MelroseGirlsBasketball.com Blog

I’d like to say that we’re focused like laser beams on a few ‘need’ areas. It’s not that simple. But we have identified priorities and an approach.

We had enough players to scrimmage at the end of practice, but earlier worked on our ballhandling and passing:

• we ran the ‘chase drill’ with a modification (third player) to simulate transition to defense after a basket, with the scorer moving to defense, the defender to offense, and the third player to inbounder.
• we tried a new drill involving a simulation of passing against zone defense. The drill encourages better passing against trapping. We later discussed using ‘pin’ and ‘flare’ screens to create more separation against zone.
• we worked mandatory cut or screens off 3 on 3
• we also introduced a drill favored by former UNC Coach Dean Smith to encourage the ’4s’ and ’5s’ to work together offensively

We also spent some time on shooting, although it was a cool and windy day that proved a bit limiting.  Thanks to all the players who put so much effort into voluntary practice.

Some of you have seen the movie “Moneyball” based on the book by Michael Lewis.  The author reported the trend in baseball to use quantitative metrics (statistics) to create a successful baseball team.  The argument goes that statistical performance can achieve superior results compared to ‘traditional’ scouting. To an extent, the Oakland A’s performance under Billy Beane, and the success of “Moneyball” teams, including a pair of titles for the Red Sox, proved the theory.

For basketball, the statistics that correlate best with winning are well known. Not surprisingly, they reflect relative offensive efficiency (shooting percentage difference), possession (rebounding and turnovers), and free throws taken which encompasses both offensive attack and defensive discipline.

Consider the Celtics-Heat game last night:

Field goal percentage:  MIA 50%  BOS 39.5% (edge MIA)

Rebounds:  MIA 48  BOS 33 (edge MIA)

Turnovers: MIA 12  BOS 8  (edge BOS)

Free throws:  MIA 16-23  BOS 11-21 (edge MIA)

When we consider the above, that brings us to our POINTS OF EMPHASIS for the offseason.

1. Improving our shooting percentage differential means improving our shooting and worsening opposition. We can improve our shooting with better quality shots and better passing.  We are going to play ‘faster’, and work on patterned transition. We can reduce opponents’ efficiency by improving our transition defense (to paraphrase, we have a drill for that) and closeouts.
2. We are working to decrease our turnovers with trapping drills to improve our ability to defeat pressure AND improve our trapping to force turnovers.  We’re also going to have a new type of scrimmaging where we keep score based on both points and turnovers.
3. Improving rebounding might be the hardest task.  I’m contemplating keeping rebounding statistics during practice as one technique.

As a child, we played board games, like Scrabble and Monopoly.  Scrabble combines mathematical and vocabulary skills, while one of the goals in Monopoly is ‘getting to go’.

You decide what kind of athlete, student, chess player, and teammate you become.  We cherish good teammates, who help us trust, compete, share, and sometimes suffer when disappointment arrives.

We can strengthen our self (or ego) through AFFIRMATIONS, positive statements about who we are.  In the Way of the Champion, Jerry Lynch adds lessons as affirmations, including – Dedication is the willingness to do all that is necessary to grow and improve as an athlete and a person.

Each of us writes our own life narrative – unique, authentic, and meaningful to us.  I encourage you to write a brief (no more than 100 words) synopsis about whom they are as a person and a player.

Include in your narrative whatever you find important, and include your goals and specifically what commitment you make to reach them. Look at it regularly as inspiration.

“The champion leads by guidance rather than by control. Being a “control freak” is indicative of various levels of insecurity.” – Jerry Lynch, “The Way of the Champion”

We need leadership.

Each of our players has the capacity to lead.  Ask yourself what qualities or traits you want from your leaders.  Take a few moments to write a few down. Here are some examples that you might consider:

• Trust
• Humility
• Respect
• Energy
• Consistency
• Compassion
• Empathy
• Honesty
• Intelligence
• Humor

Among those on the list, which belong to you?  Can you grow into a leadership role?

