Coaching Toolblog

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I recently watched on of the best individual basketball skills training DVDs that I have ever seen. The DVD is entitled “Mandatory Moves” and it features Coach Ed Schilling working with three younger high school players on individual scoring moves from four separate areas on the floor. The DVD has a lot of great information that players (regardless of their age or level of competition) can use to improve their games immediately.

For coaches, Coach Schilling breaks down the “Mandatory Moves,” how to teach them, when to apply them, and it shows Coach Schilling re-teaching and emphasizing the specific teaching points that allow these players to show some improvement during the drills.

I believe that better players and not just better plays is what leads to offensive success in basketball. If you are in agreement with that, then you should take a look at Coach Schilling’s DVD “Mandatory Moves.”

Here is a link to a segment from the Video:  Ed Schilling Mandatory Moves

Here is a link to more information about the DVD:  Ed Schilling Mandatory Moves

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coaching.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coaching.

One of our clock management rules at the end of a game where we are behind is that if we gain possession at the opponent’s end with under three seconds to go and the clock is running, we call timeout immediately.  That includes after an opponent’s basket where they tie the game or take the lead. We don’t want the player who gets the ball to look at the clock, so if the player is in doubt as to how much time remains, we want them to call timeout and are not concerned if there is more time than three seconds remaining.  For instance, if there is six seconds and an open court, some players can score in that amount of time, but it the player is in doubt as to whether or not we can get a good shot in transition, we want them to call the timeout immediately.  If the ball goes through the basket, we want all players on the floor (and the coach on the bench) yelling “timeout”, making the timeout sign and moving toward the officials.

We then like to throw to half court and call timeout to set up our last second play.  For this reason, we save our timeouts until the end of the game.  I will send out a link to our favorite half court inbound play tomorrow.

If we are inbouning the ball and have to go full court without a timeout and are tied or down one or two, we like to have a play to throw the ball inside our three point arc.  The play varies depending on our personnel year to year, but we feel that if you throw the ball inside the arc, good things will happen.  We feel that more good things are likely to happen if you can throw the ball closer to the basket as opposed to throwing it in and then taking a three-quarters or half-court heave.  If you do throw long and the ball is knocked loose, it is much more dangerous to your opponent if the ball is knocked loose at your basket than at half court.

Here is an example of how throwing the ball long give you a chance, even if the defense deflect the pass.  Brownsburg (Indiana) High School trailed by one with 2.1 seconds to go in the 4A state championship last March.  By throwing the ball long, the caught a break.  In my opinion, they made their own break by being smart enough to throw the ball long rather than settle for a heave.

End of Game Long Pass

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coaching.

I first saw Ed Schilling play when I competed against him in a high school varsity basketball game.  Even though he did not score much, he controlled the game as the point guard for the Lebanon (Indiana) Tigers.  He got all of his teammates the ball where they were most effective with it, hit the big shots, and made his free throws down the stretch as we were fouling in an attempt to catch up.

That was 25 years ago and since then he had a great career as a player at Miami (Ohio), became a head high school coach at age 23, became an assistant at: UMass, the New Jersey Nets, Memphis, and the head coach at Wright State.  Now, he focuses on developing individual skills for players of all levels at his Champions Academy Training Facility in Indianapolis.  He works with all ages and ability levels, including recent NBA first round draft choices Greg Oden, Mike Conley, George Hill, Courtney Lee, and Eric Gordon.

So, with all of that experience and ability to teach players how to play basketball, he has put together what I feel is one of the best DVDs that I have in my coaching library–Mandatory Moves.   In the DVD, Coach Schilling goes shows how he teaches individual moves from various spots on the floor.  The DVD is more than just demonstration.   He is working with three young high school players and you can see not only what he teaches, but also how he teaches it, and how the players benefit and improve immediately from the teaching points he emphasizes.

This DVD is something that players and coaches from every level will be able to apply immediately to their games to improve themselves, or to develop the individual skills their players need to make plays that will improve whatever offense you run.

Here is a link to more information about the Mandatory Moves DVD:

Ed Schilling Mandatory Moves

Poise is an emotional peace which is seemingly inconsistent with the challenge at hand. Poise is developed rather than learned. Poise permits practice to render expected results. Poise is nearly invisible at its strongest, but obvious to all when absent.

