Point Guard Ball Screen Offense: UNDER the Screen with Sue Bird

CLIP #1: SCREENER RESCREENS

Summary

• Screen defender goes under the screen

• Screener turns and rescreens

• Bird crosses over and shoots open 3

Analysis:

1. Bird accelerates in to the ball screen, forcing her defender to either go under the screen or over the screen. She cannot slip between Bird and the screener.

2. Bird and Stewart both feel the ball defender step under the screen, taking away Bird’s driving lane but leaving the 3 point line unguarded.

3. Stewart quickly pivots to rescreen the ball defender.

4. Bird crosses back to her left and steps behind the 3 point line for an uncontested 3.

This play is a great example of two players being on the same page. Stewart and Bird react at the same time to the defenders choice to step under the screen. The rescreen gives Bird plenty of time and space to get off a great look. There is a difference between instinctively chucking up a shot when the defender goes under the screen and setting up a quality shot. This is an example of the latter.

---

CLIP #2: screen Turn and SEALs

Summary:

• Screen defender goes under the screen

• Screener turns and seals ball defender

• Bird steps back and shoots the open 3

Analysis:

1. Bird uses a hesitation dribble, getting her defender to step up, then accelerates in to the ball screen, forcing her defender to either go under the screen or over the screen. She cannot slip between Bird and the screener.

2. Bird and Stewart both feel the ball defender step under the screen, taking away Bird’s driving lane but leaving the 3 point line unguarded.

3. Stewart quickly pivots to seal the ball defender.

4. Bird steps back to her left and steps behind the 3 point line for an uncontested 3.

This play is a slight variation of Clip #1 where the defender chooses to go under the screen, but here, the screen is so low, Stewart only needs to turn and seal and the ball defender is pinned too deep to contest the shot. Bird has plenty of time to set her feet for a high quality look. Splash.

FILM ROOM: OVER the BALL Screen with Sue Bird

CLIP #1: Screen defender drops

Summary

• Screen defender stays low to protect the paint.

• Ball defender goes under the screen = Bird attacks the paint

• Screen defender stays low = Bird shoots the open shot

Analysis:

1. Bird dribbles tight off the ball screen. Her defender must either go under the screen or over the screen. She cannot slip between Bird and the screener.

2. Bird feels her defender go over the screen, taking away Bird’s ability to get off a 3, but putting her behind Bird for the rest of the play.

3. With her defender behind her, Bird sees the screen defender low in the paint. Instinctively, she makes the correct decision to step into an in-rhythm mid-range shot. Bird’s defender cannot contest without fouling and the screen defender is too far away to make any real contest.

4. Bird takes one dribble, quickly sets her feet: right-left. And elevates for a high percentage shot.

   There is nothing special about this play. Bird simply responds to what the defense gives her: over the screen = attack the paint, screen defender stays low = shoot the open shot. Poetry in motion.

---

CLIP #2: Screen defender STEPS UP

Summary:

• Ball defender goes under screen = Bird stays tight to screen.

• Screen defender shows hard to takeaway Bird’s pull-up shot.

• Bird pulls both defenders away from the hoop and passes.

Analysis:

1. Again, Bird dribbles tight off the ball screen. Her defender must either go under the screen or over the screen. She cannot slip between Bird and the screener.

2. Again, Bird feels her defender go over the screen, taking away Bird’s ability to get off a 3, but putting her behind Bird for the rest of the play.

3. With her defender behind her, Bird sees the screen defender step up hard. Bird takes an extra dribble, pulling both the ball defender and the screen defender away from the hoop.

4. Bird elevates to find a passing angle to deliver the assist to the wide open screener rolling to the basket.

This clip is guarded similarly to clip #1 with two differences. 1) The screen defender steps up hard to prevent Bird from getting that easy mid-range shot she got in clip #1. 2) Bird takes this screen from the wing, moving away from the hoop. This is important because as she pulls both defenders with her, she pulls them away from the hoop, leaving her teammate an entirely uncontested roll and finish. Beautiful.

