Winning Defensive Possessions

It is no secret that the best offensive possessions end with a made basket off of a high percentage shot. A coach could spend an entire practice with a focus on taking and making high percentage shots. But what about the best defensive possessions? How do those end? After reading over some notes I had from Roy William and UNC's defense I thought of these ideas. Let's zoom in on a few key strategies that will help your team win defensive possessions.

1) Give the offense ONE BAD shot- Think of those possessions where the offensive team gets 3 consecutive offensive rebounds and finally scores a basket. Statistics prove that the more opportunities a team gets to make a basket the higher their chances are of actually making that basket. If the defense can limit their opponents to one shot per possession think of how much that squashes an offense's opportunity. Now, consider what your opponent's chances would be like if you limit their offense to one bad shot a possession. There are a couple of easy focus points that can help your team to force one bad shot per possession: (a) make sure that every shot is an outside shot taken over a defender's hand, and (b) box out. Emphasize defensive rebounding by making defensive rebounds one of the most important stats you keep.

2) Get the Offense Out of Their Routine- At a typical practice a team fleshes out their offense completely. They explore every option and even show counter options in case the defense has an alternative reaction. Have your defense use this consistency to your advantage. Make your opponent's offense rely on options they are uncomfortable with. Simply: Don't allow the offense to do what they do in practice every day. Forcing teams to run other options and rely on other players can cause their entire set to collapse. Frustration on the offensive end can lead to a lot of frustration elsewhere. Taking a team out of their routine doesn't always mean you have to scout the life out of your opponent. Instead prepare your team for the possibilities by considering the next point...

3) Control the Tempo- When a team's offensive game feels out of control coaches usually instruct their guards to "control the tempo" or "slow down the game" or even "play our game, don't rush". If your defense can force your opponent to play at a faster speed than they are used to, you can probably win the game easily. Turnovers will be created by the offense trying to keep with the pace, shot selection will be poor, and teams will get frustrated. Simple things, like adding pressure to the guards or clogging the middle when the post players get the ball, can really mess with a team's approach to your defense. Controlling the speed and pace of the game is one of the best ways to rattle an offense. 

Consider the positive things that will come out of training your team's defense with these ideas in mind. Your own offense will get comfortable playing uncomfortably. They will learn how to adjust to a different pace and play under pressure. Also, your players will be forced to learn what a quality shot looks like, feels like, and how it can be prevented. This will hopefully transcend into how productive your own offense is. Finally, your players will hopefully learn the value of the ball and not just in terms of turnovers. Rebounding is something that this type of defensive strategy encourages, on both ends of the floor.  Just a little food for thought.

be good

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The Sweet Spot's "HOW TO" Guide on Winning....Well at least from a statistical standpoint

The Sweet Spot presents: 

Your first instinct might be to consider that the easiest way to win is to be the team that scores the most points. If that was your first thought, then you are definitely on the right track. There are other statistical categories that seem to have an influence on who the victor is. Below are the three other statistical categories your team needs to have in line before they can stand in the winner's circle.

[I recently read Coach Brown's Lipscomb WBB blog post about important statistical categories to winning. This post inspired me to repost this and tamper with the information a bit.]

The 3 other keys to winning: 

(1) Good Field Goal (FG) Percentage

(2) Your Turnover Ratio

(3) Rebounding

Its important to consider what these three keys really consist of and also how they influence the rest of the game.

1. FIELD GOAL (FG) PERCENTAGE

FG Percentage is an essential part of the number of points you score. It is ideal for teams to take higher percentage shots more frequently in order to increase the likelihood that those shots go in. When those shots go in your team's field goal percentage increases. (pretty simple mathematical reasoning) But lets review that equation quickly:

higher percentage shots+ more frequently= more made baskets= higher field goal percentage 

AH HA! We aren't quite at the "AH HA!" moment yet. So we've decided that taking higher percentage shots more often means more made baskets which results in more points and a higher FG percentage. (and a run on sentence). That's great but HOW DO WE INFLUENCE FG % in practice? 

Getting your team to shoot higher percentage shots and ultimately a higher field goal percentage starts at practice. To quote Allen Iverson, "we talkin' about practice". Practicing high percentage shots helps your team become accustomed to what they look like. It might not be a bad idea to question your players about their shot selection here and there. Ask if there was a higher percentage shot available at the time and see why they might have missed it. You should also illustrate what low percentage shows look like for your team, so they know what you're really talking about. Practicing shots that come out of your offensive sets/plays will help increase your FG Percentage too. 

