Basketball Coaches' Club: The X's and O's of a Five-Star Coach

5 Defensive Habits of the Celtics and Thunder

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Sat, 06 Jan 2018 07:01:00 +0000

Princeton Offense: Chin and Point Series

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 13:26:00 +0000

Princeton Offense for Basketball Coaches

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Tue, 26 Dec 2017 00:24:00 +0000

Princeton Offense

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Mon, 25 Dec 2017 19:17:00 +0000

Players are allowed to play freely within his structure

Need to have a philosophy/conviction that you believe in

Complicated or sophisticated? - It depends on how you look at it

The glass is always half-full with my guys

Hybrid between Beilein's 2 Guard Offense and Princeton Offense

Foundation

◦ Spacing

◦ Skill

◦ Intelligence

Make more free throws than the opponent attempts

Shoot a lot of layups and free throws in practice

Believe in dominant hand layups

Believe in dominant foot as hot foot, weak foot as pivot foot

At Duke practices, players talk more than coaches

Structure practices according to facilities and academic demands

Todd Lickliter - “Juniors and seniors cheat to win. Freshmen and sophomores cheat to get by.”

Doesn't tolerate poor communication.

◦ Any consequence is a short run

◦ Could be run 2 sidelines, only a 17 if he is really pissed

• Drills teach players how to play

◦ Not married to a system

◦ Allows players to play

◦ Prepares them to play against any kind of defense (denial, sag)

• Spends most of his practice time on offense

• McKillop on defense

◦ Protect the President

▪ Basket is the president

▪ Defenders are the Secret Service

▪ Ball is the bomb

▪ The lane is the White House

• Guarding ball screens

◦ Hard hedge

◦ Bump

◦ High hedge

• One More – most important drill that they do

◦ Helps eliminate turnovers

◦ Gets higher percentage shots because of better passes

http://coachprincetonbasketball.com

Princeton Offense Basketball High School

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 21:17:00 +0000

2014 NCAA Tournament: Best X’s & O’s Man Set Plays Zone Offense

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:16:00 +0000

Post First Published On http://youtu.be/KRBvpEJi2kE

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Belmont BLOB Series Baseline Out of Bounds

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:16:00 +0000

Post First Published On http://youtu.be/qAHiMUDnrfQ

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The Seven Essential Roles of a Basketball Coach

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:16:00 +0000

Post First Published On http://www.coachingtoolbox.net/blueprint/seven-essential-roles-basketball-coach.html

Just as you have segments of the game that you must cover in practice such as offense, defense, shooting, special situations, conditioning, etc… there are also seven segments that you need to perform to effectively lead and develop your basketball team.

Philosophy and Leadership—Define and instill your program’s ideals.
Organization and Management—maximizing the resources at your disposal.
Individual Participant Development–Develop your players’ skills and attitudes within your system.
Team Development– Develop, implement, and teach systems for team play that fit your players’ abilities and strengths.
Role Definition–Assign roles that best fit each players within the system, work to keep them in those roles, and redefine roles as players change or the needs of the team change.
Coaching Staff Development—Intentional professional development for the entire coaching staff.
Service, Promotion, and Public Relations. Promoting the basketball program as a whole and the players individually.

#1: Philosophy and Leadership Define and Instill Your Program’s Ideals

My first priority is to make sure that I have (in writing) a clear direction and philosophy on which to build every aspect of our program around. You also need to update that document annually to make sure that it keeps up with your current thinking and beliefs about your job. A huge part of your job as the coach is to develop it, present it, and embody it so that our assistant coaches, players, and managers not only “buy in,” but that they believe in it, support it, and feel that it is essential to our success.

Player development (Area #3 in my seven areas of focus) has the biggest impact on winning and losing. Having your philosophy entrenched as #1 provides direction for your player development efforts within the scope of your overall system.

If a coach doesn’t have a clearly defined and written vision, it is impossible to achieve the consistency, unity, and intangibles a program needs to succeed from year to year as players and assistant coaches change.

#2 Organization and Management Maximizing the Resources at Your Disposal

For a business, this are would fall under “Operations.” It is not the most enjoyable part of coaching, but it has to be handled well.

