That Basketball Life

On the night that Kobe is having his number retired let's honor him with a video that I found on You Tube.  This video shows his skill in breaking down a defender 1 on 1.  

We're going to be spending a bit of time over the next few weeks talking about how players can improve their 1v1 game. Some who know me might ask why would I spend time on a topic like this considering my philosophy on the game is so team orientated? My answer to that question is simple. The most basic part of the game is being able to break down the player covering you. It is such an important element to the game because if you have players on your team who can successfully break down their player, you automatically have the odd man situations which are at the heart of our offensive philosophy. Think about it this way. Our offensive philosophy is about putting pressure on the defense. We try to do this through penetration. This penetration will happen either by dribble entry or pass entry to the post. Dribble entry can happen through ball screens, dribble handoffs, or through dribble penetration. Ball screens and dribble handoffs require 2 of our players to be involved while dribb

A follow up on the post from last week on beating your players one on one.  This video emphasizes how important it is to attack the front leg of a defender and explains why it is important and the most effective way to beat a player who is covering you.  

Here at TBL we have spent a lot of time talking about how to help players improve. What we haven't spent a lot of time doing is talking about selecting coaches to help run your program. If you are the program director of an organization there is not a more important job than the selection of the coaches who are going to run your teams. You need to keep in mind that these people are going to be the faces of your program. They are going to be on the front lines interacting with players and parents so it is important that you spend time making sure you pick the right people. What are some of the things you need to consider when it comes to coaches: Make sure coaches understand the time commitment. Coaching teams will require a 3-4 day a week commitment for the entirety of the session. Barring sickness or unforseen family commitments coaches need to be prepared to be available. No excuses. Don't assume that you can teach prospective coaches how to coach with a clinic. This mean

In it's simplest form, basketball success on the offensive end is about breaking down the defense.  The basic building block of that strategy is the ability to beat the man who is covering you.  Once you're able to beat that man then you begin the process of determining whether you're ability to read a defenses reactions is faster than the defensive rotation.  As an offensive player you need to stay one or two steps ahead of the defense.  You need to anticipate what the defense is going to do once you set the dominoes falling when you beat your man.  The key to get the whole process started is beating the man that is covering you. There are some qualities that you need to keep in mind when you are trying to beat the man covering you: Be aggressive with your moves.  Do not sit there spending too much time dribbling in front of the man covering you.  He will time your dribble and beat you.  Rather be aggressive.  Make a strong move quickly. Feel comfortable with fakes,

In the old days, when a kid began playing basketball he would get assigned a position. Many times what position he played depended on his size, quickness, and his ability to shoot. If you were tall, chances are you played inside. If you were short and quick, chances are you played on the perimeter. What coaches would then proceed to do would be to have the post players exclusively learn post moves and then perimeter players exclusively learn outside moves. What this practice actually did was limit the players development. Lets face it kids grow at different intervals. Tommy might be a tall fourth grader who levels out by the time he is in eighth. The problem lies with the fact that Tommy has been taught post moves all his life and is not prepared to play outside against other perimeter players because his coaches didn't think it was necessary to play Tommy anywhere but on the blocks. At the youth levels, it is so important to keep the kids well rounded. Do not separate your team

I'm a firm believer in the lessons that athletics in general and basketball specifically can teach kids. It's more than just putting a ball in the basket. There are many parallels between the hard work and focus required to improve as a ball player and to be successful in school and life. I believe that a good coach should always emphasize working hard to improve. I also believe that he should take it a step further and explain to his kids how hard work is a good habit and it should be a part of every aspect of life. He should emphasize that hard work should be used when doing homework, when doing chores, or when doing anything important. An uncle of mine once said that the only thing every man has and he should value is his good name. This uncle emphasized that you need to do everything in your power to keep your good name. Laziness is not a trait that keeps a good name. Hard work and good habits are. Teach the lesson of how valuing hard work is important to your team. It&#

Many times I get asked what the most important part of playing defense is. Without hesitation I aways say on ball pressure is the most important element of being successful defensively. Think about it from an offensive point of view. When you have the ball on offense you like to be able to scope out your options. Can I drive or shoot? Do I have an open teammate can pass to? On defense you want to think the opposite. You want to consume the mind of the player you're covering. You want him to be so worried about you that he can't properly focus on making the right play. This is one of the reasons coaches like to press. It helps speed up the thinking process. It forces players to make quicker decisions than they are accustomed to, thus increasing the odds of making mistakes. Think about how much better your team defense can be if you are able to speed up the thought process without double teaming. This is why "on the ball" defense is so important. A good "on the bal