2. YOUR TURNOVER RATIO

I once had a coach who put the game of basketball very simply. He used to say, "in order to do anything on offense we need to have the ball." Your turnover ratio can make or break your opportunities to score. In order to get your team to understand the value of your possessions you have to emphasize it. Practices and scrimmages should focus on limiting the number of turnovers each team has. Turnovers, like shot selection, can help field goal percentage in the long run. The more opportunities you get to have the ball, the more opportunities you have to score. Its pretty simple.

I also explain turnovers to my Hastings team in terms of what we could have had. So if we have 13 turnovers in a game, once I recover from my conniption we sit down and do the math. 

13 turnovers= an opportunity to score at least 26 points

Now of course that is assuming we make every shot we take on those 13 possessions but I'm willing to take that chance. Teams should also know that you have to keep turnovers to a limit each game. The teams that win are the teams that have the ball longer, end of story.

3. REBOUNDING

One of the most essential stats we keep on our bench at Hastings is Rebounds. We tally offensive and defensive rebounds, and set a goal for each game of what we want to reach. Rebounding is a key part to scoring points and limiting  them. 

There is a belief that trying over and over again eventually and I apply that way of thinking when I consider defensive rebounds. Here's my logic:

continuous offensive rebounds+put back shots= increased chances of a made basket

Check out what I'm saying here. The more opportunities you give teams to score, the more likely they are to score. This is why defensive rebounds are so important. If you think about shots in basketball, more often than not their rebounds fall at least half the distance of where they were shot from. So you figure a 10 foot shot has a rebound that falls around five feet from the basket. Think of what the location of that rebound means for shot selection. So now your opponent has shot a farther shot, they have grabbed their offensive rebound, and are now even closer to the rim than they were originally. Keeping teams off the offensive glass limits those opportunities for higher percentage shots and second chances all together.

Consider what it means for your team too. Defensive rebounds can easily turn into transition baskets if you have a rebounder who peeks at the rim as soon as they grab the ball. A quick outlet can lead to your offense having numbers going the other way. 

Offensive rebounds for your team are big too. The likelihood that your shot selection and fg percentage increases off of second shots is pretty high. Offensive rebounds add excitement to the game and even give you the chance to restart your offense. That's a pretty big deal in my eyes.

These three keys seem pretty logical when you add them to the idea of scoring more points than your opponent. I would go as far as to bet that if you looked at other 

Hope this helps you guys shift your mindset as we head into the college season!

 

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Sideline Out of Bounds (SLOB) Play- PURDUE

Coaches,

I figured I'd change up the idea for this post. Its been a while since I've posted any plays or sets. This one below is one of my favorites to implement and watch develop. Once the athletes get the timing down, the play is incredibly effective.

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Get 'Em to Go Fast

Coaches,

The last three months have been HUGE for us. In such a short time we have managed to become a small business, increase our visitors/following, and we even held our first clinic. Thank you very much for all your continued support.

We sent out a survey asking you what you would like to see more of on The Sweet Spot. One of the things we saw was a continued desire to see basketball strategy. I posed  this prompt in a few LinkedIn groups and will share what you guys gave back to us.


GET 'EM TO GO FAST

Getting your team to go up and down at a quick pace is no easy feat. It takes months of practice and conditioning (mental and physical) to secure these habits into place. The advantages of playing fast are endless, but are you willing to put the work in?

How to get your players going?
-Make HUSTLE an ALL THE TIME thing. This is so essential to getting kids to realize the valuable time they waste when they don't hustle. Get them in quickly after water breaks, in between drills, to and from the locker room. When they aren't hustling like they should be, send them back to where they came from and remind them the importance of hustle.
-Incorporate quickness into all of your drills. I'm not talking lateral quickness, I'm talking about getting up and down the court, or to and from a spot as quickly as possible. This will make your players realize what playing fast really feels like. Remember, try to make practices as game like as possible.
-Add transition and recovery drills into your practice plans. Specifically target the idea of sprinting up and down the court whether on offense or defense. Identify where your athletes need to be geographically on the court and show them the quickest route possible to get to a spot. Do your best to clear up the potential for an unbalanced set up by showing players how to balance the court without wasting time.
-TIME THEM. Adding a time to a drill or conditioning circuit forces your players to get the job done as quickly as possible. Try putting a shot clock on each possession in a scrimmage or even timing them on the Kansas/Carolina break (5-on-0).

Drills to reinforce this.

