The spotlight is so much bigger on the game at all levels today with the explosion of digital and social media. No one at any level really coaches in private, and it’s very easy for everyone to have an opinion. No matter what level you are coaching at, it feels like someone is always watching. […]
Beating Screens
Everyone wants to hammer Terry Stotts for the way the Blazers played ball screens against Steph Curry in game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. But no one seems to be saying anything about the players actually getting through the screens. Time after time the Blazers guards just hung on the ball screen and didn’t […]
Principles
“Good principles are effective ways of dealing with reality.” – Ray Dalio In his book “Principles,” Ray Dalio lays out his approach to what made him one of the most successful – and richest – money managers in the world. There is a lot more to the book than you probably need to know about […]
John Beilein “Wants To Be Their Coach”
Interesting paragraph from Brendan Quinn’s article about John Beilein from The Athletic: All he asks of his players, in return, is to listen and learn. Beilein does not want to be a parental figure to his players. He wants to be their coach. The job, as he sees it, is to develop players into their […]
Taking Emotion Out Of The Decision
“Practice tomorrow – 4:00” Tom Murphy was a legendary coach at Hamilton College, where I went, for over 20 years. After games, he did something that I had never seen before. Actually, he didn’t do something is more like it. He didn’t speak to the team. He never said a word to the team after […]
Shapers
In his book “Principles,” Ray Dalio talks about “shapers” as “someone who comes up with unique and valuable visions and builds them out beautifully, typically over the doubts and opposition of others.” His perfect example of a shaper is Steve Jobs. He talks about conversations he had with “proven shapers” that he knew, people like […]
Are You Comfortable Being Challenged?
One of the most important days of my coaching career took place in early January of my second year at Rhode Island College. We were good, having beaten Iona in an exhibition game to start the year and going into the Christmas break with only one loss. But the one loss was to Keene State […]
Tyronn Lue in Game 7
From an ESPN The Magazine article in 2016: Tyronn Lue took a risk. “LeBron, you gotta be better! If we’re gonna win, you gotta be better!” Deep inside Oakland’s Oracle Arena, the visitors locker room was not a happy place. It was halftime, Game 7 of the NBA Finals, and the Cavaliers were trailing the […]