DEFENDING BALL SCREENS

The following are strategies from Alvin Gentry for defending the ball screen courtesy Sean Miller and the Arizona staff:

1. When guarding the ball handler "hold your ground." Don't allow him to locate the ball below the hash mark. be physical when guarding the ball screener. "Hold him up," (i.e. Charles Oakley). Don't allow him to run in a straight line to set the ball screen. The combination of both defensive concepts moves the ball screen further away from the basket.

2. On a sideline ball screen when guarding the ball handler, force him to use the ball screen. A baseline drive in this situation creates problems for the defense.

3. When guarding the ball handler, go over top of the ball screener. The defender guarding the ball screener hedges out far and extends himself so that the ball handler can slide under him and over the top of the ball screener. If this concept is not executed properly, the ball handler and screener will run into each other.

4. As the screen defender hedging, you want the ball handler to take one "big dribble" toward half-court as he comes off of the ball screen.

5. Versus a sideline ball screen set with a shooter -- "pre-rotate" and leave early.

6. Anytime a ball screen is set clearly above the NBA 3 point line, go under the ball screen when guarding the ball handler.

7. Versus random ball screens on the break "drop-n-plug." There is not hedge. The defender guarding the ball handler can go over or under the ball screen.

8. He has tried to trap ball screens but guard in the NBA are too good. Secondly, the opposite low post player "punches" in the middle of the lane under the goal, which makes the rotation very difficult to get in front of.

9. When defending ball screens versus great players, he makes a choice of what to give up. for example, in a ball screen situation versus the Jazz and John Stockton, he want the ball handler defender to go under the ball screen. He would rather give up a jump shot than deal with Stockton's penetration.

10. When "icing down" the ball screen take the ball screen defender and place him below the ball screen in direct line with the basket and take the ball handler defender and now allow the ball handler to utilize the ball screen...the ball defender has to defend the dribble aggressively so that the ball handler doesn't drive right at the ball screen defender. If the ball defender doesn't defend the ball aggressively, the penetration will hurt the defense.

11. Versus a middle ball screen "squeeze and go under" is a great way to defend. Anytime the ball defender goes under the ball screen you have to "squeeze." If you don't squeeze, the ball screener has the ability to "move down" therefore allowing the ball handler to use the ball screen at an advantageous position -- too close to the basket.

A DAY WITH THE COACH WOODEN

Many years ago I wrote a book titled "The Art of Being An Assistant Coach" in which I created a survey and sent to the top head coaches around the nation including Coach Wooden. One of the greatest thrills of my coaching career was having Coach Dale Brown arrange for me to spend a day with him in his apartment in Inglewood, California. My time with Coach Wooden was so incredible that I wrote an entire chapter in my book based on some of our conversations. Here is just a brief excerpt:

It was one of the most educational times in my coaching life as well as one of the most thrilling. The date was October 15, 1993, and I was in a rental car heading down the Los Angeles freeway system to spend an afternoon with Coach John Wooden.

To some degree it was somewhat of a pilgrimage; having the opportunity to fly cross country to speak with not just an outstanding basketball coach, but very much a wise man in a great number of areas, especially life. The trip was annual in some form for the LSU basketball staff. Annually Coach Brown maded the trip and from time to time he would take a member of his staff.

During the early days of October, Coach Brown had me over to his house one evening to watch a video tape he had on Coach Wooden speaking at a clinic and talking about his basic coaching philosophy. When I casually mentioned what a thrill it would be to meet Coach Wooden and actually sit down and talk some basketball, Coach Brown got up, went to his office, wrote down Coach Wooden’s phone number on a piece of paper and handed it to me.

“We don’t start practice this year until November 1,” explained Coach Brown. “Why don’t you call John up and make a date before the season.”

I was almost in disbelief. Why would Coach Wooden agree to spend an afternoon with me? After my phone call, I soon found out that Coach Wooden was a gracious as he was wise, and I was soon bound for California.

I spend almost two entire days studying for my trip. I glanced through Coach Wooden’s book Practical Modern Basketball. I sat down and wrote out all the questions in advance that I thought would be the best to get his answers. I then loaded up a tape recorder and some cassettes and I was ready to go. During the session I asked him his opinion on several things from the following areas: philosophy, strategy then and now, practice organization, conditioning, offensive philosophies and fundamentals, the UCLA pressing system, academic philosophy, discipline, avoiding complacency, leadership and captains, scouting, tournament preparation, and how to keep the saw sharpened.