I've been coaching kids for many years and one of the things that always amazes me is the difference in confidence from one kid to the next.  On the same team you will have kids who no matter what they do wrong they can bounce back immediately and others who can get shattered by making one simple mistake.  Confidence is a very fragile thing and can be lost even in the best of players.  Take a look at sports on TV.  How many times have you seen an extremely confident player at the beginning of the year turn to be just a shell of himself by the end.  Along with confidence comes aggressiveness.  A player will not be aggressive if he is not confident.  This is why I think that some of these drills that you see on the internet as drills that help your team become aggressive are questionable.  I'm all for having kids get comfortable chasing loose balls on the floor but to have these kids beat up on each other in practice so they can "build aggressiveness" is somewhat suspec

Over the last decade or so we've seen the game of basketball transform before our very eyes. Gone are the days of the dominant big man who could score with his back to the basket. Now a days all you see are players of all shapes and sizes whose main interest is to shoot from the outside. When we're talking outside we're talking from way beyond the arc. The further the better. You see kids in the gym spending more time working on shots from half court than on basic skills. All this has done is made players more one dimensional and easier to guard. We are almost 20 years removed from the Michael Jordan Era and Kobe Bryant's last game was a few years ago. What people forget is how important the post up game was to these 2 amazing scorers. These guys were so unguardable because their game was so multi faceted. Try to negate their speed with a smaller player and they would take him to the post. Put size on them and they would work from the outside. That's what made

Here at TBL we've spent years refining our coaching philosophy. Early on in our coaching careers, we spent little time looking at footwork and how important it is in basketball. We just assumed that if you do enough reps of a skill you would eventually get the footwork down as a by product. The older we've gotten and the longer we've been coaching the more we've come to realize that if you take the time to coach kids the proper footwork the better they will become as basketball players. Basketball is about coordination and about quickness. Spending time working on footwork helps with both. As a matter of fact, if you spend time once a week for half an hour doing footwork skills you will become quicker. This is a fact because you are committing the practiced skills to muscle memory the more you do them thus making them become second nature to you. So if you want to speed up your shot off the dribble you don't necessarily want to rush your shot but rather speed up the

I have been coaching 5-6 year olds for the past few years. During that time I have been able to see first hand what kids at that age thrive on and what they need work on. The one thing kids that age really love to do is run. At this age, kids will run all day. This is especially true if they are having fun while doing it. You may be asking how does running help kids get better at basketball. The answer to that question lies in the fact that at this age kids are still working on perfecting their fine motor skills and coordination. Running helps with both coordination and fine motor skills as do many other basketball related footwork drills. I like running the following drills in practice: Stance Running sprints forward Running backwards Defensive slides Hopping forward/backwards over line with 2 feet Hopping side to side over line with 2 feet Hopping forwards/backwards over line with 1 foot Hopping side to side over line with 1 foot Standstill jump 2 feet Standstill

Found this video which shows Kobe Bryant and what his mindset is when he is out on the wing with the ball in his hands. He says that when he has the ball in his hands, he looks past the man who is guarding him. He knows he can beat him. What he is looking at is how the defense is lining up behind the man who is guarding him. This will determine what he does with the ball.

The most important thing that a coach needs to do in order to avoid boredom and as a consequence your kids from being disruptive is to keep them engaged.  During practice kids should always be busy during drills.  Don't have them wasting too much time in line waiting for their turns to run a drill.  Choose drills which minimize the amount of time that kids spend waiting.  Keep them engaged.

I have spent a lot of time over the last couple of years breaking down general offensive movements.  I have shown my general philosophies on how to get open on the wing to start an offense to what players should do when the ball is in the middle of the paint.  What I haven't done is expressed my philosophy on offensive flow.  This is what this article is about.

There is a nice article on ESPN about Steve Kerr and how he and his coaching staff came up with the offense that made Golden State such an efficient offensive powerhouse. The article states that Steve Kerr's philosophy is to get everyone involved in the offense in order to get max effort.  To pass the ball and then to move.  There is no standing still.  If your not open you're moving. I love the article because the offensive beliefs that it lists as being a huge part of the Golden State offense are beliefs that I try to instill in my teams when I coach offense.  Granted any team is always going to be as good as the parts that it has.  But as shown in the article, a team can get a lot better with the right philosophy. It's an interesting article.  Link is here .

