now bashing it saying that kids don't go to class and that the players are one year rental players. Well that is something within the purview of the NCAA and Bob Knight has been an outspoken critic of the NCAA's handling of the matter. Why can't kids and college be held accountable to actually go to class? These are colleges aren't they? That's what people who go to college are supposed to do, attend class and maybe learn something. I guess so long as the billions of dollars pour into college athletics then university presidents will ignore this eyesore. Ignorance is bliss, and to the athletes who play college sports, all in all you're just another brick in the wall of NCAA hypocrisy.
What is further maddening is the idea put forth in this article on espn.com, that only 20 universities annually break even financially. Where then does all this money go? When will the government stop the facade that collegiate sports serves a tax exempted educational purpose? Were the television contracts not enough? Were the licensing and merchandising contracts not enough?
Dana O'Neil's article on UNo Athletics.
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