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In: analytics

A follower and patron who coaches high school boys basketball recently sent an email about the Four Factors made famous by Dean Oliver in his book Basketball On Paper. Below is my response:   More than anything the four factors comes down to winning the factor(s) over your opponents. Teams that win and win big with gaudy W-L records not only win factors, but create lots of margin between their factors and their opponents. For example, our eFG% is really high (good offense), and our opponents’ is really low (good defense).    Let’s take a stab at each factor as far as goals go.    EFG%Read More →

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In: OpEd

I am a product of The South. I was born in the Mississippi River Delta country of Eastern Arkansas. My grandfather grew up working in the cotton fields of Northeastern Arkansas and the Bootheel of Missouri before joining the Navy, fighting in World War II, then making a career repairing air conditioner compressors for the civil service while tinkering with lawn mowers as a side hustle.  Like many Southerners, my grandfather was known for his repertoire of colorful expressions. He was a character.  One of his favorite expressions was “You’ve got bigger fish to fry.” He would use this when he wanted someone to knowRead More →

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Counseling Coaches Series: Basketball Coaching, like music, has genres. You don’t have to know or even pretend to care about all of them. Imagine you have a friend, and this friend is into classical music. He can tell Beethoven from Bach within the first few notes. He has recordings of everything from Vivaldi to Chopin on his favorite listening device. His home is filled with the sweet sounds of classical music every waking hour. He gets tickets to every symphony performance in his city and even travels to New York or Boston to hear special performances. By any definition this friend is a music lover,Read More →

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Counseling Coaches Series: How focused you are on what you do is more important than how much you know. In this day and age, the ability to filter out information is a Coaching Superpower. In the hundreds of hours each year I spend counseling coaches this is a constant battle; especially when they are faced with adversity. Coaches who develop the skill of sorting through and even tuning out the massive amount of information we are bombarded with will separate themselves. That day may already be here… The above tweet by Greg McKeown, the author of Essentialism – The Disciplined Pursuit of Less expresses thisRead More →

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Counseling Coaches Series: What do YOU think? Forming your OWN thoughts about basketball matters. In the summer of 2015 some coaching friends encouraged me to begin sharing basketball info on social media and in blogs. This information was well received and thanks to some hard work and strategic affiliations, Radius Athletics was born and I began offering my time to help coaches. At first I thought this was going to be all about sharing X’s & O’s, drills and diagrams, but soon I realized some real and bigger needs had to precede that. We needed to have “macro” level conversations before any “micro” level conversations.Read More →

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In: Offense

Three tips for enhancing DHOs for an added “punch” to the action. Think of the dribble handoff (DHO) as a jab in boxing. The boxer does not expect to knock his/her opponent out with the jab. They use it to set up another punch; perhaps a cross. Likewise, a straight DHO from Player A to Player B often yields no advantage. It is easy for the defense to switch or slide through. But enhancing the DHO with another element may increase the effectiveness. Much like a boxer throws a jab-cross combination to land a crushing blow, enhancing the DHO adds punch to the action. HereRead More →

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In: Offense, Video

Video gallery of Utah Jazz Center Rudy Gobert demonstrating several ball screen concepts. The following montage features Utah Jazz Center Rudy Gobert. The Frenchman is most noted for his rim protection, but he is also an adept screener. Gobert has a grasp of the nuance of screening angles, roll depth, rescreening and all that goes into ball screen offense. Transition Ball Screens It all starts with running the floor and Gobert is a fluid athlete who looks to use the ball screen to create an advantage early in the possession. The video below features both trail ball screens and wing ball screens with an emptyRead More →

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In: Offense

The basics of the Spread Ball Screen alignment – a good starting point for the introduction of ball screen offense.  Getting into ball screen offense can be done in multiple ways. A common alignment for the introduction of ball screen concepts is the Spread Ball Screen alignment. It is popular worldwide and at all levels of play. Below are examples of teams from NBA, FIBA, NCAA and the international professional ranks demonstrating the quintessential Spread Ball Screen alignment. http://gph.is/2pBs9yI In this summary of Spread Ball Screen – Basics we will examine how to enter the alignment seamlessly, learn basic terminology and assignments and pose questions which guide players toward finding the player forRead More →

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In: Offense

In transition offense, seek first to score, then flow seamlessly into offense from these common endpoints. The first objective of transition offense is to score with an advantage. Coaches and players should keep this top of mind. Upon the rebound/inbound the offense uses pace, spacing and rapid advancement of the ball in hopes of scoring early and with a numbers advantage. When the defense does its job and neutralizes any numbers advantage or retards advancement of the ball, the offense is then forced to create an advantage using some sort of action. Again, seek first to score, then run “offense,” not the other way around. ButRead More →

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In: FIBA Playbooks

Argentina demonstrating the simplified shot selection system known as the Count Method. “You are most open when you first catch the ball…” That seems like a simple statement and an easy concept to grasp. However, many players and coaches have trouble instilling the “catch to score” mindset into their players and teams. In the video below, Argentina demonstrates the Count Method as described in the book Rhythm Offense by Ryan Smith. (Volume up for the full clinic experience!) In the video, Argentina demonstrates One Count shots and layups off drive and kicks, ball screens, transition and more! This video will help coaches and players seeRead More →