Anonymous Athlete Advice [Series]

The recruiting process is an exciting time filled with all kinds of new possibilities for the next chapter of your life. But it can also be overwhelming and hard to navigate. Even though you will have advice coming at you from every direction, many people don’t actually understand what it’s like to be in that position. However, there’s a large group of people who do: college basketball players. They have been in your shoes. They have made good decisions and bad decisions. And they have a lot of firsthand experience, knowledge, and wisdom to pass along. 

We are now introducing the Anonymous Athlete Advice Series. We will be interviewing current and former college basketball players to gather their best advice on navigating the recruiting process and all things related to college basketball. Our hope is that through their successes and failures, wise decisions and mistakes, they can help you make the best possible decision for your own life and basketball career. 

---

“If I can impress upon you one thing, it’s to stop trying to impress them..”

I remember being so concerned with other people’s opinions about my decision. I wanted to impress my friends, teachers, random people I talked to on the street about playing basketball in college… I wanted my choice of college to sound impressive. And now I realize their opinions meant nothing, and I wish I would not have let them have any bearing on where I was going to spend the next four years of my life.

That is probably one of the biggest things for me. I wish I would have known that you are the one that has to go there. No one else's opinions matter because you are the one that has to go play there and go to school there. You have to spend the next 4-5 years of your life there. It’s cool to tell people a cool big name school that garners a reaction, but at the end of the day, it’s your life. So don’t make a decision based on the opinions of those around you.” 

• - Current Female College Basketball Player

I wanted my choice of college to sound impressive. And now I realize their opinions meant nothing, and I wish I would not have let them have any bearing on where I was going to spend the next four years of my life.

Maybe this seems obvious. But this was something I struggled with throughout my recruiting process. When you are getting recruited, a lot of people will share unsolicited opinions on your decision. It is easy to allow the desire to impress people to seep into your decision-making process, even subconsciously. I actually had two separate people tell me (to my face) that they were disappointed after I announced where I was going.

The school I picked wasn’t big enough or well-known enough for them. Even though I knew they shouldn’t, deep down, these comments hurt because I cared too much what they thought. The prideful part of me still wanted to impress them. But it forced me to take a step back and reevaluate who and what should have the power to influence my decision. And it sure wasn’t these two people. 

Frankly, all they cared about was knowing someone who played at a big school. They sat at home and (maybe) watched. They weren’t the ones who would actually attend that school and play basketball there… I was. (I want to be sure to clarify: going to a big-time school is absolutely awesome. I am cautioning against making a decision largely based on impressing other people). 

Where you decide to go to school becomes the actual reality of your life, and no one else’s. Once you step foot on campus, playing a college sport is no longer just an idea. You have to put in the work, you have to grind, you have to put in the time. It’s no longer just a cool fact you get to tout in your social media bio. It's living the highs and lows of college basketball.

It’s getting up early in the morning for practice and weight lifting and conditioning. It’s going to class and getting a degree. It’s getting involved and building relationships. You have to decide where you want to invest yourself. And the level of happiness that comes from being at a place where you can thrive lasts infinitely longer than that little rush of pleasure you get from impressing people when you tell them your decision.

So here is my advice: don’t base your decision on trying to impress anyone. Because the people you think you need to impress will stop caring the second you walk out the door. 

- AAA

3 Things To Do Before You Send Your Game Film To Coaches

As Covid-19 continues to complicate the recruiting process, the value of film is increasing. In previous blogs, we’ve talked about the best way to compose your emails to college coaches. Within that, the focal point was full game film. 

Now that you have created your list of schools and created your email, you’re ready to upload your film for all coaches who open your email to see.

You only get one first impression so how can you be certain that you’re sending them your best? Here are some things you can do to help your chances before sending coaches your film.

☝️ Show more than just your ability to score

You can be a bucket getter but if you are showcasing that’s the only way you can impact a team, your recruiting is going to take a hit. College coaches understand that there’s a lot more to the game than just scoring. On many occasions, players would send film of a game where they dropped 30+ points but didn’t compete or impact the game in any other way. At that level, it was an easy no. 

