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This comes from Creighton Burns’ newsletter:

TEAM ATTITUDE

1. Blame Nobody…Expect Nothing…Do Something (No Excuses)

2. Compete (No Excuses)

3. Be On Time…Pay Attention…Practice & Play Hard (No Excuses)

4. Always Listen – it is what is being said that is important, not how it is said

5. Play through Referee’s Calls

6. Know, Accept and Embrace Your Role

7. Hustle to the Free-Throw Huddle

8. Hustle On and Off the Floor during Substitutions

9. Hustle to Timeouts

10. Always Learn – understand concepts & ideas and apply them in game situations

11. No swearing On the Court

12. No Hanging Head

13. Never Quit On A Play! Never!!

14. No Poor Body Language

15. No Pointing Fingers (Unless for a good pass)

16. Always Love – your parents, coaches, and teammates

17. Attitude of Gratitude – Say “Thank You”

18. Look People in the Eye When Communicating

19. Be a Role Model Off the Floor – look the part

20. Share the Basketball, Protect the Basketball

21. Get Back On Defense – No Transition Baskets

22. Loyalty – Remember the people that have helped you in your basketball endeavors

23. Laugh – Enjoy the time spent with teammates and coaches

24. Take Skills Pride in All That You Do

25. Be A Great Teammate – Be Unselfish

“This above all, to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

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!

Some thoughts on summer individual development workouts

Keep the workouts short and intense.  A 40 minute workout with the player going all out every day for 5 days a week, is more beneficial than a 2 hour workout once a week.  The longer the workout gets, it is usually being filled with unproductive minutes.

Make every drill competitive against an established standard.  Even for form shooting, establish a standard such as all swishes, 10 in a row, or whatever fits your philosophy and objectives.  By making the drills competitive, it makes it more enjoyable for your players and they are more likely to work hard during the workout session and to want to come every day.

If the player reaches the standard, it is one win.  If not, one loss.  Keep track of the players win/loss record for the whole workout.  If he does 15 drills, then the win/loss record should total 15-example 10 wins, 5 losses or 12 wins, 3 losses, etc…

To make ballhandling or dribbling drills competitive, establish a certain number of reps and time them.

 

Establish a higher standard for better players.  So your levels might be I, II, III, IV, and V with I being the most demanding level.  So on a drill where the player is shooting 10 3 point shots off a kick out pass from the post, you might make the scoring this to win for level I, you must make 7 out of 10, level II 6 out of 10, level III 5 out of 10, Level IV 4 out of 10, level V 3 out of 10.  That way you can use the same drills for middle school players as well as varsity starters.  The key is that each player be assigned a level prior to the start of this workout program.  They can move up a level during the summer, but not down.  It is good for a player who might have been a JV player last year who experienced a lot of success,

Emphasize and record makes and shooting percentages rather than just getting off a certain number of shots in a drill.  That way you are emphasizing the need to get a lot of shots off in a drill, and the need to make them.

Include teaching and technique drills in the workout.

Shoot a one and one free throw in between each drill to simulate being winded when shooting free throws in a game.  Regardless of the level the player is working on, he or she must make both ends to get a “win” for the one and one.  Count the free throws in the win-loss record and give the player an overall free throw percentage at the end of the workout.

Give players a choice of the drills they want to do.  For example, to work on 3 point shooting, have 3 or 4 drills to choose from that emphasize that skill.

To end the workout, have a one and done “state tournament.”  In Indiana, it takes 6 or 7 games to win the state championship depending on how the tournament draw goes.  So, the player must win 7 games in a row at Level I to end the workout to be a state champion.  It is difficult, but adds another level of competition to the workout.

Teach your players how to work out on their own so that they can when you are not around, or during times of the year when you are not allowed to have contact.

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!

 

Some thoughts I hope you find useful from my notes on Coach John Wooden on various topics.

1. Have confidence in what you do, or don’t do it.
2. I believe in working with your team and not worrying as much about what the opponent does.
3. Basketball is a game of balance–emotional, mental, physical, rebound, team offensive, and defensive.
4. Body balance is controlled by the head–how well you keep your emotions under control.
5. Physical balance is controlled by the extremities.  The feet are the first to be considered.  I want the feet just wider than the shoulders; when shooting, when rebounding, when on defense.
6. You play basketball on the soles of your feet and not up on your toes.  If the feet are too wide, you lose maneuverability, and if too close, you lose balance.
7. The hands should always be close to the body and in alignment with the body.  The player has better control with the hands in close to the body.
8. The head is always directly above the mid-point between the two feet, offense or defense, with the ball or without the ball.  Drills to accomplish this:  defensive sliding, quick stops, and starts, jump stops, dribble stops, one on one, imaginary jump shooting, and imaginary rebounding.  Keep the joints flexible and relaxed.
9. Emotional balance–you must keep your emotions under control.  Self control is important not only for players, but coaches as well.  I don’t believe that you can be an example or model for your players.  If you tell those players who lose their tempers that they will be outplayed, you can’t act like a raving maniac yourself.  It is just as well to say that a coach who loses his temper will be outcoached.
10. Over-coaching can be more harmful than under-coaching.    If you over-coach you do too much and don’t do too many things well.  Teach well what you do and don’t tie your players down too much and take away their initiative.

