The Rubishko Files: Killer 1-4 High Set

Editors Note: Several weeks ago I was helping my head coach move and aquired several boxes of scouting reports, game film, and scouting tapes. The Rubishko Files are information from there. As a courtesy to the coaches I am not going to list the school and also out of respect I am not going to share any information from coaches who have helped me in the past.

The first thing I am going to share is a great 1-4 high set. It's got everything you'd want in a 1-4 high, backdoors, post ups, and backscreens. It's a really slick set to get the ball into your post.


The set starts with the 1-4 high, having the wings higher than free throw line extended. The play started in the clip out of the break and a full cour situation, but could be run in your regular half court set.

The guard (1) passes to the wing (2) and cuts through off the elevator screen with the posts at the elbows (4, 5). The pass should go to the opposite side of your better post (5). The point (1) cuts to the rim and then the block on his way out to the ballside corner.

As the point (1) fills to the corner, the backside post (5) pops up and recieves the pass from the wing (2).

The wing (2) cuts off a screen by the remining post (4) at the elbow to the rim. The backside wing (3) also runs a backcut as the post (5) catches the pass. If not going to get a layup breaks off and ends up in the corner.

The wing who came off the screen (2) fills out to the wing on the opposite side that he came from. The point fills up, and the high post (4) works his way to the block.

The post at the top (5) screens down for the other post (4) on the block. The low post (4) pops up and recieves the pass.

 

As the post (5) set the downscreen he seals and the post who popped (4) looks to go right inside for the post up and score.

Coaching Hard and Soft Skills

Image from thetalentcode.com

After months of anticipation and waiting, I finally got my hands on The Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle. Coyle is also the author of one of my favorite books, The Talent Code. As I suspected, the book did not disappoint and it was well worth the wait! If you haven't yet, you need to get it. It is a must for every coach and player!

I'm not going to print all 52 tips on here, but one of the things that struck a chord with me was the idea of hard vs. soft skill and how different they are from each other. A hard skill is a skill that must be done right every time, in every situation. A soft skill, on the other hand, is the skill of being able to read and adapt to a situation on the go.

What does this have to do with coaching basketball you ask? Well basketball is a game that constantly combines hard and soft skill. Successful players have both. As a coach you need to understand how each is developed in order to properly coach it - and it's evident that some coaches do not understand the difference.

Many times coaches confuse hard skills with soft skills. Passing is a prime example. I understand the need for form passing drills at a young age, but is that really how you get better at passing? Of course not. Passing must be done against pressure, to a moving target, with defense. How many times in a game are you going to come down the floor, stop unpressured, and make a perfect pass to a guy standing wide open? If you do play a team that allows you to do that, let me know who it is so we can schedule them! Most teams you play are going to pressure the passer and maybe the cutter. Players are going to have to learn angles, leading their target, when a player is open, the type of pass to use,  how fast to throw it, etc. These are all soft skills that can't be taught properly in a structured drill.

How about fast break skills? We often hear coaches complain that players that are great in practice but struggle making the right decision in transition during a game. Why is that? Well many times players are told to take the ball to spot A, pass to player B, and then move to spot C. Well that may work in practice, but doesn't really apply to a real game when the situation is constantly changing. They might be great at a normal 3 on 2 situation but what happens when it's 3 on 3? 1 on 1? 3 on 2 and the defenders sag in the lane? 3 on 2 when the third defender is sprinting in behind? All of a sudden it isn't as easy as it was in practice - the skill has shifted to a soft skill.

Half court offense is another prime example of hard vs. soft skills. Yes shooting, passing skills, dribbling are important. Players need to know how to react to a given situation to take advantage of the defense - when to backcut, the angle to basket cut, etc. Even in set offenses such as SWING or Flex the teams that run it best have players who read the defense and make the right play. They still backcut pressure, attack the rim on the drive and read the defense, relocate on the pass inside for a better passing angle out,  etc. They see the patterns in the game and understand how to react and take advantage of the defense, instead of running around like robots.

