When you are a rookie coach the best thing to learn and understand is defense. If you can keep a team from scoring and can get your team focused on playing good defense then you’ll be in every game.

Here are some principles to remember when working as a first time coach or younger players:

1. TEACH MAN TO MAN: Don’t allow yourself to fall into the trap of a zone defense. It is easy to coach and kids love playing it but when they are younger they view it as an excuse to be lazy. Bad things will happen early on and later when you realize you made a mistake and have to go to the man to man defense. Kids will pick zone over man most of the time and they’ll learn bad habits.

2. Stop the ball: The player with the ball is always more important than a player who doesn’t have it. Now don’t teach the kids to all attack the basketball, but they have to learn early on that if a man is driving to the basket they need to let their man go and try to stop the ball.

3. Understanding Help: Each player should understand that he/she needs to be ready at all times to play help defense. If the ball is on the baseline you don’t want your kids chasing a guy at half court for no reason. The principle needs to be taught that if a player needs help then you need to be able to help him and stop the ball.

4. Know where the basket is: How many times do young players completely lose sight of where they are on the floor? I see it all the time. They don’t know where the basket is in relation to where the player they are guarding is. The basic rule is to form an imaginary triangle between the ball the man and the basket at all times.

5. Run the shell drill: In practice run a shell drill with the defense guarding players on the outside who only pass or dribble but never shoot. The players will learn that the defense should move as a whole unit. Have the offensive players pass the ball on the outside and teach them principles like help preparation or denying a pass to the wing. The Shell will give your players knowledge that is practical for beginning basketball players.

There you go. I know it is a little short and I’ve written entire articles on the subjuect at www.hoopskills.com that you can reference also.

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The turnover is the single largest reason for a team getting beat in my opinion. A turnover creates a possession where no shot could be attempted and without shots you can’t score or at least at last check.

What can coaches do to help eliminate the issue or problem of turnovers? I’ve got some ideas that I’ll share that will help cut them down because they’ll never be eliminated completely.

1. Analyze the error: Was it a mental error that caused the turnover? Physical? Some players turn the ball over because they don’t know the play or they pass the ball too early. Some players turn the ball over because they put themselves in a bad spot by jumping in the air to pass and get in trouble. So many different things are done to turn the ball over that, as a coach, it is your job to judge and find out what is going on there. I believe most turnovers are mental. I lump emotional in with mental because mental laziness is the main cause.

2. NEVER punish a player for a turnover where full effort and focus was being done. We’ve all seen this or have been a part of it. No player should be punished by being taken out of the game when he turns the ball over while going hard and playing focused. No player wants to be looking over their shoulder the entire game whenever a mistake is made. Mistakes will be made but more mistakes will be made when players are playing scared or tentative. Let players know up front that they won’t be taken out for a turnover that is made while playing hard and you’ll get maximum effort from your players.

3. Correcting turnovers is done through preparation that is mental and physical. It’s a mindset to truly value the basketball. The defense should exist to create turnovers and the offense to protect the ball. Players need to practice in environments where pressure defense is constant. Players need to be put in situations that make them uncomfortable so they can get used to it. Think of the first time someone guarded you full court and how uncomfortable it made you feel. When that happened to me the first time I just took the ball and went as fast as I could to the other end like it was a fast break. My coach had to pull me aside and tell me that they weren’t pressing, they were just playing full court defense. I had never practiced against that before so i made plenty of mistakes.

Players should be challenged in every area and that includes protecting the basketball. Don’t punish in practice when working on these situations, just teach and let the kids learn by experience. Throw at them situations that they’ve never seen before and let them fail. Then coach them and teach them. Don’t let them get down on themselves in these situations but let them fail and learn. Only punish/discipline for lack of effort that is mental and/or physical.

Working on these areas will help your team in a number of ways. This all seems so simple and self explanatory but some of these kids have never been taught the correct way and that’s why it is your job to make sure they know.

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I preach this as much as anything with young players and it doesn’t quite seem to resinate right away because it seems to be such a simple concept. Yet, I’ll watch a game of young players and see charge after charge and travel after travel. I’ll watch kids do jump passes and get up in the air with nowhere to go and I just cringe inside because all they needed to correctly learn was the jump stop.

With the jump stop all you are doing is taking a dribble and landing with both feet at the same time. But 4 things happen:

1. You land under control
2. You have a strong base
3. Still have the option to shoot or pass
4. You can get a lot of distance without dribbling

When a player lands under control it keeps them from charging or getting out of position. When on a fast break it is easy to jump stop and go right into your shot whether it be 2 feet or 20 feet. If you are going off one leg all the time you won’t shoot a high percentage. Imagine a player taking off from the 3 point line to shoot a shot because that what the alternative is really.

