I received these notes from Weber State AssistantPhil Beckner.

Offensive Concepts/Point Guards

By: NBA Great Gordon Chiesa

Follow him on twitter: @gchiesaohmy

The NBA is a Point Guard driven league.

The hardest position in the NBA to learn and master is the “point guard position”.

About Point Guards…There are two kinds of Point Guards: 1) “New School,” aggressive, looking to score points early, by creating off the dribble; 2) “Old School”, trying to execute the offense first by getting other players shots early. As the shot clock is winding down, then being more aggressive.

The Point Guard position is about “winning intangibles.” The best ones make it special by their assists, leadership, clutch shooting, and defense!

About NBA Point Guards: You never want your point guard to be so “Shot Happy”, that he doesn’t or won’t get his teammates involved first in the flow of the “Team Offense”.

Good NBA Point Guards will always see the floor, control the tempo of the game, make timely jump shots, and uncanny lay-ups in the lane.

Good point guards should have an assist to turnover ratio of 3 to 1.

Good NBA point guards play the game “one pass ahead”. They feel/see the “play” before it happens.

Bright Point Guards learn to limit their own personal “emotional fogs” during games by playing forward, not backwards. Stay focused to lead!

Winning Point Guards respect the ball.  Their focus is to get as many offensive possessions possible by not committing “reckless turnovers”.

Smart point guards understand how/when to count internally, when the shot clock is winding down.  This “mental countdown” creates confidence.

Elite Point Guards master the intellectual, physical and verbal challenges of playing the position by consistently making “big plays”.

Winning, scoring point guards have that “instinctivemental balance” of understanding when to look to score, and when to get their teammates going.

Solid back-up point guards have an underrated impact towards winning by being ready to play due to injuries, foul trouble, and speed match-ups!

Electric Point Guards add value to their teams by scoring and creating in the open floor. They’re “tempo changers” of velocity and emotions.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for coaching basketball including basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

These three basketball skill drill ideas came from a pdf put together by Ganon Baker.  I hope that you can find ways to use them in both your games season practices and out of season workouts.

I. Stationary Dribbling with Tennis Ball (Do each for :30 secs) NO DIAGRAM

Execute the below moves while dribbling a basketball without a tennis ball, then execute each move while dribbling a basketball and tossing a tennis ball

a. Side Jab – Toss tennis ball, execute short side fake with foot, catch tennis ball

b. In/Out – Toss Tennis Ball, make inside out move w/ basketball hand, catch tennis ball with free hand

c. Between legs – Toss Tennis ball with right hand, go between legs with left hand, catch tennis ball with left hand palm down, then repeat

d. Behind the back – repeat the above but go behind the back

II. 2 Ball Drives (Make 10 in 1:10 seconds) (Diagrams below)

a. Drive to chair with 2 balls being dribbled, place 1 ball in the chair, take a floater

b. Now come back to chair, and take a jumper

III. Sue Bird Drill (Make 10 in 1 minute) (Diagrams below)

a. Drive at chair execute a WNBA dribble move

i. b/w leg-cross

ii. b/w leg-behind back

iii. behind back-cross

iv. In out – cross

v. Pull up for a 1-2 step jumper

b. Come back to chair drive for a step through finish (Chair has 2nd ball on it)

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Get 25% off on Ganon Baker Basketball DVDs – Couponcode 25GBB

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for coaching basketball including basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

This workout comes from the June 2011 University of Arizona Men’s Basketball Newsletter.

Here’s a good 60 minute workout that can be done with 1 – 4 players. It is a great way to get a high number of reps for both motion and stationary shooting, stressing technique and fundamentals.

1 – Stationary 5-spot 2’s

Shoot 10 shots from 5 spots on the floor (all from about 15 feet away). Short corner, elbow, free throw line (nail), opposite elbow, opposite short corner.

2 – Stationary 3’s

Shoot for 60 seconds at 7 spots on the floor: corner, low wing, wing, top, opposite wing, opposite low wing, opposite corner. Shoot 2 free throws in between spots.

3 – 3-point Motion Shooting

With the passer standing on the left wing outside the 3-point line, the shooter will start in the right corner. The shooter will run from the right corner to the right wing along the 3-point line and receive a chest pass from the passer. After the shot, the shooter will run back to the right corner and receive a skip-pass from the passer and shoot in motion. Shooter will repeat as many times as possible in 60 seconds. Repeat from 4 spots- corner to wing, wing to wing (twice, with pass coming from other side on second time and passer in opposite corner) and opposite corner to wing. Shoot 2 free throws between spots.

4 – One Long Dribble

Shoot from same 5 spots on floor as stationary 2’s. Shooter receives pass just inside free throw line and takes one long dribble right and shoots. Do this 5 times going right and 5 going left from each spot. Shoot 2 free throws after each spot.

