That Basketball Life

A few years ago I wrote about the comfort threshold .  Back then I said: As a coach I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to push players to improve.   Whether it be ball handling, shooting, passing, defense, rebounding, or footwork there is a natural tendency for a player to stay in his/her comfort level when playing basketball.   I call this comfort level the comfort threshold and it is the point where a trigger occurs in a player’s mind which warns the player that if you go beyond this point there is no guarantee of success and the odds of failure are greatly increased. As a coach, it is very important for you to keep pushing your players past their comfort threshold.  The best place to do this is at practice.  As a coach you should quickly evaluate the skill of each of your players and then start using drills which push those players beyond their comfort limits.  Encourage them to play fast in practice, to try things they have not tried or have not perfected yet.  Every ski...

We have spoken about shooting mechanics in prior posts but I wanted to take the time and add another post as my thinking of the subject continues to evolve. Receiving the ball – This point is often overlooked but it is so important.  You should always be prepared to receive the ball with the proper footwork.  Proper footwork allows the shooter to save time in getting his shot off.  This precious time is important when you are competing against good competition.  Many times, it is the difference between getting the shot to the basket and getting the shot blocked.  When coming off a screen and you are ready to receive the pass always remember that you lead with the inside foot or the foot closest to the basket.  So, if you are going from the right to the left you lead with the right foot.  If you are coming from left to right you lead with the left foot.  It is also a good idea to teach your players the 2-foot method of receiving the ball as it i...

During the round of 64 of this year's NCAA tournament, one of the best coaches in college basketball was questioned about how he laid into one of his ball players during a timeout.  The reason why he did this was because the player was not doing what the coach needed him to do on the floor.  Many viewers responded to this so called abhorrent display in disbelief and horror.  How can a coach embarrass his player in a situation like that?   Wouldn't it be better if he just took him to the side and addressed him in a more civil tone?  Doesn't he know that kids won't respond to harsh criticism?  Such is the backlash that Tom Izzo received after his on court dress down of Aaron Henry.  Was he right or wrong with what he did? From all reports Tom Izzo is loved by his players and has their ear through the respect and loyalty he has earned from them over the time he has had the privilege of coaching them.  Being that this is the case, the dressing down was warranted, in my opin...

As a coach, during the season you will always be confronted with big games.  Whether you are good enough as a team to play for a championship or you are an up and coming team playing against an opponent more talented than you, a coach needs to always be prepared for how to handle his team before during and after big games.   A team always looks up to it’s leaders and there is no greater leader on a team than it’s coach. In that respect the coach always has the huge responsibility of preparing his team and while preparing them instilling faith that he will guide them in the right direction. In essence a coach begins his team’s preparation for its big games from the time practice first starts at the beginning of the season.   With this in mind, the biggest factors that help separate winners from losers in big game situations are all factors that should be emphasized from the time a coach begins prepping the team for the season. These factors are all small but make the d...

I've been coaching youth basketball for many years and the one thing that I've seen is that some kids naturally know how to run while others are so inefficient in their running style that you can't help but wonder how much better they would be if they simply worked on their running form.  The purpose of this post is to help kids improve their running form and thus help increase their foot speed. Problems with Inefficient Runners Relax - The main problem that I see with most kids who seem to run slower than they should is that they tense up.  The main key to running is that you stay relaxed.  You need to stay relaxed in the face, the shoulders, the arms, the hands, and you hips.  Tightness in any of these areas can cause you to run slower than you are capable of. Foot Strike - Many kids are plodders.  They run by slamming their feet on the ground instead of focusing on being light on their feet.  Their heels make great contact with the ground and this serves as a brake...

As a youth team coach, one of your most important responsibilities is to properly plan your team practices for the whole year.  The way I like to plan practices is by asking myself what I want my team to be able to run come playoff time.  The line of questioning is general but the answers that you give should be very detailed.  You should list the following:   Offense   General Offense   Set Plays off of your general offense   Defense   Man to Man   Zone defenses   ½ court press   Full court press   Transition Offense   Primary Break Secondary break   Transition Defense   Finding the ball   Finding your man   Beating the offense down the floor   Game Situations   SLOB – offense   SLOB – defense   BLOB – offense   BLOB – defense   Free Throw Rebounding   End of game situations   Once the coach has figured out what he wants to run during the year, he needs to see how he will incorporate everything as the year progresses.  ...

The key to being successful on defense is to make yourself such a nuisance to the offensive player that they can't extend their focus beyond you.  This may sound easy in principle but is very difficult to do in practice.  On ball defense is equal parts skill, heart, and smarts.  If you are missing any one of these then you will not be a good on ball defender. Lets cover all three below: Skill - Good on the ball defenders need to know how to use their hands and their feet.  They need to be as distracting as possible.  They need to be comfortable playing at a lower level than the player they are covering and they need to be ready to abruptly change directions.  A good on ball defender needs to also know how to use his hands.  The most important thing to understand about using your hands is to never jab at the ball.  This will force you off balance and good offensive players will use that to their advantage.  Get in the habit of tracing the p...