During the summer months, what can we do as coaches to improve in our craft? What opportunities are we giving our players? This post will give several ideas of things we can and should be doing over the summer months to become better basketball coaches. Study & Learn New Things The smart basketball coach knows that there is always more to learn. In today's world, there are so many ways we can learn more about the game. Back in the day, coaches might have only had books to read, a few … [Read more...]
10 Teaching Methods for Successful Basketball Coaching
If you want to be a successful basketball coach, you certainly need to have a thorough knowledge of basketball fundamentals, drills, offense and defense X's and O's. However, having that knowledge alone will not make you a successful basketball coach. The successful basketball coach is able to teach. He or she must be able to present the basketball material in such a way that every player can learn and understand quickly. He is not only able to teach the team as a whole, but can … [Read more...]
Force Baseline or Force Middle?
Which direction should we force the offense? That is a good question! One of the greatest coaching debates in basketball is the man-to-man defensive philosophy of forcing the offense to the baseline or forcing the offense to the middle. I don't know that I will end the debate here, but I will give you my choice and the reasons why. Having experience with both methods, I do have an understanding of how and why each method is taught and executed. As I grew up playing basketball (junior high and … [Read more...]
Advice on Team Offense
From the 1955 book, Indiana Basketball, by Branch McCracken: From 'Indiana Basketball': I have discovered from conducting clinics in the States, Japan, and Europe that coaches are more interested in team offense, systems, and scoring plays than in any other phase of the game. Most coaches, particularly young ones, go to coaching schools or clinics and patiently sit through the lectures and demonstrations of fundamentals, waiting for the coach to get to the discussions of plays and team … [Read more...]
The Read and React Story
An Excerpt By: Rick Torbett In the mid-to-late-90’s, after nearly twenty years in coaching, three incidents came together to create a turning point in my entire approach towards offense, developing players, and building teams: 1. Using the previous season’s videotapes, I charted all the points we scored from free throws, offensive rebounds, fast breaks, set plays, broken plays, etc., and found an unsettlingly ratio. 80% of our points came from broken plays, transition, and other PRINCIPLED … [Read more...]
Leadership Misunderstood
By: Dick DeVenzio With the ACC Tournament beginning in Charlotte on March 9, the Charlotte Observer had extensive coverage and feature articles on ACC basketball players in its March 8 edition. On the front of the sports section that day was a big, colorful photo of North Carolina's point guard, Ed Cota. The story's title was "UNC's Showman," but the subtitle read: "Cota has flash, but some say his act lacks passion." In the article, reporter Gregg Doyle said that some fans would like to … [Read more...]
Basketball Tournament Pressure
By: Dick DeVenzio If you want to see the best basketball on TV in the next couple of weeks, watch the tournaments of conferences that traditionally never get any at-large selections. Those teams are under no illusions. They know they must win their tournament or they turn in their uniforms for the year. For those teams, the tournament games have the same importance as NCAA Tournament games. It's a single-elimination state of urgency from the opening tap; and the intensity level is usually … [Read more...]
The Art of Shooting
Remember the Four Basic Steps: Balance Eyes on Target Elbow Keeps the Basketball Straight Follow Through Easily remembered and taught as B-E-E-F "I leave you with these thoughts. With a little talent and a lot of hard work and hours of practice, I became an outstanding shooter and a professional player. How bad do your players want to play? How many hours will they practice? Are they determined to be a good player? Only they truly know the answers. But as coaches and … [Read more...]
Winning in the NBA
I am posting this article, which is actually an excerpt from the book 'Daly Life', in honor of Chuck Daly, who passed away on May 9, 2009 at the age of 78. Coach Daly is most widely known as coach of the Detroit Pistons, winning back-to-back NBA championships in 1989 and 1990, and for coaching the gold-medal winning Dream Team in the 1992 Summer Olympics. Click here to read his bio via Wikipedia. Obviously with the article title, he talks about winning in the NBA (something most of us will … [Read more...]
Coaching Your Coaches
Successful techniques for the head coach to help develop productive relationships and get the most out of assistant coaches. As the head basketball coach, every little thing stops and starts with you -- you are the ultimate decision-maker when it comes to basketball matters. Yet, as head coaches, we do have assistant coaches to help us out. How many responsibilities do you give your assistant coaches? Do you allow them to teach aspects of the game? Do you desire their input? Do you give your … [Read more...]