• 5-on-0 Transition drill. Get into your Kansas/Carolina break as soon as possible. Have your team get the ball out of the net and immediately transition. 2 guards on the wing, point is the outlet, 4 and 5 are interchangeable- one goes to the rim, one is the trailer.
• Progression Drill- Starts as a simple 2-on-1 and progresses to 3-on-2, 4-on-3, 5-on-4 and eventually finishes in a 5-on-5. Get your players to transition quick enough so that they can take advantage of the numbers they have on offense. 
• 12 Second Shot clock in scrimmages. Keep possessions short and sweet! This will teach your players to value the possession while also force them to make good use of their time.
• 4-on-4-on-4 : pending you have a squad big enough for it. Constant 4-on-4 will get your players to move the ball quickly up court. Have the defense sprint to half court or the sides of the court to create some transition like movement for them.
• 3 man weave- Don't let that ball hit the floor, unless its the last bounce pass for a lay up. Don't under-estimate this throwback drill. While it challenges fundamentals you can certainly enhance it to meet your needs.

Things to keep in mind.

1. While going fast is the goal remember that the quick movement up court is no good if you cannot maintain possession. Be sure to continue to remind your team how important taking care of the ball is. Since this is harder to do while going fast, athletes must realize that they have to be extra careful with their passes. 
2. Conditioning will make going fast even easier for you. If you condition your team (physically and mentally) for a quick, fast-paced game they will adjust much easier to it.
3. Don't allow them to cut corners. Remember that the level of play will increase as you go faster, but it will improve even more the more precise your players are.
4. Your players will execute what you emphasize. Be careful here. 
5. Let them learn from consequences. Continue to force them to get it right and do things the way they should be done according to your system. After doing the 5-on-0 break 6 minutes in a row they will realize how important it is to grab the ball out of the net. 

Going fast is one of the key changes I want to make at Hastings this year. If you guys have any questions about how to make this transition easier, want to share more, or need help with any drills be sure t o give me a shout. 

Special thanks to Jeff Peterson, Richard Lauer, Matt Rogers,  Andrew Barba, and Mike Meister. As always what we post on The Sweet Spot is never a solo effort.

be good

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The Sweet Spot Needs Your Help!

Howdy friends,

The Sweet Spot is looking for YOUR feedback! Click on the following link to complete our SIX question survey. It is really easy to complete and can help us to better meet your needs.

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over and out
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Thoughts on Zone Defense- A Combination of Thoughts from The Sweet Spot and Coach Botkin

Zone defenses can be an incredibly effective tool to throw at your opponents. At Hastings we used a combination of a packline man defense and a 2-3 zone trap, switching between the two depending on how the game was going. In my opinion it is important to have a zone defense in your program, to not only help you prepare for opponents but to also change things up and find other opportunities for defensive success. I prefer running mostly man, because of the principles man defenses teach and the development of individual defensive skills. Zone defenses do help teach players a lot of skills they will need to apply while playing man to man. Communicating about cutters, playing defense in "help" position, and rotating are all effective man-to-man ideas that can be further practiced while using a zone. It is important to realize what type of zone defense (and man defense for that matter) works with your personnel. Make sure that your players do not mistake switching to a zone as taking possessions off or becoming lazy. 

Below are some thoughts from Coach Botkin on the use of Zone Defense. Coach Botkin examines a few of the benefits of running zone defenses. Thanks again to Coach Botkin for his contribution, enjoy!

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Coach Botkin:   I would consider myself primarily a "zone coach".  A lot of coaches ask me about our zones when they see my team play. Their main question is usually "why do we play zone with some of the athletes we have?  Why play zone instead of man?" My answer to that is this: (1) I do not play zone all game and (2) I don't just use one type of zone. For about 75% of the game my team is playing defense in a zone. Whether it be 2-3, 3-2, 1-3-1, upside down, or a triangle 2. I switch them up throughout the game just to throw coaches off. Below I've elaborated on my belief that high school teams should play zone defenses: 

1. It is taught at the Youth Level/AAU Level -- I have noticed as a high school coach, that kids come into my program every year with experience playing zone defenses from their youth leagues and middle school teams. With the kids I coach I have found that very few, have a lot of experience playing man to man defense. At the first school I coached at we were strictly a man to man program. What started happening to us was we would teach all the man principles and run it all year and then the kids would go play AAU all summer. They would come back in the fall having spent the summer months barely playing any man defense. We had to keep reteaching the same elementary man-to-man principles to a high level varsity team each year. It was becoming very frustrating. From there I decided that since they run some basic zone stuff in youth levels and in summer, why not do it during the school year as well?

