MAINTAINING YOUR CULTURE DURING GAME ACTION

The following comes from an article written by Steven McPhereson for the New York Times.  It's actually an article about Gregg Popovich (you can read the entire article here) but loved Stan Van Gundy's thoughts on system of play, and in particular about the culture of your team by now allow a bad shot by his team, even in a 2-for-1 situation:

At this year’s M.I.T. Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Stan Van Gundy, the former Miami Heat and Orlando Magic coach, talked about his approach to the end of a quarter when a team has a chance to squeeze in two possessions by taking a quick shot with 30 to 35 seconds left, otherwise known as a 2-for-1. It is mathematically advantageous, but Van Gundy didn’t want his teams taking bad shots.

“One of the things in coaching is you’re trying to create a style of play and a culture that this is how we play the game,” he said. “Every time you make an exception to that and say, ‘This is how we play the game but not in this case’ … then you’re breaking down your system a little bit.”