A huge factor in determining how good a basketball player you are is how well you can dribble under pressure. Dribbling under pressure is so important that it can make the difference between you being a difference maker in a game or being a non-factor. We will be covering this topic in more detail in upcoming posts. To get started I have included a video which gives some good tips on what you can do while you are on the court to negate good pressure defense.

When you talk about dribble penetration and what separates the best from the rest the one catch phrase that we like to use at TBL is "be strong down low and soft on top."

Expanding on our topic from yesterday, we continue our discussions on perimeter footwork using Jay Wright's teaching methods. Enjoy!

Jay Wright is a coach who believes in trying to get the best out of his players. He doesn't rely on his players just being the best athletes on the floor. He prefers to teach them the footwork required to be more comfortable when playing. Check out this short video on jab steps and how he trains his players to feel comfortable using these moves.

A big part of a coach's responsibility during game day is how he will handle foul situations on given players.  How you handle a player who is in foul trouble can have a huge impact on the game and can easily take a victory and turn it into a loss or vice versa.

There are a lot of philosophies out there about what makes a good basketball player.  Some are valid and some are not.  Some sound complicated and some seem simple.  I like to keep things simple.  When you make things too complicated you tend to lose the people you are trying to teach.  So in an effort to summarize what I think makes a good all around player I will list 2 qualities an aspiring player should have offensively and defensively in order to make a difference.

Another passing drill that we like to use.  This one also helps to address multiple facets of the game at the same time so it is a good drill.

Passing is an art in basketball.  Good passers know how to pass both when they are standing still and when they are on the move.  They know how to pass with both hands on the ball and by using either one unilaterally.  All of this should be practiced so players have the confidence to use them in a game. Below is a drill that we at TBL like to use to help getting players used to passing while on the move.  This drill not only helps players with their passing but it also addresses receiving the pass and dribbling the ball.  Because it covers multiple facets of the game using only one drill this is one of our favorites:

Here at TBL we are all about basketball.  We have written articles about everything basketball related.  Topics of conversation have included how to articles, specific plays, and everything in between.  There is one topic that we haven't discussed yet that is extremely important.  The topic I'm talking about is "the stance." Whether you are shooting the ball, dribbling under pressure, playing defense, trying to break down a defender, or rebounding, players need to be comfortable (not just familiar) with playing in "the stance."

When a time out is called it's usually because things are going against your team.  The opposition may be on a big run that you're trying to break and your team may be frustrated or even worst worried about the outcome of the game.  This is why your composure during these time out situations are so important.  It is also important that your team and assistants understand how important timeouts are and know what is expected from them when a time out is called.

I've often sat back and wondered about basketball.  I really love the game and during most days I find myself thinking about various elements of the sport.  Today I was wondering about what a coach can do in order to make players work hard in practice.  It is a belief of mine that the harder a player works, the greater the chances are that the player will improve and this is what you want as a coach. Your goal at the start of every year (especially when coaching at the youth levels) is that each player you coach is better at the end of the season than they were at the start.  How do you do this?  The answer to this question deals with competition.  You need to make sure that every practice is competitive and that the players on the team have the opportunity to leave everything they have on the floor at practice as well as in games.

One of the big things a coach needs to determine before a game is how he should use his timeouts.  How you handle time outs is so critical when it comes to in game management that it could be the difference between giving your team a chance to win the game at the end or not. 

During a game, the way a coach conducts himself will determine how well his team reacts.  The coach needs to always keep in mind that as a leader, his team will feed off of his actions and reactions.  Show nerves and your team will also.  Be afraid of competition and your team will be afraid to compete.  Be negative and your team will not be able to properly express itself on the basketball court. With the above in mind, I would like to spend some time discussing what a coach should do in order to instill confidence in his team and have them play with confidence in all situations.  The way a coach can give confidence to his team has a lot to do with 6 things:

We will be starting a new topic of conversation.  It is one that is very important and one that should be considered by all coaches.  The topic is called Game Situations and will cover everything that a coach should consider before he steps on the floor to coach a basketball game. The topics that will be covered are as follows:

The last part of our series on dribble penetration deals with which hand you should finish with.  Determining which hand to finish with depends on the angle the defender is taking when he is guarding you.

Continuing our discussion of dribble penetration, we would like to talk about how a player who will drive to the basket can reduce the chance of his shot getting blocked by taller or more athletic players.  In a nutshell the name of the game is to eat up the space between you and the player covering you.  This seems counterintuitive at first glance.  Most players initial instinct would probably be to run away from the defender.  However, moving away from the defender just gives the opposition more space to time the block and to take a running start into their leap. I found a cool video which helps describe what I spoke about above.