Poise does not improve our physical skill, but rather is the state of mind with which a performance is offered. Poise is understood by few. Poise is leased by many but owned by none. Poise is relative. Everybody has a little, but few have enough. Poise is not always passive. Poise is ready to fight, but always within the rules. Poise provides us with the ability to remain focused on our objective rather than aimlessly gazing at distractions. As our temptation to become distracted intensifies, our needed amount of poise increases. It is impossible to have too much poise.

Poise is readiness. Poise is not a fancy word for composure. Poise may choose to avoid conflict, but does not equate with passive play. Poise is more concerned with winning a game than with merely avoiding a fight. Poise is capable of an aggressive box out. Poise does not conflict with a foul that prevents a basket. Poise is capable of a crushing screen. Poise does not preclude crashing the offensive boards. Poise allows us to execute the demands of the game while maintaining an awareness of the rules and a genuine respect for the competition.

Poise lessens the impact of pressure. Poise is the buffer which prevents pressure from damaging our performance. Poise removes all competition except the other team. Our preparation and strategy will prepare us for a particular opponent. Poise can either be a key component to winning or a major cause of defeat.

Poise is always needed. There is not a good time to be without poise. Everybody is aware that poise is needed on occasion, but few realize that it is called upon constantly. Poise must be a great strength in order for teams to achieve greatness.

There is little, if any, correlation between talent and poise. We all can develop poise if it is perceived as important and worthwhile to do so.

Poise provides us with the opportunity to do our best. Without poise, distractions will serve to detract from our performance. You and your teammates must develop poise in order to make any sincere effort toward achieving meaningful objectives. Anything other than our best is not acceptable. Poise is a necessary component to any pursuit within a competitive environment.

I used to look at a player’s scoring effectiveness as being ineffective if they did not score at least one point for each field goal attempted.  So, if you took 6 shots, you need to score at least 6 points or you were hurting the team.  Defensively, we felt that if we held the other team’s top scorers to less than a point a shot, we had a great chance to win.  But, I didn’t like it to measure our leading scorers because if our leading scorer took 18 shots and scored 17 points, that met the criteria, but wasn’t going to help us win games.

Here are a couple of stats that I find much more useful.  It is easy to set up a spreadsheet, or have your statisticians or managers if you have them, to set one up to calculate the following:

EFFECTIVE FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE

In my opinion, when looking at statistics, overall field goal percentage is not a useful statistic to judge your player’s shooting efficiency since it combines both two and three point shots to calculate the percentage.  Two point percentage alone and Three point percentage will tell you how a player does at both ranges, but to get a comparison of how effective a player is who shoots mainly twos compared to a player who shoots mainly threes is the old apples to oranges comparison.

Effective Field Goal Percentage is calculated by counting each three point attempt as one and a half shots attempted since each three point shot scores one and a half times the number of points that a two point shot does.  It provides for a more level comparison.

The formula for effective field goal percentage is:

eFG% = (FGM + .5*3PM)/FGA

FGM and FGA include all shots, both two point shots and three point shots.

TRUE SHOOTING PERCENTAGE

True Shooting Percentage is a statistic takes into account being able to get to the line and make free throws in addition to being efficient in making two and three point shots.

The formula is:

TS% = (Points/2) / [FGA + (0.44 * FTA)]

The rationale in dividing the points by two is by doing so, it effectively makes each three point shot made worth 1.5 points.  This also makes each two free throws made equal to one two point basket made.

One free throw attempted is basically half a field goal attempt, so multiplying the FTA by .5 seems to make sense.  The reason that .44 is used is that statistical research by the NBA has taken into account the old fashioned three point play of a basket and a foul.  So, in those cases, the field goal attempt made is responsible for both the FGM and the FTA.

The first few times I looked at these, they were a little confusing (and my teaching area is math), but after looking at them and researching them, they made more sense as a measure than the traditional overall field goal percentage.