So, absolutely show your ability to score but what else can you do? Understand the value of the intangibles as well i.e effort to rebound, willingness to run the floor hard, activity on the defensive end, etc. and show them.

✌️ Choose a competitive game

It’s one thing to drop that 30 on a good team, it’s a completely different thing to drop it on a bad team. College coaches are constantly looking for indicators that will help them see your game translating to their level. So be aware of the level of your competition. If they are not somewhat competitive, it’s not going to help that coach as much in their evaluation of your game. 15 points vs a good team is a lot more valuable than 30 on a bad one. Coaches will notice.

👌 Film quality

College coaches are staring at their screens recruiting all day. If you can help it, try not to make this a more difficult task by sending poor quality film. If they can’t easily make out where you are on the floor, the likelihood of them watching enough of that film of you is low. With all of the technology today, you can record a game with good quality from your phone. 

Don’t have anyone that can film games for you? Get together with some teammates who are also looking to send their film to coaches and convince a parent to take on the task.

via GIPHY

Bonus Tips: Upload your film to a video hosting site like YouTube and send coaches links to your games instead of files that they will have to download. Don’t assume the coach knows your jersey color or jersey number. Put that information in the email or in the title of your game link. Making their job easier will always increase your chances!

Still unsure about your film? Send it to a coach you trust and ask them what they think a college coach would see. If you don’t have access to that or just want an outsider’s perspective, we’d love to help guide you!

Happy recruiting!

Coach Chevy

7 Reasons College Coaches Are Not Recruiting You

As a former D1 coach I learned that there was a lot more to evaluating a player outside of just their skill. Over the years it became clear that there were a lot of talented players making some common mistakes that were hurting their recruiting.

Not to say those players didn’t still receive opportunities, but I can confidently say they could have had more.

My goal is to give you some insight from the perspective of a college coach to help you avoid making the same mistakes, here are seven..

1. Your Work Ethic

College coaches want to coach their teams and focus on game planning and player development but when they have to coach you to play hard, it takes away from the potential growth of the team. This reduces your value quickly. 

Tanya Warren, Head Women’s Basketball Coach at the University of Northern Iowa speaks on this here:

Full Episode Here

2. Your Coachability

When players are not coachable it’s a HUGE red flag. Even if you are the best player, it’s extremely unattractive to coaches. There may be a few schools willing to look beyond it but the majority of the time, you will not be recruited at the level you could if you displayed leadership by being able to handle criticism respectfully. 

3. Your Body Language

When you are being recruited, coaches are watching your every move. Once they see that you can play at their level, coaches begin to evaluate other areas of you as a player. So each interaction they observe has the potential of helping or hurting your recruiting. 

Here are some examples:

With your coach

• Poor eye contact

• Eye rolls

• Disengaged when subbed out

With your teammates

• Lack excitement when they make a good play

• Showing frustration when they make mistakes

• Clear frustration after wins because YOU didn’t play well

With the refs

• Complain about every call you disagree with

via GIPHY

4. Your Social Media

Posting, retweeting, liking content that uses profanity, drugs, alcohol, nudity or cyberbullying of any kind. Those are just a few things that I witnessed first hand from recruits that we had interest in. These actions unfortunately lead to us removing them from our lists.

5. Your Relationships

How do you treat your mom, your dad, your sisters, brothers, friends, coaches and teammates? College coaches pay attention to all of that.

Carrie Moore, the Recruiting Coordinator for North Carolina WBB says it best here:

Full Episode Here

6. Your Effort

Coaches appreciate when you put a little effort into the recruiting process. Take some time and do a little research on the programs that you know you will be engaging in conversation with. I’m not saying being fun/engaging on the phone call will get you offers but it definitely helps. 

In the beginning stages of recruiting, college coaches call and do their best to introduce you to them and the university they’re representing. The least you can do is do a little research to help the conversation go more smoothly.

Coaches are on the phone with a lot of kids everyday and this is a simple way to separate yourself. In other words, don’t be a dud 😴

If you’re nervous or just not the most interesting person, prepare some educated questions to ask, coaches will appreciate it! So hop on Google and learn some things about your potential future school.