Essentials for the coach

1. You must be industrious.  There is no substitute for work.
2. You must be enthusiastic.
3. You must have empathy, buy you have to be objective.  You must do what is best for the team.
4. You must have patience.
5. You must have self control.  You cannot reason otherwise.
6. You must prepare.  Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
7. You must have discipline.  Discipline is not to antagonize, but to improve, help and correct–not to punish.  You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time.
8. Be attentive to detail.  It’s the little things that make the big things happen.
9. Impartiality.  This means you can’t treat all the players alike because treating all the players alike is a sure way to show partiality.  Players don’t earn all the same treatment nor deserve the same treatment.  You have to be the judge.  You won’t always be right, and if you find out you are wrong, then change.
10. Give your players and optimistic picture–not an idealistic picture.  Idealism is unrealistic.  I like realistic idealism.
11. You have to be a teacher of the game.  Nowhere are the laws of learning quite as directly followed as teaching the fundamentals of a sport.
12. Be firm–but not bull-headed.
13. Practice planning–how you plan and organize your practice is extremely important to the results you are going to get.  I believe in stressing offense and defense on alternate days, but you have to have some of each every day.  I believe you should follow difficult drills with easier ones.  New material should be given early in the practice period, before the players become physically and mentally tired.  Close each practice on a happy note.
14. Rebounding–the most important aspect of rebounding is assuming the shot will be missed.

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!

I saw this article in one of Creighton Burns’ newsletters.  It was written by Coach Matt Monroe

A major key in developing your program and sustaining success is your ability to be adaptable as a coach. Too many coaches want their players to adapt to their system.

Not enough coaches understand that they need to be flexible enough to mold many parts of their system to suit the type of players that they have.

Reasons to be Adaptable

1. You’re able to maximize your players’ strengths and hide their weaknesses.

2. You’re able to keep your program fresh.

3. You become more versatile as a coach.

4. It increases your players’ enjoyment:

• They like playing a way that fosters their success (ex. Athletic players like to run and pressure, shooters often like to score off screens, slashers enjoy
• offenses that utilize a lot of drive and kick action, etc.)
• Players are more comfortable in a system that fits them.

5. You have the ability to give players some ownership in your program.

Every year we meet at the end of the season and evaluate all aspects of our program. We take a look at what went well and what didn’t; and we explore the reasons why. Once our program evaluation is complete, we look into the future and discuss what our team is going to look like next year. We spend much of the off-season studying other programs and discussing how we can adapt what we do to maximize the ability and potential of our players.

Being adaptable does not mean compromising the foundation on which your program is principles that we are unwilling to waver on. Some ideals that we will not change are: the way we expect our players to carry themselves on and off the court, practice structure and intensity, the importance of work ethic and teamwork, and player development to name a few. You need to decide which of your program principles are “concrete,” or ones that you

will always adhere to, and which principles are “flexible,” or ones that you’re willing to modify or abandon depending on the type of team that you have.

What to Consider When Evaluating Your Program

1. Player individual strengths and weaknesses

2. Team strengths and weaknesses

3. “Concrete” principles

4. “Flexible” principles

5. Strengths and weaknesses of your coaching staff

6. Conference style of play

7. Player IQ

8. “Uncontrollables” (gym set up, court time, schedule, etc.)

Once you decide on the changes and modifications you want to make to your program, you must:

• Study it inside and out
• Communicate the plan clearly to your assistant coaches and players
• Overemphasize good actions that support the new parts of your system
• Be patient and understand that it will take time to fully implement everything you want to.

Thoughts on Having an Adaptable Program

• Understand — what works for someone else might not necessarily work for you.
• Don’t typecast yourself as a coach – be willing to change and grow.
• Implement a system that teaches your players how to play.
• Be open to new ideas – study, study, study!
• Keep many of your program principles constant each year, but be flexible on others.
• What worked for you in the past might not work for you now.

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

These are some notes from Bill Walsh’s book on leadership entitled “The Score takes care of itself.”  I think they are very worthy of consideration as you assemble and teach the standards that you expect for your basketball program.

When Walsh arrived with the 49ers, he didn’t have a timetable for a championship.  He had an urgent timetable and agenda for installing specific behavioral norms for everyone’s attitudes and actions. 

He implemented what he called his standard of performance—a way of doing things and a  leadership philosophy having to do with core values, principles and ideals that applied to everyone in the organization.  It has more to do with the mental than with the physical.

His belief is that organizational ethics are crucial to the ultimate and ongoing success of a team.   “Good talent with bad attitude equals bad talent.”

The dictates of the leader’s personal beliefs should become the characteristics of the team.  His or her philosophy is the single most important point on a leadership compass.  It is a blueprint for what should be done, when it should be done, and why it should be done.  

