Fordham Finishes Drill

I recently attended a Coaches Clinic at Fordham University. Coach Stephanie Gaitley (the Women's Coach at Fordham) showed us this drill, which I added my own enhancements to, that works a variety of skills and provides for a solid warm-up.

Check the diagram and the steps below:

SET UP:

1. 1) 3 players stand at the three spots indicated by the orange triangles in the diagram.
2. 2) The offensive players start where the blue "start" is under one basket. They should be in a single file line under that hoop.

THE DRILL:

 

• Duration: 3-5 minutes, give players enough time to score a few and get a few deflections.



1) Offensive players, going one at a time, speed dribble towards each defensive player. When they get to the defensive player they have to make a move to advance to the next defender. This move can be a crossover, between the legs, behind the back, in and out, you name it. (They can also use combination moves.) Once the offensive player gets to the last defender they have to score a lay up. They can take this lay up on either the right or the left side, its up to them. You should encourage them to go to both sides of the rim.

 

2) THE DEFENDER'S job is to deflect the ball. There is no "dummy defense" in this drill. They get 1 point for any deflection. After 5 deflections the defender can switch off with an offensive player.

Keep in mind that this drill has been enhanced to my own liking. You can take it and modify it for your own needs.


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We're Back!

After too long of a break The Sweet Spot is BACK to bring you even more basketball strategies, tips, tidbits, and more.

Stay tuned for a summer full of hot new offenses, drills, ideas, and more.

Help us make The Sweet Spot YOUR SPOT! Write to us with any suggestions or ideas. Email: alyselapadula@gmail.com.

SWEET SPOT BASKETBALL is BACK!

Let's talk swishes- Ray Allen Shooting Drill

As coaches we emphasize practicing quality, "game-like" shots. So many drills can be created or used to help our athletes get a number of shots up, but not all of these drills can help them get quality shots up. This shooting drill, a classic Ray Allen one, helps athletes to build range and consistency. It can also be used to create competition to end a team practice.

Any number of things can be done with this drill to modify or enhance it. The beautiful thing is it also incorporates shooting from spots all over the floor.

With just a quick "self pass" any shooter can complete this shooting workout alone. Or add a partner and get competitive with this!

Enjoy Ray Allen's shooting drill. (Props to Coach Botkin for tweeting this picture and reminding me of this ladder shooting drill!)

 Happy Shooting!
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JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

Happy New Year Sweet Spot crowd! 

This year we are trying to kick things off the right way by making a few "in-game" adjustments. We are looking to make a mailing list that will include our upcoming blog posts, opportunities for discussion and your insight. You will be able to unsubscribe at anytime and your email and information will only be used for the newsletter.

Please email me if you'd like to sign up for our mailing list: alyselapadula@gmail.com . 

Looking forward to sending out the first letter!

Best

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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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