7. Your parents

Coaches LOVE enthusiastic parents but there’s a difference..

Sneaky nice GIFs from #TheBrotherhood

Tough but true, parents have the potential to negatively impact their athlete’s recruitment. As mentioned above, once it’s clear a recruit can play at that college’s level they will begin to evaluate other things, including the behaviors of parents.

Here are some examples..

• Excessive yelling at refs, coaches and players

• Criticizing your athlete’s AAU/HS coaches both to college coaches and on social media

• Unrealistic expectations of your athlete’s recruiting process

Final Thoughts

College coaches have a responsibility to the players and families that are currently in their program, so it’s important for them to do their homework on you. 

As a recruit and parent, you don’t want any of these easy to change mistakes to detract from your opportunity to play at the next level. So if you are doing any of the above mentioned things, it could be playing a role in your lack of recruiting.

Luckily, there’s still time to make some changes 😊

Happy Recruiting!

3 Steps To Help You Get Recruited During COVID-19

The Spring evaluation period has already been cancelled due to Covid-19 and it’s unclear how this pandemic will affect the rest of the summer.

As the July recruiting period hangs in the balance, there are many athletes unhappy with their current offers. 

Here are 3 steps that you can take to be proactive during this time:

1. Research/Know your fit and make a list

When looking at schools that you want to attend, create a list of things that you want out of your college experience. Do your homework and make sure that the academics and athletic program aligns with your wants.

There likely won’t be a perfect match but if you come up with your non-negotiables (ex: Engineering program, uptempo playing style, within 5 hours from home) you will be able to come up with 8-10 schools that you could envision yourself playing for, maybe more. 

Once you’ve made this list, organize the schools starting with your top choices. 

via GIPHY

• Quick tip: Make sure your list is realistic. If you are being recruited mostly at the D2 level, then creating a list full of D1 programs isn’t the best way to spend your time. 

Unless you’re planning on going pro, don’t get too hung up on level. Go where you’re wanted, where you can have an impact and great experience on the court, campus and classroom. 

2. Gather and Send

Now that you have your list, you need to get all of the contact information of the coaching staff, you can usually find all of this on the athletics website. It’s best to send your email to all staff, giving it a higher chance to be opened.

You will also want to gather recent full game film, a highlight video if you have one, your stats, any awards you received and your GPA. Once you have all of these, it’s time to draft your email.

Keeping the email to 5 to 6 sentences is ideal. Do your best to leave out your life story (save that for the recruiting calls). You want to make the email easy to read and to the point. Throw in a quick compliment of the program, why you’re interested and let them know you’re excited to speak with them. 

• Quick tip: If you’re being recruited by anyone that they compete with, let them know. It helps to quickly give coaches perspective on what level you are and may intrigue them more. 

Once you’ve drafted your email, make sure to include the game film(s), your contact information (include social media ex. Twitter handle), your coach’s contact information and links to any articles that feature you. 

Try to personalize these emails as much as possible. Triple check to make sure that when you’ve created your template, you’re not putting in the wrong school name or coach’s name in the message :) 

Finally, the subject line. This is very important. It will be the first thing they see so make sure to include your full name, year and position. 

via GIPHY

3. Don’t be shy - Follow up!

You want to stand out from the competition? Get on the phone. We all know how many kids are awkward and don’t enjoy being on the phone but one way to separate yourself is to actually reach out to the coach and introduce yourself. 

Nervous? Here’s a little script to give you some guidance:

via GIPHY

Hey Coach ______, this is Mya Hooper. I’m a 2021 and I’m very interested in your program. I sent you and the coaching staff an email last week with some game film that I would love to get your feedback on.

Here are some potential scenarios:

• They haven’t watched: Let them know you’ll send another email with it attached when you get off the phone. 

• They watched and are interested: See if it’s possible to set up a virtual tour with your family. FaceTime is your best friend during these unique times!

• They watched and it’s not a good fit: Cool, use it as an opportunity to get some free advice to get better!

• They don’t answer: Leave a voicemail or shoot them a quick text once you’re off the phone.