Even if your athletic administrator does the purchasing, facility maintenance, and scheduling for your program, you still need to stay on top of each of those areas and offer input. Taking care of organizational items is not the most exciting part of coaching, however it is definitely important. It is a responsibility that is better handled proactively rather than re-actively. Often the best way to deal with administrative items is to delegate them to a trusted staff member.

Have a long term plan for funding and purchasing big ticket items such as a shooting gun, or similar items. Those projects require more planning and possibly even fundraising, so it is important to keep those items on your to do list and in front of the administration. The only way to do that is to give it some thought and review on a continual basis. Even smaller “extra” items such as practice gear, shooting shirts, shoes, travel bags, team meals may require fundraising, donations, or budgeting.

Keep a file of the officials who work your games both at home and on the road. That way you can make recommendations to your Athletic Administrator as far as who to hire at home. You will also be prepared when it comes time to turn in evaluations to your state association.

The more efficiently you can handle these types of items that need to be done, the less they become urgent “in your face” tasks when you are more focused on coaching basketball.

#3: Individual Participant Development of your players’ skills and attitudes within your system

In most games, the team with the best players usually wins. Granted, there is a certain amount of talent and attitude that is natural. Our most important job in terms of winning games is to develop our players’ on-court abilities and skills so that we can put the team on the floor that has the best players. In addition to developing basketball skills you can work to improve their athleticism, and to develop their mental toughness to handle the competition and pressures of a basketball season. You must implement a year round program to develop your players’ skills place both during the season and out of your games season.

We have a plan to develop mental toughness in our players that includes defining what it is and what it is not, not allowing anyone in the program to use or accept excuses, not accepting moping, pouting, or poor body language, and rehearsing in practice any and all pressure situations we might encounter in a game. That is not to say that we can simulate the pressure of a game in practice, but I feel that if we have rehearsed it in practice, it gives the player confidence that they have a plan of attack for the games.

#4 Develop, implement, and teach systems for team play that fit your players’ abilities and strengths.

Your system of play must take into account not only what each player does well, but also your depth, what it will take to win in your conference, against your schedule, and in season ending tournament play.
This is something that our staff works on throughout the year, but once we have selected the team, it is time to tweak and implement our system of play around the abilities of our players. It is an ongoing process throughout the regular season. We do not make wholesale adjustments, but will add in wrinkles, or subtract things that aren’t working as well as we thought they would when we included them as a part of our scheme.

This is a philosophical decision that you must make as a coach, but my philosophy is that we are going to utilize systems of play and structure our areas that we emphasize in practice, that give us the best chance to advance in our season-ending state tournament. As an example, if we know we’re going to have to beat a team that runs flex in our first round of the state tournament, then without telling our players what we were doing, we will practice defending the flex all season long. If our pack defense gives us the best chance of winning in the sectional, that is what we play during the season and work at daily. We do not play other styles of defense during the regular season even if they might be effective against one or two regular-season foes.

I refer to this role as team development because not only does it involve our offensive and defensive systems, but it includes team building and team chemistry as well. You’re not going to be able to reach your potential as a team unless there is a cohesion and camaraderie among the players. As coaches we can influence that togetherness of our team by the attitudes that we exhibit and instill in our players, the team building activities that we do, and the emphasis that we put on it.

#5: Assign roles that best fit each players within the system, work to keep them in those roles, and redefine roles as players change or the needs of the team change.

Deciding how each player, each assistant coach, and each manager is going to help the team and then working with that team member to coach them and make them better in that role is a crucial part of your job. Providing those roles in writing in players and coaches notebooks is a very clear way of giving the direction they need to get started. But, just as important as having a plan to get started is your ability to have a plan to evaluate how each person is performing his or her role, how to keep them within their role and what to do if they grow out of that role.

#6: Intentional professional development for the entire coaching staff.

With all of the daily responsibilities that a coaching staff has during the regular season, it is very tough to spend any time on staff development. Just like you ask your players to work on their game during the improvement season, the coaching staff also needs to sharpen their skills. There are five areas for each coach to work on and that coaches should have an individual development plan, just like players have an individual workout plan. The five areas to develop are:

Technical Knowledge of the game of Basketball.
Ability to teach the game of Basketball.
Ability to bond a team.
Ability to develop players’ individual skills.
Leadership Skills

Create a coordinated development plan as a staff, so that you have different coaches working in different areas and can share their information so that everyone benefits from each other’s work.

