As a coach, I always aim to improve my communication skills. While I have a firm grasp on my philosophy, as well as the team culture and style of play that I want to see, it is nothing if I cannot get the message across. As John Wooden would say: “You haven’t taught until they have learned.” Emphasizing a team culture helps youth adopt a different mindset, assuming the dominant characteristics of the group. Character skills are malleable, like intellectual and athletic ability (Tough, 2012, p. 97). Key words can be repeated in huddles and used as positive self-talk. It …
How Role Players Succeed
Richard Jefferson comments on how he adjusted to his role with the Cleveland Cavaliers: “I knew I only could control what I could control. I‘m not a guy that they‘re going to call plays for; I‘m not a guy that they‘re going to run anything for. So I was just like, ‘Richard, just rebound the ball like crazy. Rebound the ball, run the floor, play defense, get on the floor for any loose ball.‘ […] That‘s what I can control, and then try to get shots & try to do some extra things.” Jefferson didn‘t let his limited offensive role …
2015 N.B.A. Offense Lessons
The first half the N.B.A. season has demonstrated the progression of offensive basketball at the highest level. Young players can develop their own game by playing with focus and patience and applying some of these elements. When young teams run discipline sets, the ball moves, everyone looks good and the team takes advantage of good looks. If that same team rushes, disjointed basketball unfolds and teams look their age. Any team can play hard, play smart and play together on offense. Coaches should study the best teams in the league because they are applying concepts that work against the most …
End of Game Situations
Coaches spend a great deal of time planning each possession in the last two minutes because these plays are closely scrutinized. Control that cannot be wielded throughout the game is certainly exerted as the clock winds down. “Clutch situations” define players and coaches and even though players perform at the levels consistent with their season-long statistics, they especially want to be known as someone who can succeed in these memorable moments. The free hand of basketball means that what a coach emphasizes when preparing for the last possession of a game will trickle down into the rest of the team’s …
Toronto Raptors Clutch Defense
We’ve seen this before. A hot shooter pulls up at the top of the key, given plenty of room, and drills the winning shot as time expires. The remaining defenders could have helped by closing the paint but they were standing still, out of the way and unable to help if they wanted to. During the preceding the team should have discussed how they would guard a game-winning shot attempt and prioritized who should stay on their check and who should help. I think the team should have focused on Kyrie Irving and Wayne Ellington and forced Dion Waiters and Shaun Livingston …
Raptors Bench Scoring
I am critical of the Toronto Raptors when they perform poorly on offense or defense so to be consistent I will highlight an example of good execution. Last night, the second unit created a number of high percentage scoring changes, enabling Toronto’s bench to outscore their Cleveland counterparts by a 59-21 margin. Rather than attempting a static ballscreen for two players as others watched, every Raptors player was involved in the play. They took advantage of cavalier Cavaliers defense but had good options that would have succeeded against a disciplined team. John Lucas made a three-point shot but he could …
After Timeouts
When they lose, the Toronto Raptors do very poorly after timeouts. They do not score enough and they do not get enough possessions in the paint. On Friday, they scored on 5/13 post-timeout shots and only got into the paint five times. The Raptors lost to the Cavs 80-84.
Shaq: The Big Retrospective
Sport fans and the public at large will remember Shaquille O’Neal because of how he combined athleticism, skill, and charisma on and off the court. From his first season in 1992 until his seventeenth in 2009, the Big Cactus remained an impact player in the Association. Sustaining his place atop the pyramid of post players required the Big Aristotle to develop his game constantly, growing from a powerful force inside to a well-rounded basketball player. Shaq-Fu may have been initially known for breaking backboards (compelling the Association to reinforce the basket supports) as a rookie and losing a memorable battle …
Get Confident, Stupid
Whether athletes achieve their goals seems intricately connected to their feelings about themselves. Coaches over the years have seen body language, a lack of energy, and fear of making a mistake result in poor performance just as players have noticed how their self-talk, mental imagery, and focus on specific objectives contribute to their success. LeBron James dropped thirty-one points in the first half on Portland tonight but the Trail Blazers reversed their fortunes by coming out for the second half with much more determination. They moved the ball and took better shots. They played improved team defence and curtailed Cleveland’s …
Cleveland-Boston, Again
Based on the most miniscule sample, I can report that nothing has changed in the Association’s Eastern Conference. Cleveland is too one-dimensional to be a threat to seize the championship and Boston – when healthy – should prevail in the post-season. The two sides clashed last night; the former was incredibly cavalier in their execution and the latter performed superbly under pressure. Cleveland’s side-out consisted of a player coming to the ball and handing off to LeBron James, who would then attack one on three. Cavalier guards made five out of fifteen three-point shots when the defence collapsed. However, it …
Rising to the Occasion
Criticisms abound regarding Bob Delaney’s pass on the contact between LeBron James and Bruce Bowen during Cleveland’s last three-pointer Wednesday. Whilst Bowen’s physical defence straddles a fine line between fair and foul and his persistence on the perimeter is certainly a challenge that his opponent must overcome, the play in question was not particularly relevant to the outcome of Game 3. The Cavaliers’ poor execution throughout the encounter, including the three and a half minute scoreless stretch between 5:28 and 1:54 of the fourth quarter, is mostly responsible for their loss. The Spurs provided countless chances but the home team …
2005 Finals Redux
Both opening games of the Eastern and Western Conference Finals demonstrated the importance of mental training. I’m disinclined to blindly use the term “experience” but feel that a large component of the differences between the respective winners and losers can be described as the “mental training that comes from being there before and making use of that experience appropriately.” Self-confidence, team chemistry, pre-game planning, and court-sense are among other elements constituting the mental training. Utah was totally taken to the cleaners by San Antonio; like the 1998 Lakers, the Jazz were unprepared as to what to expect when playing a …