BE READY FOR YOUR OPPORTUNITY BUT MASTER YOUR ROLE IN THE MEANTIME

I had the honor of knowing Garrett Temple at a young age because of my relationship with his family.  You knew that no matter what Garrett decided to do in life that he was going to be successful -- he had the right attitude and mindset.  His father Collis Temple was the first African-American to play at LSU and Garrett's older brother, Collis III, was an outstanding student-athlete as well.

The following is an excerpt of an article written by Jorge Castillo for the Washington Post (you can read it in it's entirety here).  It speaks of Garrett's desire to play and compete but his maturity in understand that a professional not only accepts the role he or she has but masters it.  His ability to step in and start early in the season speaks to his being ready when his opportunity came.  I'm a big Garrett Temple fan -- here's why:

Garrett Temple understands his role on the Washington Wizards. He was re-signed over the summer to provide depth at both guard positions as a defensive specialist but, most importantly, to bring a professional presence in the locker room. Temple has fulfilled those duties. He has played sparingly over the last two months but has maintained a positive attitude. He is often the first player applauding his teammates and constantly provides words of encourage. He plays the role to perfection.

But Temple believes he can be more than just a morale booster. He thinks he can contribute on the floor and points to the 13 games he started at the beginning of the season as evidence. He supplied further proof in the Wizards 106-98 loss to the Phoenix Suns Wednesday, captaining an all-reserve unit that trimmed Washington’s deficit from 17 to four points in less than five minutes to start the fourth quarter.

“I know I can play in this league,” Temple, 28, said. “Hopefully I showed that I deserve to play. I’ll get my chance but like I said, I’m going to be a great team player. Whenever I get a chance to play, I’ll go out there and give it my best and that’s basically it.”

“I want to play. I always want to play,” Temple said. “In the NBA you have to have some kind of confidence to be here and I know I can play in this league and I know I can help this team. But at the end of the day, it’s a team sport and we have a lot of guys that have that same mentality.”

Temple was a mainstay on the floor at the beginning of the season. With Bradley Beal sidelined due to a fractured left wrist, Temple started the Wizards’ first 13 games and reached double figures in four of Washington’s five games before his offensive production tapered off. Since then, he has had to adjust to impacting his team through other avenues.

"Me and Drew Gooden talked about this a few weeks ago; you can always affect the game,” Temple said. “If you’re not playing you can affect [a game] by how you act on the bench. If you’re smiling, you’re up being positive, that affects the game. If not, if you have a frown on your face, if you’re looking upset, you want to get into the game and you’re pouting, that’s going to be a negative effect on the game. So whatever I do, I’m going to affect the game in a positive way however I can."

SOME TOP BLOG POSTS ON COACH DEAN SMITH

I've certainly blogged a bit about Coach Dean Smith over the years because of the respect I had for his ability to teach and create culture.  Here are few of our favorite blog posts:

Dean Smith on Praise and Criticism

Dean Smith: Individual Defense and Team Defensive Pride

Career Starter Book: The Carolina Way

Dean Smith on Leadership, Competing, and the Process

Teaching: The Carolina Way

Dean Smith on Punctuality

Dean Smith on Process Over Results

Dean Smith on Teamwork and Unselfishness

6 Things Dean Smith Gave Us

Dean Smith's Offensive Philosophy

Dean Smith's Method for Maintaining Discipline and Respect

Ultimate Coaches' Clinic: Dean Smith

Dean Smith on Carolina Shot Selection

Dean Smith: Every Person on the Team is Important

Hold Off On The Starting Line Up

Dean Smith's Thoughts on Philosophy

Dean Smith: Two Types of Coaches

Grading Each Possession The Carolina Way

The World According to Dean (Part I)

The World According to Dean (Part II)

THE ART OF SHOOTING VIA KYLE KORVER

Earlier I spoke of a great email newsletter resource I receive from Nova Southeastern assistant Brooklyn Kohlheim.  Here is an example of something that I got from her that we will share with our team.  It a great article on Kyle Korver written by Jeff Zillgitt for USA Today.  It's an outstanding article (Coach Kohlheim told us in her newsletter "If you don't read any other article here, you MUST read this.")  You can read the entire article here but here are a few excerpts we took from it:

Where does a basketball player find the perfect shot? In a gym? A high-tech sports science and medical lab? On a paddleboard on the ocean? In marriage? Mind? Body? In a system that accentuates three-point shooting?