Your goal with this phone call is to see if they are recruiting your position in your class. Some schools would be a great fit but they just don’t have a need for your position.

If that’s the case, great, move on, there’s plenty more out there. It’s better to find that out now so that you can put more time into pursuing other opportunities. 

No response to your email and no phone number to call?

No problem, keep emailing! You have to understand that coaches are receiving close to one hundred emails a week from athletes interested in their program so it’s likely they just missed yours. 

via GIPHY

Give it a few days to a week between and keep reaching out until you get a response. Persistence is key!

--- Happy recruiting!

3 Ways To Help Your Players Get Recruited

Whether you are a high school or AAU coach, your role in recruiting is crucial. With social media and all of the recruiting platforms, it’s important to remember that nothing can replace your first hand experience with the players that coaches are recruiting.

Here are a few ways to make sure that you are prepared to help your players reach that next level.

• This may seem obvious but.. Pick up your phone! The number of coaches that would be slow to respond or not return phone calls was surprising.

  Whether it’s a DI coach or NAIA, understand that keeping communication lines open could majorly impact your players future.

  College coaches understand that you have busy lives but if you don’t have the time, assign calls to an assistant that you trust to make sure that your player is not missing out on any opportunities.

• Have accurate stats on your players. As a college coach, there were many times where I had to scramble to get accurate information on the kids we were recruiting.

  Some states don’t have the convenient stat sites that keep these up to date so having correct information on your individual players performance can be very helpful in a coach’s evaluation.

• Film, film, film!

  Technology has made it much easier for college coaches to discover kids around the world. It is impossible to expect college coaches, especially during season to make it out to as many games as they would like.

  One way to help encourage them to make a trip is to have film so that they have more confidence in the caliber of player they are going to come and watch.

  If you don’t have enough staff, ask a parent or student you trust.

• College coaches know that you want the best for your players and sometimes that can get in the way of reality.

  If your player is a DIII/NAIA player but you like the sound of DI or DII more, that is doing nothing but harm for your player.

  Not only that, it can impact your reputation as a coach, especially when it comes to evaluations.

  If you are struggling to figure out the appropriate level that your player is at, it’s okay to ask local college coaches for their honest feedback. 

• When stating your player’s height, be honest.. When speaking on your player’s coachability, be honest..

  When asked about your player’s parents, be honest...It will only build rapport.

  When coaches can trust you, it will go a long way when you have players down the road that are an appropriate fit for their programs.

“Not only that, it can impact your reputation as a coach.”

• Once you have all the appropriate information and have a decent feel for the level of your player, help them get opportunities in front of coaches.

  During the high school season, reach out to college coaches with statistics, accomplishments and/or any other applicable information to help get your players name out.

  Sending your team’s schedule along with that email is another way to make recruiting your player easier and if you want to take it a step further circle what you think will be the most competitive games - the better the game, the better the evaluation!

  • Players can take this step too but receiving these types of emails from high school coaches legitimizes the information and has a higher chance of getting a response. 
    
    
    

• For AAU coaches, this is a little bit of an easier process due to July being a live recruiting period but to reference a point I made earlier about making evaluations more clear, as much as you can, play the appropriate level of competition.

  College coaches know that you have a lot of pressure to win games with the current makeup of AAU but understand it doesn’t help your players when we watch them play in blowouts.

  Not only that but vs players that don’t at least half resemble the athletes they will be up against at the next level.

  So as much as you can, research your tournaments and bracket levels to make sure you are playing quality competitive opponents as frequently as possible.

• And finally, for players that choose not to participate at the AAU level, more power to them. There are plenty of opportunities outside of July.

  High school team camps and elite camps that are hosted on university campuses are just a couple of ways to get your players seen during the summer season. 

There are so many other ways to impact your players recruitment in a positive way, these are just a few to get you going in the right direction. Thanks for reading!

How to Become a Better Scorer

When you watch the most prolific scorers, the one constant you will notice is that they are rarely, if ever, sped up. Understanding the importance of pace as a scorer is something that can have an instant impact on your game and ability to score. 

So what are some practical ways that you as a player can improve in this area? Here are 3!

ROLL THE TAPE..