I also found out very quickly that LSU was not the only program that went out to gather information from this coaching legend. The day before I had arrived, he had spent the entire day with Jim Harrick’s staff on the UCLA campus. The day before that he had been with George Raveling at the University of Southern California.

Above all, I was highly interested in what he thought were important qualities for a top notch assistant coach. After all, he had accomplished things in college basketball as a coach that had never been done before and will never again be done. He also had some tremendous assistants pass through under him naming Denny Crum and Gary Cunningham as a near perfect staff. His players also went on to outstanding coaching careers including Crum, Cunningham, Jerry Norman, Larry Farmer, and Walt Hazzard.

It was fascinating that on the survey that I sent to Coach Wooden that he did not rank them in any order. He simply wrote, “They are all extremely important. But we should remember that it is more important to have character than characteristics.”

BRIAN TRACY ON LONG-TERM SUCCESS

Whether your are a coach, player or a program, the ultimate symbol of your legacy can be traced back to the test of time. Are you a one-hit wonder of have you navigated through adversity and change and maintained a level of excellency? Here are some tremendous thoughts from Brian Tracy on that subject:

Successful people have been studied in depth for more than 100 years. They have been interviewed extensively to determine what it is they do and how they think that enables them to accomplish so much more than the average person.

In this Newsletter, you learn the most important single factor of long-term success and how you can build it into your personality and your attitude. You learn how to virtually guarantee yourself a great future.

The Harvard Discovery on Success
In 1970, sociologist Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University wrote a book entitled The Unheavenly City. He described one of the most profound studies on success and priority setting ever conducted.

Banfield's goal was to find out how and why some people became financially independent during the course of their working lifetimes. He started off convinced that the answer to this question would be found in factors such as family background, education, intelligence, influential contacts, or some other concrete factor. What he finally discovered was that the major reason for success in life was a particular attitude of mind.

Develop Long Time Perspective
Banfield called this attitude "long time perspective." He said that men and women who were the most successful in life and the most likely to move up economically were those who took the future into consideration with every decision they made in the present. He found that the longer the period of time a person took into consideration while planning and acting, the more likely it was that he would achieve greatly during his career.

For example, one of the reasons your family doctor is among the most respected people in America is because he or she has invested many years of hard work and study to finally earn the right to practice medicine. After university courses, internship, residency and practical training, a doctor may be more than 30 years old before he or she is capable of earning a good living. But from that point onward, these men and women are some of the most respected and most successful professional people in any society. They had long time perspectives.

Measure the Potential Future Impact
The key to success in setting priorities is having a long time perspective. You can tell how important something is today by measuring its potential future impact on your life.

For example, if you come home from work at night and choose to play with your children or spend time with your spouse, rather than watch TV or read the paper, you have a long time perspective. You know that investing time in the health and happiness of your children and your spouse is a very valuable, high-priority use of time. The potential future impact of quality time with your family is very high.

If you take additional courses in the evening to upgrade your skills and make yourself more valuable to your employer, you're acting with a long time perspective. Learning something practical and useful can have a long-term effect on your career.

Practice Delayed Gratification
Economists say that the inability to delay gratification-that is, the natural tendency of individuals to spend everything they earn plus a little bit more, and the mind-set of doing what is fun, easy and enjoyable-is the primary cause of economic and personal failure in life. On the other hand, disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem and personal satisfaction.

The long term comes soon enough, and every sacrifice that you make today will be rewarded with compound interest in the great future that lies ahead for you.

Action Exercises
Here are three steps you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, think long-term. Sit down today and write out a description of your ideal life ten and twenty years into the future. This automatically develops longer-time perspective.

Second, look at everything you do in terms of its long-term potential impact on your life. Do more things that have greater long-term value to you.

Third, develop the habit of delaying gratification in small things, small expenditures, small pleasures, so that you can enjoy greater rewards and greater satisfaction in the future.

www.BrianTracy.com

THE DISEASE OF "ME"

Some thoughts on selfish players from Pat Riley:

Most people are generally selfish, and they’re afraid. It’s called the disease of “me.”