For Atlanta Hawks guard Kyle Korver, the best three-pointer shooter in the NBA, it is all of those places and more.

He began searching for the perfect stroke.

"I started breaking down every single little detail of this simple stroke and tried to make it perfect. Get one perfect stroke and try to do it again. And just got lost in trying to perfect the stroke," he said. "I focused on one detail and after 100 strokes, that didn't feel like a detail anymore. That felt natural.

"There was a smaller detail after that. I found a new detail and then a new detail and then a new detail. Eventually I was stroking, and eventually I wasn't that tired.

"That exercise of finding that stroke was revolutionary to me in shooting. You take the same concept of the stroke and do it with your shot."

He set a record last season for most consecutive games with a made three-pointer at 127 and is flourishing with the Hawks, a key reason why the Eastern Conference leaders were running on a 19-game winning streak and stand at 40-8 entering Monday's game against New Orleans.

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called Korver the best shooter in the league. He leads the league in three-point shooting percentage (53.7%) and is on pace to become the first player in NBA history to shoot at least 50% from the field, 50% on three-pointers and 90% on free throws.

Korver loves shooting, and he loves talking shooting.

"To be a great shooter, to be a consistent shooter, which is what constitutes a great shooter — the goal is to make your shot exactly the same every single time," he said.

He has made three-pointers seem easier than they are. "If you shoot it with all the leverage you have in your mechanics — using your legs and your technique — there's a way to make a three-point shot feel like it's not as far," he said.

This season is as close as Korver has felt to taking the same shot every time. "This is the best I've ever shot, for sure," he said. "There's a lot of reasons for it. As you get older, you should just become a better shooter. You've shot more shots."

Korver has a 20-point checklist that helps him determine how sound his shot is. "It's things I've identified that are keys to my shot," Korver said.

1. Wide stance.
2. Exaggerated legs.
3. Drop through heels.
4. Engage core.
5. Slight bend at waist.
6. Up strong.
7. Elbow straight.
8. One hand.
9. Fingers spread.
10. Slight pause.
11. Elbow up.
12. Land forward.
13. See the top of the rim.
14. Ball on fingertips.
15. Strong shot.
16. Shoulders forward and relaxed.
17. Ball and arm risen straight.
18. Hold the follow through.
19. Keep the release point high.
20. On turns, square shoulders.

"I'm not going to check every single one of them every time," Korver said. "There's a certain point, a certain feel I'm trying to get to every day. Some things, you do more naturally. Some things, I have to think about them. As I'm shooting, I have this list in the back of my head, and I know I'm not doing one or two of them. Once I feel I get all 20 of them clicking, then I'm going to have natural rhythm in my shot."

A lifetime of basketball and the pursuit of the perfect shot have made Korver one of the most accurate three-point shooters in NBA history. He's No. 6 on the all-time three-point shooting percentage list, and it's easy to imagine Korver shooting 1,000 shots a day. Not the case.
"I don't ever shoot a ton of shots at once because I want to shoot them game-like," Korver said. "You can't shoot 500 shots at the exact speed and exact intensity that you're going to in a game.

"Very rarely will I shoot more than 150 shots at once."

He has four opportunities to feel good about his shot on gameday: during the morning shoot-around, after the morning shoot-around, during his pregame routine and during warmups just before tip-off.

"That helps me more than shooting a ton of shots at once and trying to find this rhythm that everyone talks about," Korver said. "I want to seek perfection. Four times during that day, that's what I'm trying to do."

His high-energy pregame routine is worth watching and if you have a ticket to a Hawks game — home or away — you can watch it. He begins his routine about 50 minutes before game time with player development coaches passing, defending and setting screens.
Korver takes shots from several spots on the court, including several spots around the three-point arc. The routine is tailored to the Hawks' offense, and Korver has to make a certain number of shots before he can move to the next spot.

Most players won't leave the floor on a miss. Korver isn't most guys.

He can't leave the court without making 10 consecutive free throws and three consecutive three-pointers from the top of the arc. One miss and he starts over.

"Ten in a row, three in a row," Korver said. "I've done that for a while. If I make all of my shots, I can have it done in less than 10 minutes — eight or nine minutes if I miss two, three, four shots."

HOOPTHOUGHT NOTE: This is only a SMALL portion of this article -- well worth reading in it's entirety here.
 