When you jump stop you land with your knees bent and a strong base is already in place. This allows you to go up strong if you are shooting a layup or a solid jump shot if you are shooting 15 feet out.

You can still pass the ball easily as well as shoot the ball from the jump stop but once you jump stop don’t jump in the air and get yourself in trouble.

Don’t forget that once you dribble and come to your jump stop that you can get a lot of distance from the dribble to the stop. IF I’m 10 feet from the hoop i can easily make it to the rim on 1 dribble and a jump stop. Practice doing this and you’ll see its advantages.

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For the last little while it has been a goal of ours to establish a basketball type academy online where parents, players and coaches can go to and get access to all sorts of content.  We took that goal and put it to reality this past week when we officially started Hoopskills Academy. 

I’m proud of it and we have some great stuff available for everyone.  Each month we will be adding new content with interviews, training videos and training articles from some of our experts.  We’ve already done interviews with Adrian Dantley, Henry Bibby and others and it’s all out there for our members.  The face of the site is Barry Hecker who is currently an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies and someone who has a real passion for basketball. 

In case you can’t tell I have a real honest love for the game of baskeball.  I’m a true junkie and I’ve always wanted to stay involved in the game somehow and this has been and is a great outlet for me.  I’ve done a large majority of the training videos and I can’t tell you how much fun it is to do and how much excitement I get from people emailing me and asking questions.  I love it and that excitement comes through to Hoopskills Academy.

You can come try the site for 14 days for $1.00 and I’d encourage you to give it a try. You won’t be disappointed and it is something that you will be able to use over and over again and get something new out of every time.

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I live by 4 basic principles when coaching basketball and this isn’t a new concept.  As I watched Coach Majerus, while he was at UTAH, prepare for teams I was amazed at how in depth he was.  I was amazed at how in detail he was with what was expected of his teams.  Any coach or player could learn from that.  I learned my own 4 part strategy that I preach to young coaches:

Tell ‘em: Show ‘em : Tell me: Show me

I use this even in my job today that is not basketball related, but when any person is in a situation where training is involved it is absolutely key that these 4 things apply or you’ll have to do it all over again. 

Tell ‘em:  Each player/team needs to be told in specific detail what is expected.  This includes drills, practice habits, offensive and defensive sets.  Everything.  You can’t be too detailed with the player in telling them what is expected of them in every situation.

Show ‘em: If physically able then show them what you want them to do so they can see it.  Some players are visual learners with others being audial learners.  By showing the players the correct way to run the offense/defense and everything else you’ll get both types of learners and satisfy them.

Tell me:  MAKE THE PLAYERS COMMUNICATE BACK TO YOU WHAT YOU TOLD THEM.  Ask them as a group or single them out.  Establish some accountability but make them talk to you about what is expected.

Show me:  Make the players show you everything that you taught them.  Make it be perfect or close to out.  Don’t allow short cuts or excuses when doing this part because if this is done right then you won’t have to take any more time teaching them a certain thing. 

Tell em, show em, tell me, show me…It’s a phrase that you should start to use a lot and be saying in your head over and over again when trying to get a point across to your players.

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I love watching good coaches in action because they get their teams to buy into the system and concept of a team.  As much as I enjoy watching Duke lose I still have to admit that Coach K is a genius at this and the best in basketball at doing this.  Here is a coach who has to turn McDonald’s All American talent into unselfish players in a short period of time and he does it with very little turnover within his program.  Coach K gets those kids to buy into the concept of team by getting players to accept the role that gives them the best chance to be successful.  It is great to watch.  I’ve broken it down into 4 real methods/steps for making this happen.

1.  Clearly explain the roles to the team.  Each players need to have his/her clearly defined for them.  What is to be expected and why.  This conversation needs to be completely blunt and honest with the selling point of the team’s success behind it.  The love for the player must be shared and the direction must be portrayed that for the team to be successful this player needs to accept the role that is outlined.  Explain that the role could change and if it does then another conversation will take place.

2.  Believe:  This is the most difficult of all the steps but the player needs to believe that his/her role is vital to the success of the team.  This can take a while because players don’t always buy into the role they are given.  This is when parents and outside influences step in and can hurt the psyche of the player.  Every good coach should have an open line of communication with the players because this stage is crucial for the success of the team.  Get the player to believe that they are important and you’ll be on your way.

3.  Acceptance of the role:  When the players have truly bought off on the roles that are given them then the team is ready to go.  This is where most teams will go on winning streaks and play in the zone.  One of the best examples of this recently was watching Illinois in 2005 with Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Luther Head.  Those 3 could’ve fought for the ball and points but instead they accepted the roles they were given and it led to an incredible run of success that season.  You can’t tell me that Deron Williams couldn’t have scored 25 a game in college.