Area of Focus #7: Promoting the basketball program as a whole and the players individually.

We don’t do complicated things, but strive to build relationships between our players and our community. The main thing is that you are working to create interest in and present your program in the best possible light.

We have a simple web site promoting our program that we email a link to for potential college recruiters as well as media members. We write a basic pre-season media guide to hand out at games. We run a summer youth camp and involve our players as instructors. Each summer we hold a one day father/son one day clinic on the Saturday before Father’s Day. We have an autograph night during the season where our players stay in the gym to sign autographs for anyone who is interested. We schedule all of these a year in advance so that we have the facilities and administrative blessings that we need.

We keep a resume for each player of his best games and honors such as player of the game, etc… to use to nominate them for post season honors and scholarships as well as to provide to potential college recruiters.

The key to the success in these seven areas, and ultimately your basketball team and program is your ability to visualize what you want in each of the seven key result areas, write long range, yearly, monthly, and daily goals and tasks, and then implement them through the work of everyone in your program.

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Best X’s & O’s of 2015 NCAA Tournament

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:16:00 +0000

Post First Published On http://youtu.be/dgcWue8sIx0

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Princeton Offense

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:16:00 +0000

Post First Published On http://youtu.be/8jB8HWPlehM

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Princeton Chin Set

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:16:00 +0000

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Coaching the Princeton Offense for Basketball

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:16:00 +0000

Post First Published On http://youtu.be/7LEIuI6nTGQ

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Tennessee Competitive Practices

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:16:00 +0000

Post First Published On http://www.coachingtoolbox.net/practice/tennessee-competitive-practices.html

Clinic Notes from:

These are some of the notes presented by Dean Lockwood at a PGC/Glazier Basketball Coaching Clinic. Dean has been an assistant in the Tennessee Women’s Program for 12 years. He was also an assistant in their men’s program for 5 years. In between those stints at Tennessee, he has been the men’s head coach at Saginaw Valley State, and Northwood University.

If you want the best in basketball education, then you need to attend the PGC/Glazier Basketball Clinics this Spring! They’ve changed the coaching clinic game forever with more topics, superior speakers, and a staff pass that includes unlimited coaches from your school. The dates for this fall are:

2016 Fall Clinic Dates are Posted!

September 16-18, Atlanta
September 16-18, Northern Virginia/D.C.
September 30-October 2, Dallas
September 30-October 2, Los Angeles

Thoughts on Competitive Practices

It takes more time and thought to plan practice to make it as competitive as possible.

Players must be held accountable for competing, but it is the coaching staff’s responsibility to set the tone.
The UT staff will not accept a player not competing–it is one of their non-negotiables
What do your players say are the most important things in your program? At Tennessee one of those things is competing.
Competition is valued highly at UT because we all compete in life almost every day.
Competitors are harder and harder to find and to create.

Establish competition in practice early and be consistent.
Tennessee starts competitive drills and games the first day of practice
Emphasize supporting the players through the competition
Be precise and demanding about how you want your players to compete–specific time and score
Your entire staff must know what you are looking for

Competitive drills help to keep players from hiding in practice
Have something on the line a lot
Competitions keep the coaches from always being the “Bad Guy”
Don’t stop a competitive drill to correct a mistake.
Don’t stop the masses for the one–you can get that on player with a coach for your teaching

Competitive drills promote “readiness.” There is a difference between readiness and preparation
Always recognize selfless acts made for the benefit of the team–example a screen that leads to a shot. Show
appreciation and respect for outstanding efforts. Include those types of plays in your film breakdowns.

Utilize peer pressure within your team
Have no more than 2 areas of emphasis for a drill. Everyone runs on unmet goals of emphasis. It is a team thing.
No missed lines on sprints.
Place a time on all running
Put pressure on seniors and veterans when their team loses in scrimmage or drills
If the first team is beating the second team in a scrimmage, switch scores and force the first unit to play from behind.

Put your best player with the 2nd team. Helps your first team practice playing without him or her, makes the scrimmage more competitive, and raises the level of play for your second unit.
Every competitive game is charted and winners get marks on a scoreboard in the locker room.