FREE, GREAT RESOURCE FOR COACHES

I am careful to recommend things like books, clinics and resources to those who follow me on twitter or read this blog.  I realize that time and money are valuable to us all.  But if you are a coach, I have a resource that is not only outstanding but free.

Brooklyn Kohlheim is an assistant coach at Nova Southeastern University.  She puts out an email blast periodically every few weeks -- AND IT IS OUTSTANDING!!! It includes PDFs of plays and drills, links to great articles and videos.  Doesn't matter what level you coach on, there is something outstanding in each mailing.

There have been numerous things I've gotten from her email newsletter that have helped me improve as a coach as well as something I could use with a player or our team.

And again, it's free!  Just email Coach Kohlheim at bk402@nova.edu and asked to be place on her mailing list.

Coaches, if you do one thing today, sign up for this!  I'll share a few examples of things we've gotten from Coach Kohlheim over the next few days.

ALWAYS DO MORE THAN IS REQUIRED OF YOU

I came across this blog post today from John Maxwell and loved it.  It was titled "Why You Should Do More Than Expected."  The title grabbed me immediately.  One of my favorite quotes that I share often, with players, coaches, managers, and anyone else on our team comes from General George S. Patton, Jr. that simply says:

"Always do more than is required of you."

It's a simplistic yet critical part to success.  It has nothing to do with intelligence or talent but is linked to attitude and commitment.  Many people have forged ahead in life by simply doing more than is required.

Here is a part of Mr. Maxwell's post though I recommend you read it all here.

Here are three “don’ts” and one “do” if you want to consistently exceed expectations:

Don't rely on your reputation.
I think that when we’re successful, our greatest temptation is to enjoy living on the past. We’ve gained a reputation for doing great things, and it’s really easy to “rest on our laurels,” so to speak. We forget how we got our reputation and start putting our energy into guarding it, instead of growing it anew. But we got our reputation by producing, and that’s how we need to build on it. Don’t just protect your reputation for good work. Do better work.

Don't rely on your relationships.

I’ve noticed that this is a real problem for a lot of people. For whatever reason, when they don’t meet or exceed expectations, their response is to play the “relationship card.” They say, “I know I didn’t do what I needed to do, but after all, we’re friends.”

Relationships are definitely important in life and can carry us through a lot of hard times. But this kind of thing is an abuse of a relationship, and it will suffer as a result. When you rely on a relationship instead of your efforts, you not only don’t exceed expectations, you don’t meet them either.

Don’t expect unearned respect.

We should never try to demand respect. I believe that respect must be earned daily. And the only way to do that is to continually produce and do more than is expected. I believe that once we understand that respect is not a given, we work harder and start each day with a clean slate. We don’t get to demand respect today because of what we achieved yesterday. Every day needs a fresh commitment to exceeding expectations.

Do ask questions, give your best, and ask questions again.

When I have a speaking engagement coming up, I ask a number of important questions. I want to know who will be there. What does the leader want his or her people to get out of it? How is morale? The answers to these questions help me to tailor my message so that it has the highest impact. It helps me discover what the expectations are, so I know how high to aim to exceed them.

ADAPTING TO PEOPLE KEY TO COACH K'S SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE

I came across this article from my friend Don Yaeger who posted it on his Facebook page.  Below is a brief excerpt written by Sanyin Siang for Forbes.com.  Siang took a look at what has enabled Coach Mike Krzyzewski to have sustained success in a very competitive environment.  I loves what Siang said about the primary teaching principles that Coach K utilizes have remained consistent -- all the way to the fact that he still handwrites his practice plans out everyday with many drills the same as when he started at West Point.  The article is a great read and you can read it hear in it's entirety. 

However, one of the most important aspects pointed out by Siang was that while certain parts of Coach K's philosophy have remained constant, he has been able to be flexible in his treatment and communication to those in his program.  Here is how Siang summed it up:

So what are some specific ways that Krzyzewski adapts to his people?

1. He is responsive to the strengths of individuals at that moment, and to how each player depends upon the others on the team.  He has said every team he coaches is different.  In the Duke Men’s Basketball offices, there are binders of every single practice plan.  Each one is handwritten and based on the evolving competencies and existing weaknesses of the players and team.

