BASKETBALL THOUGHTS FROM DOC RIVERS

I took some time this morning to re-read over my notes from Coaching U Live in 2010 and thought I'd share some from Doc Rivers.

 
Coach‟s ego: Is it about you or about the team?

Beginners are open and experts are closed. When you become an expert, stay opeN

Undererstand Character vs. Characters

You have to protect your team culture.  This battle is waged daily

The little things matter. Doc said Celtics won a game against Cleveland on jump ball.

Make little things important such as the extra pass and closeouts

Build your staff around the team that you want to have...the values that you want represented: loyalty, hard work and disciplined.

Doc sets up staff like a football program: offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator.

Important head coach question: Do you trust the people on your staff?

Give staff room to do their strengths.

You can't ask players to fill roles unless you let your staff fulfill their roles.

Players must buy into your system -- Doc said this was incredibly important to the success of his teams. 

Create a theme/purpose for the season.

Doc took Big 3 on parade route that they would ride for winning the championship. Creates direction and image.

Ask players "Do you want to win? " Most say yes, but only if it‟s comfortable for them.

Fight for your system/culture every day.

Eliminate the S‟s in your program such selfishness, stubborn.

You cannot let a talented player affect your thinking.

Doc talking to players after the draft: "You only have a number for one day. After that, it is all up to you"

If you steal something from someone, make it your own.

DEFINING AND DEVELOPING YOUR CONTRIBUTION

I actually posted this in our blog for players, Hoopboost but after reading it, I think it is just as important for assistant coaches, support staff, managers and others who have important roles in successful program.  So when you read "player," think "assistant coach" or whatever role you are filling...

The mindset of a player who wants to contribute to a team's success is much different than a selfish player that is just looking to be a start and standout.

The following comes from "On Managing Yourself" which is a book sponsored by the Harvard Business Review.  This particular passage comes from the great Peter Drucker who believes we must start with the first essential question:

What should my contribution be?

To answer it, they must address three distinct elements:

#1 What does the situation require?

#2 Given my strengths, my way of performing, and my values, how can I make the greatest contribution to what needs to be done?

#3 And finally, what results have to be achieved to make a difference.

Drucker's questions seem quite simple but it takes a truly honest, self-evaluating team player to ask these questions.  Then it takes a committed, team-oriented player to go about doing the work necessary to create the contribution that he/she wants to truly make.

DO YOUR PEOPLE KNOW HOW THEY FIT INTO THE BIG PICTURE

I love this passage from John Maxwell.  It speaks to how we must properly develop each and every role that we have on our team.  Every single person involved is important -- we know this -- but do they know this.  Does the primary screener know on your team know that without her you primary scorer will struggle to get open.  How about members of your staff?  When was the last time you told your managers your secretary how they make a different and why they are so necessary for us to be successful?  Here is how Maxwell frames it:

Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, a leader of troops during World War II who was called a "soldier's general," write that "every single soldier must know before he goes into battle, how the little battle he is to fight fits into the larger picture, and how the success of his fighting will influence the battle as a whole."  People on the team need to know why they are fighting.

John Maxwell from "The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork"

THE TEAM BEHIND THE SCENE

Ohio State assistant Jeff Boals posted this on his twitter last night and I wanted to run a portion of it on our blog today because I have long believed in the value of student-managers.  I've been blessed to have been associated with some amazing young women and men that have made huge sacrifices behind the scenes to make our program successful.  I remember having a conversation many years ago with former LSU Coach Dale Brown about some of our great managers and he made a profound statement: "If I owned a company and wanted to hire competent, self-motivated young people with great work ethics, I'd hire basketball managers."

The following comes an article written by Jon Shields for The Lantern.  You can read the entire article here -- but I wanted to post a few excerpts in honor of all the managers on all levels that make sure a huge difference in our programs.  Please click and read the entire article -- it's worth it!


While the actual team wins the games and earns the headlines, the staff supporting the team is happy to sit behind the bench on game days, out of the spotlight. They’re OK with the idea that the outside world has no clue how important they were to coach Thad Matta and his teams’ preparations for victory.

