Program Blueprint

Some insights from former Lakers, Rockets, and Bucks Head Coach Del Harris

Before You Start

• Be sure you have a mission statement that is current with your current thinking and then stay committed to that statement. Be sure your staff and players understand.
• Make sure your philosophy of coaching, of defense, of offense and of dealing with players and other constituents is clear-cut and understood by yourself and staff.
• Leave a paper trail. Keep copies of important communications with all relevant parties. Notes, dates and times of any significant meeting with players, media, etc can be of value.
• Be sure you have a plan for the first day, week and rough copy for first month of your practices.
• Be sure any staff is up to date on current trends in conditioning, nutrition, etc. These change.
• Be sure to read current books and old standards on leadership, management skills, time management, significant biographies of important people and successful coaches in any sport. You must continue to grow mentally and spiritually.
• Revise your drill book (you have one don’t you?) to add any new concepts you have picked up and to discard needless ones.
• The best drills are the ones you make up that teach specifically the exercise you are trying to teach/correct.
• Your drill book should be divided into categories such as: warmup, shooting, fundamentals of offense/defense, fast break buildups for offense and transition defense, half court offense, post offense/defense, trap drills, defense shell drills, situation drills for 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3, game ending situations drills, etc.
• Be sure to be clear on all basic defense issues such as you initial and backup coverages relative to pick and roll defense, low post defense, and methods of rotation to cover breakdowns.
• Make sure your coaches and players understand the concepts of switching on defense such as which teammates will be able to switch with each other on their own as needed or desired unless the game plan or a timeout changes it—have switching partners which normally means that equal size players will switch with one another as needed.
• Know that the concept of switching to keep your bigger players inside and your smaller ones outside is often very productive, i.e. “Bigs in, Littles out”. Thus you would not switch a big man out off of a downpick or pindown for a small player.

Your team will reflect what you emphasize. Take your pick, but only about 4 or 5 will be the limit as to what they will attach themselves to, so choose wisely.

1. Defense
2. Rebounding
3. Unselfish play—team unity—team attitude
4. Running game
5. Half court game
6. Pressing team—running team
7. Physical team
8. 3-pt team
9. Zone team
10. Ball and player movement team, etc.
Game Time:
• Be sure you have a helpful game card with you at all times such as quarterbacks have on their sleeve or arm.
• A good game card will not only have all your play calls, but will have categories that will get you a post up as needed and that tell you what plays you have that will get each position (1 through 5) a shot when you want one of those players to have the ball.
• On the back of the card of on a special situations card you can have in your pocket or an assistant will keep be sure to have plays already diagrammed that are for special late game situations such as: when you need a 3 pointer, or a quick 2, or you have differing amounts of time on the clock to get a shot.
• Be smart on what you chart and have accountable chart keepers. A possession chart can tell you the pace and momentum of the game because it will tell you how many possessions you have had at every time interval and once you know your best pace, you can tell if you are dictating or if the opponent is.
• Momentum is revealed by a possession chart in that it shows how many times you and your opponent have scored or failed to score in the most recent possessions.
• Other charted items may be the fast break game on both sides of the ball, the low post game (scores allowed/how traps have worked, etc), the pick and roll game (percentage of scores/stops), deflections, penetrations allowed, uncontested shots allowed, and whatever else you deem to be of real value.
As you go along:

• Prove you are valuable and success will happen for you. Forget about the entitlements.
• Be careful of the player who insists he is all about winning, but doesn’t work like a winner. He is usually happy when things are going his way, whether the team is or not.
• The team that will accept we over me (we/me) as a group has a chance to achieve all they are capable of.
• There is no “I” in team but there is “ME” but it tears up TEAM to get it. META spells disaster for the team; it says that the “ME Trumps All” the rest of the team.
• Doc Rivers: Try to keep the “chemistry guy” on your team. Doc moves the lockers around occasionally to keep the right people together or separated as needs be.
• Del Harris: Speak to players often, but more on the conversational level than any other. Get to know them and then prove that you care about them.
• Del Harris: The Caring-Trust-Loyalty Dynamic is of utmost importance to a successful organization. First show you do care consistently. Caring leads to trust. Trust breeds loyalty and loyalty is of true value.
• Jerry Sloan coaches with the idea that he wants to be a friend of his player/s 20 years down the road. Now you know he is not a softie, but he cares and his players know it. They trust him and are loyal to him and they just find a way to win every year. That is true coaching.
Del Harris: There are five levels of communication with players—use each one less than the one before it as you go down the levels.
1. Conversational level—you have the give and take whereby you get to know the player and he learns you as well. You demonstrate you care. Use this the most.
2. Encouragement level—voice is animated and enthusiastic. Use it as much as you can, but it has to be a result of real achievement, not just blowing smoke. But the worst person to be with is the one you simply cannot please. Be real.
3. Instructional level—voice is slightly animated as you attempt to pass on teaching points that may help your player get better, or that may help him understand the team concept. Use often, but mostly in practice or in certain 1-1 situations.
4. Correctional level—voice increases somewhat in urgency, but this is not to be confused with screaming. Naturally, this is used on important issues in practices and games to help eliminate errors. Use it as needed,
but if it overwhelms the encouragement level, the team will tune you out sooner than later.
5. “Go Nuts” level—yes, there is a place for letting them know that they have crossed the line in terms of lack of effort or execution or attitude, etc. They must know you really care about certain issues. But, of course you
must maintain control here, as it should be a purposeful act. Overdo this level and you will lose your team by Christmas unless you are winning every game.
Click here for a more detailed article written by Coach Harris on the Five Levels of Communication
• You need a “closer” in every business, someone who can seal the deal often. Know who yours are. This is not an equal opportunity situation. Be able to run your stuff to get the ball to the “closer” in need situations.
• Do not underestimate the value of a player who can inbound the ball in pressure situations. Lack of this ability will beat you in the close games. The chances are you will have no more than two of these, if you actually have anyone. Develop one.
• Every team wants to win the championship. Talk about it on the first day, and then forget the talk until you are playing for it. Your goals must become closer at hand and the main one is to get better every day/game. That is the path to championships, not talk.
• Most of your players will be role players. Most will think they are key players. As coach you must laud the roles you assign; make them be understood and appreciated. Without the dedicated role players you cannot succeed.
• Have simple goals for your role players. Just 1 or 2 stats per quarter can add up to being the difference—a steal, a rebound, a free throw, a deflection, an assist, etc. Just a little goes a long way.
• Check it out—NBA teams seldom have more than 3 players who are more than role players—ones who produce consistently across the stat sheet and make others better. The 80+ percent are role players.
• Coaches who talk too much in practice can kill the team’s ability/need to communicate. Coaches who chatter too much give the appearance of working hard but actually stifle the players in developing their own skills of communication.
• Simplify your teaching and communication. This will reduce confusion. An athlete that is not decisive and confident in what he is to do will be hesitant and a hesitant athlete will fail.
• NBA asst. coach Brendan Suhr (Daly disciple): you must coach each player differently. It’s about their strengths and needs, not yours. Read books: Strength Finders and Strength Finder 2.0.
• Identify your leaders and lieutenants. You must connect early with them and get them to understand and promulgate your mission and goals for the team.
Click here to read part two of the article

This article is included in Alan Stein’s, Coaching Nuggets.

Alan is now a member of the Pure Sweat Basketball Team.

I like many of the points made in this article.

I am sure that there will be some disagreement with some of the statements, but I think that this is a very good article to inspire some reflection.

What is A Coach of Excellence?

By: Brian Vecchio, Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach Manitou Springs H.S.

“You can’t plays today’s game by yesterday’s rules.”

What is a Coach of Excellence?

• Same person in sport, home, and work
• Keeps perspective and makes it fun
• Prioritizes developing servant leaders
• Mentally tough-comfortable with being uncomfortable
• 3:1 ratio of praise to criticism

