I watched AAU basketball all weekend.
I left with bad news for most players:
Too many are building highlight reels before they’re building winning habits.
The game ends. They lose. And before they’ve watched film or owned what needs to change…
The post is already up.
The highlight clip.
The posed photo.
Everyone wants exposure.
But exposure doesn’t fix bad shot selection.
It doesn’t make you defend.
It doesn’t teach you how to impact winning.
The camera should document the work.
It shouldn’t become the reason for the work.
@tonywmiller Rarely. I like to view skill sets as tools to solve problems. The game is messy and chaotic. More skills= more solutions.
And teach decision making so players know when to use their tools…
Example:
Shoulders in front = 1 foot
Defender on shoulder= 2 feet
Coaches
Don’t let anyone convince you that you can’t help players with these everyday. You HAVE to.
1. Quickness ( hands, feet , short space etc)
2. Toughness ( leverage , 50/50, endurance, 1 on 1)
3. Vision ( eyes up, see , weakside vision, move eyes)
4. Contact Balance
Max Strus had 0 d1 offers and won the Cavs game 5 last night but PLEASE by all means let me know where your 7th grader is ranked and all the offers he has .
😀
The best coaches I know stopped asking “what drill should I run?”
They started asking “what does the environment need to teach today?”
Years of building REPS in the gym. The 4 questions I run every practice through 🧵
In his book, legendary UNC basketball coach Dean Smith wrote a whole chapter called 'One-on-One Meetings'.
In it, he detailed his entire philosophy on when, where and how often he met his players, and what they'd talk about.
I wrote about it here:
https://t.co/XXY7SUftum
🚨 ADVANCED ANALYTICS MYTHS 🚨
Advanced analytics is simply the interpretation of large data sets to predict outcomes.
It is no different than a basic P&L model in business.
- Advanced analytics is not a ‘system’. Princeton/Triangle/Flex are systems.
- Advanced analytics is NOT ‘shooting lots of 3’s’. Advanced analytics is shooting quality (catch and shoot) 3’s because 3 > 2 and gives a higher EV (expected value).
- Advanced analytics is not playing as fast as you can. It’s hunting the first, best available shot.
- Analytics isn’t a ‘belief system’ or ‘philosophy’, the data just exists whether you embrace it or not.
- Advanced analytics is tilting the total possession and/or EV in your favor, PARTICULARLY when there is a skill disparity. This increases variance.
For example : Instead of losing 70/100 games by 10 points, you will lose 55 out of 100 games, but when you lose, you will lose by 25 points on average.
As everyone has heard the data shows the rim, the free throw line and the catch and shoot 3, give the best EV (expected value).
Systems are optimized based off of this data set. ALL SYSTEMS. 1990s and 2000s basketball did the exact same with the LIMITED amount of data they had at their disposal.
Buzzwords like ‘dawg’ and ‘pure hooper’ do not counteract data. Every professional/college team you cheer for, and every player you see as a ‘pure hooper’ fully embraces, or plays in a system that fully embraces, advanced analytics. EVEN if they don’t shoot a lot of 3’s.
NCAA Champion - Dusty May is one of the most forward, innovative, data dependant coaches on the planet. Todd Golden is probably second in the country in this regard.
NBA - Mark Daigneault and OKC do EVERYTHING based off data (including Presti in the war room). The Dynasty Warriors were built on data, Bud and the Bucks, Malone and the Nuggets, etc etc. These are all teams built on advanced analytics.
Basketball training is still stuck in moves on air phase. Players rehearse perfect combo moves with no defender… then struggle when the game gets chaotic. Skill isn’t memorized it’s adapted. - Add live defense
- Use constraints
- Force decisions, not choreography
It’s May 3rd and still barely any rosters are up for coaches to see.
Half of them don’t have the jerseys matchup correctly.
We complain about AAU but are we even prepared to be recruited????
Rosters should be everywhere and teams should be promoting players.
@CoachMattDennis Love these off-season challenges! I tried taking the concept to the next level with some tech (I build websites for coaches)
I created an online portal for players to track their stats from their phone. The leaderboard live updates whenever a player posts. It’s been fun!
Alabama’s practice court
4pt line = don’t hug the 3 pt line & spacing
Blocks outside the 4 point line = “Houston spots”for spacing
Corner rectangles = transition & staying wide
Dotted line = shrinking the floor defensively
Larger box = no catch zone defensively
Smaller box = dunker spot
@nate_oats@AlabamaMBB
KPI's for COACHES:
~35% O Rebound%
~30% of FGA in transition
~55% TS (60% is elite in the NBA)
~53% EFG (60% is elite in the NBA)
~10% Turnovers
~35% Three Point Make
👇🏼
If you can pair either your TS% or EFG% with ONE of the remaining metrics, you are a really good basketball team.
If you can pair either your TS% or EFG% with TWO of the remaining metrics, you are an ELITE basketball team.
PRIORITY #1 is drive up your EFG%/TS%.
“That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.”
- Karl Pearson
Basketball has its own language. Each team’s terminology differs slightly, but a lot is universal and your understanding of the game increases when you can speak the game A-to-Z! Here’s the “terminology” section from one of our team playbooks. Foreign language to you, or basic??
UCONN does a Defensive Warm Up for the first 12 minutes of practice 🔥
Danny Hurley is one of the most detailed coaches of all time
(Via @bball_tips23 🎥)
THE NUMBERS ARE BLACK AND WHITE :
From 6 feet - 25 feet players shoot ~ the same FG%.
This is true from Varsity level HS to the NBA.
Aside from EOC/EOG situations, there is no reason to shoot mid range shots, for MOST players.
You can't sustainably win basketball games unless your EFG% is > than your opponents EFG%.
'Your culture is the sum of what you emphasize and what you tolerate.'
SHOT QUALITY IS IN OUR CONTROL. 👇🏼
- 3PA vs Mid range effiency pie chart (NBA)
- PPP in the NBA
- PPP in HS
@FastModel@TDataScience
Soon as the clock strikes 0:00 on our season my relationship with our kids changes.
My voice goes from loud and sharp to being patient and full of grace.
On court dynamics directed at teaching, building confidence, investing in their development... having consistent dialogue..allowing them space to communicate and build self advocacy.
It's the best part of the job. Player Development
I can't overstate how much our HS game lacks feel. So many kids are skilled. Hell a lot of them overtrain......but the lack of feel turns so many of these games into high speed bumper cars at the carnival
Curt Cignetti's process fueling Indiana's rise is upending college football — and rivals are taking notes
A story on what the Hoosiers' unreal run reveals about the New College Football and whether Cignetti's process can be duplicated at other schools: https://t.co/r5ArXyws6p