“A lot of people just think we’re all ‘water and towels’ and just kind of there,” said Weston Strayer, manager and a fourth-year in marketing. “But they don’t understand just how much time and work we put in each week to the program.”

Their contributions are noticed by those who pay attention though.

“The managers do everything you really don’t want to do, and they do it with a smile on their face,” said senior forward Evan Ravenel. “They’re one of the key components to our team, and we wouldn’t be half as good without those guys.”

A typical OSU student gets up, goes to class, maybe goes to work afterward and then juggles homework with a social life. The managers have those same obligations, but in addition to their school obligations, they deal with between 35 and 40 hours a week of unpaid work for basketball activities.

They show up for 10 a.m. practice an hour before to set up. They stay two hours after to rebound for players who want to get extra shots up or to run errands for coaches. It can end up being a five-hour shift. On game days, they’re there for the pre-game shootaround five hours before tip-off and will stay at the arena for the next eight hours, through the pre-game team meal and the game itself.

During the games, they take advanced stats for the coaches, set up chairs on the court for the team during timeouts and manage Matta’s play-calling whiteboard.

“Once the game starts, nothing we have done is going to change anything, but preparation-wise, we definitely help them out where we can,” Strayer (shown below holding Big 10 Championship trophy) said. “We try and do our best to help them prepare and make everything a little bit easier for them.”

The man in charge of the managers is David Egelhoff, director of basketball operations. He’s been on the OSU staff for 10 years and in his current position for seven. In addition to handling the day-to-day, off-court activities of the basketball team, he handles the application and hiring process of the team’s managers and serves as their boss.

It’s a position his past has qualified him for.

Egelhoff served as a student manager for OSU’s basketball team from 1998 to 2002 under former OSU coach Jim O’Brien. He said his times as a manager make up some of his favorite college memories.

“I’ve made lifelong friendships, not only with the managers but the coaching staffs and players I’ve worked with as well,” Egelhoff said. “We had a really enjoyable time doing a lot of things … those experiences we had were pretty special to me.”

The sheer quantity of time the managers spend with each other has allowed them to form a special bond.

“It’s a great group of guys, we joke and mess with each other and it’s a lot of fun,” Strayer said. “We kind of joke when we walk out of the tunnel (during home games), they announce the ‘three-time defending Big Ten champions’ and then we all kind of just come out before everyone, so I always wonder what people think when they see us in the suits walking out by the team.”

AGGIE DEVOTIONAL: SURE UP YOUR FOUNDATION TO AVOID THE CRACKS IN THE WALL

Yesterday was of course Sunday and meant another key Southeastern Conference game for our Aggies.  But Coach Gary Blair also recognizes the important of our student-athletes overall well-being including our spiritual needs so before our Shoot Around yesterday morning, he asked Texas A&M FCA head (former Aggie football player) Bill Johnson to come lead our team in a devotional.  And his message resonated with me.

He told the story of coming home to his house and seeing a big crack on the top of a wall in one of his rooms.  He hired someone to come and repair the crack which they did.  A few months later however, the crack reappeared.  He informed the company and they again came out to address the problem.  Still, within time the crack returned. 

Bill then reached out to a contractor to come look at the problem.  What the contractor informed Bill was that the crack was caused by a problem in the foundation.  Until the foundation could be addressed, the crack would continue to return.  All the structural successes (or lack thereof) within the house would come about because of how the foundation was built.

Bill told our team the same is true of spiritual self, that of our team and that of our family.  In the game of basketball, your team is built -- should be -- from the foundation up.  In basketball the foundation areas of importance include:

1. Staff -- do you have the right people to lead and teach your team
2. Administration -- are you supported in such a way that allows you to grow
3. Student-Athletes -- your primary foundation will come about from the people you recruit
4. Core Values -- what your value, what you teach -- they why and the how

If any of these "foundational" areas are not formed properly, you will be trying to repair cracks from time to time.

