Think Again

A good book to read if you are looking is "Think Again," by Adam Grant, about the "power of knowing what you don't know." It's about re-thinking your opinions, and the power of un-learning and re-learning. Do you ever think about the non-negotiables you have as a coach and whether or not you should re-think them?

Some approaches in basketball that might be worth re-thinking.

Two Fouls In The First Half

When I was growing up watching college basketball in the 1980s, it almost seemed like it was a rule that if you got a second foul in the first half you had to come out of the game. It was standard practice. This is one approach that has been re-thought over the years, and thanks to Ken Pom we can actually track which coaches allow their players to play the most in the first half with two fouls.

Have you ever re-thought your approach on this? Using halftime as benchmark is pretty arbitrary. Why does he have to be on the bench with two fouls with 22 minutes left to play, but once we get to 20 minutes we are good playing him the rest of the way? I've been burned before losing control of a winnable game in the first half with my best player on the bench, only to look at the box score when it was over to see that he had played just 23 minutes, and he finished the game with 2 or 3 fouls.

Have you thought about preparing your team to play with 2 fouls? How about setting it up during practice, where everyone has 2 fouls during a drill, and making them run if they commit a foul. Maybe you take him out when he picks up his second foul to give him a breather, but you can prepare him to play with 2 fouls. You get 5 of them.

Fouling On Purpose

There are a lot more scenarios where fouling on purpose is a good idea than the one where we actually do it as coaches - when we are losing late in a game. If your opponent has a terrible free throw shooter on their team, putting him on the line isn't a bad idea. Even in the first half. If they are in the single bonus and holding for one shot, put that awful free throw shooter on the line. First of all, you'll really get into his head. Secondly, statistically it often works out to be a better play than just trying to play defense, especially against a really efficient offensive team.

Would you ever foul when you are up 1, with the shot clock off, late in the game? A lot of coaches in Europe will do this. Again, statistically there are a lot of scenarios where this is the most efficient play, even though it seems counterintuitive. If you do foul, they'd have to make both free throws to take the lead, far from a guarantee. Even if they do take the lead, you still have a possession to win the game. And if they miss one of the free throws, you have the ball in a tie game and almost no chance to lose the game. There are more scenarios than you think about where fouling on purpose is the right play.

Leadership

I've talked a lot about the traditional leadership model in this space and in speaking engagements, as well as in my book. How often do you re-think your approach or definition of leadership? I've never been a fan of the top down model, where one or two people lead the group and tell everyone what to do. That creates a lot of followers, not a great way to develop an elite team. Think about a way to empower everyone to lead, and a definition that fits your approach. Does the traditional way to pick captains and promote leadership within your team really work?

Role Definition

I think as coaches we really over-emphasize role definition. Your role on my team is always to help us win. That's it. That's what everyone is trying to do. Have you ever thought about how defining roles specifically might limit what you get from your players? It's easy to put them in a box, where they have one or two strengths in your mind and that's all you want to see from them. You can learn a lot more about your players, and how your team can be successful, by allowing them to be who they think they are - not who you think they are. Does specific role definition really make your team better? Common coach speak says yes. I'm not sure it does.

Good Shot/Bad Shot

Does constantly harping on your team about good shots versus bad shots help you offensively, or does it hurt you? Think about it. I know we all want our teams to take good shots, and we feel we have to teach our guys what the shots are that "we" want. What is the best way to get them there? You can constantly talk about good shots and bad shots, but odds are you are making them think about it and that's the last thing you want. If you teach your guys how to play and let them decide what shots to take, it might help their confidence. I've always said this - guys that constantly take bad shots, they aren't very good players. If you are constantly coaching it, you might have the wrong players out there.

Defensive System

Are you clear with your team on how you want to defend, or are you constantly changing? Giving your team a lot of options defensively can also give them licenses to make excuses or take the easy way out. I know we have to make adjustments as a coach, and that's fine. But do you have a defined set of principles that your guys know inside and out, that don't bend? Reliability, trust and toughness are huge elements of a great defensive team. It's hard to believe in each other and compete at an elite level if you aren't 100% sure about what you are doing. When was the last time you thought about how you approach defense? Is it worth re-thinking? A defined defensive system can be a separator between good teams and great teams.

Conditioning

It seems like more and more we are doing less and less. We want to save their legs, make sure they are fresh, and avoid any type of injuries. I realize staying fresh and healthy is important. But to me the best way to do that is to be in great shape. How much does your team run? And how tough are they? Conditioning is not only a great way get in elite shape, but it also develops a lot of mental toughness.

Think about the way you condition your team. It doesn't always have to be punishment. You can incorporate it into your drills, and work on execution right after you run to challenge your team. Put them in tough situations and make them come through.

The Starting Line-Up

Does it matter who starts, or who finishes? I like to play a lot of guys, and there are certain line-ups that are better for against certain teams. Does it make sense to start the same guys every time? Or can you prepare your team that different guys are going to start each game based on practice, match-ups, and performance. Tell them their goal should be to finish the game, and be one of the 5 guys out there when the game is on the line. It strikes me that we might all be better off as a team over the long season with different starting line-ups that create better rotations for certain games, but we are so married to the traditional idea of starters and bench players that we don't even think about it.

Pick-Up Games

If you read this blog somewhat regularly, you know how I feel about pick-up games. It's something our players are going to do a lot in the off-season, and if they do it a lot it's important. Have you ever taught your players how to play pick-up?

The most important thing to me about pick-up games is that the players learn how to win. Winning has to matter. And for winning to matter, there must be something on the line. Ten guys playing pick-up games over and over isn't ideal, because if they lose they just run it back. Having a team waiting to play makes a big difference, because if you lose you know you are going to sit out.

Put something on the pick-up games. The losing team has to run. The team that loses the most games in a week gets up Monday in the morning to run. Pick-up games have to matter, or they quickly become garbage and a great way to practice bad habits. Put something on the games and your team will learn how to play to win.