When we refer to success, we mean success in the fullness of your life. Are you growing as a student in the classroom, becoming more mature, becoming the best person you can be? If you are, the process transcends your day, and you will grow on the court as well.  Everyone will have some ups and down, times where they take three steps forward and one step back.

Coach Labella talks about ‘progression’. That applies just as much to understand math as it does to understanding how to communicate on the court.  Learn to figure out your strengths and weakness and overcome the latter.

Do not fear to lead.  If you find out a better way to accomplish something, share it with those around you. Improve the process for everyone.

The best player ever to come out of Melrose basketball was also the most humble. She got her college degree and recognition as one of the best players in American college basketball by being drafted by the WNBA. She achieved by making everyone around her better. You have the power to do the same, on a smaller scale.  The sooner you start, the sooner you will arrive.

A link from online basketballdrills on Facebook.  We worked on initiating the fast break at practice two weeks ago…and will continue to work to play faster.

Note that we are interested in giving players more freedom, with guidance.

Because younger players have limited experience, many coaches will play zone defense, focused more on WINNING now, than player development.  Naturally, we want to have consistent success, but we want to teach strong, fundamental basketball.

By way of repetition, offense is about cutting and spacing, helping teammates get open, using player and ball movement, and especially screens.

Here we have an odd front against a 2-1-2/2-3 zone that most of our opponents employ.

This is a ‘generic’ NBA-type set that has found its way into college, high school, and below. The ball is swung to the wing and the point guard cuts through to the corner in ’3 point range’. This moves the defense.  The better defenses will move their ‘weakside’ top and bottom defenders to or near the mid-line of the court.

Here’s where it gets interesting. The ’3′ dribbles back against the grain, with a pair of screens on the top defenders.  What are the options for the ’3′?

1. She might have a shot near the top of the key.
2. She has the ’4′ on the ‘weak side’ who might have either an open shot or a drive one-on-one with the low defender. Our fours are working hard on their medium-range jumpers.
3. She might have the ’1′ in the corner for the skip pass for a ’3′.
4. Another option is for the ’4′ to have set a ‘flare screen’ on the top defender instead of the ’2′, with the two having either the shot or screen and roll action with the four.

We are anything but helpless against the zone.  As our shooting range improves (and it is), we will have a complex arsenal of shooters who provide us with options. But the ‘X’ it’s about is execution not X’s and O’s.  The ability to move the ball, pass against pressure, set screens to free up teammates AND yourself, and shoot consistently produces success.

“Coaching is for today. Teaching is forever.” – Pete Newell

Basketball is an emotional game, and a demanding one. You will not always play well, and sometimes you will either play poorly, make bad decisions, or both. It is common to see a player play both poorly and well in the same game. For example, in the deciding game against Philadelphia, Rajon Rondo played unfocused, undisciplined basketball at both ends, with shoddy defensive play and seven turnovers.  But when Paul Pierce fouled out, he stepped up and played magnificently.

You must learn to play under stressful, challenging conditions (stronger opponents, pressure, foul trouble).  After having a bad series of plays, it will be tempting to become frustrated or “go into a shell”. But you must MOVE ON.

Celtics Coach Doc Rivers quotes the late Coach Chuck Daly as saying, “Get past the mad.” When you are frustrated and disappointed by your play, you must turn it around, moving to another place.

We talk about eighty percent of basketball being mental and this is another part of the head game. Every player at the NBA level has mad skills, relative to those not in the NBA. But even among the elite of the elite, the ability to raise your play in the key moment combining athleticism, talent, team play, good decision-making, and confidence determines success or failure.

We have some very talented, athletic, yet relatively inexperienced players who work VERY hard to improve.  Yet a few of them can become frustrated and lose focus despite their obvious and considerable talent. It is our job to give them both freedom and guidance to help them overcome the bumps in the road.  Along that path, they must know that misplays do not diminish their talents; they should remain confident.