If you are a film watcher, take a look at a few of your games and pay close attention to each moment that you are going full speed at times that it’s not required or bringing value to your play. Evaluate the decisions you’re making when you are playing at that pace and track the efficiency of those decisions each time you touch the ball.

GET THE CONES OUT..

Cones are a great way to give you a visual as you are beginning to work on your pace/change of speed. Set them up in a line like the video below and use your imagination from there.

Work on going from slow to fast and from fast to slow and everything in between. Get your body used to changing speeds while remaining in good balance.

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE..

Whether you have access to open runs or a buddy you can get on the court and play one on one with, both are good for experimenting. In one on one it’s a great way to feel how you can control your defender with your different speeds.

During a pick up session it’s great to feel yourself control your defender but also to be able to recognize how that change of speed impacts secondary defenders off the ball. 

The final piece of advice is to watch as much basketball as you can. Find a player that you feel your game relates most to and study them.

Watch how they move.

Pay attention to what they do with and without the ball.

Study how they score and find ways to improve your game in those areas.

All of the information you need is out there but keying in on what applies directly to your game/abilities is often what trips players up.

So don’t waste your time working on skills that won’t translate into your game’s DNA.

Be honest with yourself, know your strengths, know your weaknesses and own it.

The quicker you can figure these things out, the quicker you will be on the right track to reach your potential as a scorer.

How to Raise Your Confidence in Basketball

Confidence for a basketball player is crucial when it comes to performance. From players to parents and even coaches, there is sometimes a misconception of where confidence is derived. One common thought is that a players confidence comes from an outward source.

Usually that outsource is from their coach, teammates or parents. While it’s more than understandable as to why this thought process has become a norm, we want to challenge that mindset and provide a different perspective that gives the athlete more control.

One of our favorite sayings is - control the controllable. If you’re in high school, you likely will have no control over who the coach is, what type of offense/defense they run and who your teammates are. Even if you think you have control over those things ie. a player getting recruited to college and assessing their choices through campus visits and a lot of communication with the coaches.

No matter what, it’s never the picture that the coach paints when they are recruiting you to their school. No program is perfect, no coach is perfect and no team is perfect. The only control you have is to do your best in picking that school and hoping the experience will be close to what you envisioned when you made the choice to go there.

A lot of athletes/parents believe that the answer is to transfer from high school to high school or college to college and sometimes that is actually what’s best. But many times, it’s not and many times it’s due to a mindset that exists where we try to control these things that we have zero control over instead of focusing on the things that we do.

Confidence can make or break an athlete, it is what hinders them from performing at a high level consistently. A few missed shots in one game can turn in to a three week slump, or more. Many times athletes assess their performance and look outward for the reason as to why they are struggling with this. The typical thought process is..

“My coach doesn’t let me play through mistakes”

“My coach boxes me in”

“My teammates are always trying to correct me”

“Coach has favorites”

Etc..Etc…

With all that being said, coaches are not perfect. There are definitely coaches out there who play favorites, who run an offense that isn’t quite conducive to their personnel and who have a very short leash when it comes to players making mistakes. But again what of those things as a player, do you have control over? Unfortunately none.

So now that we’ve talked about some of the things that you don’t have control over. Let’s talk about two things that you do. Number one being preparation. The impact that preparation has on confidence is immeasurable. As with anything, when you put a lot of time into a craft, confidence is inevitable.

Here’s a short video of one of the greatest basketball players ever talking about his approach to preparation.

Billy Donovan, Head Coach of Oklahoma City Thunder also speaks on this here and how important the commitment to preparation is to your confidence.

The second controllable is your thoughts. Again, it is so easy today to put stock into the thoughts of others. Especially with social media, it’s hard to avoid thinking about your performance vs others and to be more critical of yourself as a player.

Twitter has made it more commonplace to tweet out offers and to retweet articles or highlights and the result is more pressure on athletes to keep up. It’s no wonder why the mindsets of current athletes are so dependent on outside sources.

Family members, parents and friends all play a role in the outward source of your thoughts as an athlete but if you truly want to develop your confidence you have to remove yourself from that mindset.