There are different ways of measuring possessions. Some coaches count each shot or turnover as the end of a possession, so if you get two offensive rebounds then that counts as two extra possessions. The system that has worked best for us is that a new possession only starts when the ball changes hands from one team to the other, so even if there are five consecutive offensive rebounds, it counts as the same possession because the same team has the ball.

Rebounding will be another discussion, but my belief is that it is very important to get the last shot of the first three quarters in high school and for middle school teams to learn the importance of that skill as well. If you can get the last shot of the first three quarters, then depending on who has the ball to start each quarter, at best you can get three more possessions than your opponent, and at worst, you each have the same number of possessions if they have the ball at the start of each quarter.
Potentially that is an 18 point swing for nine points you can get and nine points your opponent will not get. Even if the shots are twos, a 12 point swing is still huge.

It is not realistic to think that you are going to hit a three to end each quarter, but I have been involved in two varsity games where our one team did hit a three to end each quarter. Nine points made a huge difference in both games, as they will in most games. Since they were the last shots of each quarter, the other team did not have a chance to respond. My belief is that scoring runs, scoring droughts, and momentum play a big role in basketball. Taking the last shot and keeping the opponent from taking the last shot play huge roles in those three areas.

We practice the going for the last shot in practice every day by running the last 30 seconds of drill and scrimmage work like a game. 30 seconds is normally when we set as the automatic time that we begin to hold for the last shot. Our rule is that we will take an uncontested layup with less than 30 seconds, but nothing else. We have had years, depending on our talent relative to our opponents and our depth, where we have started to hold at 20 seconds, and have gone as much as starting at 45 seconds. For middle school, I think 15-20 seconds is the appropriate depending on what your players can do.

I believe it is better to just have an automatic time to hold for the last shot that your players have been drilled on rather than getting up and screaming “One shot!” You can continue to run your regular offense and just shot fake when there is a shot that you normally would take. Again, we will take a wide open layup under 30 seconds and then have confidence in our defense to get a stop . Other than that, we feel that the number of possessions is more important than shooting a 15 foot jump shot or even a wide open three point shot if it would allow the other team to have a chance to score.

The fourth quarter, we determine how we play the end depending on whether we are ahead or behind. If we are ahead, then we are going to hold to shoot free throws and will still take wide open, uncontested layups. If we are behind, we hope that we can get off at least three good shots in the last 30 seconds through using our banked timeouts and fouling to stop the clock.

PLAYERS AND OFFICIALS

I have always attempted to find a way to get a local official or two to come in and work a Saturday pre-season scrimmage during one of our practices.  It really doesn’t have to be a Saturday practice, I just found that it was easier for many officials to come in on a Saturday than a week night.  I also like to use Saturday’s for pre-season scrimmages.

I am not talking about a public scrimmage, just the section of the practice that you use to go 5 on 5, but I make this one game like with a manager doing the clock, playing four quarters, etc…  I pay them the going rate for a JV game.  If you can’t afford two or three (which we usually can’t), then we have assistant coaches be the second and third officials.

I have found that the officials like it because it does help themto prepare for the new season.  It helps our players because I ask the officials talk to them about new rules and just some quick thoughts on what it is like to be an official.  I think it helps to humanize the officials to the players and gives our players a different perspective on them as people.

We also expect our players to hand the ball to officials rather than tossing it or throwing it.  I think that helps show respect to the officials.  We also address them as “yes sir” (ma’m for lady officials), “no sir”, and respond with “thank you sir” when receiving a handoff or a bounce pass from the official.

I have found as Coach Meyer says that “you get what you expect, inspect, and  accept.”  We strive to expect and then remove players from the game, who show disleasure with an officials call, no matter how much the crowd reacts.  My feeling is that regardless of how much we dislike a call, we cannot lose our poise and focus on playing the game and becoming upset with the officiating does not help the performance of our team.  I am not saying that we are perfect in this regard, but that is what we strive for in practice and in games.

I have always believed in experimenting with something new in basketball practice a couple of times a week for no more than 10 minutes of practice time. Early in the season we usually try something new every day. I am not suggesting that you experiment with revamping your philosophies and core values of your program, but am suggesting to think about experimenting with your personnel early in the season to be able to get the right players in the right situations, and as a way to add some variety to keep the players interest and attention late in the season.