Make the next play. “Get past the mad.”

I definitely watch a lot of basketball, and see too much ‘bad basketball’. But occasionally, immutable truths are revealed.  They might reveal themselves watching middle school or the NBA.

Tonight the youthful, exuberant OKC Thunder met the graybeards, the San Antonio Spurs. The young, athletic Thunder were supposed to deliver the lessons, but when the dust settled:

1. Experience won out.
2. San Antonio got to the rim, and the ‘more athletic’ Thunder couldn’t.
3. Continual jump shooting from the Thunder failed in the clutch.
4. One of the great international players of all time, Manu Genobili showed how the game is played.
5. Great coaching makes a difference, at every level. Coach Popovich showed tonight why he has remained one of the best for a long time.

Two outstanding teams put on an exceptional basketball game.  Nobody clinched anything tonight, but the contrast between this game and the Celtics-Sixers was stark.

Legendary coach Pete Newell believed that high school coaches were the most important part of the game. BUT he decried the reduction of BASKETBALL TEACHING, lack of creativity, and forcing players into systems.

He had a saying about players, “they aren’t cattle”.  He asked coaches to take advantage of the players’ intellect, helping them understand WHY.

Newell’s approach worked because he had such magnificent teaching skills, reducing harder concepts to easier ones. And it’s simple to understand why some of his biggest fans included Bobby Knight and Mike Krzyzewski, who had their own phenomenal success.

What does that mean for you, the player? First, consider what you know, ponder what you don’t, and ask how to bridge that gap. Second, while we KNOW you aren’t cattle, we don’t want you to be robots. The joy of basketball comes from both understanding and execution, implementation of concepts (passing and cutting, skills) with team play in creativity.

As a coach, I ask myself “where are my players succeeding” and “where do they need conceptual help”?

The players know all of our corny sayings, but they haven’t fully embraced all of our truisms. Here’s a partial list:

• “The ball is gold.”
• Eighty percent of the game is mental.
• Defense and rebounding determine the success of a team. Offense determines how much the margin.
• Basketball is a game of mistakes.
• See the game.
• Read and react.
• A confident player becomes a successful player.
• Believe in yourself.
• A bad shot is no different than a turnover.
• The defensive rebound is not secured until it’s in the hands of the guard.
• Shoot to score, not just to shoot.
• Layups and free throws win games.
• Great defensive teams view advancement of the ball into the paint as having a few outcomes: steals, deflections, blocks, and defensive rebounds…not layups.
• Create. Create separation with cuts, passes, and off the dribble. Create chaos on defense.
• Basketball is sharing; help your teammate to get open.

This is about a ten minute interview with an American business leader*. I think it has relevance to our young players. We regularly emphasize that basketball is just one part of growth, and that family, education, and leadership are more important than basketball.

My sister talks about the importance of communication but also what I’ll call finding what isn’t ‘out front’.

Sometimes the critical component of a problem is finding the missing ingredient.

Have you ever cooked a recipe and realized that you’ve left out an important ingredient? Looking assiduously, do you find anything unusual about this long group of common, ordinary words?

The answer is that the above sentence contains does not contain the letter ‘E’.

A team might underachieve because it lacks chemistry, discipline, or trust. A student might struggle because of a subtle learning disability or attention deficit.  Or the student may just be a little shy and therefore not show her teacher and peers how much she knows. A player might have the ability, the focus, and desire, but lack confidence. There are some players who are outstanding in practice but don’t translate that into game play consistently, sometimes because of fear of failure.

As coaches, we examine where we need to improve. Our key focus for this season involves reducing turnovers by working against more pressure drills and improving our shooting.  I prefer to see it as refining decision-making and execution in the passing game AND shooting, better technique and shot selection.

When you ask yourself what kind of student or player you are, ask whether anything is missing and if so, how you might supply it.