2. Putting It In During Practice Time -- As a coach one of the hardest things to determine is how much time we allocate to certain things in practice. Coaches often feel like they don't have enough time to cover everything. In my opinion, working on a great man to man defense should take 5-10 minutes a day doing shell work, then 5-8 minutes on ball screens and off ball screens. Then 10-15 minutes doing team stuff, after a while you look at your practice plan and notice 40-50 minutes is spent just on building your man to man defense. Most teams practice for around 2 hours a day. Half of that time is pretty much gone just covering man to man concepts. I decided it was more valuable for our teams to spend 10-15 minutes a day working on various zones, and then spend an hour and 45 minutes on skill development and offense. The first week or so you may spend 30 minutes going over your zones. But after that, touch on them for a few minutes a piece and after 12-15 minutes you are done with defense. You don't neglect man either, you have 1 assistant or even yourself as the head coach talk about man defense when you work on your offensive stuff. Our team progressed so much offensively by giving our kids an extra 30-40 minutes in skill development every day. 

3. It Messes With Other Team's Game Prep -- A majority of coaches run man or a basic 2-3 zone. So when you run some different variations of 2-3 defense or different zones, you are making the team preparing for you spend extra time on practicing against zones. Also, you as a coach do not have to spend time practicing against other coaches plays for scouting reports. You now talk about the opponents tendencies and player skills versus what offense they run or how they might make adjustments to it. This really does save a lot of time and helps your players. HS kids tend to only remember 3 or 4 things during each scouting report- and that is if you are lucky. Now if you run some zones, they are much more inclined to remember player #21 can really shoot it from the right corner so we need to high hand close out and run him off the line, versus how to stop play X if you are in 5 different spots. Again, we are back to saving time in your practice and adding time to your opponents practices.

4. It Dictates Your Opponent's Scoring Options -- Another reason I run a lot of zone is because they usually help take big men out of the game. There are spots in every zone where bigs can get quality looks to score. A lot of bigs are usually not comfortable handling the ball and the tight area to score efficiently. Whereas in man you can isolate a big and throw it into him and he goes 1 on 1. Against a zone that option is not there, a big man will rarely have the opportunity to go 1-on-1. Bob Knight said once "In man, you dictate who shoots it by how your defense plays me. When you run a zone, I dictate who shoots." While I believe that is true, I do not fully agree with it. Kids tend to pass the ball a lot more against a zone and kids who usually do not shoot it, find themselves more inclined to shoot because of the quick "open look" that they have. Star players are usually getting looks by having plays ran for them or having isolations set up for them. Against zone you are really playing against a minimum of 2 players at once. Zones eliminate big men, and make it hard for star players to get the same looks they normally have. 

5. It Helps You Control the Tempo -- I am a big believer in controlling the tempo and dictating the pace of the game. Playing zones can help you do that. If you want to slow the tempo you can sit back deeper in a zone and make the offense pass it around and wait for a good shot. If you want to get the tempo to be at a faster pace you can trap players but still have help behind you to pressure a ball handler. You are making the offense play at your pace. You as the defense decide what pace you want, where as in man, they can choose which pace you play at. Do they come down and shoot it quick? Or do they stall? Against a zone you are making them play your way. 

6. Transition Confusion is Eliminated -- Newly inducted Hall Of Fame coach Jerry Tarkanian once said "the hardest thing to do in basketball is sprint back to defense from the offensive end". As a coach, how many times has a team scored on you because a player gets lost in transition finding his man? Or how many times does a substitute come in and you have a player caught up guarding somebody who is already being guarded? With zone, kids sprint back faster because of the mentality that you do not have to be "on" defensively for the whole possession. Also think of the benefits it provides for you transitioning from defense to offense. Getting easy buckets is a key to winning games. By playing a zone defense you give your offense great running lanes for transition offense.

7. Defending Possessions -- Like I mentioned before when playing man to man defense your kids have to be "on" for the whole possession. One little screw up mentally or physically can give the other team an immediate advantage. The helpside has to remain in stance and be talkative while moving side to side. Against a zone, you do not generally have to remain in a stance(high hands is a must though), and you do not have to be as active. You can be backside in a 2-3 zone and guard 2 to 3 guys with 1 movement, where as in man you cannot do that. In a zone you have to be "on" 4 to 6 seconds at a time. In man you have to be "on" the whole possession. This works for players that have seemingly short attention spans.

Want to Test How Effective Your Man-to-Man Defense is? Track THESE 4 Stats!

This post is from our friends at Breakthrough Basketball, written by Kevin Germany. Breakthrough Basketball has continued to sponsor The Sweet Spot and provide us with a ton of useful information. A special thanks to Tonya, Jeff, Joe, and of course Kevin. Enjoy.

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4 Key Stats For High School Man-to-Man Defense

By Kevin Germany

From my experiences playing, coaching, and officiating high school basketball, I have learned that a team has a great defense if they excel in the following categories: deflections, recoveries, offensive rebounds allowed, and points in the paint allowed (DROP). The “DROP” acronym is designed to be an indicator of how well your team is playing on defense. Its purpose is to reduce the quantity and quality of your opponent’s shot attempts. 

