Pat Williams has spent nearly his entire professional career as an NBA executive with several different teams. Here are some of his thoughts on assembling teams with promoting team chemistry in mind as written in his book Extreme Dreams depend on Teams:

Make sure you’ve got some confident yet coachable high-talent leaders, some risk takers and slam dunkers, some skilled yet humble role players, some motivators and cheerleaders, and some tough minded spark plugs. Assemble a well rounded, well balanced mix of skills and temperaments.

Your goal is to assemble a cohesive group of people who represent a diversity of skills, personality types, temperaments, and points of view – but who share an absolute unity of purpose. Once you achieve that, you’ve got chemistry. You’ve got a platoon of people who are ready to go to war for one another.

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Brian Tracy is considered to be one of the leading personal productivity experts in the country. I received the following advice in a newsletter emailed from www.briantracy.com and thought I would share it since many of us are in the process of setting preseason team and individual goals

Seven Steps to Success
There is a powerful seven step formula that you can use to set and achieve your goals for the rest of your life. Every single successful person uses this formula or some variation of this formula to achieve vastly more than the average person. And so can you. Here it is:

Decide What You Want
Step number one, decide exactly what it is you want in each part of your life. Become a “meaningful specific” rather than a “wandering generality.”

Write it Down
Second, write it down, clearly and in detail. Always think on paper. A goal that is not in writing is not a goal at all. It is merely a wish and it has no energy behind it.

Set A Deadline
Third, set a deadline for your goal. A deadline acts as a “forcing system” in your subconscious mind. It motivates you to do the things necessary to make your goal come true. If it is a big enough goal, set sub-deadlines as well. Don’t leave this to chance.

Make A List
Fourth, make a list of everything that you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal. When you think of new tasks and activities, write them on your list until your list is complete.

Organize Your List
Fifth, organize your list into a plan. Decide what you will have to do first and what you will have to do second. Decide what is more important and what is less important. And then write out your plan on paper, the same way you would develop a blueprint to build your dream house.

Take Action
The sixth step is for you to take action on your plan. Do something. Do anything. But get busy. Get going.

Do Something Every Day
Do something every single day that moves you in the direction of your most important goal at the moment. Develop the discipline of doing something 365 days each year that is moving you forward. You will be absolutely astonished at how much you accomplish when you utilize this formula in your life every single day.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to put these ideas into action immediately.

First, decide exactly what you want, write it down with a deadline, make a plan and take action – on at least one goal – today!

Second, determine the price you will have to pay to achieve this goal and then get busy paying that price – whatever it is.

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Geoff Colvin has written a great book called Talent is Overrated that has tremendous application for all basketball coaches and players. If you don’t have time to buy and read the entire book, you can get a very thorough summary of it at Summaries.com. The following excerpt is taken from that summary.

KEY ELEMENTS AND ATTRIBUTES OF DELIBERATE PRACTICE

The key elements and attributes of Deliberate Practice

#2 – REPEATED A LOT

Deliberate practice involves doing something so many times in practice you can perform flawlessly in the heat of competition. Top performers repeat their practice activities an awe-inspiring number of times. Ted Williams, the greatest hitter in the history of baseball, would keep practicing until his hands bled. Professional golfer Moe Norman, who played from the 1950s to the 1970s, hit eight hundred golf balls a day, five days a week from age sixteen to thirty-two when he retired.

“The most effective deliberate practice activities are those which can be repeated at high volume”. – Geoff Colvin

In other words, just practicing is not enough. In order to be effective, practice needs to be deliberate, thought out, and purposeful and it needs to involve skill work that can be repeated over and over and over. How do your practice sessions and individual workouts measure up?

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It’s pretty common for coaches to tell their players to get into the gym and work on the weakest parts of their game. But is that really great advice? Anson Dorrance, the women’s soccer coach at the University of North Carolina, and possibly the most successful coach in NCAA team sport history, had this to say about aspiring to greatness in his book Vision of a Champion. It certainly applies to basketball players of all ages.

A lot of players focus on correcting weaknesses, but as any good coach will tell you, to develop into a great player you have to highlight your strengths.