In our first installment on the topic of dribble penetration we will discuss how to protect the ball when going through traffic in the paint.

The next topic that we will be covering here at TBL is dribble penetration in traffic.  What we mean by this is how can a player properly enter the lane when it is heavily congested and protect the ball (keep it from getting stripped) while still giving himself a chance to score.  All of the great penetrators I have seen have an uncanny ability be "strong down low and soft on top."  What this means is that good penetrators can be really strong in protecting the ball as they are going through traffic, absorbing pressure without allowing it to impede their progress, while being soft when they go into shot mode.

Nice drill I found on the internet. It emphasizes 1v1 finishing going to the basket.

In our latest segment covering man to man principles we are covering a topic that does not apply to the defensive side of the ball exclusively but is so vital to a solid defense that we want to include it in our discussion of defense.  The topic is loose balls.  During a game there will be many opportunities for you team to grab a loose ball bouncing or rolling across the floor.  How many of these balls your team will track down can be the difference in a tough ball game.  The question is how do you as a coach teach your kids to get to loose balls.

The final installment of our codes of conduct are for the parents of each of the players.  As coaches we are always grateful to the parents who entrust us with teaching their kids the great game of basketball.  It is their sacrifice both in terms of time and economics that make this possible. Code of Conduct: Parents

In our last post we covered the code of conduct for coaches.  With this post we will cover the topic of how we expect our players to conduct themselves. Code of Conduct: Players

At the beginning of the year we like to go through our codes of conduct for both players and parents.  Codes of conduct are basically sets of guidelines that we like our players and their parents to follow throughout the season. The codes are how we expect our players/parents to conduct themselves during the season.  We do expect to hold both players and parents accountable during the year and if the codes are not followed there could be consequences.  This might sound pretty harsh when you first read it but it is the one way that order can be kept during the year. One of the reasons why we expect the parents to abide by our codes is that we also hold ourselves as coaches to the same standard.  There is a code of conduct that all coaches from TBL abide by.  It is this that we will be covering in this post. Below is our code of conduct for coaches:

Coaches spend a lot of time teaching each practice teaching offense.  One of the most important items which need to be taught is what I call Offensive starts.  What are offensive starts?  The are the wrinkles that you will need to add to your offense to help you get things started.  Against a basic zone you may not need to use any of these.  However against a solid man to man you will need to show your team a number of options they can use to get the offense started.  The six that I like to teach my team at a basic level are: V-cuts L-cuts Pin downs Backdoors Dribble At Dribble Handoff

After your team spends a difficult possession playing great defense against a tough opponent, the other team forces up a difficult shot.  As a coach you have to be excited about that until you see the other team get the offensive rebound and get an easy two points.  One of the most vital steps to coaching defense is boxing out.  It is an area of defense that will always be covered by coaches but many times it is not covered enough. Rebounding is about desire and focus.  In order to keep an offensive player who wants to get to the boards away from the ball you need to be prepared to work hard and be aggressive.

Over the last year we have written many posts related to man to man defensive principles and all of them are important.  One of the most important defensive principles is also one of the most overlooked.  The specific principle I'm talking about is defensive transition. Before we get into details, let's make sure that we understand what defensive transition means.  To start with let's go to the offensive end of the floor and talk about the fast break.  Every basketball fan loves the fast break because of it's speed and flair.  Every coach loves the fast break because of it's ability to create scoring chances for your team when the defense is in a vulnerable position.  It is this vulnerable position and how to defend against teams that want to take advantage of it that we want to discuss in this post. When your team plays a zone it is a lot easier to play transition defense that when you are playing man to man.  When in a zone the coach simply has to instruct his

If you have spent anytime reading our posts here at TBL you will realize that we have a huge amount of respect for the North Carolina way of basketball.  In particular we love the famed secondary break and have highlighted in a past post .  The secondary break is a great tool to include in any team but it is awfully tough for younger groups to understand.  What we have done below is simplified the famed secondary break to a point where it can be incorporated with younger kids.  The break described below also uses our positioning rules for low post and high post entry.

In this next installment of our discussion of important points when running a man to man defense we will discuss how to defend dribble penetration.  Dribble penetration is one of the most prevalent parts of many offenses in today's game.  To defend it by playing a tough man to man requires a lot of hard work and teamwork. Before determining how to defend against the dribble drive you need to know your opposition and their tendencies.  You need to ask yourself the following:

In an effort to kick-start our offseason conditioning we are including the first of 3 agility/conditioning programs we encourage players to follow.  Here are the instructions to follow when doing these programs:

Nice article on how Golden Sate uses their stars to set off ball screens to help their awesome offense.