Statistic #1: Deflections

Recent Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Rick Pitino is a staunch advocate for deflections. Pitino believes that deflections are an indicator of how hard your defense is playing. Keeping track of deflections for both you and your opponent can be very important. A high number of deflections means that your team is playing the passing lanes along with disrupting the opponent’s offensive rhythm.

Statistic #2: Recoveries

Great defensive teams are always able to quickly recover to the ball in order to cut off driving and passing lanes. The Miami Heat uses their tremendous team speed to quickly recover to the ball. The Heat often makes their opponents take difficult shots as a result of crisp and precise rotations. Crisp and precise rotations cannot be made without sufficient recovery speed. 

I recommend tracking recoveries to see how well your defense is playing. You will find that the quality of your opponent’s shot attempts will typically decrease if the total number of your team’s recoveries increases.

           

Statistic #3: Offensive Rebounds Allowed

            Giving up offensive rebounds is extremely demoralizing to any defense. Your team’s hard work is completely destroyed if your opponent grabs an offensive rebound. Allowing more offensive rebounds causes more free throws and layups for your opponents.

             Inspire and motivate your players to grab every single rebound on defense. Allocate time for rebounding drills during practice. Keep in mind snagging a defensive rebound is the only guaranteed way to get a stop. Wichita State reached the Final Four in part due to their rebounding prowess.

Statistic #4: Points in the Paint Allowed

The easiest way to score is to make layups. The three easiest ways to make layups are off fast breaks, penetration, and offensive rebounds. Any great defense can be shattered if an offense can find a way to get into the paint via the dribble or the pass. 

Therefore, focus on forcing your opponents to take shots outside of the paint. Not giving up a lot of points in the paint means that your opponents are taking more outside shots. Teams that rely on outside shots are more apt to undergo cold spells during the course of the game.

Be sure to track points in the paint for each game. You will find that teams that tend to have more points in the paint are more consistent offensively. Ideally, you want to force your opponent into taking long two pointers.

Concerned that your program may not be able to keep these stats? Breakthrough has a basketball stats app that can track the DROP statistical pattern along with countless other stats. It is far more efficient to monitor these stats via an app rather than to assign a student, a parent or a school official to do it by hand. You can customize the app to suit any statistical database necessary.

Rebuilding a Program, a Q&A session with Coach Michael Botkin from Life Christian Academy

This week we have a brief Q&A session with Coach Michael Botkin from the Life Christian Academy (LCA) in Florida. Coach Botkin, who just finished his first season at LCA, took a program that had only 2 winning seasons since 1995 to a very successful 21 win season. His experiences as an assistant coach at both the high school and JUCO level have helped him understand what it takes to turn a program around. Check out what Coach Michael Botkin shares with us on how to rebuild a program:

[Sweet Spot Basketball's (SSBB) questions are in blue, Coach Michael Botkin's (MB) response is in black]

Sweet Spot Basketball (SSBB): What is one of the hardest parts of rebuilding a program?

Coach Michael Botkin (MB): The hardest part about rebuilding a program is getting everybody on board with how hard you must work in order to get things turned around. The program has not been successful for a reason, it is usually due to a lack of effort by the coaches/players/administration/community, etc. I've never seen a team that works REALLY hard lose a lot of games. Getting kids who have been lazy or maybe have not been put in a position to work hard is always the hardest battle. They may have thought they worked hard, but showing up right as practice starts and leaving immediately after it ends, or jogging through drills or going half effort in practice is not working hard. Kids at that stage do not understand the benefits of staying after practice and getting 100 shots up, or practicing 5 days a week in the off-season because they can't see immediate results. Getting kids to work hard and buy into that type of effort is always the first struggle. If you can get them to work hard on a consistent basis, you have a great foundation. 

SSBB: How important is off-season work when rebuilding a program? What type of workouts should the off-season contain?