Some ideas for competitive drills.

Warm Up Drills: set a standard of execution. For example, if you run 5 star passing or a similar drill, set a specific number of passes that must be thrown and caught correctly and with no fumbles. If there is an error, start over. In layup drills, each player must make 2 from each side so that there are no misses–12 player team must make 48 consecutive layups or start over. You can come up with similar standards for your drills.

50 Pass DrillDrill is to work on passing, catching, spacing, cutting. Defense can do anything regarding denying, switching, trapping. Players cannot make consecutive passes back and forth to each other except for a give and go. The offense is not allowed to dribble. No shots are taken except layups. The offense scores 1 point for each completed pass and 10 points for a made layup. With a turnover or the rebound of a missed layup attempt, the teams change who is on offense and who is on defense. The first team to 50 wins.

Spurs Drill: Starts 5 on 5 Half Court. If the offense scores, they keep the ball in the half court and play against the same defense. If the defense makes a stop, play it out in transition to the basket on the other end of the court. If that teams scores in transition, they get the ball in halfcourt and if they score, they keep and stay in half court. Play to a specific score that you establish.

Attack Cut Throat: Play Cut Throat, but the team coming on to offense sprints to half court. Tennessee plays it this way to promote an attacking offensive mentality and to prevent a back it out and set it up mentality.

Start at 2 Drill: To work on valuing each possession. It is a short, but intense game. Half court offense. The score starts at 2. Each basket or foul is a plus one for the offense. The defense gets a minus one for a stop. If the score of the drill gets to 4, the offense wins. If the score gets to 0, the defense wins. There is a consequence for the losing team such as running.

PGC/Glazier Basketball Clinics is a preferred partner of The Coaching Toolbox

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Basketball Practice Drills – Peer Pressure Team Warmup

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:16:00 +0000

Post First Published On http://youtu.be/g_05JLuuXZs

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Australia – Point PTP Sprint

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:16:00 +0000

Post First Published On http://www.coachingtoolbox.net/plays/australia-point-ptp-sprint.html

This play was run by Australia in the Olympics and then diagrammed and contributed by Wes Kosel to the FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library.

You can also find out more about FastModel Play Diagramming software by clicking this link: FastDraw

Wes Kosel is an assistant men’s coach at Augustana University

You might not want to use the plays that I post in their entirety, but my hope is that you can take parts of the plays and use them where they fit for your system.

This is what Coach Kosel said about the play:

Australia uses a pick the picker action in this play with a cross screen / down screen combination. If nothing is there, the big sprints out to set a ball screen.

1 dribbles off of a high ball screen from 5.

2 screens for 4.

5 rolls into a down screen for 2.

1 passes to 2.

4 sprints out to set a ball screen for 2.

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Basketball Skills with Kevin Eastman

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 06:57:00 +0000

10 KEY TEACHING POINTS IN DEVELOPING BASKETBALL SKILLSBasketball coaches love to attend clinics. I hope this is a mini-basketball clinic for you. This is a collection of three sets of basketball coaching notes that I took down from a clinic. For some reason, when they were copied it put them in all caps. I hope that is not a problem. These notes are from Kevin Eastman of the LA Clippers and are an excellent reminder of some concepts that many coaches have heard before, but maybe just need a quick refresher. IT’S A GAME OF INCHES: ATTACK ANKLES ATTACK HIPS

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Post Up: 3 Reasons It Still Works

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Sun, 07 Aug 2016 23:06:00 +0000

Post Up: 3 Reasons It Still WorksOne of my basketball ‘pet peeves’ is being invited to a gym and seeing less and less emphasis on the post up. Players are posting up less and less and it’s a shame. The post up in basketball has almost become like a lost art, going from essential to almost non-existent. However, to me the post up is still essential to the game of basketball and here are a 3 reasons why.1. It makes ‘the two easy points’ even easier Everyone knows that the easiest shot in basketball is the layup. The whole point of

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Raising Basketball IQ Part 3 – What Causes Player Stupidity?