21st Century Coach of Excellence

• Easy to please, hard to satisfy”
• Consistency breeds excellence, excellence breeds trust, trust breeds loyalty
• “Great leaders can’t give away what they don’t possess themselves”
• Must have a failure philosophy! (Admit it. Fix it. Don’t repeat it!)
• Great coaches find ways to get players “all in”
• Establish your OWN identity
• Two non-negotiables: Humility and non-stop learner
• You are too close if you can’t hold players accountable!
• Manipulates situations daily that athletes will encounter
• Can teach all types of learners at once (audio, visual, intrapersonal)
• Can get players “on fire” about something!
• Coach to player-player will retain 70% of what you said
• Player 1-Player 2-will retain 85% of what is said
• Player 2-another player after having learned skill-95% retention rate
• Principles and values don’t change, the “how evolves”
• Sterile communication on a team=sterile results
• Each coach is at a different place in the journey! Get better every day!
• Coach attitude and effort before X’s and O’s

3 Dimensional Coaching (3 questions to ask yourself)

1. Why do you coach? (Inside-Out Coaching)
2. What is your philosophy?
3. How do you measure success?

Level I

• Competency (strategy, techniques, biomechanics
• Lots of info out there for coaches to improve
• 80-85% of coaches

Level II

• Mind of the Athlete
• Psychology
• 10% of coaches

Level III

• Relationship EXPERT
• Critique without resentment
• “Do you know “what time it is?”
• 5% of all coaches

Coaching Thoughts

Here are some questions to use for defining the roles within your basketball team that your players will fill. I hope that it also inspires you to come up with more questions that fit your program.

One of the challenges that basketball coaches face is defining roles for our players. Then, working to keep them in those roles. Finally, working to help them improve their skills to grow within those roles.

• What roles will each player perform on this year’s team? (This usually is, but is not always who is best in each area. Example: Our best perimeter player might also be our best post player. We may not want to put our best on ball defender in a position to pick up extra fouls until later in the game. )
• Who will be our leaders?
• Who will be our captains?
• What projected playing time box should each player check?
• The playing time box is a form that I use at the beginning of the season so that I know where each player thinks he stands–1) Start and play regularly 2) Be in the regular rotation, be on the team–no guarantee of playing time.
• Which players will be the primary ball handlers?
• Who will jump center?
• Do we want our best player guarding their best player?
• Who is our best on ball defender?
• Who is our best at blocking out to guard their best offensive rebounder?
• Who is toughest to shoot over?
• Who is our best perimeter gapper? (Gapper is the term that we use for a player who is a helper in our packline defense. A perimeter gapper is a defensive player on the perimeter who is responsible to deter penetrating drives by his positioning and then helping if there is a drive.)
• Who is our best post gapper? (Gapper is the term that we use for a player who is a helper in our packline defense. A post gapper is a defensive player on the perimeter who is responsible to deter post feeds by his positioning and then trap the post if the post player receives the ball.)
• Who is our best low post defender?
• Who do we want to get the most shots and where do we want those shots to come from?
• Who are our best passers? Who are our best post feeders?
• What positions for our offensive scheme and defensive scheme should each player learn?
• What is our inbounder order? Under?, side?, full?, game winner? Should they all be the same?
• What press offense spot will each occupy? Inbounder? Ball Side? Opposite? Middle? Finisher?
• What shots can each player hit?
• Who are our best cutters? best screeners?
• What set play (including in bounds and zone) spots should each know?
• Who is our designated defender/fouler if need be?
• What is the halfback order? (Halfback is the player we send to the top of the key when we shoot. That player is then responsible for picking up the basketball in our conversion defense.)
• What is the fullback order? (Fullback is the player we send to the volleyball attack line near midcourt when we shoot. That player is responsible for retreating to defend the basket in our conversion defense.)

Here are some questions to use for structuring your individual development skill workouts. In addition to improvement season (April through October) skill workouts, skill development workouts should be a part of every basketball practice. I hope that it also inspires you to come up with more questions that fit your goals and objectives that will lead to ways to help your players improve.

• How do we motivate each player?
• What does each player do well?
• What are the areas of concern for each player?
• What will be his individual development workout?
• What does he need to add to bring to our program?
• What is the best use of the Individual Development Workout time for each player? Click the link to see some ideas for a competitive skill workout.
• What does s/he need to be able to do in a game to help the team?
• How are we going to track his/her progress?
• What scoring moves does s/he have?
• How can we improve those moves?
• What scoring moves does s/he need?
• How can we help him/her develop these?
• What are the areas of growth s/he needs to make?

Here are some questions to use for structuring your philosophy to determine how your team will play. I hope that it also inspires your coaching staff to come up with more questions that fit your goals and objectives.