MB: In the programs I have been apart of, what separated us from previous years teams and/or competitors was how hard we worked in the off-season. We only work on defense in the summer and that is only to prepare for a team camp or summer league. It is RARELY touched on. Kids will tune you out if you start doing defense all the time. We would rather develop some key fundamentals(passing, dribbling, shooting) and then maybe add something to each players game. So if we have a 6'8 center, we would work on him adding a solid 15 footer, or if our 2 guard was not good at dribble pull ups on his right side, we would work on that with him. In Florida, the high school season ends around late Feb for the state championship. We would usually give our kids a few weeks off, then come back and start doing 5 day workouts. How we break up those 5 days has varied. One year we went Mon-Thurs 45 min of lifting, an hour of individual instruction, 30 minutes of team practice(we would go over a new part of the offense or add some wrinkles to old plays) and then on Friday we would split squad up and scrimmage. Or we would go Mon-Wed-Fri in the gym for 2 hours working on individual training, and Tue-Thur we are doing Strength & Conditioning. In the summer we would go 5 days a week, sometimes 2 a days where we come in morning, lift and/or individual instruction. Then in the afternoon do team sessions. In the fall before the season starts, we go 4 days a week and work on individual instruction and each week start adding stuff for the "team". I would give them the last 2 weeks of school off, all of July off( for AAU), the first week of school off as well as the week before the "official" practice begins. 

I believe workouts should be all fundamentals, a TON of shooting. Kids are so bad at shooting these days that they have to get as many shots up as possible doing it the right way. We do basic shooting form work before every workout and practice. We start with something as simple as standing a foot away from the rim shooting it with 1 hand and go all the way to working on reverse pivot shots.

SSBB: How can you get players to buy-in to the process of rebuilding? The parents or community?

MB:  When kids don't "buy in" I always hear coaches say, "if they aren't on board, ship them out". Personally, I think that is silly. If you have enough talent in your program where the best player doesn't buy in and you can get rid of him/her while still maintaining a decent level of success, then good job at landing a good gig. I have been in both cases. At one school we were crazy talented and could afford to do that, and at another school even if we kicked off the manager we would lose some games (laughs). Now, there are certain "non-negotiables" in my program that kids can't cross. But you have to remember that these kids have normally never had this kind of structure/discipline/demanding expectations before. So they may be resistant to change initially, which is completely understandable. You may have to hold their hand and take baby steps with them for the first few months. However, after a few months if the kid is still defiant, then you have to get rid of him. One thing I don't do is coach effort, that is something I demand immediately. If you don't give me your very best, then I can't help you. I will let things go for a while in the beginning, giving them constant reminders on what I want but after a few weeks or a month- I tighten the rope. If effort isn't shown then, I get rid of the problem. 

Parents have 1 thing in mind: their child. They have the very best intentions for their child and you as a coach have the best interest of the team. Those two things will always conflict. I heard a great story by one of the best football coaches in Florida. It goes like this: "Johnny" didn't play much and his mom (after a game of him not playing much) came up to him and started yelling and asking questions on why Johnny doesn't play. The coach sat back and let her release all her anger. When she was finished the coach then called "Johnny" over and told him "'Johnny', I am going to need your pads please." Obviously confused by his coach's request "Johnny" asked "Why Coach? What are you talking about?" The coach replied, "you now play on your mom's team." I laugh at that all the time. 

SSBB: What happens if your rebuilding year finishes as a losing season? In your opinion does that take away from the rebuilding process?

MB: Only you as a coach can determine if your season was a success. I think in the first year, if you can answer yes to three key questions, then it was a success. The three key questions are: (1) Did your kids play as hard as they could?, (2) Did they do everything that was asked of them?, and (3) Did they improve throughout the season?

I also believe you have to judge where your program is at, and where it should be.

When my staff and I took over Osceola HS(FL), Osceola had only had one losing season since 1980. In 2008 when we came in, they had missed the playoffs for the past 6 years. Though they had finished just above .500 for the past few years and they still had talent in the program, they lacked discipline. We just had to install discipline and structure into our new program. So for us anything but making the playoffs would have been a "failure". That may not always be the case. Only you can judge where your program was, is, and where it should be to determine if the past season was a success.

SSBB: What kind of focal points do your practices have when you are rebuilding a program?

MB: Teams generally lose because of the following:

-Poor shot selection

-Turnovers

-Lack of rebounding

-Giving up transition points

So as a coach if you can get your kids to:

-Take good shots

-Not turn the ball over

-Get even or close to even on rebounding numbers each game

-Don't give up easy points(taking the right shots, getting back on defense, etc)

Play really hard, and focus on those 4 things, and you will win more than you lose. 

There is another quick story from my time at Osceola that illustrates this point well. When we got to Osceola, one of the things we noticed was that past season team averaged 21 turnovers a game. That is a CRAZY amount. So we shifted our thinking to an idea we called: 'Pass with the 2's'. What that means is that as a passer you pass with 2 hands, 2 eyes, 2 feet. I started studying turnovers and realized that over 90% of turnovers occurred because a player either: tried to give a no look pass, tried to give a 1 hand pass, or tried to pass in the air. Stressing 'Pass with the 2's', we were able to cut the turnovers down to 10 per game (though that was still a little high for us). You HAVE to value the basketball, you can't just give it away especially on the HS level where you don't have the best shooters in the world.

