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Evaluating Basketball Players Part II

By Brian Williams on January 21, 2010

This is the second part of an article that was written by Rick Majerus several years ago. The focus is what he looks for when recruiting, but some of these concepts can be taught and others can be improved upon through work.

Here is a link to the first part of the article: Evaluating Basketball Players Part I

Passers that appeal to me are those who pass the ball away from the defense. Outstanding passers have that snap on the ball that you can’t coach. They deliver it quickly and effortlessly by using their wrists.

I’m continually looking for those players that dribble to improve their passing angle (a lost art and a hard to teach concept). It is easy to find players that can pass in the open court, difficult to find players that can penetrate and pitch effectively in the paint, but next to impossible to find people who can feed a stationary or flash post by ball faking and dribbling to improve the angle of the pass. A good passer takes the ball up to the defense and that’s a trait often overlooked by most.

On a break, I try to find a man who will come to a controlled stop, let a wing fill a lane and be patient enough to give the wing the ball at the most opportune time so the play is made by virtue of the precision pass as opposed to the wing having to execute a difficult move off the dribble because the ball was thrown to soon. Good passers have poise and patience above all else. They anticipate, see the court and read the defense. (not only the defender covering the receiver but the “off the ball” help as well.)

Finally, a really smart passer doesn’t put the ball in the corner unless that man has a shot and he never passes to a man who has begun to cut away from the hoop. The great passer recognizes the difference in those players who are open for a shot or to better position the ball within the confines of the offense.

Good ball handlers are easy to spot. They are at least adequate with both hands. A great dribbler is one who can go full speed up and down the length of the court with either hand and come to a stop under control. A super dribbler is one who can change direction with the ball, head and shoulder fake and change pace accelerating rapidly by the defender. When I see this happen, I know the kid’s a keeper.

A real test of a ball handler comes when he encounters full court pressure. An average guard turns his back against pressure or goes with the playground “spin move.” A heady guard uses a pull back crossover dribble so as to maintain vision up court thus eliminating the likelihood of a double team or trap. And last of all, a great ball handler can back up with the ball. He’ll do it to reset the offense, or perhaps to avoid a trap, and this is an indication to me that the young man is a bright player and can handle the ball. A player who can do all of the aforementioned in addition to shoot the ball is really a find.

It is difficult to appreciably improve someone’s shooting in college. You may be able to make a small change but a complete overhaul is next to impossible. Players revert back to the habits of a lifetime making it extremely difficult for collegiate players to improve on technique. A good shooter has range and there’s a correlation between effective range and leg spring. I’m not as concerned if his elbow is in or out as I am with release and follow-through. A player who can shoot usually has good rotation on the ball, little wasted motion, and an exaggerated follow through. He exudes confidence and can shoot without having to take a rhythm bounce. Those that can shoot it know their range, lack of indecision, and spot up according to the penetration of the ball.

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Evaluating Basketball Players Part I

By Brian Williams on January 20, 2010

This is the first part of an article that was written by the late Rick Majerus several years ago. The focus is what he looks for when recruiting, but some of these concepts can be taught and others can be improved upon through work.

There are three major areas of consideration which I address in my evaluation of a prospective athlete. Those areas of concern evaluated are attitude, athletic ability, and basketball skills.

The profession being what it is, one is often pressed to find an area in which unanimity of opinion prevails. However, no matter how diverse our philosophies and the styles of play that we employ, I think every coach wants to recruit or coach players that enjoy playing hard. Each of us has our own criteria whereby we assess selflessness, aggressiveness, poise, and many other personality traits. Hence, I will not belabor the point but suffice to say we’re all in pursuit of the player who best demonstrates those personality characteristics that compromise having a good attitude.

Athletic ability is the measure by which many players earn spots on a team and often fill complementary roles. I look first of all for a player with an explosive first step. Quickness can sometimes compensate for a lack of fundamentals and skills. An especially high premium is placed on lateral quickness because this single facet enables you to excel as a defensive player. Anticipation can somewhat compensate for a lack of quickness, however, there is no real substitute for someone who is not endowed with innate quickness.