Closeouts are yet another skill we all struggle getting our players to do correctly in a game. Why? Well, many times we practice closeouts 1 on 0 or with a dummy offense. It's great for the technique but translates poorly to game situations. How do they know how to use the skill in a game? How do they know what angle to take when closing out when the offense is in a variety of positions? How do they know how to read the offensive player's body language to see that he's going to drive? The answer is they do not have the knowledge, unless they've acquired the soft skills as well.

And how about 1 on 1 skills? How many players can do a move that is textbook on a chair and then get to the game and they seem lost on when to do the move, or they cross over right into the defender? The issue is that they have the hard skill down but they don't have the soft skill - the knowledge of when to use the crossover, the angle to take, etc.

I guess the labored point I am trying to make is that basketball is a lot of soft skills. But as a coach are you teaching it a soft skill setting? As you all know by now, I am a HUGE fan of the work that Brian McCormick does. Mainly because he teaches the game in a soft skill setting. He develops those kinds of skills in players, which are very important skills.

The question we as coaches have to ask ourselves is are we giving our players the correct teaching environment for the required skill? You want to teach the backcut, that's great! But running a drill with a passer at the point, a wing, and a defender where the defender dummies it isn't going to really help. It's a good way to start to learn the skill and build the technique (hard skill), but in order for the player to truly learn the concept they need to see it over and over again in a game type setting (soft skill).

As I've talked about in other posts, this year I spent a lot of time experimenting with teaching the game using small sided games. What we found was that small sided games of  3 on 3, 2 on 2, and 1 on 1 where the ultimate way to build skills, habits, and the ability to adapt to and read situations. Reading this book now solidifies my theory on the topic - you have to spend a lot of time on the soft skills. You want players to really learn how to play and how to use a skill during the game then you need to teach in an environment that develops soft skill learning. Other wise you are going to be frustrated. 

Now don't get me wrong, we still need drills to teach the hard skills. Players need to know the technical aspects of closing out, making a crossover dribble, or making a push pass. But many times we as coaches, myself included, spend too much time teaching the hard skill and not enough on the soft skill aspect and it's evident that the soft skill aspect is far more important. It doesn't matter if a player has picture perfect passing form if he's throwing it to the other team every time. Teaching soft skills is the missing piece to basketball development in my opinion and why not enough players "know how to play".

It's All About Trust

Today I made the two hour drive to Upsala, Minnesota to meet with Coach Vern Capelle to talk coaching and it was well worth it! Coach Capelle has a great wealth of knowledge about the game. One of the things I really wanted to talk to him about was his 4 Out Drive Motion, which he has a video on. Along with the 4 out stuff, which was great, he shared a great insight on what makes him a successful head coach. He kept talking about trusting his players. He talked about trusting players to shoot even when they are having a bad night (and letting them know you trust them), trusting players to make the right reads/plays even when they've screwed up, and trusting players to do what you are asking. He discussed how that makes players play harder and more aggressive - because they know you trust them and have their back no matter the outcome. The faith is a motivator for players.

Coincidentally, today I started reading The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner. One of the first chapters talked about when Turner Broadcasting (TBS) wanted to launch The Cartoon Network. They needed immediate programming so they bought Hanna-Barbera Cartoons (Flintstones, Scooby Doo, etc) because they had all the classic cartoons. Hanna-Barbera also had a studio, but the studio had struggled in recent years coming up with any hip, new, creative programs. Ted Turner gave the studio 2 years to turn it around or it would be shut down. The man he appointed to help with the turn around, Alan Keith, devoted all his time to switching the mindset of the animation team. When it was acquired, the Hanna-Barbera philosophy centered around churning out product as cheaply and quickly as possible. So Keith made the effort to change that mindset. Designers were given the freedom to be creative and take more time, explore more options, try different things, and come up with innovative, quality work. The managers were there to help the designers in the creative process not drive them. The process was long but what do you know, Cartoon Network eventually took off because of it!