These  are the basic characteristic of attitude and action that Bill wanted to instill:

Bill Walsh’s Standard of Performance:

1. Exhibit a ferocious and intelligently applied work ethic directed toward continual improvement.
2. Demonstrate respect for each person in the organization and the work he or she does.
3. Be deeply committed to learning and teaching which means increasing our own expertise.
4. Be fair.
5. Demonstrate character.
6. Honor the direct connection between details and improvement.
7. Relentlessly seek improvement.
8. Show self control especially when it counts most—under pressure.
9. Demonstrate and prize loyalty.
10. Use positive language and have a positive attitude.
11. Take pride in my effort as an entity separate from the results of that effort.
12. Be willing to go the extra distance for the organization.
13. Deal appropriately with victory and defeat, adulation and humiliation.
14. Promote internal communicatin that is both open and substantive (especially under stress).
15. Seek poise in myself and those I lead.
16. Put the team’s welfare and priorities ahead of my own.
17. Maintain an ongoing level of concentration and focus that is abnormally high.
18. Make sacrifice and commitment the organization’s trademark.
19. The leader must exhibit the principles, code of conduct, and behavior that he is asking others to emulate.

Process vs Result

1. Aim for a Standard of Performance (which is absolute) vs winning (which is relative to others).
2. “Process” of improvement leads to “result” of victory and not vice-versa.
3. Focus on process which produces results and not on results.
4. Promotions/wins/sales quotas are results, they do not provide information about performance. And its important to dig into performance to find truth hidden behind these results.

On organization culture

1. Know it all bull headed people are dangerous.
2. In an organization, its not just important for individuals to know their own role but they should be aware of roles of other people as well.
3. Success belongs to everyone and so as the failure.
4. Never let your colleagues down, you win with them, you lose with them. Therefore, defend them.
5. Winners act like winners before they are.
6. Hostile relations are toxic – one enemy does more damage than good of 100 friends. Enemies consume time, energy and attention – all limited resources.
7. An organization emulates leader’s work ethics.
8. A little humor is important to keep a check on stress and anxiety.

On leadership

1. Give credit where its due, fewer things offer greater return on investment than praise.
2. Be prepared – visualize future, think about all possible situations, prepare your responses for them in advance.
3. Responses are temporary – Make moves to counter competitor but remember that competitor is going to come back with counter move soon, so, be prepared for that.
4. A leader cannot be casual in any area of life, all his moves must be well thought of with great attention to details.
5. A leader must have strength of will to carry out his decisions and to be able to stick with them in adverse situations.
6. Focus on important problems for the organization rather than peripheral stuff (stuff which does not add to bottom line should not get too much attention).
7. A good leader produces self-sustaining organization which functions well even in his absence.
8. People are motivated only by their inner voice, teach a new inner voice to followers which will motivate them.
9. The focus should be on motivating people to do “their best” rather than “crush the opponent” – though occasionally “crush the opponent” works too.
10. Be wary of titles (“genius” in case of Bill Walsh), they haunt you later when performance goes down.
11. Criticize people for “current” mistakes (and not the ones committed earlier). Also, give some positive feedback afterwards.
12. When describing expectations from employees, don’t be subtle, be explicit and set the record straight.
13. Big ears (better listener) are better than big egos – Listen, Learn, Lead.
14. Be the leader – without the formal title (titles produces hierarchy and reduce communication)
15. Be unpredictable – People become comfortable with predictable leaders, unpredictability/uncertainty allows a leader to prevent people from settling in comfort zone.
16. A leader treats his people like his family members – money alone cannot motivate people for long.
17. Teaching is important part of a leader’s life – Having a passion for teaching, expertise in the subject, being able to communicate clearly his ideas and have persistence to teach are important.
18. The bottom 20% can determine the outcome – Ensure that they are motivated.
19. Avoid dance of death – If the failure is imminent, don’t give in, keep fighting, lose with dignity.
20. Tell people – “I believe in you”
21. Don’t push people to their limits all the time, try to maintain a sustainable level of performance and keep the reserves ready for emergency.

 
You can read through a part of the book by clicking on the link below and then on the “Click to Look Inside” page you land on at amazon.com


22. Keep superiors informed of your activities – Err on the side of over communication.
23. Make your mentors and learn from them – A good leader is always learning.
24. A leader aims for perfection, he does not settle for 99%.
25. A leader focuses on performance rather than getting distracted by rumors and gossips.
26. A leader ensures that his followers can advance their career, he does not backstab them for his personal or organizational gains.
27. A leader succeeds by meticulous planning and not by hoping for a surprise (though the execution appears as a surprise to outside observers).
28. When a leader makes a mistakes, he admits it and moves on.
29. While judging a person, do not ignore the context.
30. A pretty package cannot sell a poor product.
31. A leader is discreet about whom he confides his secrets in, crying on wrong shoulder will have negative repercussions.