After assessing the quickness of an individual, I try to determine how good his hands are. Can he catch a bad pass and make his own next pass a good one? Does he come down with the ball in traffic under the boards? Is he able to pick the ball up off the floor and convert in a transition game? It is especially important that you ascertain the quality of hands in a pivot prospect. Being able to catch it in a stationary post situation should be a given. However, when sliding from the high to low post or when flash posting, can the man catch the pass amid other players and on the move? These situations more than most others will illustrate his ability to catch the ball. A well-coached player is one who meets the ball and locates the defense before making a move. He knows or looks for the defender and moves accordingly.

Body control is another facet I look for and that doesn’t necessarily involve being able to make the circus shot. Rather, it is a facet of play that can better be evaluated by watching for a man who pulls up in balance and squares to the hoop off an explosive dribble. Or you can look for a guard who’s able to come to an abrupt stop at the foul line on a 3 on 1 break. It is most apparent when playing defense because a man without good body control has a tendency to commit fouls by “reaching in.” When challenging a shooter, I’m particularly interested in seeing if the defender can rise vertically, arm extended straight up, and not drift into the man taking the shot.

Last of all in my assessment of athletic ability, I look for the leaper. I’m most impressed by those who can jump off two feet in a crowd. Some players need a step to jump and others a run, but the athlete who can go up “right now” is someone who really possesses talent. Then I watch to see if he can stay with the action by continuing to jump a second and third time. When they go airborne for a layup, I’m looking for an individual who goes up with no fear. I think a great athlete is best evaluated on a layup in traffic because if he’s quick, he’ll pull away from the pack, if he has good hands and jumping ability, he won’t lose the ball, and finally he will finish the play off strong. This is what I feel the ultimate in athletic ability entails.

Here is a link to the first part of the article: Evaluating Basketball Players Part II

Thoughts from Rick Carlisle

By Brian Williams on December 29, 2009

These are some ideas from Rick Carlisle that he presented at a Florida basketball coaching clinic in August 2009.

When you make a mistake be honest with the players. Coach Carlisle felt that when he started with the Mavericks he made an error in judgment and installed an offense that was not conducive to their talents. He told them that they were either going to have to stick with it or make adjustments, but that either road would be tough for them.

At some point, players will complain about their roles. Carlisle uses laminated cards. For an example, here is what Jermaine O’Neal’s said: “Leader, scorer, rebounder, defender, game closer.”

Some ideas while you are watching film: To keep players on their toes, ask them questions. Make players accountable to know their game assignments. Break films into three segments 1) How bad we were 2) What we did well 3) How we want to do it–if you don’t have a lot of your team for this segment–substitute another team. Many times you need to be more positive than negative. Show them how close they are to winning. Show them mistakes that change the outcomes of games.

On losing: You find out more about your team (and yourself) when you are in the middle of a losing streak. Losing gives you a sense of urgency to make changes. At the beginning of the season, talk about winning and losing and how they both can cause problems so that you will be prepared for either as the season unfolds.

On stretching: When teams do it well, it is the springboard to a great practice.

On communication: Tape yourself talking to your team. You probably won’t like what you see. Pause mid sentence when you speak– less is more. Pausing keeps the audience engaged, generates anticipation, and helps you to become a clear thinker.

Basketball Special Teams Concepts

By Brian Williams on December 18, 2009

These are some notes I wanted to share from an article written by Coach Don Hawkins of Nashville (IL) High School. The article was sent to me by Coach Ken Sartini. The red text are my additions to what Coach Hawkins presents.

Basketball is situation specific and how a teams handles those situations often makes the difference between winning and losing.

Coach Hawkins uses a “special teams” concept much like a football team and looks to find the players who are best for each situation.

He finds that it has been a confidence builder for his substitutes because he feel that he can find situations in which most of them can be successful.

He allocates time in each weekly practice for offense, defense, and special teams.

His Specialty areas are:

1) Sideline inbounds (“pecking order” of players to inbound the ball, plays for end of game or period, defending sideline inbounds)

2) Underneath inbounds (“pecking order” of players to inbound the ball, plays for end of game or period, defending sideline inbounds)

3) Jump Ball (hold, rotate, defend) This is an area that makes a difference to start an overtime

4) Delay (purpose, pattern, defense)

5) 1-10 seconds left in game (full court, back court, half court, front court, baseline–all of these offensively and defensively

6) End of period both offense and defense

7) Free Throws (ahead and behind by one, two, and three)

8) Time Situations (60 seconds, 90 seconds, two minutes)

Early in the season he covers when and what they will do in each situation and what the roles needed for success in each one are.