It has to be a daily practice to take inventory of your thoughts and how they align with your goals. As awkward as positive self talk may seem, it’s much more beneficial than the alternative.

Taking ownership of why you are where you are, negative or positive, is the first step. Own your thoughts and recognize that that’s the area you have sole control over and challenge yourself to change every negative thought to a positive one.

Here’s a short clip of Dena Evans from Point Guard College speaking on this topic.

So go own your confidence. Get in the gym, work and take ownership of what you’re thinking on a daily basis and make sure that those two things align with your goals as a basketball player.

1 Tip for a Consistent Jumper

There are many unique shooters out there who are great at what they do because they put in the time. But we’re going to look at technique and talk about one way that you can create more consistency. When you analyze great shooters, there is one thing in common, their base. To be more specific, the base of their shot is what the shooter does waist down.

There’s no better way to develop the consistency of your shot than by repetition. One of the most common mistakes in developing your shot is inconsistency in your base. As a player or a coach, you have to be aware of the power in consistent repetition and the impact it can have on your improvement as a shooter.

Although a lot of great shooters can do both the 1-2 and the hop, we are huge proponents of the 1-2. Especially early in the development of your shot. We will go into that discussion another time but for now why wouldn’t you want to mimic the best?

Reggie Miller Michael Jordan GIF from Reggiemiller GIFs

Let’s move on and look at four different great shooters who have four different styles of play and four different forms. In the video you will notice a few things. One, the speed at which these players are able to get their shots off.

Two, the foot placement is always shoulder width or tighter. And finally, that they use the 1-2 to stabilize their movement which allows for more control of their jump and their landing. They are almost always landing exactly where they take off. 

As you saw, there are three ways that you can get shots, stationary, off a screen/movement and off the dribble. With each of these, you were able to see a consistent base.

If you condition yourself to practice with the same base every time, your results will reflect that. There are plenty of basketball players who live in the gym and still can’t seem to develop the consistency that they want.

Often times that is due to their foundation. If you are a streaky shooter and put in a lot of time on your shot but haven’t noticed improvement, go back to the basics and analyze that foundation.

An easy way to identify this is to set up your phone/camera and record yourself taking 8-10 of the same types of shots. When you review the footage, look at your base and see if you can recognize multiple shooting bases. If you have more than one, pick the one most comfortable and stick with it.

It’s like the great Bruce Lee saying, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

Bruce Lee GIF from Bruce GIFs

As your game develops and you’re ready to advance your jumper, there will be different factors in perfecting those shots, but starting with a solid foundation will have you ahead of the game when it’s time to find other ways to score.

How to Build Team Culture

Today, with the reality of the uprise in anything from high school/college transfers to coach investigations, it’s clear why culture is the new buzzword.

There’s a lot of great advice out there that gives plenty of solutions in ways to establish and/or improve your team’s culture but let’s focus on one that is not only practical in its application but also whether you’re a head coach, an assistant or a player it will benefit your program.

Everything that is strong starts with the foundation and when it comes to culture, that foundation is trust. It’s the foundation of every successful team no matter what sport, company or relationship.

Let’s look at it from on 3 levels…

HEAD COACHES > ASSISTANTS > PLAYERS

Starting from the top. Your staff’s ability to work together can make or break a team. The trust from the head coach to the assistants is crucial.

Some coaches feel the need to do a little more micro managing and direct every aspect of the team through the assistants. If this is how you run your program, it may work for you but it doesn’t exactly exemplify trust.

Trust can be displayed by head coaches releasing that control. By allowing assistants to take ownership in important areas it allows for their growth as a coach while empowering them to be more productive and feel more valued as a staff member.

When you are relied upon as an assistant in this way, you take on a completely different mentality when it comes to your work. As difficult as it may be to relinquish that control, in the long run if you’ve hired the right people it will pay off.

I can’t say enough about the impact this has on players. Players recognize when it’s a one man/woman show and it’s often reflected in their respect of the assistants.

By giving your staff more trust, you are creating extensions to your players that you on your own wouldn’t be able to achieve.