That doesn’t mean that you stop working on your weaknesses, but you want to focus on getting even better at what you’re already good at. Seek to become truly excellent in a t least one or two areas of the game. After all, what sets you apart is what makes you great to begin with.

If you are going to rise to the highest possible level, you need at least one quality that permits you to dominate in some aspect of the game.

So the next time to head to the gym work on your weaknesses but don’t neglect your strengths!

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I was watching a video recently entitled The Pick, Pop, and Roll Offense, which is produced by 5 Star and features NBA assistant Scott Adubato. I thought the tape was going to talk about a specific offense but instead it was a very thorough discussion of the pick and roll and all its many options.

According to Coach Adubato, the pick and roll, which is basketball’s oldest and still most widely used offensive action is effective for four main reasons:

1. It forces the defense to make quick decisions
2. It causes mismatches which result in match up problems for the defense
3. Gets defensive players in foul trouble
4. It forces defenses into rotations and eventually into scrambling to recover

These four things are what we  should be looking for in any offense. Now I must admit that the pick and roll hasn’t been a huge part of our offensive playbook but after watching this tape I am going to make some additions. You might want to think about doing the same!

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Pete Newell was once asked, “What is the key to good coaching?” to which he replied, “Good players.” Rarely, if ever have we seen a team win a championship – at any level – with a roster where all players were average. It is certainly possible to have a very good basketball team without a “go to” player, but not a championship team. Basketball is a game of plays, especially on offense. Players make plays. All the coach can do is devise a system where players receive the ball in a position where they have an advantage that may enable them to score, But it is the player that ultimately has to make that play.

Taken from Playing Big by Pete Newell and Swen Nater

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If you are practicing at home and plan to play competitively, this is a must read article.  I’m going to go over the top things to watch out for when practicing in your driveway that might cause you to do things such as short arm shots, overshoot the basket, go in slow for lay-ups and bank shots way too hard off the backboard.

This article has been contributed by Mr. Basketball @produnkhoops, a product specialist at Pro Dunk Hoops which specializes in premium adjustable basketball goals.  He has over 6 years of experience in the industry and is the second generation in the family-owned company.

• Sloping Driveway

If your driveway slopes, you’re not playing at a 10 foot rim height.  There is not a great solution for this other than pouring a dedicated court in your backyard.  The poor man’s solution if you have an adjustable basketball goal is make marks on the adjustment mechanism with notes.  For example … “Left Wing,” “Deep Center” and so on and so forth.  If you’re practicing shots at these locations, adjust the system up or down to your mark.

Now, to figure out how off you are, you’ll need a 2×4, level and shim.  Take the board and place one end underneath the basket and the other end where you’ll be shooting from.  Put the level on the top and shim the board until it’s level. Measure the height of the shim and adjust the basketball goal accordingly.  Make your new mark and now you have an accurate rim height from that sport!

• Minimal Overhang

The distance from the baseline to the front of the backboard is 4 feet in regulation play.  Most driveway setups are nowhere near this.  This causes players to slow WAY down when running in for a lay-up because they don’t want to hit the pole and they don’t want to roll their ankle in the grass.  This can have detrimental effects in actual game play.

The solution, make sure you have a basketball goal with a good amount of overhang (3 feet or greater) and then install the pole as close to your driveway as possible.  If your system is already installed off the driveway, think about pouring a little concrete as a “runway” so you don’t have to worry about running into the grass.  Also, try to find some padding for your pole so you’re not as worried about running into it.

• Inaccurate Striping

If your free throw line is off a few inches, what do you think will happen to your FT% in games?  Make sure your striping is accurate.  If you’re going off of a crack in the concrete, double check it.  This is a big problem for those that have portable basketball goals as it’s hard to get it in the same spot each time.  To help remedy this, mark the exact placement of the base so that your striping is accurate each time you roll the hoop out.

• Plastic Backboard

Bank shots are great.  You can get the ball over defenders more easily and you can soften running jumpers increasing your FG% (Just ask Dwyane Wade).  If you have an acrylic or poly-carbonate backboard, you are doing yourself a giant disservice if your practicing bank shots at home.  The plastics rebound the ball 40% less than tempered glass (used in gymnasiums).  Upgrade your basketball goal or do not practice bank shots at home if you do not have a tempered glass backboard.  Make sure, if you do upgrade, that the tempered glass backboard is 1/2 inch thick as this is regulation and rebounds 9% better than thinner alternatives.