Most people go into everything looking out for their own ass. They’re looking out for themselves, and they’ll say all the right things and give you a lot of lip service, but they’re taking care of number one.

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

There’s nothing wrong with that but you’ll never be part of something truly significant if that’s going to be your attitude. You have to change.

From, "What Makes Winners Win," by Charlie Jones

A COACH GETS YOU TO YOUR "DESIRED DESTINATION"

A great definition of a "coach" from Jim Tressel:

"My job as a coach is to do more than just teach the Xs and Os of the gridiron. I recently heard someone explain how the word coach came to be applied to an athletic context. The etymology of the word, at least in part, comes from the old stagecoaches that were used to transport mail, valuables, and people before the advent of motorized transportation. Whether a coach was drawn by a horse or a steam locomotive, it carried or conveyed something or someone from one place to another. If you put yourself into a coach, you knew you would end up at your desired destination. "

GUIDELINES FOR IMPROVED POST PLAY DEVELOPMENT

The following comes from Brian McCoromick's most recent newsletter and is great advice for post players on all levels:

Just as I think guards spend too much time practicing various dribble moves in straight lines when 90% of the time, a good guard uses a hesitation or front crossover in most situations, posts tend to practice too many different moves. A post like Dwight Howard should have a go-to move to each shoulder and a counter to each move. Right now (and for young post players), that is all he should use. As he masters those moves against defenders (not in 1v0 practice), then he can add some variety for use against the tougher defenders or for seven-game series when the same defender sees the same move and counter over and over.

To be effective, however, I would advise three things:

1. Limit your moves.

2. Play the game much lower and with more emphasis on the lower body to create space rather than relying on his massive shoulders.

3. More practice against live defenders (let Gortat earn his money) and more visualization or video work in pre-game 1v0 settings when the risk of injury prevents 1v1 practice.

The off-season is the time for the development of new skills. Pre-game situations are for refining learned skills and preparing for competition.

12 THINGS GOOD BOSSES BELIEVE

From the Havard Business Review comes "12 Things Good Bosses Believe." This can be translated to head coaches and team captains as well:

1. I have a flawed and incomplete understanding of what it feels like to work for me.

2. My success — and that of my people — depends largely on being the master of obvious and mundane things, not on magical, obscure, or breakthrough ideas or methods.

3. Having ambitious and well-defined goals is important, but it is useless to think about them much. My job is to focus on the small wins that enable my people to make a little progress every day.

4. One of the most important, and most difficult, parts of my job is to strike the delicate balance between being too assertive and not assertive enough.

5. My job is to serve as a human shield, to protect my people from external intrusions, distractions, and idiocy of every stripe — and to avoid imposing my own idiocy on them as well.

6. I strive to be confident enough to convince people that I am in charge, but humble enough to realize that I am often going to be wrong.

7. I aim to fight as if I am right, and listen as if I am wrong — and to teach my people to do the same thing.

8. One of the best tests of my leadership — and my organization — is "what happens after people make a mistake?"

9. Innovation is crucial to every team and organization. So my job is to encourage my people to generate and test all kinds of new ideas. But it is also my job to help them kill off all the bad ideas we generate, and most of the good ideas, too.

10. Bad is stronger than good. It is more important to eliminate the negative than to accentuate the positive.

11. How I do things is as important as what I do.

12. Because I wield power over others, I am at great risk of acting like an insensitive jerk — and not realizing it.

Read the entire article at: http://bit.ly/cuCOdo

CREATING A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT IN PRACTICE

Some great stuff from Mike McNeil on ideas to make players more competitive in practice which translates into them going harder for longer period of times -- really good stuff from Coach McNeill -- thanks for sharing! I have put my thoughts after each one in bold, red italics.

Many years ago I had the opportunity to ask Gary Williams, the Head Coach at University of Maryland, what was the most important quality he looked for in the players he was recruiting. I was thinking he was going to say something like size, quickness, shooting ability, or understanding of game, but instead he looked at me like I must be from another planet, and said “they have to be a competitor”. As a coach you want to believe that every contest you go into you know your players will give it everything they have to perform well. The team may not shoot well, or they may turn the ball over but at least you know they will compete on every possession.