My practices are always detailed to every minute, there is always a point or reason as to why we are doing things. So if we want to emphasize not turning the ball over, we will work on the 'Pass with 2s' and build from that. 

Something I am very big on is fundamentals. I am almost obsessive about them, to the point where my kids get tired of me talking about it. I like to pay really close attention to footwork and how a player gets ready to shoot or pivot for a pass. I also look at how a pass is made to a kid who is ready to shoot and where it is put(meaning: is it put in his shooting pocket or is the pass low where he has to reach for it?). Some coaches are anal about how they dress going to games or the kids sitting in the front row of classes, all of that is good. But I am anal specifically when it comes fundamentals. 

SSBB: Is it more important to work on strength and conditioning or actual basketball skills/IQ when rebuilding a program?

MB: I think strength and conditioning (s&c) is an important factor in success, especially conditioning. But I also think that there should be a strong emphasis put on mental toughness, I believe that is a skill that really enhances a player. Granted, I know no team will win a lot of games if they are out of shape. I would rather spend all my time building the basketball skills and IQ than I would in S&C. I can't do S&C all year, I usually try to get them going on an occasional team run once a week. I think even that they get to run a little while they play pick up games and then if you pick it up a month or two before the season starts and you should be fine. Try not working on basketball skills/IQ until the start of practice and see how far that gets you. Any coach can make a team run a lot, but can a coach get the players to really understand basketball and be able to use the knowledge that is taught to them in the game? That is the challenging part. 

Something that I really try to emphasis is this quote. I don't know who said this so I have no clue who to give credit to.  This is a quote I really try to live by this when rebuilding a program. It goes: "to grow, you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable." 

Everything in life that is worth having is hard to obtain. Is winning this district/conference/league/division/state title something you want? In order for us to move forward and fight for this goal, we as a team have to be extremely comfortable in adverse situations that normally make people uncomfortable or want to quit. So maybe we do 2-a days for a week and go at 6am in the morning, or maybe it means we don't touch a ball for a few days and only work on defense, or it means we are comfortable being pressed and can battle through that. You have to be calm in chaos. 

Sweet Spot Basketball would like to thank Coach Botkin for his time. His answers provide a lot of valuable material for any coach trying to rebuild a program. 

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5 Mistakes to Avoid While on Defense

This week's post comes from a special guest, Kevin Germany, who works with The Sweet Spot's newest friends at Breakthrough Basketball .  Our friends at Breakthrough Basketball have a website that provides tips and information to help coaches and players get better at what they do. We are excited to share Kevin's contribution and hope that its helpful! Thank you Kevin and Breakthrough Basketball, we hope these tips prove helpful. 

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Five Mistakes to Avoid While on Defense

It is commonly said defense wins games. It should also be said bad defense loses games. A great offense cannot compensate for a poor defense. But, a great defense can compensate for a poor offense. A good defense often keeps less-talented teams in the game.

The Chicago Bulls are a perfect example. The Bulls’ 3^rd ranked total defense for the 2012-13 season has kept them in solid playoff position in spite of their league worst offense.

I realize not every coach is a defensive mastermind like Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau or a lockdown defender like Joakim Noah. Nevertheless, here are five things players should avoid while playing defense. This can apply for any level.

Mistake #1: Turning your back to your man

I will never forget my freshman year of high school when our JV team was playing our cross-town rival. On one possession, I thought I was playing good help defense… until my man cut backdoor on me for an easy layup. I never bothered to turn around to see where my man was located. The coach benched me for that defensive faux pas.

Do not make the same mistake I made. Always have a sense of where your man is located at all times.

Mistake #2: Jogging back on defense

SPRINT back on defense. NEVER jog on defense. Sprinting back instead of jogging back could decide the outcome of the game. Players should never think that sprinting back on defense is a waste of energy. That is why most coaches make their players run sprints in practice!

Mistake #3: Turning your back to the ball while getting back on defense 

Sprinting with the head turned away from the ball often leads to fatal defensive blunders. Instead, the defense should sprint back with one eye focused on the ball and the other eye on their man.

Doing this significantly improves transition defense because the offense will be unable to “sneak” past the defense for an easy layup. Attending one of our basketball camps will improve the footwork necessary to be able to do this.

Mistake #4: Fouling for no reason

I have never understood why players foul. I understand lack of coordination from unskilled players may cause a lot of the fouls at the lower levels of play. But fouling without any rhyme or reason makes no sense to me.

The only fouls players should commit is to either prevent an easy layup or in certain late game situations. Players should always have their hands straight up to avoid getting called for fouls under the basket.