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 01:18:00 +0000

Raising Basketball IQ Part 3 Have you ever wondered why some players just do not seem to be able to grasp any concept that you teach, why do they always look dumbfounded when you are talking to them and end up doing the complete opposite of what you told them to do? Or better yet, the exact same thing they did last time that you just told them not do do????? This can cause a ton of frustration for both the player and the coach. As the coach you can become frustrated or angry with the player, give up on

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5 Best Basketball Coaching Websites

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Sun, 21 Feb 2016 04:29:00 +0000

5 Best Basketball Coaching Websites

Where to find basketball coaching insight on the web...

1. BasketballInsight.com - I am part-owner of this site, so we are still working on it along with FastModel Sports. We use their playbook software to create some excellent playbooks. Please take a look at the site and join the weekly mailing list. Also, there is a YouTube channel with over 250 NBA, NCAA, and FIBA basketball offense breakdowns. The YouTube channel is here. Follow us on twitter at @hoopsinsight.

2. CoachPrincetonBasketball.com - this site offers the Princeton Basketball Offense in a detailed 200 page ebook with all of the sets and plays. In addition, it has practice drills and breakdown basketball drills for the offense. There is also a 10 minute video with the package. I highly recommend this Princeton Offense Basketball Package at the affordable price of only $30. There are also 2 free extras included. In addition, there is a YouTube channel with a lot of the sample plays broken down. Click here for the Princeton Offense YouTube Channel.

3. Basketballforcoaches.com - Coach Mac does a great job on his blog of breaking down a lot of popular offenses and defenses. The aim of his site is for coaches that:

You want to make a positive impact on the next generation of basketball players.
You want to learn drills that will skyrocket your teams development.
You want to learn plays that will get your team easy scoring opportunities.
You want to take your basketball coaching to the next level.

Just like players, we coaches need to constantly strive to improve our coaching abilities and knowledge of the game. That’s what this website is going to provide for you.
If this sounds like you, then you’ve come to the right place.

4. Coachingtoolbox.net - Brian Williams has been a basketball coach for a long time and does a great job collecting and sharing resources in his daily newsletter. His emails are timely and free. They are packed full of basketball coaching insights, basketball plays, basketball drills, and other special tools to help basketball coaches win more games. I recommend joining his mailing list as soon as possible.

5. Coachesclipboard.net - James Gels has an excellent collection of basketball resources for all coaches. Please check his site out if you want to join his mailing list or if you are interested in tons of free basketball resources. His site is a gold mine of basketball drills, basketball plays, and includes breakdowns of popular NBA and NCAA basketball offenses and defenses. If you are looking for information about the Princeton Basketball Offense or the Dribble Drive Offense then this is an excellent resource.

These five basketball coaching websites are excellent tools to use in your coaching career. Best of luck to you and please let me know if I can be of assistance. Thank you.

How to Practice Peer Pressure Free Throws

noreply@blogger.com (basketballcoachesclub) — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 04:56:00 +0000

After about one hour of hard Peer Pressure Drills, when the team is in a lather of sweat and breathing hard we put 5 minutes on the scoreboard clock. Managers bring out a table with several different refreshing cold drinks such as Gatorade and cold soft drinks plus room temperature water. We set this up at half court. We ask our players to MAKE 5 free throws in a row shooting 2 at a time and rotating. We have 15 players and use only three baskets. We turn on the scoreboard clock and if you make 5 in a row you get your choice of refreshment. If you don’t make the five in a row, you only get water. When the buzzer goes off after 5 minutes have run off we go into our next Peer Pressure Drill which has to do with Rebounding and it is very demanding and tests their aggressiveness. About 30 minutes later we will repeat the 5 minute Peer Pressure Free Throw drill. A few minutes later we put 3 minutes on the board and they have to make 2 in a row to get a Gatorade or soft drink. I have found some coaches say go shoot 20 free throws or make 10 free throws. There is no accountability. There is no reward or punishment, which leads to no concentration. Our way teaches players to FOCUS on the task. Make 5 in a row. There is a correlation between making free throws and personal accountability every day, three times per practice. There is also subtle peer pressure to keep up with teammates who are taking part in the reward with a cold beverage. Our team has always shot well from the free throw line and I believe that those two 5-minute peer pressure drills teach them to shoot free throws under game-like situations. They have to focus on each shot in order to get a reward.