What do these two stories have in common? As Coach Capelle does with his players, Cartoon Network's Keith TRUSTED his employees to do their best. Both men gave their people the freedom to be themselves and do what they were supposed to do, and do it well. It ended up with Capelle's team's being successful and Keith's TV network taking off. Same principle in both.

This whole thing also directly ties in with one of my favorite blogs of the last few weeks from Coach Sefu Bernard. In his blog, coach talks about great coaches being "guides in the side" and not a "Sage on the Stage". There are a lot of great Minnesota high school coaches who I have been privileged to watch them practice; coaches such as Coach Novak, Coach McKenzie, Coach Thorson, Coach Miller, Coach Klingsporn, Coach Liesener, Coach Fore, Coach Linton, etc. None of these coaches are a "Sage on the Stage" all the time, constantly doing a lot of talking and repeating. They are all the "guides on the side" for the most part, giving a little advice and then moving on and letting the players go. They are moving through the communication levels. They are teaching in bullets, not paragraphs. They are facilitators not lecturers. And they coach like this, again, because they trust their players. I would assume that Coach Capelle and TBS's Alan Keith are cut from that mold as well.

The last few days have really reinforced the importance of having trust in players. As coach Capelle said, it makes them player harder, and better. As people we all want to be trusted. I think it's one of the world's best feelings. I love that my wife trusts me and I trust her, it's why our marriage works. But I now wonder if I trust the players I coach enough? Do they know I trust them? I'm going to go back and ask some former players over the next week and see what they have to say on the subject. Should make for some interesting conversations.

In More Depth: Three Things on a Note Card

I got a comment on my first "Three Things on a Note Card"  post asking to go a little bit more in depth with what we would put on the note cards. So what I am going to do below is give different player types and what we would put on the note card. I will then put some "team" concepts we might put on a note card for everyone for a given game.

Individual Players

Player Who Drives Out of Control and Takes Bad Shots or Makes Bad Decisions
For the player who loves to get to the lane and throw garbage up at the rim I would write the following things:

1. Find the open teammates on the drive.
2. Use the jump stop when you get to the lane.
3. Pressure on defense

-As you can see, we are trying to use the note card to help guide our player. If he has a talent for getting to the lane we need  him to utilize that skill, but we do want him to take it in a different direction. So this will serve as a reminder (along with some conversations) for what we need him to do. If he isn't doing it, we talk about what was on his card.


Untalented Offensive Player
This is your defensive stopper. This is the player who plays hard, does it the right way, but just isn't offensively skilled. We all love this type of player and know they can get frustrated when they are not scoring. I would go with something such as the following (depending on skill set):

1. Move the ball on offense
2. Be in great help position on defense
3. Pursue every rebound

-Here we are giving the player roles that he can accomplish without having to shoot the ball. We hope that this takes the pressure to score off of him. Doesn't mean that he doesn't shoot (never put that on a card) and if he's open in his range he shoots it, but it's giving him other things to do. If he can do those things then hopefully he feels more successful even if he isn't scoring.


Best Player By Far
When your best player is by far your best player you need to walk that fine line between him being a ball hog and scoring for the good of the team.

1. Find your shot
2. Get other's involved on offense when the defense keys on you
3. Be a leader by being the hardest worker on defense and the boards


With this we are trying to let him know that it's OK to score, but don't force it. We are also conveying the importance of worrying about the defensive end of the floor as well.


Player Who Doesn't Want to Shoot
We all have seen that player who's good but doesn't want to shoot the ball. When that happens it hurts the team. So what we would put is the following:

1. Shoot the ball
2. Shoot the ball
3. Shoot the ball

We would get a chuckle out of it, but it also makes the point that we want the player to shoot!