2. Because an agile team is also a learning team, he pays attention to how individuals receive information and adapts his communications so that the messages and lessons resonate. “Coach would show the same play over and over on tape,” notes Tim O’Toole, Duke Assistant Coach from 1985-87 and now Assistant Coach at Stanford. “While demonstrating a defensive assignment, he may raise his voice or deepen the inflection, which would get the kinesthetic guy’s attention.  Or he would say, ‘Do you see how easy it is for them to enter it into the post?’ Which would get the visual guys. Then for audio guys, ‘Before we move on to the next play, does everyone understand that we as a team, can’t allow the ball to enter that close to the basket or we’re in deep trouble?’  He just nailed it.”

3. He gives individuals the chance to play in roles different than what they are known for.  When Kobe Bryant, known for being a great offensive player, first joined the 2008 USA Mens’ Basketball Team, he asked Coach K to let him  play defense and “guard the best player on every team” that they face.  In given the chance to work on defense, Bryant expanded his range and set an example for what it means to be a team player.  By being open to how and where his players want to contribute  – Krzyzewski enables the team to consider new and innovative possibilities.

Underscoring this emphasis on people assets is bringing the right people onboard – those with the right values and cultural fit – which is a hallmark of Coach K’s leadership.

TRANSITION OFFENSE THOUGHTS FROM MARIANNE STANLEY

The following are some clinic notes I took on Transition Offense from Marianne Stanley who was speaking at our clinic at LSU.  I have known Coach Stanley for a long time, starting with me working her camps when I was a high school coach and she was leading Old Dominion to multiple National Championships.  She is one of the best teachers I've been around.  Here are just a few of her thoughts:

In order to be a quality fast breaking team, you must be good defensively and on the boards.  You can only be so good in transition if you are constantly taking the ball out of the net after your opponent scores.

Defensive rebounding is not talent — it’s heart.

Two important areas for developing transition offense:

      ◄Be good in the fundamentals of the game

      ◄Train and practice at speed

OUTLET PASS

◄The deeper the better…between free throw line extended and the hashmark.

◄Point guard sprint there, show you back to the sideline and call for the ball.

◄Look up!...majority of guard take outlet and immediately put the ball on the floor dribble and then look up...we want to look up first.

Important quality for guards is body control.

Point Guard: key to good transition is her vision...once she catches the ball Washington teaches for them to look “at the bottom of the net”...this gives a good centering point for their peripheral vision.

Lanes: “Don’t jog, don’t run.  Sprint!”

Definition of “sprint” — “as fast as you can” — anything less is not a sprint

DEFENSIVE THOUGHTS FROM TOM IZZO

I came across some old clinic notes from Tom Izzo on defense and stance:

DEFENSIVE MINDSET

  
Best friend is Steve Mariucci...Izzo goes to 49ers mini camp to observe and learn.

In all sports — defense wins championships.

              Baltimore Ravens: worst offense ever in NFL—win Super Bowl

              Michigan State Hockey: #1 ranked because of great defense

Chicago Bulls: had 2 1st Team All Defensive Players

Must sell “defensive wins championships” mentality to your best players...when your best players buy into your system, you’ve got a chance.

Program turned around when Mateen Cleaves signed...he came in and brought a toughness with him.

Best players can be prima donnas  if you want to win games, but if you want to win titles, your best players have to do a lot of things.

STANCE

Stay in your stance.

We play with one hand up — BIG — including on closeouts

Contesting shots is easy...contesting a pass is not...Izzo refers to contesting the pass as the role of the defender on the ball, not on the receiver.

Izzo squares the feet and shades players with the squared feet — not with one foot up...stay square even to shade...one foot up is too much of an advantage for the offense.

Knees bent.

Defense, and stance — “Never Relax”…”Never Relax” is on their championship rings...don’t come out of your stance.

 

DON MEYER: 7 WAYS TO LOSE A GAME

1. Don’t play hard: You can have the most talented team in the world, you can have the most intelligent team in the world, but if your team doesn’t play hard, there is no chance that they will be successful over the course of time. You must, before all else, establish and demand that your players play hard. It must be your identity.

2. Don’t play smart: After establishing that your team plays hard, you must then teach your players how to play smart. They must have a high “basketball I.Q.” Your players must learn and buy into the system that you teach and they must learn technique. At Northern, we say, “You can have all the intensity of a mad dog in a meat house, but without technique, you’ll end up with a bullet between the eyes.” Your players must learn to be students of the game. We stress the importance of player notebooks and taking notes.