Rub Rip (Lawrence Frank Set Play)

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Collins) — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 23:45:00 +0000

www.bestbasketballnotes.blogspot.com www.scoutinghoops.com

While Lawrence Frank may not be currently employed as an NBA coach, his X's and O's acumen cannot be questioned. This is a basic rub set that he used to run when he was head coach of the New Jersey Nets. Coming down out of transition he had his point guard cross sides of the floor (already shown in the diagram) to give his point guard an attack right out of the gate.

Transition looks:
1) Pass ahead layup
2) Pass ahead hitting the rim runner
3) Pass ahead pick and roll
4) Rub series out of transition.

The very first diagram shows the basic rub set. Off of that look is a play called Rub Rip (the Rip call signifying a pick and roll).

The 3 man then looks to set a for backscreen for the 4 man who looks for a layup. The ball is then passed up for 3 who can bomb if he is open.

If he is not open for the shot, he comes off of a ballscreen from the 5 man. The 4 man replaces and the 2 man fills to the corner.

Coaches,

Remember that while it is always important to find the next best set, it is MORE important that the sets you run put your players in the best position to score, and what is MOST important is that your players are developing their skills to enhance their ability. Hopefully you enjoyed this post, if you did or did not let me know! If you have any request please message me on Twitter and I will happily post what you are looking for.

Have an excellent Easter and enjoy the start of the NBA playoffs!

@jacobcollins34

Final Four Coaches Spotlight: Billy D-Utilizing the 3pt shot

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Collins) — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 22:05:00 +0000

www.bestbasketballnotes.blogspot.com www.scoutinghoops.com

In part of a continuing series by looking at some of the pet sets of coaches in the Final Four, today we look at Billy Donovan. Coach Donovan was immortalized as a player by utilizing the 3pt shot to propel Providence to the Final Four. As a coach, he has put an emphasis on 1) utilizing the 3pt shot on the offense and 2) not allowing the 3pt shot when on defense. Here are two plays that Billy D has utilized this season and in the past to get an open 3 pointer.

This first set is a pick and roll counter to free up a stretch 4, or to hit the 3 man for an open jumper in the corner.

This play is to free up the 2 guard for an open jumper, although you could easily run it to the opposite side for the 3 man. This play is great and really forces the defense to make some tough decisions on what they guard.

Coaches, hope you enjoy these plays and the Final Four action this weekend!

Want these plays on your FastDraw? Contact me on twitter (@jacobcollins34) and I would be more than happy to email them to you directly.

Final Four Coaches Spotlight

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Collins) — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 20:45:00 +0000

www.bestbasketballnotes.blogspot.com www.scoutinghoops.com

In reviving the posts and interest in Basketball Coaches' Club, I feel like the best way to re-energize the site is by taking time to look at some of the plays that got us to where we are: the Final Four. Bo Ryan, Billy Donovan, John Calipari, and Kevin Ollie all have different styles and have found success in many different ways.

This play is from Kentucky coach John Calipari and it has been used several times this postseason, often several possessions in a row. It is based on the ability to get a strong drive into the paint, from multiple players. It begins in a Horns set, by setting a ballscreen for attacking point guard Andrew Harrison. He comes hard off the screen looking to attack the rim, with the 5 man looking for a lob or duck in off of the roll. Julius Randle, the 4 man pops to the top of the key, to receive a pass from Harrison. He now looks to create by following Harrison's drive, by using his strong hand, size, speed, and strength to get to the rack.

Coaches if you have FastDraw, feel free to contact me on twitter (@jacobcollins34) so I can get your e-mail to FastTrade you these plays! Enjoy!

Princeton Offense Breakdown: Chin Series

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:08:00 +0000

This is the first in a basketball clinic series where we will break down the Princeton Offense and we begin with the popular Chin series. There are many variations of this play and it is ran at every level including the NBA. Buy the ebook with the entire offense including side out of bounds and press breaks here for $30 Princeton Offense Ebook or for more information about this ebook, read here

Frame 1: Chin begins with a dribble weave on the strongside between the 1 and the 3 takes the handoff and dribbles back to the guard position. On the weakside, the 2 and the 4 exchange. The post fills the strongside elbow.