While many people believe you cannot make non-competitors into competitors, I disagree to a certain point. I think if you use proven strategies in practice you can improve the competitive fire in all your athletes. Are you going to make an infrequent competitor into a consistent, hard-nosed tough competitor? – I doubt it; but you can improve each of these athletes. Just like any skill you work to improve you can help each athlete compete harder and more consistently by using some of the strategies described below. It is your responsibility as a coach to help your athletes become the best competitors they can become. Therefore you must create a practice environment where competition is expected and embraced.

A critical aspect of competing is being in the present – not thinking ahead and letting the past go. Coaches must teach, preach, and demand that players focus on the present responsibilities each player has so they will compete better.

The following is a list of strategies that can be used to teach your team to play hard and to compete every possession.

1. The coach is the only one to call fouls. The coach can then set the standard of play. While it is important to teach players to play without fouling it is equally important to teach players to play through fouls, to play physically, and to play aggressively. It is also important players not concern themselves with the officials. We do this as well...when scrimmage against our male team, we will let them foul a little more than we allow our team...we want to be aggressive on defense without fouling.

2. There is no out of bounds! If the ball bounces out of the normal boundaries of the court the play is still alive. The players will then hustle after the loose ball to maintain possession. This will keep kids hustling after the ball. There are two arguments I have heard against this concept: 1) kids will get hurt – in 20+ years I have not seen it happen; 2) they will not be aware of where the out of bounds lines are – again, I have not seen this be a factor. We have several drills where we utilize this principle...we don't do it all the time because we want them to know the floor as well.

3. Make every scrimmage or drill a competition; all competitions have either a score or a time standard. Examples, you must make so many lay-ups in a 3 player weave in 2 minutes or first team to five baskets. The consequences for losing are severe if the losing team did not compete very hard - set of lines, suicide, 60 seconds. If the losing team did compete hard make it a less severe penalty or no penalty. We are very big believers in this one -- hold them accountable and have a penalty for the losing team. We do it in individual drills as well as team drills.

4. Play every drill, scrimmage, and breakdown until the defense gets the ball, i.e. if the offense scores and then recovers the ball from the basket they can score again. Our guideline for this is that we always want to convert as least one time (sometimes twice). We might be working on our half court offense but we are going to have one transition before resetting. The conversion game is very important to teach and it allows your team to play through all possessions.

5. Use overload situations, 3 vs 4, 4 vs 5, 5 vs 6. This places extra pressure on the out-manned team to concentrate and play harder to compensate for out-numbered situation and it also places pressure on the team with the numerical advantage because the expectation is to win. Give the team with the numerical advantage a slight score disadvantage to start each drill.

We refer to these as "Disadvantage Drills." We may play 5/4 with the offense getting an extra player to overload the work on our defense. We might play 4/4 with no dribble to place our offense in a more difficult setting. There are a variety of ways to "stretch' your team in competitive situations.

6. Use a rebounding bubble. Because no baskets are scored - score with stops, rating of shots and offensive rebounds. This will increase the hustle to secure the ball. We use the rebounding bubble early in the season quite a bit. It is one of the most physically aggressive things we do. We tend to stay away from it during the season because of the possibility of injuries.

7. Give extra points for offensive rebounds. When you scrimmage or play any drill if a team gets an offensive rebound they get 2 extra points. Offensive rebounding is about desire and hard work – this should be rewarded! We play "Motion Game" where we use points in a variety of ways. An offensive rebound is worth 1 point. A turnover is worth 2 points to the defense. In fact, you can utilize that drill in a variety of ways. Maybe you want to work on your low post defense so you give the offensive a point for a low post feed. A great imagination can make this type of scrimmage setting very effective.

8. Reward the team with extra points whenever there are hustle plays such as diving on the floor or drawing a charge. One thing we demand our team to do (until it becomes habit) is when a player dives for a loose ball or takes a charge and there is a stoppage of play, we want the entire team to run over and assist that player in getting up. It shows a teams appreciation for the effort.

9. Have one of your players wear a designated jersey during practice. If this player secures an offensive rebound his team gets bonus points. The defending team must then focus on keeping this player off the boards and the designated player will focus on and feel pressure to get to the boards. We utilize a red jersey in practice in a variety of ways. We may have that person as a designated scorer and if they get a shot off we will penalize the defending team. We may also have them as a designated driver and if they get to the paint off the dribble there will be a penalty. We have used the rebounding angle before -- but we will next year!