Weekly practice breakdown:

Monday: (10 minutes of practice time) End of game situations ahead and behind by one, two, and three points. Involves as many players as he can. After two or three weeks will settle on the best players in each situation and then work those players as units.

Tuesday (10 minutes of practice time) Two minute situations. ahead and behind by different point spreads. If the first unit that starts out ahead and loses, they must repeat the process. I would add to this to make sure to define the number of fouls for both teams and individuals, possession arrow, and time outs remaining. This is a good time to practice how to foul by taking the ball away and possibly being called for a foul to stop the clock as opposed to getting called for an intentional foul. You can also practice fouls to give in this situation.

Wednesday (10 minutes) End of period. Delay game to get the last shot of the period and transition into the last shot. You can execute this at the end of a game without having to call timeout if it is practiced. Again, work both sides of the ball. I like to start our play at 12 seconds and shoot at 5 seconds in the first three quarters. I like to shoot with 3 seconds at the end of the game and have found that if you expect that to happen and practice it, players will execute it in a game.

Thursday (15 minutes of practice time) Specialty review. Reviews all of his specialty items and emphasizes the ones he feels will be significant in their next game.

Coach Hawkins usually uses 8 to 10 players each game and looks for where each one can be successful. The special teams approach encourages player participation. Having practiced the areas that come up in a game he can tell his players that “we have a plan and have been here before,” which is a confidence builder.

Basketball Defensive Conversion Concepts

By Brian Williams on December 3, 2009

Here are some ideas and drills that I have picked up from various sources and used to build our conversion defense.

I have always referred to going from offense to defense as conversion, and going from defense to offense as transition for the sake of clarity in communicating with our players.

Del Harris taught that half court defense begins full court. We have not been a pressing program, but we do place a major emphasis on full court defensive conversion each practice. Our goal is to force the opponent to play against our set pack line style defense each possession by executing our half court offense and full court conversion defense every possession of every practice and every game.

Depending on the level you coach, you will be converting to defense 40 – 60 times per game on average, so it is essential to practice it regularly.

We practice converting off of made and missed shots, off turnovers, and off of made and missed free throws. We use the “change” drill to simulate a turnover. (Coach yells change, offense drops balls and converts to defense, team on defense picks up the ball as if transitioning after a steal.)

Conversion defense begins when we shoot the ball. We send our three best rebounders to the block, block, and front of the rim when we shoot. The remaining two players go to the half court line (we call him our fullback) and to the top of the key (we call him our halfback). Those are Don Meyer terms I borrowed. The fullback is responsible for sprinting to the lane to guard the basket. The halfback is responsible for slowing the ball if it is being dribbled. I use the term slow the ball because if he attempts to make a stand and stop the ball out on the floor, he is likely to get beat and then we have only the fullback to stop their break. If the halfback slows the dribble, that gives our three offensive rebounders time to sprint back and become a part of our conversion defense. The rule for those 3 rebounders (Coach Don Meyer called them “tailbacks”) is that they must be past mid court in two and a half seconds after the shot hits the rim.

If the pass is made to the wing, the hoop defender must read the situation: is there another offensive player coming from the weak side (if so you will have to delay a count until the ball defender can replace you) or is it a 2-on-2 situation (in this case the hoop defender will begin his/her closeout to the wing as the ball defender now replaces the hoop defender).

When we substitute we make sure to communicate our halfback, fullback, and offensive rebounder roles as well as the man we are guarding between the player going in the game and the player coming out of the game.

One of my points of emphasis for our offense is that we must be able to defend the shots we take and the turnovers we make. That means to me that we need to take shots that our teammates are expecting us to take so they will be ready to rebound. Jay Bilas says that a bad shot is the first pass in your opponent’s fast break. I think that is a great teaching phrase on the value of shot selection.

It is also a major point of emphasis for us to not make risky passes that have a 50/50 chance of being caught by us. We never want to throw the ball away when we are making a pass going away from our basket and toward the opponents. That just gives them a head start on their break and puts us in a position of chasing from behind which is no defense.r

Here are some of the special rules we use from time to time if our second team has a hard time pushing our first team in practice:

When we are scrimmaging, the second team does not have to take the ball out of bounds after a basket, they just take it out of the net and play it to force our first team to convert quickly. We also run a play until the whistle practice, so if the JV travels, throws the ball out of bounds, etc.. we don’t blow the whistle, we just keep playing to work on our conversion.