Outside of shooting the basketball, dribbling the basketball may be the most important fundamental skill that a player can learn.   If you can't dribble to spots on the floor you just won't be as effective a basketball player as you can be.  We have all witnessed the great spot up shooters who when they get the open look they will hit the shot.  We have also witnessed these same shooters being easy to stop because their game is one dimensional.  If you add a dribble game to your spot up shot then you are now tougher to guard.  But what makes a good dribbler?  I've seen a lot of kids go thru dribbling drills with flying colors only to be ineffective when they dribble in games.  This is because their dribble is too loose.  In action you can see they are exposing their dribble to easily.  When I say exposing it, I don't mean that they aren't protecting it but rather just by looking at them dribble you can see their dribble is too loose and slow. What makes an eff

The word offseason is a misnomer for people that want to improve their game.  A better phrase for the months of the year when there are no games would be "the window for improvement."  This is the time of year where you get the chance to gain an edge on your competition.  All of the greats use this time of year to fine tune their body and their game.  It is a fine balance between making sure you get enough rest to recharge your batteries for the upcoming season and including enough time in the gym to work on your game and your body while maintaining a good nutritional plan. 

One of my favorite sayings is "Don't fear losing, embrace competition."  I love this saying because in a few words in encompasses everything that an athlete should have in his belief system in order to be successful.  Let's start by saying nobody likes to lose period. 

With summer arriving now is the time for serious ballers to step up the intensity and take the next step in their development.  Summertime is the perfect time for the serious player to step up his workouts in an effort to improve his game for the upcoming year.  After a year of playing ball and going thru the grind it is now important to evaluate your performance and see what you need to improve on to make the upcoming year even better than the last one.  This takes honesty and the guts to look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself which skills lagged during the previous season and how your going to turn a weakness into a strength for next year. A good place to start is your coach.  Most good coaches will talk to their players at the end of the year and discuss with them what they need to work on during the off-season.  This feedback is of vital importance because this is the one person above everyone else that you need to impress.  The feedback that a coach gives is also importa

Off ball screens are a huge part of the game.  There are many offenses that make screening an integral part of their flow and movement.  This is why it is so important that a good defense knows how to fight thru screens in an attempt to disrupt offensive flow. 

The story of Jimmer Fredette.

As we move up the age ladder we like to continue pushing our players both athletically and in terms of basketball.  When the kids hit the 9-10 year old group we continue building on their basketball knowledge. Since we teach a lot more concepts at this age group we will have multiple posts covering our 9-10 year old topics.  Additional topics covered will include the intro to man to man, and more detailed looks into game situations.  In this post we will be covering how we expand our offense and build off of the basics that the kids learned at the 7-8 year old level.  Our goal is to teach the kids proper positioning and as they get older and start to understand this concept, we start taking the leash off of them and let them use their creativity.

In this weeks installment of Player of the week we will be honoring none other than the NBA's all time leading scorer, and the master of the sky hook, Kareem Abdul Jabbar.  From high school to college to the pros Kareem was the true definition of greatness.

To be recognized as a good coach you need to have a great record.  To be a great coach you need to make a difference in the lives of the kids you coach.  I have never met Bob Hurley but based on everything that I've read, seen and heard he gave opportunities to kids in Jersey City, New Jersey to take basketball and make something out of themselves.  He won 28 state championships at St. Anthony's (2 more as an assistant), sent over 150 players to play division 1 basketball, and had 5 NBA first round draft picks.  Wow what a career!

In our third discussion of post movement we are focusing on the high/low set and how the post players will move when we line up in this set.  Remember that this is just a basic template that we like to show our youth players so they can learn our system.  As the season goes on and their familiarity with each other grows, we encourage creativity in their movements.  As the season goes on the only rules that apply will be the following: Never have our 2 bigs line up within 5 feet of each other.  Interior spacing is important.  We like to maintain 10-12 feet of space on the interior. If you're not open then move and let the next man fill in.  We teach the 2 second rule.  If you don't get it in 2 seconds then move and replace. Always try to make yourself available especially if a teammate is in trouble. Now on to high/low interior movement.

In this weeks spotlight installment we are paying tribute to the Chicago Bulls of the 1990's. Enjoy!

