Hoopshelp Blog

Twitter Updates for 2009-06-26

• The best players, when they detect a weakness in their own game, go out and work on it until the weakness becomes a strength. Bill Walton #

Shooting School - Shot Path

The “Shot Path” is the path the ball follows from the set point to the follow through. The shot path is generally not an issue as long as a shooter starts the shot in the set point and finishes with a consistent follow through and release point.

In the diagram to the right you will see three different shot paths:

1. Red Line:

Player brings the ball down before bringing the ball back up to shoot. This is negative motion which will cause you to lose any upward/vertical momentum you have created by shooting in one motion.
This motion is also a time waster and will slow down the shot, giving the defence more time to contest.

2. Green Line:

Player brings the ball backward toward (and sometime behind) the head, again creating negative motion and often a sling-shot type action.

3. Black Line:

The Bicep and forearm work as an elevator, not as levers. The ball should travel up the shot path and then forward to the basket (Up and out motion). This is the correct shot path as the motion has few moving parts which results in less variables. The more moving parts to a shooting action, the more things that can go wrong. The simpler the action, the easier it is to replicate time after time which will help players build muscle memory and a consistent shooting action.

Tags: Shooting, Shot Path

Twitter Updates for 2009-06-15

• Our offense is based on thinking. If you can really think on the court, then you have as much freedom as your abilities allow you. - COACH K #

Bear Bryant’s Three Rules for Coaching

1. Surround yourself with people who can’t live without it.

“I don’t hire anybody not brighter than I am. If they’re not smarter than me, I don’t need them.”

“Be aware of “yes” men. Generally, they are losers. Surround yourself with winners. Never forget - people win.”

2. Recognize winners. They come in all forms.

“First there are those who are winners, and know they are winners. Then there are the losers who know they are losers. Then there are those who are not winners, but don’t know it. They’re the ones for me. They never quit trying. They’re the soul of our game.”

“If there is one thing that has helped me as a coach, it’s my ability to recognize winners, or good people who can become winners by paying the price.”

3. Have a plan for everything.

“It’s not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.”

“Little things make the difference. Everyone is well prepared in the big things, but only the winners perfect the little things.”

Tags: Bear Bryant, Coaching

Pete Newell - Reading the Defense for Perimeter Moves #2

I have been reading Pete Newell’s Playing Big and thought I would share a excerpt on reading the defence for Perimeter Moves…

Basketball is a game of counters. A team’s offensive and defensive reactions are counters to what the opponent has presented. If a team offense is not designed to use counter strategy against defensive tactics, that offense will be stopped. On the contrary, the team that is trained to read and react quickly will be unstoppable.

Reading and reacting in the one-on-one situation is no different. Players must learn to recognize what the defense is taking away—and thereby read what the defense is giving away so that the offensive player can take quick advantage.

The following moves are all based on read and-react strategy:

Move 2—Front Pivot and Drive Over the Top This move is made in the same situation as the previous one (Front Pivot and Drive Baseline), but the defender is shading toward the baseline side, leaving just enough room for the offensive player to drive
toward the middle (see figure 7.2). Footwork is a little tricky here because when initiating the drive, some players are tempted to pick up the right foot, or pivot foot, and cross over with it, using it for the first step of the drive.
This should be avoided because it welcomes a traveling violation. The first step of the drive should be made with the nonpivot foot—the left foot in this case—and the dribble should occur just before the right foot hits the floor.
The move should end with a layup on the opposite side of the basket (a left-handed layup, jumping with the right foot). In games, a player may seldom be able to drive that far without encountering defenders along the way, but for training, ending with a layup is good footwork practice.

For more ideas on Post & Perimeter Play, check out Pete Newell’s Playing Big Book & DVD. Coach Newell has a collegiate coaching record of 234-123, including back-to-back appearances in the NCAA championship game (1959 and 1960) with the University of California at Berkeley. He won one NCAA title, an NIT title, and a gold medal with the 1960 U.S. team. Newell’s Cal teams won four consecutive Pacific-8 titles (1957-1960), and Newell was National Coach of the Year in 1960. Considered America’s “basketball guru” for his vast knowledge and teaching skills, Newell was enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1979. He has run his Big Man Camp since 1976 and his Tall Women’s Camp since 2001, developing the skills of serious high school, collegiate, and professional players.

Tags: Pete Newell

Twitter Updates for 2009-06-09

• Defensive Notes from Coach K, Self, Knight, Huggins, Dunlap, Izzo, Donovan, Daly, Karl, Majerus added to Facebook page: http://tiny.cc/XNhzX #
• Defender must make contact with his man before the screen makes contact with him or his man will be able to control the cut. - KEVIN EASTMAN #
• You can’t play any defense if the other team is on the foul line. - Coach K #
• If you want to be in the game you better shoot 75% from the line. Pat Summitt #

Stan Van Gundy on Player Personnel

I think that what you do, at least from an offensive standpoint in this league, is pretty much determined by your personnel, I look at our team, I’m very confident that the way we play and shots we try to create are best for our team. I don’t think you can sit down and say, ‘This is the style of play that wins in the NBA’ and then try to replicate that. I think you have to play the style of play that gives your team, your personnel, the best chance to play, to win, and I think — you never know how this series is going to go, but we’re sitting here now with the way we play.

Tags: Player Personnel, Stan Van Gundy, Style of Play

Shot Selection - 2 Miss Rule

Shot selection can be one of the hardest concepts to teach especially when you run motion. My team can often get jump-shot giddy and drive me insane with poor understanding of game momentum.

One way to combat the “Live and die by the jump-shot mentality we sometimes are overcome with is to use the “2 in a row rule.”

If the team misses two jump shots in a row we must get a shot in the paint on the next possession. This rule also applies to an individual, if you miss two jumpers the next shot you take needs to be attacking the rim.

I will often use this as a scrimmage condition to keep the offensive players aggressive or to overload the defense and their ability to defend the dribble.

Tags: Momentum, Motion Offence, Offensive Concepts, Shot Selection

Twitter Updates

• We worked on chasing screen and ‘shooting the gap’ of screesn everyday with the Detroit Pistons. - CHUCK DALY #
• You have to have 9 players who can play, in order to be Successful. - JERRY WEST #
• In practice don’t make rules you won’t enforce. - BILLY GILLESPIE #
• Have an expert on each area of your staff - BIlly GILLESPIE #
• The worst thing we can do is put the (other) team in the one-and-one. - COACH K #
• Defending the 3pt line and take it away from shooters. Force offense inside and make them take contested two point shots. – BILLY DONOVAN #
• On post Defense you need to beat the offensive man to the first step. – BILL SELF #

Jack Ramsey’s Principles of Winning Defense

(1) protect the basket

Tags: Basketball Principles, Defence, Jack Ramsey