Finally for the head coaches direct trust with the players, ask them questions! There is nothing better than feeling like your head coach values your opinion as a player. It not only builds trust but it also disarms players and puts them in a less defensive mindset when it comes to receiving your feedback/criticism.

ASSISTANTS > HEAD COACHES > PLAYERS

This trust goes both ways...Assistants have to also show trust in their head coach. It’s a normal thing to disagree with your head coach and debate but once a decision is made, it is important that you are on board regardless of your opinion.

You’re all on one boat that has the goal of going one direction. If assistants aren’t paddling in the same direction the result will be a negative one no matter who is right or wrong.

When you can disagree with your head coach in a meeting but display on the court, in front of your team that you are all on the same page as a staff, it gives your head coach more trust in you and allows for the respect in that relationship to grow.

When it comes to players, the reality is that they are very much in tune to the state of the staff’s relationship. They quickly pick up on rifts and it becomes the hot topic of the locker room, which is the exact opposite of where you as a coach would like for their focus to be.

PLAYERS > ASSt./HEAD COACH > TEAMMATES

For players, teams typically designate leadership at the beginning of the season. Regardless of your position, age or experience you can have an impact.

Communication is number one when it comes to building trust with your coaches but it’s equally as important with your teammates. When it comes to players and coaches, you want to make sure that there is a clear understanding to your role on the team.

You have to be on the same page with your coach to have the best chance to make an impact.

As for your teammates, your communication is key in that you are POSITIVE. This is a very important aspect of building trust among teammates.

If you can challenge yourself to build up your teammates on a daily basis and not succumb to the temptation of the gossip/negativity in the locker room you are guaranteed to gain the trust of your teammates.

When others can see the impact that you have with a positive mindset, it’s natural for those habits to ripple through your team and for them to follow.

Everyone wants to have a great culture and win games, unfortunately there isn’t just one easy fix, but if you’re going to start somewhere, start with trust.

5 tips To help your best Scorer

Diana Taurasi

It’s sometimes difficult to find creative ways for your best player to score, especially when you just have one. There are some great ways to navigate these challenges with this type of roster for better offensive possessions.

Here are 🤚

1. SPACING:

   Defense is taught to keep eyes on their player and the ball. The better your spacing, the more difficult this is to do. It also decreases the chances that the help will be as impactful because they are not as close to the proper gap position.

   Great spacing allows for better driving lanes, better vision and better possessions.

2. MOVEMENT/FALSE ACTION:

   It’s also hard for defense to keep eyes on both when your player is in constant movement. Standing cripples your offensive scorers because now the secondary defenders are more engaged and locked in to them.

   Encouraging more player movement will keep defenders heads on a swivel making it more difficult for them to impact plays.

3. SCREENING:

   Whether on the ball or off the ball screens are involved, this highly impacts defensive vision as well as forces miscommunications. The more you can occupy defense by forcing communication the less attention they will be able to pay to your scorers.

4. WEAKEST DEFENDER:

   Identifying you opponents weakest defender is a great way to take advantage of your scorer. A simple way is to have the poor defender’s player set a screen for your scorer to create a switch, putting your scorer in a better position to get a great shot.

   You can also find ways to manipulate your sets to involve these defenders in crucial parts of your offensive actions.

5. NEXT BEST PLAYER:

   Since they are the next likely to score for you, they will have a decent amount of attention on them, not allowing for their defender to be as much of an impact in help situations.

   If you put your next best player in 1 pass away situations, their defender will be forced to choose to help on your best player and risk leaving them open or to stay home and let their teammate handle your best player one on one. 

So when breaking down your film and analyzing poor possessions, try to identify where the attention of the defense is. If at least three defenders are not consistently changing sides of the floor or having to turn their heads, then these tips should help to better occupy defense allowing for a more efficient offense.

There are many ways to take advantage of your lone scorer but as always, the importance of buy-in from the rest of the team is crucial. The more they buy-in to the movement, spacing and screening the more success this will create.

Although they may not score, praising their efforts to commit to these areas will create a more seamless transition to accepting and appreciating their roles to help the team win.