A driveway basketball goal can be the best training aid you’ll ever invest in.  It can also destroy your game in the gym if you’re not careful.  I hope these tips will help you improve your game right at home.

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While looking through my files I found this article written by Coach Kathy Toon and it certainly has applications for coaches and players everywhere:

“Do you want your athletes to believe in themselves? Easier for some than others. Why is this such a struggle for some of us?

I’m re-reading Noah St. John’s book The Secret Code of Success. St John talks about our “head trash” or the subconscious roadblocks that keep folks from acting on their real hopes and dreams. His “fun-house mirror” concept explained why some of my most talented athletes unconsciously sabotaged their own success.

Remember what it is like to look into a fun-house mirror? What happened? You’d see a weird, distorted view of yourself. It kind of looked like you, yet it wasn’t you.

Looking back at my coaching career I now see how some of my players were raised with fun-house mirrors. The self-image reflected back to them growing up was distorted. They failed to receive accurate information about who they really are. This negative reflection formed the basis of the “head trash” they are still carrying around.

It’s the little voice in their head that says things like:

“You’re not good enough”

“If only you had more talent”

“What were you thinking?”What’s missing for these athletes is a true reflection of their real self or what St. John calls a “Loving Mirror.” A loving mirror is a person who gives unconditional support – sounds like a good coach to me. Nearly every successful person has someone in their life who believed in them when they didn’t believe in themselves.

St. John summarizes the evolution of success into the following stages:

Someone believes in you.

You believe in someone.

You believe in you.

So instead of telling our athletes to believe in themselves, we need to start with believing in them! Look for greatness within each of your athletes, find the things they may never see in themselves. Encourage them: “I know you can do it,” “I see a great leader inside of you,” etc.

Remember, according to St John:

Human beings perform best in an environment of unconditional support. That happens when someone looks at you and sees your full capacity, potential, and greatness. That person knows that you can do it, and holds you to it.”

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While the Run and Jump is primarily a full court pressing system, it can also be run effectively in the half court as well. In 2006 Coach Jim Larranaga used a Run and Jump style half court defense that he called the “Scramble” to lead George Mason University to the NCAA Final Four. (Coach Larranaga has since moved on to the University of Miami)

In the Scramble, the on-ball defender picks up the ballhandler full court and attempts to turn him at least three times before he crosses half court. Once the ball crosses half court the defense executes one of two tactics that are called “Thumbs Up” or “Thumbs Down.”

In “Thumbs Up” the nearest off ball defender rushes the ballhandler just like he would when handling a clear out situation during a full court Run and Jump. Other defenders rotate and look for a possible steal. If the next pass is downward, towards the basket, the trapper follows the ball and sets a second trap. If the pass is horizontal, the defenders fall back and match up with an offensive man once again.

In “Thumbs Down” the trap is going to be set on the first pass receiver in the front court. Since the first pass is usually made to a wing player, the on-ball defender’s goal is to actually beat the pass to the wing. From there, all the principles and rotations are exactly the same as the ones used in the full court Run and Jump. As in “Thumbs Up” the trapper (the original on-ball defender) will rotate off and set a second trap on any downward passes.

This defense can be extremely disruptive by itself but if combined or alternated with the full court Run and Jump, the results could be lethal to the offense!

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A prerequisite to being successful is first understanding the requirements. A great way to do this is to first identify what other successful coaches have done and follow their example. Basketball Coach Bruce Weber includes his list of 10 factors that every team HAS to do in order to be successful in his DVD Mastering the 5 Man Motion:

1. Give your players high goals

2. Players must focus on team goals

3. Everyone must be willing to share and pass the ball

4. Athletes must accept, take pride in, and excel in their individual roles

5. Make the simple play

6. Must LOVE to WIN and HATE to LOSE

7. Find players who are coachable

8. Play defense

9. Work on individual improvement every day

10. Compete every day

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