5 – Timed Stationary Shooting

Shooter picks a spot on the floor (beyond 3-point line for perimeter players) and shoots as many shots as

they can for two straight minutes. repeat at three different spots, shooting 5 free throws in between each spot.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for coaching basketball including basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

In an effort to emphasize the importance of being fundamentally sound and improving our execution, I have always told teams that I coach that the outcome of a game that is decided by less than 10 points can be changed by altering four possessions of that game. The problem is, we won’t know what plays that we would want to change until after the game.  Since we don’t know ahead of time which possessions are game changers, it is absolutely necessary to properly execute every phase of every possession because as each possession occurs, it might be one of those four that change the game.  Then, we won’t have to look back and look for those plays and wish we would have executed properly and given a better effort.

We have not been anywhere near perfect in this area.  The purpose of this post is to give you some ideas that I have picked up from other coaches that have definitely made a difference in our execution.   As Don Meyer says, it really is “Not what you teach, but what you emphasize.”  Presenting to our teams as four game changing plays has helped me to emphasize this concept.

They could be plays that lead to the “four point swing” such as not meeting a pass leading to a steal and a layup.  Eliminating other senseless turnovers such as trying to force a pass that isn’t there, not chinning a defensive rebound and getting stripped, three second calls, or getting in a hurry help to stay away from game changing swings.

Taking a bad shot that gives us less of a chance to score and gives our opponent a chance for a numbers advantage break is another of the crucial plays.  I heard Jay Bilas say in the pre-game show for the Mens’ Championship game that “a bad shot is the first pass for your opponent’s fast break.”  I think that is a great way to put it.  Trying to dribble a loose ball and not picking it up and chinning it which allows the other team get it is another play that is easily corrected with proper execution.  Being aware of the clock at the end of a quarter, the half, or the shot clock is another play that we can control.

I heard Thad Matta at a clinic (when he coached at Butler) and he talked about “The Butler Way.”  One of the things he said he used was a tape that showed several individual plays that typified what that “Way” was.  They would periodically watch that tape of diving on loose balls, making the extra pass, a possession where all five players got their blockout, all five players sprinting back on defense after a made basket, etc…  This type of tape reinforces what our players should be doing.

I think for a high school coach it is good to have that kind of tape that shows plays from your team and your opponents for the current season, plays from your teams in previous seasons, and players that your team can identify with in the pros or college.  Rick Majerus had a “Be like Mike” tape showing Jordan taking charges, diving on loose balls, and fighting for rebounds.  In my opinion, the best play to add to the tape that I saw this year was Levance Fields of Pitt against Xavier.  He trailed a teammate on a break-away, which is an easy hustle play not to do, the teammate lost the ball as he was going to dunk it, Fields got it, layed it in, and then as the other player was laying out of bounds, yelled at him to get up and get back on defense.  Bruno Chu of the Xs and Os of Basketball posted the video on YouTube and on his site if you didn’t record that game.  Here is the link:  Levance Fields on YouTube.

Take any four of those possessions and have them go in favor of the losing team and you have a game that is played differently the last few minutes which could change the outcome.  I have framed it in this manner which I believe has helped our players to understand the importance of each possession.  My point is that these are plays that collectively can change a game and are completely within the control of the players who have been properly taught and drilled to execute them in games.  The mindset I strive to establish is to have repeated and emphasized these plays in practice and pointed them out at timeouts in games so that we are aware and prepared to make these plays when they happen rather than watching them on film and going over what we “shoulda, coulda, woulda.”

Not only do these plays make a difference on the scoreboard, but that difference is multiplied as a factor of the momentum they can create or negate.  Here is a link to an article I posted about these plays and their effect on momentum: Momentum Killers and Momentum Getters.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coaching including basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

The Coaching Toolbox turned one year old on March 1 and I just wanted to share a few thoughts on the first year of the site.  This has always been one of my favorite times of the year with high school tournaments in full swing and NCAA March Madness just around the corner, so it seemed like as good a time as any to get the site started at this time last year.  I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I started and I have learned a lot about building and maintaining a website and about life on the Internet over the past year, in addition to continue to learn about the game of basketball and coaching it.

But, the most enjoyable part of working on the site has been having the opportunity to correspond with basketball coaches and players from around the world and at varied levels of coaching through the site.  It has given me another reason to stay in touch with former players who are now coaching, coaches I have coached with, coaches I have coached against, and coaches who publish other basketball websites.  I have even developed a friendship with Coach Josh Stinson from Perfect Practice as we have worked together on HoopClinics.