• What are our defensive and offensive philosophies?
• What are the strengths of our players and how can we best utilize those strengths while hiding their weaknesses?
• What is the optimal number of possessions per game for this group?
• Can we defend for that number of possessions at that pace?
• How is our ability compared to the best teams in our region of the state tournament? our conference? our area?
• How do we need to play to advance as far as possible in the state tournament?
• What is our depth like?
• How does our depth affect our style of play?
• What will our substitution pattern be?

Create a system your players believe in, that is consistent, and that you can evaluate to help your team’s performance improve.

Once you have determined your objectives and goals for the upcoming season, then you will determine your

specific offensive scheme (Click the link for some questions to help refine your system) and
defensive scheme.(Click the link for some questions to help refine your system)
The most important aspect of putting your team together is the way you plan and execute your basketball practice sessions.

These notes about the Butler basketball program came from The University of Washington Newsletter. The notes were taken by Coach Brad Bestor.

I have some links to other resources from the Butler program below.

If you are interested in receiving the University of Washington newsletter, contact me and I will put you in touch with Coach Neighbors.

1. Open Gym ‒ short games (continue games to 7 by 1’s and 2’s)

a. Make the guy who hits game point make a F.T. to “seal”/”validate” the win
2. Defense – Continuous Screening Drill ‒ Diamond Look (4×4) ‒top, wings and under basket

a. pick for the picker action ‒ must be defended
b. the offense can make any read they want
c. focus on the Defense
d. play to a score with consequences

3. Great team defense (scouting) starts with determining how you will handle ball screens

a. You must start the season teaching hard hedge ‒ you can go any direction if guys can do that ‒ can’t go from soft hedge to hard hedge ‒ guys won’t buy in or get it.
b. Hard Hedge, Soft Hedge, Containment (make him pick it up)

4. Challenge guys with statistics ‒ asked Coach Stevens for their best examples

O.E.R. = Offensive Efficiency Rating (points per possession)

**Goal should always be over 1.0 ppp
*Next level ‒ chart efficiency on possessions by # of ball reversals
Zero reversals = .63 ppp
One reversal = .83 ppp
Two reversals = 1.1 ppp

5. Label opponents shot chart in categories:

A=layups, B=lane, C=14-19 footers, D=3’s
a. Don’t give up A’s or D’s ‒ chase them off the 3 pt. Line ‒ force them to hit Bs and Cs

6. Defensive Rotation Drill ‒ 4 x 4

a. On coaches call, Defensive player named by coach sprints to half court and back ‒ meanwhile his teammates are rotating in 3 x 4
b. Priority Defensively = stop basket, ball, most dangerous (Note-brutal 3 pt. Shooter open from 3 does not need to be chased, not “dangerous”

7. Terminology: Boxer’s Feet: always moving, shifty, ready to bounce

8. Strength and Conditioning: players should be able to stay in a stance for 35 seconds…practice, earn -Weight room goals(individual and team) for progress (testing various lifts for reps)

9. Role of Assistant coaches: Have 1 coach responsible for small group of guys (workouts, skill sessions, etc.)

10.Practice-Use of assistant coaches: Give Assistant coaches 10 minutes with a group and give guidelines for what they should be able to do when the time is up.

11.With great players ‒ Stat rebounds per minute and compare that with great players in your league.

a. Where would Chad see himself ranked? 7th of 7 “3-men” in rebounds per minute??

12.Make Seniors feel like family!! ‒ they need to know when they leave how much they mean to the program

13.Include alumni in 1st practice video clips of what certain things should look like…”Matt Howard will be on every clip for the next 20 years diving into the bleachers for loose balls or hitting the deck”

14.Question from Coach Brad Stevens: “How good can we be when our best player might not be the best teammate?”

15.“Great teams have great teammates”

16.Read the book: “Question Behind the Question”

17. Stevens says that everything they do is centered around these four areas:

1) Being great defensively
2) Not turning the basketball over
3) Taking great shots
4) Winning the hustle plays

You can get a copy of Brad Steven’s Butler Playbook along with Shaka Smart’s VCU Playbook by clicking here: Butler and VCU Playbooks Bundle

If you have any questions about the Playbooks, please feel free to email me.