Just some ideas for coaches to help their teams buy into the program.

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As young players grow up the need to develop a jump shot is apparent and necessary.  People naturally grown stronger and become better athletes thus making it harder and harder to get off a shot.  Something we are commonly asked is “What can I do to get my shot off quicker?”

Here’s a couple ways that players can get shots off quicker and none of them involve their actual release, they involve the feet and legs.

1:  Players need to be aware that a shot is available.  If you are a 3 point shooter and you sense that you are going to shoot the shot mentally then the next thing to do is get your body ready to shoot the shot.  When i was in 9th grade I could score points easily but I didn’t know a lot of the little things necessary to get my shot off against bigger, faster players.  It was when I started playing varsity ball that summer that i realized I would have to adapt.  Our team point guard dribbled into the key and set me up for a jump shot at 21 feet and it was a shot I had made a million times before.  I caught the ball and got set to shoot it but by the time I finally got ready I had a defender on me and I didn’t get the shot off.  During a time out the coach pulled me aside and showed me something I could do to get ready to shoot the ball quicker.  He showed me a simple hop.

Understand that there are 2 trains of thought and I’ll get to the 2nd one in a minute but by hopping while the pass was in the air I was ready to shoot the ball as soon as I landed.  I had lined up my front foot already by pointing it at the basket and had already squared my shoulders.  The next time the situation came up I was ready and hit the shot.  It took practice to get more comfortable with it but it made a world of difference for me.

#2:  1-2 step.  The 2nd train of thought is to avoid the hop and go straight to a 1-2 step.  This is done by aligning your body while the pass is in the air so that 1 foot lands before the other with the other coming down right after to propel you into the shot.  Your back foot comes down first and your shooting foot (same as shooting hand) comes down and allows you to correctly step into your shot.  That is called a 1-2 step when it comes to shooting the ball.  Some coaches love this because it allows the shooter to step into his shot or be able to quickly drive past a defender who is closing on the shooter quicker than expected. 

I do both and I teach both.  If I am shooting a shorter shot then I will take the hop but if i am shooting farther out I’ll use the 1-2 step because it allows me to use my legs more.  Others will feel the opposite and that is why this should be practiced until confidence is developed.

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When I was younger my father was very involved in my life. He got me involved in every basketball and baseball league that he could and it was a wonderful experience that a lot of kids simply don’t get to experience. Not only was I involved in local city/rec leagues, I was playing in other cities just to play against better players. I loved it.

One of the leagues I got in was called the Robb Thomas basketball league that was run by a man named Herb Welling. Herb worked on the air force base in Utah and this man was and is a basketball fanatic. My father and Herb clicked immediately and Herb became one of my biggest fans. Before I get too far ahead of myself let me just say that Herb’s league was the best. He wrote scouting reports on all the players…we were 12-13 years old. He had stats kept and weekly packets that were given out with breakdowns of the games from the previous weeks. I recently found one of the reports on myself that read: “Schofield can score on anyone but seems to have more of a problem making a layup with nobody on him than he does hitting a 20 foot shot.” He was right. At that time I honestly struggled making a layup going full speed. I was horrible at it. Scouting reports and stats, does your league have that?

In my high school years Herb was always there for me and always there for the game of basketball. He was never afraid to talk to anyone about the game or call anyone to talk about the game. He still lives and breathes the game of basketball. Herb moved to Omaha Nebraska around my junior/senior year of high school and it was a sad time for me. This man was a constant presence at my games and more importantly my life. When I vented to Herb about how overbearing my father could be he listened and explained that it was all for love and how he would have killed to have the experiences that I had growing up. I see that all now but I wish I did then.

When my family moved to Iowa for my senior year of high school I had a terrible time adjusting to the whole thing. I was angry for the timing of the move and I had a bad season by my standards and I still have some serious regrets and issues about. My team lost that year in a sub state game to Kennedy High school. We lost on a last second 15 foot hook shot that was made by the player I was guarding. I actually played good defense on him which was something new for me. On the news they show the shot go in and my face just sink. I think it was me realizing that my high school career was over. I walked to the locker room with tears in my eyes and I was met by a man who wasn’t my father or mother but my friend Herb Welling. He hugged me and told me he loved me no matter what and how much he enjoyed watching me play over the years. Herb made the drive from Nebraska just to watch the game. I’ve tried to tell him how much that meant to me and I don’t think he truly understands.