Bench Player
The worst one to fill out many times is the player who you know probably won't play. I've tried a lot of different things, but I think giving them realistic goals is better. If you give them all game things and if they don't get in the game it becomes a sore spot for them. They need to understand their role and feel important with what they are doing. So what we would put on the card is:

1. Be a great teammate
2. Coach your teammates on the floor
3. When you get your opportunity work hard and take advantage of it

It might sting the ego a little bit, but I think they deserve your honesty. You aren't completely shutting them out either though. I would also put more game situations in there if it's a game you know they have a good chance of playing.

Including Team Goals

There are times when I will use one of the parts of the note card (or add one) to address a team issue. It might have to do with a specific opponent or something that we are not doing well enough. For instance, if we are not rebounding well I'll add that to the card. Or if we are playing a pressure team I'll add in there "backcut against pressure" to remind them to backcut.

What to NOT Put on the Card

In my opinion I don't put stats on the card. There is nothing worse than putting get 10 rebounds and your guy gets 9 and is pissed because he didn't get the goal. You can put team goals such as "win the rebounding battle" but it's hard to put a quantity on there. I would also caution against phrases such as "be a scorer" unless the player won't shoot. If you are telling a player to be a scorer who doesn't need a push it gives the green light to be a ball hog. Also, don't tell player what they can't do, tell them what they can do. As an example, you don't want them to shoot use something such as "move the ball" or "find open teammates". Telling players what to do is far more helpful.

In Closing

Hopefully that helps to better illustrate what I was talking about. I just think that note cards are a great way to reinforce the roles that you have talked about with players and can be a valuable asset to your players.

Teaching Players to Use Imagination

I've always hated practicing offense without defense, unless you are teaching the offense for the first time. I've thought that it's a waste of time because players are not reading a defense, they are just going through the motions of the offense. They are not getting anything out of it.

Today however, I was having a conversation with Paul Richardson that made me take another look at 5 on 0. Coach Richardson is the girls coach at St. Paul Humboldt where I teach and does an outstanding job.  Coach Richardson shared a story about a coach he played for who his who practiced his motion 5 on 0 motion. It wasn't the typical 5 on 0 however, his coach demanded that the players use their imagination while running the offense. They needed to know where the defense was, where the other player's defender's were, etc and react to it. The coach then called them on mistakes and sloppy play every, single, time. He was constantly questioning why they chose to go where they did, why they'd go where someone else was, etc. Coach Richardson said it would drive him and his teammates nuts but helped them to understand the movements on a deeper level.

After hearing how 5 on 0 was used; I have moved from strong hate to slight dislike for it. Its still not something I would do for long periods, or on a daily basis, but when first teaching the offense as a whole I think it's a great addition to the teaching process. The idea of having players imagine and conceptualize not just what they are doing, but what everyone else on the floor is doing! Along with that, the idea that the coach is there holding their feet to the fire his huge. This is something that I will definitely use in the future and appreciate the tip from Coach Richardson.

Emphasis Alone is Not Enough

Photo courtesy of coachgbasketball.blogspot.com

I was reading some Kevin Eastman notes from the 2012 Coaching U Live clinic that where posted on Coach Peterman's Hoop Scoop Blog (great resource). As always Coach Eastman has great insights into the game and into coaching, the one that stuck out with me was the following:

"Emphasis alone is not enough, you must enforce it."

At times that can seem like kind of a "no duh!" type of statement but it goes deeper than you think. What things in your program do you enforce? You might emphasize the jump stop on a drive, but do you pull a player out for it during a game? Do you call a player out on it every time in practice? If not you may be emphasizing a jump stop, and talk about it, but you are not truly enforcing it.

The tricky part is, what do you enforce? If you enforce everything you enforce nothing. Enforcing everything sounds great in theory, but may be impossible in practice. So my project for the next week is to come up with some things that would be good for us to enforce this year. What do you enforce and how?