Mistake #5: Not adjusting to opponents’ strengths and weaknesses

Military strategist Sun Tzu once said that knowing your enemy is half the battle. It always bothers me when a defender has no idea what the offensive player likes to do. Failing to observe the tendencies of an offensive player will significantly worsen team defense. For example, giving a great shooter more room to shoot usually spells disaster for the defense.

Never go in without having a general idea of your man’s tendencies!

Working On In Game Transitions

One of the most efficient ways to work on more than one thing at once is to do drills that combine relavent concepts. At Hastings, in order to reinforce the idea of transitioning (whether it is from offense to defense or vice versa) we split into two teams and work through this skill.

Here are two of the approaches we use to work on transitioning. One approach deals with transitioning from our full court press (a 1-2-2 zone) into our half court man-to-man defense. The second approach helps us transition from a free throw directly into our press. So here we go:

1) Full Court Press to Half Court Man: Its simple. The team is split into two teams (Green and Gold) with an even distribution of talent and size. For 10 possessions we have Green play on offense. For those 10 possessions Gold is pressing and falling back into our man-to-man defense. After 10 possessions we switch and let Gold play offense against Green's press. A great way to make this drill competitive is to keep score and find a consequence for the losing team after they've each had 10 possessions.
By structuring this transition this way we are able to: (a) work on our press while highlighting positive aspects of it and exposing problems with it, (b) develop our ability to transition from a zone press to a man-to-man defense, (c) force players to communicate, hustle back, and be aware of their surroundings on the court, (d) continue to work on our press break and then reinforce our man offense.

2) Free Throws to Full Court Press: In the last two days this drill has become so important to our practice plan. Again we split the team into two, the Green and Gold teams are probably the same ones we use in the Full Court Press to Half Court Man drill. Instead of going for a certain number of possessions we alternate possessions every time we get to the other end of the court. If Green was shooting a free throw they would have one shot, and then the ball would be live for either team. On a make, Gold would take the ball out as Green set up quickly in our 1-2-2 press. If Green misses the free throw and rebounds the ball they can look to score. On a Green miss and Gold rebound, Gold can look to push the ball and force Green to transition back into man quickly. This drill can be made competitive too by keeping score or tracking made/missed free throws.
This drill specifically targets these ideas for us: (a) players are able to work on their free throws in a "game-like" environment, (b) we improve our reaction and response to made or missed free throws, (c) we reiterate that a sense of urgency is a necessity when it comes to transitioning, (d) both teams work on quickly adjusting or reacting to situations on the court.


I'm proud of the things my program has been able to achieve this season, the following have made this a great first year of coaching for me:

• We finished 7-11, much improved from last year's record of 6-13
• One of our players earned All-League recognition
• all 12 of our players will be returning next year
• not a single one of our players were academically ineligble
• we made a huge name for ourselves within our program- especially by visiting the REC and CYO practices/games 
• One player was named Daily Voice (a local publication) Player of the Month

Today we are heading into the first round of post-season play. These two drills I've shared have been a huge part of our practices this week and I believe have helped reinforce key concepts. Hopefully they help! Wish us luck in the post season and best of luck to you guys in your tournaments!

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A Different Approach to the Flex Offense

Against man defenses we run a flex at Hastings, it provides us with a simple and continuous set. The flex has worked pretty well for us, except for the slight trouble we were having trying to get open to start our offense.  

So to solve our problem we set up some initial screens in order to pretty much guarantee that our guards would be open. The diagrams below explain the start of the offense step by step, until it becomes a continuation. 

Here are the steps written out:

A

1. 5 and 4 set up on the wings, with the 2 and 3 on the blocks. 5 and 4 down screen to get 2 and 3 open on the wings.
2. The 1 passes to whichever side is open (either way this works).

B

1. The 1 screens away for the guard without the ball (the 3 in this diagram), and the weak side big clears to the corner
2. The 3 comes off the 1's screen and fills to the top. The 2 passes to the 3 up top, who then reverses quickly to the 1. 

C

1. Once the 1 has the ball on the opposite side, the 2 cuts off the 5's flex screen to the ball side block. The 3 down screens for the 5 to pop to the top for an open jump shot. In order to limit turnovers and make the pass easier, the 1 should dribble towards the 5 before passing the ball.

D

1. Now that the 5 has the ball, the three clears to the ball side corner. 
2. The flex action continues, the 4 comes off of the 2's flex screen, and the 1 down screens for the 2.

The same action goes on until you get an open shot from either option.

Like I said this new set-up of the flex has helped us get open easier, just things to think about. I found this option somewhere in my research so if it gets you a couple hoops don't give The Sweet Spot all the credit.

Happy New Year

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