You Can’t Be Good at Everything…

This post is a system that Coach Jonathan Klein of Cedar Ridge (Arkansas) High School uses to identify what they need to emphasize and practice the most each year. These are Coach Klein’s rankings to use as a template to develop your own. For a system like this to work, each coach needs to come up with your own rankings that fit the needs of their teams. He redoes his list each year for the needs of that particular team.

The purpose of the post is not to decide if you agree or disagree with his rankings, but to get together with your coaching staff to develop your own to help you determine what you need to spend the most practice time on.

He also included a blank pdf of his template as well as a word document that you can modify for your own.

Click this link to download the blank pdf template.

Click this link to download the Word Document.

As always, you can download this post by clicking on the green “Print PDF” at the end of this article.

PHASES OF BASKETBALL
RANK OF IMPORTANCE
You Can’t Be Good At Everything… Choose What You Want to Be Great At and Make That Your Identity!

What I Want To Be Great At: (Max Of 3)
1) Half Court Zone Defense – The 1-3-1 is my primary defense and we will run it several different ways in the half court and 3/4 court situations. We will run this to the point of perfection.
2) Half Court Offense – In this phase of the game we want a non-stop controlled attack on the opponent. We will constantly attack the defense looking for a weakness to exploit while protecting the ball. We will not turn the ball over and will not shoot just for the sake of shooting. We will attack until we find the shot that we want, not the one the defense wants us to take.
3) Transition Defense – We will not give up easy baskets, especially lay-ups! Guards get back on the Release of the Shot!

What I Want To Be Good At: (3-5)
4) ELOB Offense – This is a controlled situation for us and I want to score on 90% of these possessions!
5) Defensive Rebounding – All 5 players will: 1) Clear Space, 2) Attack the Rebound, & 3) Flow Quickly into Offensive Transition
6) Half Court Man Defense – This will be a change-up defense for us. We will be a strong defensive team and do not want this as a weakness for us, however it is secondary to our 1-3-1
7) Full Court Press Defense – A good press defense thrown into the game at the right time can change the momentum of a game very quickly. We will utilize press defenses to capitalize on various weaknesses of our opponent and place ourselves to be in a position to win at the end of the game
8) Transition Offense – My transition offense fits into our Half Court Offensive Philosophy of letting our players use their skill, instinct, and talent to play basketball. We want to push the ball up the floor as cleanly and quickly as possible to keep the pressure on the defense and allow us to get 25% of our game points from our offensive transition.

What I Can Live With As A Weakness: (2-3)
9) ELOB Defense – ELOB points can change a game, however – Our focus here is to keep the opponent from scoring, make them settle for just getting it in.
10) Offensive Rebounding – My Offensive Philosophy is to be patient and take high quality / high percentage shots. Because of this I believe in getting the maximum amount of defenders back in transition as early as possible. On any offensive shot, all guards will sprint back and form an umbrella around the goal. The Post player(s) will attack the glass for an offensive put back and then sprint back on defense.

What I Can Live Without Practicing: (At least 1, something you squeeze in only if you have time)
11) Free Throws – This is simply a focused, form shot that relies on mental toughness. We will not spend a lot of practice time on this; instead we will leave it up to the players to work on this before or after practice on their own time