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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.

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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.

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I have been so busy working on the site 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.

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Coaching at the end of a tight basketball game is more of an art than a science. But, I feel better as a coach having gone through as many scenarios in my mind and come up with how I am going to handle them as I possibly can. I think teams will be more successful in tight games if your players have practiced various end of game situations and know how you, as their coach, will react to them. It is often difficult to communicate at the end of the game when the gym is loud and you are out of or rationing your timeouts, so it is essential that your players are sure about the strategy in advance.

Let’s take the case where a team is up eight points with two minutes to go in the game. Certainly, there are hundreds of time and score situations that we could examine. For the sake of brevity, I am going to use the up 8/2:00 to go in this article. The intentions of this article are: To motivate basketball coaches to consider as many similar scenarios as you can imagine and how you will handle them as they come up in a game, and to encourage you teach your philosophy to your players through repetition in practice.

I have heard, probably said it without realizing it, and disagree with telling a team, “We’re up eight points with two minutes remaining in the game; we don’t need to score.” My thought is that in the vast majority of end of game cases, you will still need to score to win. Your opponent will be more than capable of scoring eight or more points in two minutes, so you are going to need to score to win.

The rule I follow is this: If the regular rotation players are still in the game, then we still need to be prepared to score to win the game. If you have cleared the bench and are ahead, then you are making the statement, “We don’t need to score again to win,” without saying it.

What coaches really need to say at the end of the game when milking a lead and the clock is:

“We want to control the types of shots that we take to get the additional points we will need to win this game. We don’t want to take quick shots, unless they are free throws after a quick foul. We don’t want to take outside shots. The shots that have the best chance of going in are lay-ups and free throws, so let’s make sure that those are all that we shoot.”

Since that is often hard to communicate in a gym that is up for grabs in a tight game and uses too much time in a timeout, I learned one word (or gesture) that would communicate what I want to milk the clock late in a game. “Four.”

We use the Don Meyer shot rating system. 4 = lay-up or power shot, 3= great perimeter shot, 2 = okay perimeter shot, and 1= bad shot. So, at the end of the game, holding up four fingers means it is time to shoot only lay-ups (and free throws). Not contested lay-ups, but open lay-ups that will not be missed. You can apply it to an end of game spread or delay offense or to your regular half-court offense.

In a perfect world, you could spread the floor, milk the clock, and run off the last two minutes of the game without a change of possession.However, more than likely, the team that is behind is going to stretch out the game with timeouts after scoring, quick shots, attacking the basket quickly since you are not going to want to foul, fouling when you have the ball to stop the clock, and flooding the perimeter with defensive pressure so that often the basket is one of the more open areas on the floor. Frequently, the number of possessions of the last two minutes is equal to or greater than the number of possessions in the previous 4 minutes. A well coached team can create 10-12 or more possessions the last two minutes. It will be difficult to protect an 8 point lead without scoring for 10-12 consecutive possessions at the end of the game.

But, if your team: Has a plan to milk the lead that has been practiced frequently, can handle the ball well enough to make the defense foul you, shoots only uncontested lay-ups that go in, and can make your free throws—then you have a good chance of scoring enough points to maintain the lead and close out the game with a victory.

Hopefully, this year’s NBA finals will serve as an example to coaches and players at all levels as to the importance of mental toughness and putting the team first over individual statistics, flashiness, and publicity.

I believe that the Celtics ultimately won the championship on grit and unselfishness. There is no denying that they do have offense talent, but in my mind, it is not as superior to the Lakers’ talent as the scores would indicate. I don’t know what the stats are for the hustle and toughness plays, but those scores would be even more lopsided than the actual scores of the games. To me, grit and unselfishness are two parts of the foundation of a great defense.

The mental toughness to stay focused on the prize despite all obstacles was a joy to watch. Every time one of the players from the bench was called on, he contributed. It did not matter if he hadn’t played or played very little the game before, I did not see pouting and moping. They stayed ready and it showed in their play. I thought it took a lot of mental toughness for Ray Allen to come out of his shooting slump from the earlier rounds of the playoffs and shoot as well as he did in the finals. Paul Pierce took the ball hard to the basket time after time knowing that he was going to get hit, but he continued to go to the basket, rather than settling for mid-range jump shots. Perkins coming back from his injury to play. We could go on and on, but one of the most impressive things to me was the way the Celtics bench was into every play of every game. Not many players can help a team from the bench, but the Celtics seem to have found a handful of them.

Doc Rivers and his staff certainly deserve a lot of credit for keeping the team together and focused on what it took to win the championship. That was a great job of basketball coaching. I believe that as long as the basketball plays you run and the defensive rules you use are sound, there are many ways to approach those the Xs and Os of basketball that will work. But, there is no substitute for mental and physical toughness and putting the team first.

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