When it comes to being a successful coach in the NBA you need to be more than a master of the game of basketball.  You need to know how to manage egos and you need to know how to keep the great ones motivated.  As far as I'm concerned one of the best at doing this was Chuck Daly.  What he did with those Piston teams of the late 80's was awesome.  He had them playing hard, almost dirty but as aggressive as they always seemed to be he always had them focused on the fact that the other team was the enemy.  He did a great job with the Dream Team in the '92 Olympics also where he sensed complacency on the squad and somehow managed to have a squad full of college players beat the Dream Team in a scrimmage just so he can get their attention.  Brilliant mind!

Larry Bird was one great basketball player.  Aside from being a 3 time NBA Champion, he was also a 3 time NBA MVP and a 2 time finals MVP.  He and Magic Johnson are responsible for bringing the NBA into the spotlight.  Their battles were legendary.  His game was not flashy or above the rim and for that reason many people tend to overlook the supreme skill that this guy had.  He was awesome.  Enjoy the videos.

A while back I wrote a post about my general philosophy on coaching kids under the age of 10.  As a coach you shouldn't spend too much time exposing your players to exotic defenses or offenses.  What you should be doing is exposing them to the fundamentals of the game along with various coordination and athletic development drills (covered in another post soon). However, if you are going to expose them to games you do need to prepare them by introducing some basic ideas which will keep them competitive.  In today's post I will discuss some of the basic team offensive concepts you should expose your kids to.  I will break these down into 2 groups: 7-8 year olds 9-10 year olds Today we will be discussing the 7-8 year old group.

In our second discussion of post movement we are focusing on the 1-4 low set and how the post players will move when we line up in this set.  Remember that this is just a basic template that we like to show our youth players so they can learn our system.  As the season goes on and their familiarity with each other grows, we encourage creativity in their movements.  As the season goes on the only rules that apply will be the following: Never have our 2 bigs line up within 5 feet of each other.  Interior spacing is important.  We like to maintain 10-12 feet of space on the interior. If you're not open then move and let the next man fill in.  We teach the 2 second rule.  If you don't get it in 2 seconds then move and replace. Always try to make yourself available especially if a teammate is in trouble. Now on to 1-4 Low interior movement.

This is a nice drill that emphasizes a whole bunch of game like situations.  Here is the list:  Fast Break Secondary Break Offensive sets Transition Defense Transition to standard defense Recognizing and attacking odd man opportunities.

In our first discussion of post movement we are focusing on the 1-4 high set and how the post players will move when we line up in this set.  Remember that this is just a basic template that we like to show our youth players so they can learn our system.  As the season goes on and their familiarity with each other grows, we encourage creativity in their movements.  As the season goes on the only rules that apply will be the following: Never have our 2 bigs line up within 5 feet of each other.  Interior spacing is important.  We like to maintain 10-12 feet of space on the interior. If you're not open then move and let the next man fill in.  We teach the 2 second rule.  If you don't get it in 2 seconds then move and replace. Always try to make yourself available especially if a teammate is in trouble. Now on to 1-4 High interior movement.

The thing that makes college basketball more attractive than the pros is the one an done format of the tournament. All you have to do is get hot at the right time and boom an upset has occurred. Villanova entered the tournament in 1985 as an 8 seed after finishing 19-10 in the regular season and 9-7 in the Big East. With a lineup that consisted of quite a few seniors who all gelled at the same time they took the tournament by storm wrapping up the title by defeating the mighty Hoyas of Georgetown led by Patrick Ewing.

I'd like to spend a bit of time discussing different post rotations.  Post rotations are how the post players will be lining up and moving during an offensive set.  Most of the offenses I like to run consist of 2 post players and I generally like to have the 2 players occupy the high post and the low post at any point in time.  I also like to have the high post be a safety valve when the perimeter players require it or to be that 4th player on the perimeter when the team is facing an odd man zone (ie. 1-2-2/3-2/1-3-1) and the offense needs to line up on the gaps accordingly. 

In this weeks installment of coach of the week, we go to the pro ranks and there is no better coach to start the discussion than Red Auerbach.  With his keen sense for spotting talent and a win at all cost attitude, Auerbach is the main reason why the Celtics are the most decorated team in NBA history.

In this weeks installment of player of the week we honor the great Pete Maravich.  Pete Maravich was a great player.  Arguably the best player to ever play college basketball his pro career was hampered with knee injuries. 

In this installment we are covering what our players should look for when the ball is entered on the low block.  Knowing their options before they even step on the floor will help slow things down in players mind.