When preparing for an upcoming opponent with a very good fast break, we place two JV players at half court–one of them on each sideline as we are running our half court offense. When the varsity turns the ball over or the defense gets a rebound, those players at half court take off toward the opposite end (the basket we are defending) in order to force our conversion defense to play at a quicker pace. If that is not enough to push our first team, we move the half court players to the free throw line extended at the opposite end or even to the baseline corners at the opposite end.

One drill that I really like is to play at a 4 on 5 disadvantage in a transition drill. We have always played 4 on 5 in the half court, but playing it in conversion is a great way to improve your conversion through the disadvantage principle as well. Put 5 second team players on the baseline, put 15 seconds on the clock, and have the first team run your offense 5/0. When the shot is taken, the offense should go to the rebound/conversion defense spots described above. Have the offensive rebounders put back any missed shot.

When the ball goes through the basket, the 15 seconds starts on the clock and the second team (who are on the baseline) take the ball out of the net. The coach calls the name of one of the first team players. That player steps off the court and is no longer in the drill. The 5 offensive players then push the ball up against the 4 defenders as the clock counts down from 15 seconds. Having a numbers disadvantage forces better communication among the conversion defenders. The defense wins the possession if they can force a turnover or keep the second team from taking a shot that hits the rim before the 15 seconds run out. If the offense does shoot an airball, the defense must get the rebound to win the possession. Even if the rebound takes place after the horn goes off at the end of the 15 seconds–we always play until the whistle, not the horn. The offense wins the possession if they can hit the rim with a shot in the 15 seconds. You can play to 3 or 5 or however many possession wins to win the drill. The losers run at the end of the drill.

Click the image or here: Defensive Conversion Drill for a video of a very simple, but very good conversion drill. You will be able to see a video on the Championship Productions website. You do not have to purchase anything to see the video.

Building the Villanova Defense

By Brian Williams on November 12, 2009

One more item from the e-mail sent out by Eric Musselman

BUILDING THE VILLANOVA DEFENSE

Jay Wright

Starts with basic man principles of ball-you-man.

Win or lose – make sure you played “your way.” No one ever likes to lose, but when you watch game film, you always want to see that you played “your way,” win or lose.

The trapping and switching nature of their defense is based on “Calculated Risk.” They don’t want to miss an opportunity to “Blitz and Step-Up.”

Situations where Calculated Risks are appropriate for Blitzing include: 1) anytime the ball is dribbled toward you as a defender. 2) Your man brings you to the ball. 3) The ball is dribbled to the baseline setting up a trap from behind.

They want to Blitz all ball screens or dribble hand-offs when defenders react to the Calculated Risk situations. Teaching point is that the trappers should never foul or get steals. Trappers are deflectors.

When a 2-man game occurs, the other three players “load” to the 2-man game.

Man guarding the screener calls the “Blitz” or “Switch.” If you are guarding the ball-handler, always assume “Blitz” and he must step over the top to trap, or to be put in a ball-you-man position on the roll man if a switch occurs. If a big switches on to a small, the other three defenders should “load to the iso.”

Never want to switch for convenience, would always prefer to “Blitz” if they can.

These rules are all applicable in the scoring area, approximately three feet beyond the three-line and in.

Coach Del Harris commented that it is an effective technique to teach someone going over a ball screen to do so by crowding the man with the ball and then throwing his leg and arm over the top in one motion.

The two videos below came from the Jay Wright: 1-2-2 and 1-1-2-1 Three-Quarter Court Pressure Defense. You can click the link for more information about the DVD.

Here is a short video of some of the concepts of their 2-3 Zone Defense.

Click the play arrow to start the You Tube video. Please make sure that your sound is on.

VILLANOVA ATTITUDE CLUB AND SPECIAL SITUATIONS:

Attitude Club is a way to reward players who are doing the critical things that they put a premium on. A good play per minute ratio is .8 or above. Categories include: pass to the assist (hockey concept of 2 assists), screen assist, loose ball retrieval, paint pass, o-board, tap-back on FT, quick outlet, paint catches, deflections, shot contest to change shot.

They like to practice Base OB, Side OB, Endline OB, with specific situations based on clock ( 0-3 seconds, 4-7 seconds). Can run their regular stuff in 8 seconds or more.