DALE BROWN ON THE IMPORTANCE OF A STAFF

The organization and development of a competent coaching staff is absolutely the most important part of your basketball program.  The core requirement for hiring the people who comprise the staff is that they must understand and accept the philosophy of the program as set forth by the head coach.  Some individuals in the profession will argue that players are the most important aspect of a program, and, indirectly, their conclusions would be correct.  competent coaches, however, are the facilitating agents whose efforts turn a player's performance potential to reality.  At a minimum, coaches are in essence teachers.  Not only do they teach players the fundamentals and basic techniques that are essential to sound play, they also teach team members how to be a viable part of a larger unity -- the team.  Furthermore, on the college level, the entire staff is responsible for the recruitment of those players -- the better the staff, the better recruiting.

From "Dale Brown's Basketball Organization Handbook" by Dale Brown

STAFF MEETING GUIDELINES FROM COLIN POWELL

I encouraged all my subordinate commanders and staff to feel free to argue with me.  My guidance was simple: "Disagree with me, do it with feeling, try to convince me you are right and I am about to go down the wrong path.  You owe that to me; that's why you are here.  But don't be intimidated when I argue back.  A moment will come when I have heard enough and I make a decisions.  At the very instant, I expect all of you to execute my decision as it if were your idea.  Don't damn the decision with faint praise, don't mumble under breath -- we now all move out together to get the job done.  And don't argue with my anymore unless you have new information or I realize I goofed and come back to you.  Loyalty is disagreeing strongly, and loyalty is executing faithfully.  The decision is not about you or your ego; it is about gathering all the information, analyzing it, and trying to get the right answer.  I still love you, so get mad and get over it.

From "It Worked For Me" by Colin Powell

THOUGHTS FROM BILL BELICHICK

Came across an old posting from Eric Musselman’s Basketball Notebook that had some excerpts from a Sporting News article on Bill Belichick and his thoughts on his staff and dealing with players:

On what coaches can learn from other sports: "I think maybe some of the basic coaching things, like when I talk to (Johns Hopkins) coach (Dave) Pietramala about a situation or a player or the concept of preparing for this or that or how to present it or the psychological part of it -- I think there's some carryover there. But lacrosse is a lot more (like) basketball or soccer ... it's different than football, (where) at the end of each play you huddle, you pick a new play. The games are a lot different, but the coaching principles carry over."

On what he learned in school: "One of the things I'd say I learned the most was the appreciation of the skills and talents of other people, the students, and how different they were and how talented they were and how they could do things, and not everybody did them the same way.

I think that applies to football, where you have receivers that have different styles. They're good, but they're not all the same, and you have to figure out ways to utilize those things. What one person does (well), another person might not, but they may still be able to be productive at that position. ... You can be good ... with one style of defense or another style of defense, as long as it's coordinated and fits together."

On how teams are a reflection of their coach: "Whoever's picking the players and coaching the players should pick them and coach them the way they want the team to perform. I'm not saying it's always perfect. But if you want a really fast team, you should go out and get really fast players. If you want a really big team, you should go out and get really big players. If you want a team that can really throw the ball and you're a good passing coach, then you should go out and get good passing players, and you should coach them well, and you should be able to throw the ball.

However you build you team, you should be able to see that reflected in way the team performs -- unless you made a lot of mistakes, or maybe there's too many cooks in the kitchen, so to speak, either coaching the team or selecting the team."

On dealing with players: "In some respects, you have to treat everybody the same. There has to be some sort of common denominator. But in another way, you can make some adjustments for some people, anybody really -- it doesn't have be one of the "name" players. That's what it comes back to. Any time you make a decision, you do anything, (if) you look back and say, 'That really doesn't help our team,' then why do it?"

On team leaders: "In a lot of cases, our best players are our best leaders and our hardest workers. They set a better example, to be as good as they can possibly be. That's an awesome situation -- that's really what you want. You want your best players to really set the pace. That's great environment for everyone else to emulate and try to keep up with."

On his coaching staff: "The assistants are the backbone of our success, really -- they're the ones who do most of the coaching. On a team basis, I do a percentage of it, but they actually do a far greater percentage of it. I think there is a balance. You want everybody to work together. At the same time, you want people to be able to work independently and come up with things on their own and handle problems on their own. But it's all in the context of a team framework."