When running your offense it is always a good idea for your players to know exactly where their options are going to be when they catch the ball in certain spots on the floor.  Today we cover what our offense should be doing when we get the ball in the high post.

A few days ago we covered middle of the lane penetration .  In this post we cover what the offense should of when we drive baseline.

Bobby Hurley had a great high school and college basketball career.  He was the one that ran the ship on those great Duke teams of the early 90's.  Misfortune got in the way of us ever finding out how good he could have been as a pro but one thing is certain, he showed everyone that even though basketball is usually a game for the tall there is always room for a hard nosed point guard.

A good offense is about trying to put your players in a position to get good shots from areas on the floor where they can take advantage of their strengths.  A defense is most compromised when there is penetration either thru a screen or a simple blow by.  Once the penetration has occurred, your players need to know where they should go in order to take advantage of the defense scrambling to recover.  There are 2 types of basic penetrations, one is middle lane and the other is baseline.  These names describe the area on the floor where the ball enters the lane from.  Any drive that comes from an area outside the baseline is considered a middle lane.  We will be cover the baseline penetration in another post.  Here will be focusing on middle lane drives and the proper rotations an offense should take to get good shots while not exposing the backcourt and keeping the floor balanced.

When it comes to innovators and trend setters, people who weren't afraid to try something new or to stand up for what is right, few can pass the accomplishments of Dean Smith.  Not only was Dean Smith a great college basketball coach, he was an innovator, he was a man with principles and convictions who had the guts to stand up for what he believed in.  To his players he was not only a coach but a father figure.  He made sure his players graduated and cared for all of them until his dying day.  He is what all college coaches should strive to be and what all human beings should look to as an example. 

In this weeks installment of Player of the Week we will be covering the best defensive big man that ever played the game.  Very few people could affect the game on the defensive end of the court like Bill Russell could.  From the time he joined the Celtics in 1956 until his retirement in 1969, Boston won 11 NBA championships.  This makes Bill Russell the most decorated player in NBA history.  Enjoy!

I saw this sideline out of bounds play run by the Utah Jazz.  It's simple and it can work pretty well against a man to man.

Jerry Tarkanian was a great yet controversial coach.  He didn't make any bones about the fact that his main goal at UNLV was to win and he recruited many players who had no intention of fulfilling the student part of the term student-athlete.  What he did, however was care about these kids and gave them a chance very few others would and in the meantime put the University of Nevada Las Vegas on the map. Love him or hate him it's a great story.  Enjoy!

A new weekly posting is being introduced today.  In this weekly post we will be paying tribute to the best basketball coaches.  To start off with we will cover the Wizard of Westwood.  John Wooden won 10 national titles including 7 in a row.  This is a record that will be tough to break.

The higher up the basketball ladder one climbs the more exposure they will get to the ball screen.  We already covered the basics of the ball screen offensively in a prior post .  Today we cover the very important topic of how to defend the ball screen. The reason the ball screen is used so often especially as you get to the upper levels is because it forces the defense to make decisions.  The defense has to figure out how to defend the ball handler, the screener, and the rest of the team as the ball screen is being used.  Specifically, a good ball screen will force the defense into help rotations which should provide the offense with good opportunities for shots. There are different ways to defend against the ball screen and in this post we will discuss all of them and identify their strengths and weaknesses. The 5 ways to defend the ball screen are: Jump Switch Hedge Jam Blitz Ice

In this weeks installment of player of the week, we cover the original skywalker.  When it comes to artistry in the air, this man set the trend.  The man I'm referring to is none other than Dr. J, Julius Erving.  A nickname could not have been more deserved. It's been 30 years since Julius Erving retired and to many millenials he may be an afterthought but when you watch his highlights you realize that this man was truly ahead of his time.  Enjoy! 

Practice is a very important part of preparation.  As a coach it is important to expose your players to as many game like situations as possible in practice.  This way they know what to expect when they are in a game.  With a good practice plan, your players don't have to deal with the element of surprise. Have you ever noticed that many times, when your team loses a close game, you always think back to the layups missed.  I often catch myself saying, "if only we made a couple of the layups we missed the result would have been different." With this in mind, I believe in having competitive layups in your practice routine.  There are many to choose from and below is one that I like a lot because it is full court and allows us to cover multiple facets with one drill including passing, dribbling, conditioning and layups.  Enjoy.