3. Don’t play together: Finally, after teaching your players to play hard and smart, your players must then learn how to play together. Your team will have a very difficult time if there isn’t unity among the troops.

Key Phrase = “Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together.”

4. Don’t have a delay game: If your team is fortunate enough to get a lead late in the game, you must have some type of delay game. While that doesn’t mean that you become passive and are afraid to shoot, that does mean that you may have restrictions such as; the only shot is a wide-open lay-up, minimum number of passes before shooting is 5, etc. Teams that don’t have a delay game have the tendency to lose big games.

5. Have no delay game defense: There will be times when you are losing and the opponent is running a delay game to milk the clock. If and when that is the case, you must have a secondary defense that will force the offense to speed up and hopefully take bad shots, so your team can preserve the clock. That might mean you have a press defense, or a trapping zone defense, but whatever the case, you must find ways to speed up the game and give yourself more possessions and opportunities to score.

6. No comeback game: Your team won’t always have a ten-point lead late in the game. There will undoubtedly be times when your team is going to be losing and your players have to know how to speed up the game to get more possessions and thus, more opportunities to come back. First of all, do you have “quick-hitters” in place; set plays that will result in a good look at the basket in a minimal amount of time? Also, do you have substitution patterns in place to best maximize your talent when you are losing? For example, subbing in the appropriate players on a defensive possession that will give you the best chance to stop the other team, and during dead balls, subbing in shooters on offensive possessions if you need to get 3-pointers to get back in the game. In addition, when your team is shooting a free throw, do you have players ready to check in if the player makes the second free throw, which will stop the clock and set up your defense (a timeout without using a timeout)? Being prepared for situations where your team is losing late in the game and having a plan of action ready is vital to a successful program.

7. Don’t simplify the game: There is a lot of power and truth in the saying, “Simplicity is Complicated.” You must keep the game simple for your players. If they have to think too much, they won’t be able to react. A good quote is “the more they think, the slower their feet get.” A great coach teaches his or her players a few simple principles from which the program is known by, and then, that coach lets the players play the game.

WHY WE WIN (#9)

In 1998 Billy Packer (along with Roland Lazenby) wrote a book titles "Why We Win." It was a brilliant concept in which Packer came up with a series of questions to ask some of the top coaches in all sports to get their thoughts and views.

If you had two players that we very similar but one had a little more talent while the other had a better attitude, which one would you take? Say maybe one had better physical ability and the other had the lead in mental ability?

Joe Gibbs: For me, it was always the character.

Pat Summitt: You’ve got one player to pick for a championship. I would say the mental...I guess it was Lou Holtz who said, “I’d rather have a slow person in the right spot than a quick person in the wrong spot.”  I think that certainly it’s true in the sport of basketball that execution is as much mental as anything.  And I’d take that smart player.

Tommy Lasorda: I’ll take the guy with lesser talent and the more desire and the execution ability.  I’ll take that guy over the guy with talent.

Joe Paterno: It would depend on the level of how much better is one physically and how much smarter is the other one.  But if they were close, let’s say one guy is six in physical ability and three in intelligence and other guy is seven in intelligence and three in physical ability, I’d go with the intelligence...I asked John Wooden what quality he thought was most important on his basketball team.  He said, well, my basketball teams were always intelligent.

Dan Gable: Whether you have talent or not, that’s a big factor to me.  The higher level you get to in sports performances, you need a little big of everything to be good.  However, I would still take the young person or that athlete that had the attitude over talent.

Mike Krzyzewski:  With intelligence you have a greater chance of making other people better.  Without giving names to those two people, I would lean more toward the intelligence because basketball is all about making your teammates better, and I think you can do that if you’re smart.  Some people are quick or strong, but they use their strength and quickness in going the wrong direction.

Sparky Anderson: Well, when it gets to that, to me, it’s the intelligence and the toughness of a young man.

Lenny Wilkens: The mental (laughing).  Definitely.  I can overcome a lot of physical disadvantages.  I could use your strength against you.  I can do a lot of that, if I know how.  And so, it’s now always how strong you are.  The guy who has mental superiority will find a way.

Bill Walsh: The bulk of your squad must consist of people with functional intelligence for the sport itself, and who have the athletic ability to play their particular position very competitively with the opposition.