After I served a two year mission for my church Herb and I lost touch. He still stayed in touch with my family a little bit and I always asked my father about how he was doing. A year or so ago my father called to tell me that Herb was in Sports Illustrated.  He had spent hours and hours ‘cracking’ the dribble drive motion that is run by John Calipari and others throughout the country.  Vance Wahlberg started the whole thing really and he’s now an assistant at, I believe, UMass.  Anyway, Herb made a video out of it and it has done very well.  He was an assistant coach at Omaha Central high school where the team won 3 state championships running that very offense.  I couldn’t be prouder of this man.

Herb works as a security guard to really earn his living at Omaha Central high school and voluntarily coaches some AAU teams in the summer.  He is an assistant coach at a new school this year and is excited about rebuilding that program.  As I’ve gotten more involved with hoopskills I’ve realized that I needed to reach out to someone who loves the game like I do and get them involved also.  THERE IS NOBODY I’VE EVER MET WHO LOVES BASKETBALL MORE THAN HERB WELLING.  NOBODY.  I recently did a phone interview with him and my appreciation of the man grows more and more with each conversation.  Here he is a security guard to take care of his family and provide but still dedicates his life to the development of strong solid young men who play a game that he loves. 

I’m proud to call Herb Welling my friend.

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I didn’t grow up a point guard, in fact I like to call myself a convert to the position. I wish I grew up with it but the past is past. When points come to me and ask how they can get more assists I usually give these 3 ideas for how that can happen.

1. Don’t pass the ball too early. I truly believe that the role of the point guard is to make sure the offense is run correctly and that the will of the coach is done by the point guard. Point guards are the ones who should be distributing the ball to the correct people at the correct times. The team needs to know that when the point guard passes the ball to you it is to get something done. To learn about this watch Chris Paul and Deron Williams play the position. They run the show and when they pass the ball to someone else it has a purpose. Don’t just pass to pass. Pass to have a meaning and when your teammates get the ball they can be confident knowing they have a shot.

2. Get the ball to scorers in a good position. Simply put, don’t pass the ball to a post player 18 feet away from the basket and expect him to make a basket. The only time you should pass to a player like that is if it is part of the offense or you picked up your dribble and need help. If I have a good shooting guard then I want to give him the ball 20 feet out but not 30. Make sense?

3. Shooters like passes a certain way and in a certain position. I’ve worked with shooters who liked no spin on the passes as compared to shooters who liked a lot of spin. This is meaningless though compared to where shooters like the ball when they catch a pass. Today it is called the shooters pocket and it is the area where the shooter can get the shot off quickest and with the least wasted motion to catch the pass. For a right handed shooter is just above the right shoulder or at the right shoulder. The shooter is able to catch that pass in rhythm and take it right up for a shot.

There you go. It’s sounds so simple but so many players don’t understand how it is done and the little things that are behind it. For coaches, literally stop practice to teach point guards about wasted passes and poor passes. Those types of things can make all the difference to youth players.

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Rick Pitino spoke out pretty angrily yesterday about the allegations that have been made against him and I don’t blame him. As one who has had a lot of stuff printed about incorrectly I have a special fondness for people who go through this sort of garbage with people talking and writing about things that they don’t know are facts or not. If I were Pitino I’d be beyond tired of this.

Pitino admits to the affair and admits that it was a mistake. We make mistakes as people and he has admitted to that mistake. That mistake is what this is all about in this case and is a case of how our decisions today can effect our future. Pitino knew this and we all do yet we still do things dumb and wrong all the time and that is what happened here. He screwed and admitted it and just wanted to move on.

Imagine the wife here. She has to hear about this story day in and day out. People look at her funny at the grocery store and she has to put up with constant questioning from family members and friends. It’s broken trust between people and that’s a tough bridge to reestablish. The children are getting the same treatment and it can’t be easy to listen to things said about your father that may or may not all be true.

Rick Pitino has done a lot of good with his life and had a positive effect on a lot of people. By worldly standards he’s a very successful person who has a wonderful family. I want articles to come out and talk about those things and I want people to talk to his wife and children about the good that he has done. Sometimes we all want to knock someone off a pedastal to make ourselves feel better and that could be what is going on.

Pitino has given us the best example of how adultery or extra marital affairs can effect lives in a negative way and the list on this is pretty high, but it’s time we move on from this story because the story shouldn’t be about Pitino and the affair, it should be about the crazy woman who tried to extort him for milllions of dollars and the investigation into her criminal behavior.

To the Pitino’s i can only say that we can’t change the past and the consequences that were set when that route was chosen but you can choose how it is handled. You handle it with dignity and class. You admit when mistakes were made and you apologize for the way it effects your family. Then you love those close to you and call it good. That’s all that counts and all that cares. Then you make absolutely sure that you are never in that situation again.

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