The shuffle offense is a nice little offense that was made popular by Dean Smith and it's origins date back to the 1950's.  The thing that I like about this offense is that it forces all 5 players to be familiar with playing both in the post and on the perimeter.  It also necessitates that all players know how to set screens and how to use screens.  To me this is an offense that can be used at the youth levels where a coach's main goal should be to expose players to multiple positions as opposed to tying kids down to one position at a young age. Once all of the wrinkles are in this offense can be a bit complicated for the beginner but in it's basic form it can be taught to 3rd and 4th graders.

Here's a drill that helps with defensive footwork and also adds some intense conditioning into the mix.  This drill is another one of those multi purpose drills that allow coaches with limited practice time to tackle multiple elements with one drill.

In this drill we are practicing the secondary break.  It is full court 5 v 5 drill which is perfect to get your whole team involved.  Aside from helping with learning the secondary break this is also a good conditioning drill as well as a drill that hits on multiple fundamentals.  It is another one of the drill that is perfect when you are pressed for time and want to use a drill that helps with multiple facets.

As a coach there are many hats that you need to wear.  You need to be an organizer, a salesman, a tireless worker, a teacher and most importantly of all, a motivator.  Kids go through many hurdles as they grow up in the game.  There are setbacks.  There are bad games.  There are games against great teams. And there are days where the kids just don't have it.  You as a coach don't have the luxury of having an off day.  It isn't fair to the kids you coach to have an off day.  One bad day and you could lose your kids for the rest of the season.  The balance you need to maintain lies between pushing your players to go beyond their comfort zone which can be exhausting and uncomfortable for them and instilling confidence in them that each and every day they push themselves they are getting better.  It isn't easy but it needs to be done. 

In this week's installment of player of the week we are remembering the best big man of all time.  Nobody affected the game like Wilt Chamberlain.  Enjoy!

Below is a full court shooting drill that is awesome for getting shots up in a short period of time and for conditioning.  In addition, this drill helps players practice passing and their footwork on the catch and shoot.  This is a great drill to run in season, especially if you have limited practice time.

Below is a nice workout emphasizing the fundamentals.

This is a nice drill from Danny Miles.  This drill helps you run your offensive sets and helps with your team conditioning at the same time.

This is a nice drill which helps a coach cover a lot of fundamentals using one drill.  When you have the option of using one drill to cover multiple facets of the game that is a true blessing for a coach.  Especially for a coach who may have limited practice time. This drill covers passing, dribbling, receiving the ball, rip moves, layups, and conditioning.

In an effort to expose our readers to as many different philosophies as possible, we at TBL will spend a few posts introducing you to the flex offense and variations of it. The beauty of the flex is that it is simple to learn and it forces defenses to defend against screens and cuts thru the paint.  Because of all of the cuts and screens that it calls for, the flex offense forces defenses to cover the element that is toughest to defend against which is movement and screening.

Some of the drills I like to run the most in practice are fast break drills.  These drills help emphasize everything you want as a coach.  They stress fundamentals, fitness, and force the players to make quick decisions.  Add to it the fact that my teams love running these drills and you have a match made in heaven.  Below is the first of many fast break drills that I like to run.  This is a 3 on 2, 2 on 1 drill. 

This is a play that works really well against a man to man defense.  The good thing about this set is you can start it from your basic 3 out set.

In this installment of Player of the Week we want to recognize the best point guard in NBA history.  There may have been players who had more assists than Magic but there was nobody that could make his whole team better simply by stepping on the floor.  His 5 NBA championships prove it.  Enjoy!

When you are coaching team offense one of the most important topics that will need to be covered will be floor balance.  Floor balance is making sure that your players are positioned properly to do 2 things: Support your teammate who has the ball in his possession. Force the defending team to cover as much space as possible on the defensive end. On the surface accomplishing the 2 points mentioned above seem counter intuitive.  In order to support your teammate, one needs to make sure that there are plenty of options around the ball yet when you want to force the other team to defend the whole court it implies that your players need to be spaced away from the player with the ball.  Two contradicting forces fighting each other is the reason why the term floor balance is so appropriate.

This is a nice play run by the Kansas Jayhawks.  It is a side line out of bounds play which can lead to an easy basket.

This is a nice play run by coach K and the Duke Blue Devils.

Here at TBL we're all about basketball.  In an effort to honor the great players who have made this game what it is today, we will be dedicating a post every week to one of these players.  There is nobody better to start this off with than Michael Jordan, the great number 23 from the Chicago Bulls. Enjoy!

Shout out to Roy Williams and the University of North Carolina basketball team for winning the National Championship.  It wasn't pretty but it doesn't matter.  Way to redeem the disappointing loss from last year's title game.  Go Heels!