Even during the years where we have had “everyone back” I still felt that the were not the same players that they were last year. At least I hoped that they weren’t because I wanted to improve on last year’s record not repeat it. So, I spent some time learning where they had grown and where they still needed to get better.

When I pick up new drills during the off-season or improvements to our offensive and defense systems, I like to put them in early season practices to see if they do fit with our personnel. I certainly believe in constantly working to improve as a coach, but regardless of how well something works for another program, it might not work for you, so I think it is good to put something in and work on it a few times before deciding if it is for us. It is possible that I did not get the whole story of how something works if I saw it at a clinic or on a DVD.

For example, a few years ago, I saw a very successful coach who always produced great shooters say at a clinic that they did their shooting drills at the end of practice so that they could shoot when they were tired. That made a lot of sense to me. We tried it in our early practices and our players did not like it. They liked our shooting progression early in the practice and felt that it helped them to “groove” their shots for the rest of the practice. So, we tweaked it and did our shooting fundamentals early and did some game pace drills late to try and get the best of both worlds. That team ended up being the highest field goal percentage team that I have coached, so I am glad that I experimented with it, told them what and why I was giving it a test run, and then listened to their input.

Early in the season, I think it is important to do some experimenting with what spots you put players in against presses and traps, who inbounds the ball, who inbounds the ball for a game winning shot, who takes the shots at the end of quarters, what shots each player can make in a scrimmage, and any other crucial personnel decisions that we need to make. Usually, I don’t change my mind as to who needs to fill each role and what they can do, but there are times when I have made some decisions that I feel have made us better by putting players in different positions. Many times it is not the new role that you put someone in, but it becomes how that trickles down to filling their previous spot and what role changes would take place for the rest of our players that is the deciding factor in to change or not to change.

We have always been a motion program with a handful of set plays that we feel fit our players for that year. Early in the year we experiment with our plays to see what works for this group and what doesn’t so that we can pare down the number that we will use. As the season wears on, we also tweak what we run as we see how we are being defended and if our personnel changes do to injuries or adjustments in our lineup.

Since basketball is a long season, I like to look for new drills that drill the same concepts as the season moves into January and February. Not major complex changes, but something that can be explained quickly and doesn’t eat up a lot of practice time. I think it helps maintain the attention of the players as they have something new to think about rather than going through the same things in the same way time after time.

I will conclude by saying that I do not believe in taking major portions of the practice to experiment. Ten minutes max every day the first couple weeks of practice and then ten minutes once or twice a week after that. I don’t want change for change sake, but I also want to always be looking for new ideas and new ways to do things better that will improve our program.

As practice starts, if you haven’t seen the first twelve ideas from our e-book “130 Great Ideas to Get a Lot More Accomplished in Practice, you can see them by clicking here:

Winning Way Practice e-book

It has been entirely too long since I have posted something on the blog.  I have just had so many other things going on with the Coaching Toolbox and HoopClinics that I have not been able to post as much as I would like.  I hope that today’s entry will be a useful one.

At this time of year, it is always stressful for both basketball coaches and for basketball players who played (or are still playing) a fall sport as to when they should start practice if the seasons overlap.  Even when the fall sport ends on a Friday or Saturday and then basketball practice starts on Monday, it is a tough call.  I would like to express my opinion and encourage high school and middle school coaches that have to deal with this issue to give it a lot of thought.  I do not believe my way is the only way or even the right way, it is just what has worked best when I have had to deal with it.  My belief is that each situation should be handled on an individual basis and that there is no way to have a blanket policy as to when a fall athlete should be required to start practice.   A reasonable agreement can be worked out between the coaches and the athletes who fall into this category with a little communication.

There are several reasons that I feel that each case should be handled differently.  One is that each fall sport is different and affects different positions differently.  I ran cross country in high school, so this is not a slam on cross country runners, but it makes sense that they do not get as beat up as a running back in football who carries 20 times a game for nine or ten games. On the other hand, a cross country runner who competes in the state meet on say a Saturday,  might have a tough time being at a 6:00 am practice on that next Monday.