My goal each week is to throw out some ideas in the daily e-mails from various coaching topics, some that I have used and some that I don’t use, but that I hope the visitors to the site and the newsletter subscribers might be able to use.  Each week my plan is to vary what I send out, but to put out a defensive topic, an offensive topic, a drill, something on leadership/inspiration, and something on program development.  I know that not every e-mail is going to be used by every coach every day, but I hope that by offering a variety, everyone can find something they like and that fits their coaching situation and the abilities of the players they coach. I strive to mix up the delivery method and offer some videos, some written ideas, some of my interpretations and adaptations of coaching concepts, some ideas from other websites or newsletters, and anything else I can think of to offer variety and that you might find useful.

I have done my best to keep up with the feedback and requests.  I appreciate all of them, and know that it is one area that I want to improve on in the coming year.  Please feel free to leave an ideas that you would like to see explored in the coming year in the comments below.

There have been a couple of side benefits from doing this project.   One is that I have been discovered on face book by several students that I taught as a classroom teacher and friends that I had lost touch with.  I have enjoyed corresponding with them as well.  The second is that we are putting together a reunion for this coming summer of our players, managers, and coaching staff from a school that I coached at 10 years ago.  I am really looking forward to that!

For the most part, things have gone well.  There are always problems in any project and I am still learning how to get all of the e-mails through and help each of you be able to open the videos.  I know that many servers block some of the channels that I use because others use them to send out offensive and unsolicited e-mails.  I will continue to work to improve those things.

I do thank you for the time that each of you have taken to look at the site and the e-mails and for the feedback you have offered.  Please leave a comment below if you have any suggestions for the coming year.  I still have a long way to go to meet my goals of the number of visitors per day and the number of subscribers to the newsletters, so anything you can do to let others know about the site who might be interested in taking a look would be appreciated!

Brian

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coaching including basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

Growing up and playing high school basketball in the state of Indiana, then becoming a high school basketball coach, I know how all of the young players grow up dreaming of being Miss or Mr. Basketball.  Only one player of each gender is awarded that title each year that goes along with recognition by the state coaches and media that he or she is the best player in our state.  No one ever achieves that honor without years and years of hard work leading up to that senior season.  It takes several hours of working to perfect your basketball skills through repetitions of basketball drills.

April McDivitt Foster lived that dream during the 1998-99 season as she was selected “Miss Basketball”  .She then headed to Knoxville to play for the Lady Vols before finishing her playing career in the WNBA.  All of the lessons she learned and hours and hours of practice, both practicing basketball skills individually, and practicing basketball drills with her teams, have made her a great resource for ideas to improve the individual aspects of any player’s game, of any gender, and any level of competition.

HoopClinics has scheduled an interactive webinar with her for Monday January 26 at 9:00 EST.  For more information on the event, check out this link:

Basketball Skills and Basketball Drills

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coaching including basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

Coach Ed Schilling is one of the best teachers of individual skills in the game of basketball. That is why he has NBA and Division I players come to him to have him help them to improve their individual skills and individual scoring moves. But, Coach Schilling also has extensive experience working with players all the way down to grade school through 25 years of working at basketball camps and as the Executive Director of Champions Academy in Indianapolis, Indiana.

That is what makes his new DVD, “Mandatory Moves” one of the top training DVDs on the market for coaches and players of all age and ability levels.

If you are watching the DVD as a player, it is just like you are in the gym with Coach Schilling. If you are a coach, you will pick up several teaching points and some terminology that can help you to teach your players to make plays in a much more effective way:

To see a small segment of the DVD, click here: Ed Schilling Short Corner Moves

For more information about the DVD, click here: Ed Schilling Mandatory Moves

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of free resources for basketball coaching including basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

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 including basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

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

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of free resources for basketball coaching including basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

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

Whether you are a player interested in improving at shooting a basketball, or a coach looking to improve your collection of basketball shooting drills, The Coaching Toolbox has a great resource for you. The third interview in our teleseminar series is with Jay Wolf, the inventor of the Star Shooter Strap.

The interview is about 30 minutes long and Jay gives some basketball shooting tips such as holding your follow through, how to line up your entire body to get the ball straight, what you can do to correct a shot that misses left or right, and several other ideas that will help anyone to improve their shooting.

One of the areas that Coach Wolf stresses during the interview is the concept of practicing at a game pace. The Coaching Toolbox has a series of basketball workouts that force you to go at a game pace.

In our teleseminar archives, we have 10 minute interviews with Eddie Enriquez, a strength and agility trainer, and Ed Schilling, a former NBA assistant coach whose topic is basketball workouts for point guards.

Our next interview will be posted this coming Friday, May 19 and is with Steve Siebold, a best selling author and mental toughness coach for many world class athletes and several fortune 500 executives.

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