10. Use the “next basket wins” games during practice, even if one team is up by several points, this will bring the competitive nature in your athletes out. The team ahead will know they have been thrown an injustice and will try to show you they are not going to be denied and the team behind will recognize their opportunity for victory and compete hard. This is a great way to make a possession count and put teams on a great competitive alertness. There are great stories about how Doug Collins use to do something similar this with Michael Jordan in Chicago. Jordan's team might be up 8-2 in a game to 10 and Collins would put Jordan on the team with two to challenge him to find a way to win (which he often did).

11. Time and score scenarios during practice bring a high level of interest and focus. Here is an example “Blue is up 65-62 with a 1:30 to go and both teams are in bonus. Red ball under the basket.” The players usually will be quite focused to execute properly to win. We do this but often talk as a staff that we don't do it enough. We actually have talked about next year doing one scenario every practice.

DON MEYER'S DEFINITION OF "TEAMS"

T = Tough – doing kids a big favor if you can make them that way
E = Effort – in Hospital it doesn’t matter what they do for you, you have to do something for yourself. Give a little more than you are looking for & love will turn the key
A = Attitude – What you can control. 3 people have to have a great practice everyday: Head Coach,
M = Motives – right things for the right reasons, have to or want to, champions don’t look at it as a sacrifice they want to do it, eager vs. willing
S = Servant Leaders – will go out & help others

PRINCIPLES FOR LEAVING A LEGACY

The following comes from the late Jim Rohn but it a great set of "principles" for a coach. These are great guidelines to center your philosophy and lead your program.

You know me, I am a philosopher. I love principles. Yes, actions are great and I talk about them regularly, but the important stuff is what lies underneath—the principles.

Here are what I consider to be the principles that we must commit to if we are to leave the legacy we desire:

Life is best lived in service to others. This doesn't mean that we do not strive for the best for ourselves. It does mean that in all things we serve other people, including our family, co-workers and friends.

Consider others' interests as important as your own. Much of the world suffers simply because people consider only their own interests. People are looking out for No. 1, but the way to leave a legacy is to also look out for others.

Love your neighbor even if you don't like him. It is interesting that Jesus told us to love others. But he never tells us to like them. Liking people has to do with emotions. Loving people has to do with actions. And what you will find is that when you love them and do good by them, you will more often than not begin to like them.

Maintain integrity at all costs. There are very few things you take to the grave with you. The No. 1 thing is your reputation and good name. When people remember you, you want them to think, "She was the most honest person I knew. What integrity." There are always going to be temptations to cut corners and break your integrity. Do not do it. Do what is right all of the time, no matter what the cost.

You must risk in order to gain. In just about every area of life you must risk in order to gain the reward. In love, you must risk rejection in order to ask that person out for the first time. In investing, you must place your capital at risk in the market in order to receive the prize of a growing bank account. When we risk, we gain. And when we gain, we have more to leave for others.

You reap what you sow. In fact, you always reap more than you sow—you plant a seed and reap a bushel. What you give you get. What you put into the ground then grows out of the ground. If you give love, you will receive love. If you give time, you will gain time. It is one of the truest laws of the universe. Decide what you want out of life and then begin to sow it.

Hard work is never a waste. No one will say, "It is too bad he was such a good, hard worker." But if you aren't they will surely say, "It's too bad he was so lazy—he could have been so much more!" Hard work will leave a grand legacy. Give it your all on your trip around the earth. You will do a lot of good and leave a terrific legacy.

Don't give up when you fail. Imagine what legacies would have never existed if someone had given up. How many thriving businesses would have been shut down if they quit at their first failure? Everyone fails. It is a fact of life. But those who succeed are those who do not give up when they fail. They keep going and build a successful life—and a legacy.

Don't ever stop in your pursuit of a legacy. Many people have accomplished tremendous things later on in life. There is never a time to stop in your pursuit of a legacy. Sometimes older people will say, "I am 65. I'll never change." That won't build a great life! No, there is always time to do more and achieve more, to help more and serve more, to teach more and to learn more. Keep going and growing that legacy!

These are core principles to live by if you want to become the kind of person who leaves a lasting legacy.