Even within a particular sport, the physical toll is different.  A setter in volleyball does not have as many landings and as much strain on the legs as a hitter.  I have very little specific experience with specific wear and tear on all of the fall sports, so I am not going to go into more examples. I just believe that it is something that should be discussed with your assistant coaches in order to have a plan in place ahead of time that is the best you can do for each individual who is affected.

One factor that complicates things is that I feel that it is not right to talk to the fall athletes about basketball as they are entering their playoffs and state tournament series.  I believe that there focus should be allowed to be on that sport, just like I hope that the spring coaches extend us the same courtesy in late February and March. I do believe that if a fall sport ended over a week before basketball starts that the player should be at the first practice unless there is an injury involved.  Then they should be at practice to watch unless they have doctor visits and or rehab.

I always like to take the late practice time slot the first day of practice if that works for the other programs that we share the gym with.  That gives us a little more time to talk with the fall athletes whose seasons may have ended over the weekend.  I have never liked to run to them to start the school day to see what they want to do. I want to give them a little space after their previous season ends.  If you can’t practice late, you might have the assistants start practice while the head coach talks with the fall athletes.

It is difficult to get the season going as you are wondering when your players will be out for practice, in some cases needing to make cuts, stay withing state guidelines for the number of pre-season practices required, having a short time to prepare for the opening game, having to take care of the administrative items of passing out equipment, pictures, parent meetings, etc…  And, to top it all off, basketball is the only sport that has the added difficulty of sharing facilities and having to either change practice locations, practice times or both.

I do not believe that it shows that a player is not eager for basketball who asks for a few days to recover from fall sports.  There will be some that want to start as soon as possible, and those are easy to deal with.  I believe that for the big picture of the well being of both the athletes and the program, if they ask for a couple of days off before starting practice, you will be better of in the long run for granting them.    Basketball is a long season and the coach is not giving up much by allowing a little rest and recovery.  I do think it is important that you communicate to the other players when that player will be joining the team and why they want or need the days off.

I wish you the best as you try to sort through these types of situations.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of free resources for basketball coaching and for basketball players.

I have been so busy working on Hoopclinics that I really didn’t watch as much of the Men’s Basketball (or any of the events for that matter) as I wanted to.  However, I did catch enough of the Men to see that they clearly were on a mission and put their own egos aside for the good of the team.  I am interested to see how much of that carries over to this coming NBA season, or if a team attitude was a one time thing for those players.

To me, that is why Michael Jordan is the best player ever.  He was the defensive stopper every night, not just on special occasions.  He played with a team attitude every night, not just when there was an Olympic gold medal on the line.  That is probably why he was the leader of the team that won more regular season games than any other NBA team in history.  He delivered every night. I heard Rick Majerus talk at a clinic once about his showing the “Be Like Mike” tape to his teams at the beginning of every season.  Not the one from TV with the dunks and electrifying plays, but the one he constructed showing him diving on loose balls, taking charges, fiercely fighting for rebounds, and the multitude of other hustle plays that he made night in and night out.

In my opinion, a truly great player can be even better when he or she puts the team first, regardless of how superior they are in talent to their teammates.

I think Coach K proved once and for all that coaching does make a difference.  I once heard somebody state that if they had to win one game, they would take Coach K if the team had more talent than their opponent, and Dick Bennett if it had less.  I couldn’t agree more.  He took a group of individuals who were not accustomed to playing as a team and constructed a team.  Their gestures with their medals shows how they felt about his leadership and them becoming a team.  I think his strong leadership was even more necessary on this team with no one with dynamic leadership ability.  I think LeBron will become a great leader in the course of time, but he still has a ways to go to be considered dynamic.

It seems that Coach K has a way of getting along with most players and being able to get a lot out of them.  He is a strong personality, but there seem to have been few personality clashes on teams that he is associated with despite coaching many talented and strong willed players.  I think he personifies the coach as leader.  I know that there are times when you have to get on players, but some coaches do it so much that you wonder if they realize that they are on the same team as their players.

I am interested to see how much of the team attitude carries over to this coming NBA season, or if a team attitude was a one time thing for those players.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of free resources for basketball coaching and for basketball players.