Communication - Not Just Talk!

I didn't realize that I wasn't teaching communication well - until this year. I've always been a coach who's "preached talk", demanded our team talks, I've even shown them what to say. But this year I realized in some ways I was missing the boat - I was not teaching them meaningful communication. They were "saying things", but they weren't COMMUNICATING. Sure they were calling "ball", "help", "man", but it wasn't to anyone and was not being acknowledged or used by anyone else on the floor. It was empty words that were not being heard by others. In short, I taught them to talk, but not to communicate. 

This year I started preaching something different. I started teaching them to "have a conversation". Instead of just talking, say something important to someone. Some of the ways I have done that are below:

• Talk about EVERYTHING that is happening, all the time. 
• RESPOND to other's communication by repeating it or responding with something else. 
• Use NITE (PGC acronym) and LEO Communication. 
• NITE
• Name
• Information
• Tone
• Eye Contact (When possible)
• Leo
• Loud
• Early 
• Often

What does "having a conversation" look like? I will use our defensive transition conversation as an example. It illustrates how the conversation involves everyone and forces action. 

1. Everyone yells "PAINT" on the way down the floor, communicating that we need to get two feet in the paint. 
2. Once the player gets in the pain they (an everyone else in the paint) start yelling "who's got rim?"
3. A player takes rim by yelling the response "I've got rim". It should be the first player back theoretically, but they need to hear "I've got rim" before moving on. 
4. After a player has taken rim - all the players in the paint yell "who's got ball?". 
5. A player responds by saying "I've got ball". 
6. Once the ball is stopped they point and talk their match up. 

No brain surgery going on here, but I do think the simple things are powerful. If you are yelling "who's got rim?" more than 2x, you better get to the rim - same with the ball call. Communicating helps players really understand what needs to be done on the floor. 

Getting players to "have a conversation" has helped our communication this year. Are we were we need to be yet? Of course not, but I've noticed that we are doing it better than teams I have worked with in years past - so at least I've made a step in the right direction. I'd love to hear other's feedback on communication with their teams.