FOUR RELATIONSHIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL TEAMS

Another tremendous post from the Boston Celtics Kevin Eastman.  Please find time to check out: http://kevineastmanbasketball.com/

We have all heard many times over the years that coaching and leadership are about relationships.  As I think back to our fortunate run to the 2008 NBA World Championship and our run to the Finals last year, I can’t help but recall the importance of relationships to our success.

In particular, I want to call to your attention to four important relationships that I feel exist in all successful teams.  For us, all four of these involved a respect by and for both parties, a trust of each other, and also a genuine like for each other.

RELATIONSHIP #1:  Our players liked, respected, and trusted the coaches.

RELATIONSHIP #2:  Our players liked, respected, and trusted each other.

RELATIONSHIP #3:  Our coaching staff liked, respected, and trusted the players.

RELATIONSHIP #4:  Our coaches liked, respected, and trusted the other coaches.

I believe this last one is the one relationship, from a coaching perspective, that doesn't get enough attention.  It's almost never talked about or evaluated, but it can be a real killer of a team’s success.  I know of coaches that backstab each other and are only in it for their own advancement, showing no loyalty to each other.  If this is going on, particularly when you're going through a difficult time, you may be on a crash course with your season.

As coaches we have to make sure that our relationship is healthy and strong.  The players can sense and see a divided staff.  They can sense and hear a staff that is not loyal to its Head Coach.  Players also are pulled in different directions -- what coach or coaches should they listen to, believe, support?

We were (and are) fortunate in that all four of these relationships were strong.  But it doesn't always just happen.  We invested a lot of time in each of these relationships to make sure they worked.  It definitely takes time to build all of these, but it is time you will be rewarded for in the long run.  For us that reward was the 2008 Championship trophy!

These same strong relationships will enhance any corporate environment as well.  As the African philosophy of "Ubuntu" (which our team has adopted)states: "people are people because of other people."  Whether it's the corporate world, your team, or the Boston Celtics, relationships are a major ingredient to execution, performance, and ultimately...success!

ODDS & ENDS FROM TOM IZZO

1. Players play, tough players win.
2. Coaches should watch a football practice to see how to really utilize
assistants.
3. Look for seekers not avoiders.
4. Watch Jud Heathcote for great rebounding.
5. Wimps go up to rebound with 1 hand not 2.

6. Every second on the court is so important.

THE IMPORTANCE OF STUDENT-MANAGERS

Today on the LSU campus, three of our managers will walk across the stage of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and pick up their diplomas. Certainly it is not easy task for a student to commit towards obtaining their degree, but the difficulty is magnified for a manager. We ask a great deal of our "team behind the scene." The are there before the players each day and the last ones to leave. Just because the players have a day off doesn't mean they do. There is no off-season for staff and players which means there is no off-season for managers. The word LEGACY is very important at LSU and not just for our players and our accomplishments on the court. It means just as much for all of our students and what they accomplish in all facets -- on the court, in the classroom and in the community. We have a tremendous tradition of great managers that go on to great things beyond LSU and the three that graduate today will continue that tradition.

Below is a passage from "The Carolina Way" by Dean Smith:

Every person on the team was important. There were no exceptions. This included not only the man on the team but also the student-managers, who worked hard on our behalf. They pick up towels, washed uniforms on road trips, made sure equipment got to where it was supposed to be, set the gym up for practice. They came early and stayed late. I told many business friends that if they wanted to hire a great employee, then choose one of our student-managers. They would find a hardworking, self-starting, highly organized, dependable individual. Our players respected the student-managers and didn't boss them around. Nor did they expect them to wait on them hand and foot. The players had a role; the managers had a role.

........

I thought Coach Smith's thoughts were ironic. Coach Van Chancellor met one more time with the three managers this morning in his office to thank them for their contributions and made a point to tell them that they could call on him "day or night" for anything they may need.

.............

"I'd be honored to help you in any way, including assisting you to gain future employment," he told them. "You have proved to me that you have all the tools to be successful and I expect great things from you all."

............

This blog is dedicated to: Ali Laughlin, Jerriel Bazile and Ebonie Mathews.