Larry Shyatt on Defense

These are some notes from a clinic presentation given by Larry Shyatt, assistant men’s basketball coach at Florida.

General Topics

– “You have to take care of people you admire”

– Question asked to Coach Daily; “Any regrets in coaching?”  Response: “I wish I would have talked with my players more”

– Need to talk to your players outside of the office —- get to know them

– Jeff Van Gundy: “Stop using the word great to describe a player —- he needs to be the best offensive and defensive player everyday in order to be good.”

– “The people who love you the most, tell you what you don’t want to hear”

– Talk to your players about rules (not just team rules, but defensive rules……)

– Buzz Williams:

* “Old people talk about the past”

* “Young people talk about the future”

* “Successful people worry about the now”

– Each year, every coach talks about how he is going to play up tempo

– Off-season workouts always seem to designed for just offense, yet as coaches, we always say that defense wins championships

–  Players need to talk — #1 priority

– Need to have a defensive vocabulary

– Use drills where the coach does not talk

– Talk needs to be ELC (Early, Loud, Continuous)

* Example: Blitz – Ball screen

– To have a successful defensive culture, you cannot expect the assistant coaches to do it….the head coach needs to lead it

– Need to show game footage of how drills work —– so players can make the connection of how a drill pays off in a game

– Do you have a coaching syllabus? (should start from back to front)

1. Offensive syllabus

2. Defensive syllabus

3. Special situations syllabus

– Your syllabus is going to change—–should be detailed

– Keep hustle stats —- “On your worse shooting nights, are you still going to be able to win the game?”  Hustle plays is what will give you that chance

– “Timing can change everything”

– What impacts winning?  — Whatever you believe it is, the players need to believe it

– “Don’t ever have an excuse not to play the ball”

– “Don’t ever stop the drills when the ball goes through the hoop” (add the next element after a score)

– “The thought that someone can out work us, frightens us”

– “Start every talk with a defensive thought”   —- it builds a defensive culture

– Defensively, you need to keep the ball out of the paint

– Your defensive rules need to be clear to your players, but you cannot be a slave to them

* Each player is different

– Example: A fast player can be farther up the line when one pass away when compared to a big slow kid.

– If a blind person were at your practice, he/she should be able to know what you emphasize and what your weaknesses are

– Today’s players have no fear — they don’t fear their parents, coaches, or other players

– FT’s, open 3’s are going to beat us

– Don’t let the ball get to the paint (pass or dribble)