Being "Intentional"

Image from followthepaddocks.blogspot.com

Background
Last week I was doing some teaching related professional development. The training focused on "being intentional" in the classroom. Lesson plans, instructions,  addressing students, labs you pick, etc. Of course this got me thinking about coaching: how intentional am I in my coaching an dhow could I use this idea to improve? Below I will cover the two most important ways that you need to be intentional as a coach.

1. Practice Planning
In our group of science teachers we talked about intentionality in lesson planning. Many science teachers make the mistake of finding a "great lab" and then trying to shoehorn that great lab into the curriculum. They do it not because the students need it, not because the curriculum calls for it, but because they feel it's a great lab. They may also run a lab that looks great, but really doesn't challenge the students or inspire mental growth. When you look at it from the outside you can see the obvious flaws in the logic, we need great labs that fit our teaching goals and challenge our students, not just run great labs for the sake of great labs. Often times however, when you are in the heat of the year, you miss the forest for the trees. The same thing can happen to basketball coaches.

We as coaches fall into this very same trap with drills that we run. We will have a "great drill" that doesn't really fit with what they are trying to accomplish in that practice. We run it anyway because it's a "great drill" and they just want to run it. Many times we also run drills that "look good" but are too remedial for our players, but they look good so we run them.

You need to be intentional and make sure the drill fits your practice goals and also give the players what they require for their current skill level. For instance, why spend 10 minutes every day in the middle of the season on defensive stance if your players have it down (if they don't different story)? Why not spend that time having them work on guarding a live dribbler and playing defense 3 on 3? It's a drill that fits the need (defense) but also challenges the current defensive level of the players. 

You need to be intentional about how you use build ups in practice as well. It drives me nuts when I see a coach do defensive stance, go right into some offensive concept, and then come back and do on the ball defense 20 minutes later. That's like showing a student how to do a math problem, doing 10 minutes of socials studies, then giving the student a practice worksheet from the math they did 20 minutes ago. Does that make any sense? The drill becomes abstract and the players aren't getting what they should out of it. Instead, do a few minutes of stance, few minutes of on the ball defense, and then move into a 1 on 1, 2 on 2, or 3 on 3 situation with an emphasis on guarding the ball. That way they are building up the skill and using it in a game situation.

When you are intentional about your practice build up you are going to get far more out of it. I've been blessed enough to attend some great practices of Minnesota high school coaches. All of these coaches, who are successful year in and year out, go to great lengths to be intentional about their practices. It shows in their practice and when the ball goes up on Friday nights. 


2. Communication
Communication with athletes and parents is huge, we all know that. If you can communicate intentionally you will solve a lot of problems and everyone will be on the same page. But are we always intentional in our communication?

This spring I sat down with a coach who is transitioning from being the head coach to athletic director this year. One of the things that struck me with him was how intentional he was with his communication with parents. He would send out an e-mail every week giving updates, and spreading the message. He was intentional with communicating, and with the message he gave out. Anytime you are talking with people about your program (whether a head coach, assistant, player, or parent) you are conveying a message. So with that said everyone in the program needs to be intentional about the message.

It's also important to be intentional with how you communicate with players. The great coaches I have been around are all very intentional about how they communicate with players. It often appears as if every word they say to the team and the individual is carefully planned. They are not going out there in practices and games and simply shooting from the hip when they speak. It's very measured, calculated speech that lends itself to giving the information and getting the result they want.

A long time ago psychology students at UCLA went in and studied John Wooden's practices. They were keeping track of what he said to his players. They imagined they would hear a lot of positive and negative talk from the legendary coach. Instead, what they found was that the vast majority (over 85%) of Coach Wooden's comments were giving instruction. The Wizard of Westwood was intentional with his speak and his coaching record reflected it (and yes, having talented helped too).

Closing Thoughts
There are a lot of things that you can be intentional about as a coach, but the two areas mentioned above are the most important. When you think of every great coach they share two common areas of greatness - practice and communication. Because of that, this year I am really going to focus my efforts on being more intentional in our practices and communication. I hope you will as well.