One of the most important ideas from Greg McKeown’s Essentialism is the “reality of tradeoffs.” It’s a concept that is simple to understand but often overlooked in the coaching profession. Tradeoffs are not something we choose to have—they are a fact of life. When we say yes to one thing, we are inherently saying no …
Author Archives: RadiusAthletics
Eliminating Tactical Clutter: Why Simplicity Wins in Coaching
In today’s coaching landscape, it’s easy to feel pressure to do more. More plays. More defenses. More drills. More technology. The belief is simple: if we just add one more set or install a new press, we’ll get over the hump. But the reality is, most teams don’t suffer from a lack of tactics. They …
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Defining Your Coaching Philosophy: Less But Better
Part Two of our series on Essentialism in basketball coaching. Most successful basketball coaches operate with a clear, well-defined philosophy. Without one, it’s easy to get lost in trends, constantly shifting tactics and strategies without a consistent foundation. Defining your philosophy is the key to sustainable success. It gives your program direction, helps players understand …
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The Essentialist Mindset in Coaching
The power of doing less, but better. Coaching basketball in today’s world comes with an overwhelming number of choices. There are hundreds of offensive systems, countless defensive schemes, and endless training methods. Every season brings new trends, new analytics, and new voices telling you what you must add to succeed. The result? Many coaches constantly …
Pitch Series Playbook
We took Fred Hoiberg’s Pitch Series and spiced it up! By mixing in FLIP and SWING entries in addition to the trademark “pitchback” entry, we’ve made this a more complete offensive package. Download the playbook below!
“That System Won’t Work”
It happened again. The University of Virginia Men’s Basketball team made another early exit from the NCAA Tournament by falling to Colorado State 67-42. UVA’s performance was dreadful and left many wondering why they even got in the tournament in the first place. The Cavaliers and their head coach Tony Bennett face some well-deserved criticism …
RPO: The Roll Pop Option
If you are football fan, chances are you’ve heard the term “RPO” during broadcasts. In that sport it is an acronym for the “Run/Pass Option” concept where the quarterback is reading the defense and based on that read the play could be a run or a pass. In basketball, and in the ball screen in …
The Perils Of “Feature Creep”
In the Summer of 2015 I was encouraged by some coaching friends to start sharing some of the basketball coaching ideas I used as a high school basketball coach. They encouraged me to use Twitter. I was not active on Twitter at the time so I was starting from the ground floor. I suppose the …
Playing Through The Five
As more teams transition to Five-Out offenses, it is imperative to have skilled bigs. When you do, it’s time to weaponize them by playing through them as the triggerman in offensive actions. In this piece we’ll provide examples of three such actions. Dribble-At A simple dribble-at with your “5” as the triggerman is easy …
Point Series: “Spin” Options
One of the beauties of the Princeton Offense is that there’s always a counter. It is said that “Princeton” has no beginning and no end. Point Spin is an example of this zen-like quality. Point Series At its core, the Princeton Offense is a series of two and three-player actions stemming from various shapes and …