•Frame 2: The 3 and the 4 pass across the top as the 4 passes the ball to the 2 on the wing.

COACHES POINT: 3 does not cut off 5 until ball leaves the 4. If the 2 is denied then 4 has the opportunity to dribble at 2 for the backdoor cut.

This is the start of the screening action that makes this play successful. 5 sets a backscreen for 3 cutting to the rim for a layup then immediately goes to set a flare screen for the 4. 2 looks for 3 for the layup or the 4 man off the flare screen

• Frame 3: If the 2 has no passing options then the ball is dribbled up back to the guard spot. The 1 fills the guard spot to receive the ball. The 4 after the flare cut, finishes the cut to the rim looking for the ball, then fills the wing position vacated by 1. The 3 fills up to the wing spot.

• Frame 4: The action continues to the other side as the ball is reversed from the 2 to the 1 to the 4. The 2 makes a weakside UCLA cut off the 5 to the rim looking to score.

The continuity continues until a shot is taken or a shift to another phase.

Building Positive Relationships with Your Players

noreply@blogger.com (CoachMMonroe) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:09:00 +0000

By Matt Monroe, Sophomore Boys’ Basketball Coach, St. Patrick High School (IL)

An essential part of coaching is building relationships. We, as coaches, spend a lot of time diagramming plays and developing new drills, but we don’t spend enough time trying to figure out how to better foster relationships with our players. The greatest compliment a coach can receive is “his/her players will run through a brick wall for him/her.” The question is: how do coaches develop strong enough relationships with their players that drive such a spirit?

1. Show them that you care.
Always remind your players that you care about them. You must show them that you understand their condition, that you always have their best interests in mind, and that they can trust you. Understand that developing relationships with your players transcends basketball. You must show interest in their lives off the court – ask them about their day, their families, or how their classes are going. If your players feel that you are invested in them as people, they will buy into you as a coach. Don’t just tell your players that you care, show them!

2. Be their friend, not their “buddy.”
Make sure that your players feel that you are approachable. Have fun with them, and at times joke around to show your lighter side. Develop a relationship with your players so that they feel that they can confide in you during times of crisis or so that they feel compelled to share with you when something good happens in their lives. Even with all of this, remember that you are not their “buddy.” There needs to be a figurative line in place that maintains the distinction between player and coach. If you become their “buddy,” you will lose their respect as a coach and authoritative figure.

3. Give them ownership.
It’s very important to give your players ownership in your team and your program. You and your staff will make all of the major decisions and will have the final say, but it is important to get as much player input as possible. You can create a sense of ownership by trying the following:
- Ask them to decide on a team shoe or other gear.
- Get their opinion on the summer tournaments your program is in.
- Find out what the “pulse” of the team is at various points throughout the year. Ask them how they feel about their team.
- Have your players construct some team rules.
- Have players fill out a program and/or team questionnaire.
- Ask players to share their “scouting report” of another team or player if they know pertinent information about your opponent.
- There are a wide variety of options that you can use. Be creative!
- If your players feel like they have stock in your program, the success of your team becomes more important to them.

4. Remember that it’s about them.
Don’t lose sight of your purpose as a coach. If you got into coaching to make money or gain professional notoriety, then you are in it for all of the wrong reasons. Your primary purpose as a coach is to help your players develop positively as players and as young men and women. It should be about THEM. If you make it as such, players won’t have to be reminded too often that you have their best interests in mind.

5. We and us, not me and I.
You must try to talk in the form of “we” and “us” and try to avoid always referencing “me” and “I.” It’s OUR team, OUR loss, OUR big win. WE need to get better. OUR man scored. WE need to take better shots. If you speak in terms of “we” and “us,” it will help bring everyone together to reach common goals.

6. Reinforce good habits and actions.
Don’t always comment on the negative. Make sure you always reinforce the positive. This can be very difficult to do at times, but make sure you make an attempt. Coaches who are too negative often times will “lose” their players.

Relationship building can be very difficult to accomplish successfully. It takes up a lot of time and effort and requires much patience. Sometimes the process won’t always go the way you think it should or want it to. Even with all of the work and struggle that it may be, you must always attempt to develop positive relationships with your players. Without the foundation of positive relationships with your athletes, even the best of coaching will fall on deaf ears.

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