Basketball Coaching Misconceptions

7/24/2019 Basketball Coaching Misconceptions

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9 Biggest Basketball Coaching Misconceptions 1

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................3

1. TREAT ALL PLAYERS THE SAME................................................4

2. IT DOESNT MATTER WHAT YOU RUN, ITS HOW YOU

RUN IT THAT COUNTS.....................................................................5

3. DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS...............................................6

4. THE STARTING 5 ARE THE BEST ................................................7

5. YOU HAVE TO BE FAST TO FAST BREAK .................................9

6. PG, SG, SF, PF, C ...............................................................................10

7. EXPERIENCE IS NECESSARY FOR SUCCESS..........................12

8. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT ......................................................13

9. ITS NOT WHETHER YOU WIN OR LOSE, ITS

HOW YOU PLAY THE GAME.......................................................14

FINAL THOUGHTS .........................................................................................15


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INTRODUCTION

Every profession has its own set of myths and misconceptions that have been seemingly

passed on from generation to generation and coaching basketball is no exception.

In this special report we are going to look at 9 of the most common coaching

misconceptions. Some of the misconceptions are unique to basketball while others originated

as a wise or motivational saying that somehow ended up as coaching gospel.These are certainly not all the misconceptions that a young coach has to wade through. In

fact, when I made my original outline for this report I came up with 18 of them and will

eventually write about the other 9 if there is enough interest.

Chances are you may not completely agree with everything that is written in the following

pages and that is certainly okay. The way I have looked at these concepts has worked

extremely well for me and my career but the important thing is for you to think things

through and come up with your own mental arguments and examples either for or against.

The process of thinking, questioning, disagreeing or defending is going to help make you a

better coach.

For generations, personal and professional success experts have stated that we all eventually

become what we think about most of the time. Our goal here at BasketballClassroom.com is

to get you thinking like a championship coach!


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1.

TREAT ALL PLAYERS THE SAME

Many young coaches start off their career not only believing they should treat all players the

same, but are determined to do so at all cost. Experienced, championship coaches are much

more concerned with treating players fairly than they are with treating them equally.

Treating players the same and treating them fairly

are two entirely different things. Treat them fairly?

Absolutely! Treat them the same? Absolutely not!

Fortunately, we dont have to look far to see how

this misconception of treating players the same has

creeped into the world of athletics. To start with,

there are simply way too many youth leagues where

every participant is required to play the same

amount of time, where no score is kept, and

everyone gets a trophy at the end of the season. In

an attempt to protect our children from the terrible

disappointment of losing we are indirectly teaching

them that all athletes should be treated exactly the

same with no exceptions.

However, each player on each of our teams is

different. They all have different God given talents

and abilities. They all have different personalities, different motivations, different hot

buttons, and different goals. And as much as we hate to admit it publicly, each contributes to

the overall success of our team in a different manner. As people, every member of our team is

important and should be treated with respect and dignity but as players they deserve to be

treated differently.

Let me throw out some examples from my own team. I have one student who is struggling to

stay academically eligible and one who is a 4.0 student. I want the struggling student to

spend extra time with a tutor. Should I require the 4.0 student to do the same?

My best player has major college aspirations but needs extra work shooting from beyond the

arc. My 12thplayer is just thrilled to even have a uniform and had never played more than

five minutes in any game all season. Should they both be required to make 100 threes every

day after practice before they go home?

After playing four games in four days in which every team picked us up and pressed us full

court man to man, I gave my point guard a day off. Should all the subs, including our third

string post player take the day off too?


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Do you want to be treated exactly like everyone else or do you want to be treated the way

you deserve? Its been my experience that your best, most dedicated coaches and players

dont expect, need or demand to be treated like everyone else. They want to be held to a

higher standard because they have higher aspirations.

In life we dont always get what we want but we usually get what we deserve. Should

basketball be any different?

2.

IT DOESNT MATTER WHAT YOU RUN ITS HOW

YOU RUN IT THAT COUNTS

Have you ever heard someonesay It doesnt matter what

offense (or defense) you run, its

how you run it that counts?

Well at the risk of committing

basketball heresy, I am going to

go out on a limb and declare

that is completely false! Even

though execution is extremely

important on both the offensive

and defensive ends of the floor,what you run is at least equally

as important! Regardless of your coaching philosophy and goals, these choices will be

absolutely critical to your overall success.

Now I will be the first to admit that championships have been won on various levels by

teams running the Flex, Triangle, Shuffle, Hi-Low, 5 Out Motion, Dribble Drive Motion,

and undoubtedly dozens of other offenses. Likewise, teams have won playing defenses such

as Pressure Man to Man, Pack Man to Man, 2-3 Zone, 1-2-2 Zone, 1-3-1 Zone, Full Court

Run & Jump, Half Court Trap, etc. etc.

BUT, that doesnt mean that a coach can just reach into a grab bag of offenses or defenses,

pull one out, run it effectively, and win. Yet, year after year that is essentially what many

coaches attempt do without taking into consideration the size, athleticism, depth, or talent

level of their team. As a result, its not uncommon to see teams that cant pass well struggling

to run the Triangle or teams lacking an outstanding point guard failing miserably when

executing a pick and roll oriented offense. Believe it or not I have even seen some really


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small, but slow teams aggressively try to press full court even though they had only seven

players in uniform!

Unless you are in a situation where you can recruit certain types of players to fit a

predetermined style of play, you might want to seriously consider matching your offenses

and defenses with the skill sets of your current players. Is your team big, small, or all thesame size? How many legitimate shooters do you have? How many can effectively dribble

and pass? What if they are pressured?

Thoroughly analyzing your team and then devising a master plan to maximize your strengths

and minimizing your weaknesses are two of the biggest challenges that a coach can face. But

putting your team in the best position to succeed doesnt mean you have to reinvent the

wheel every season. Personally, I have three offenses that I know inside and out and use

consistently. One is primarily inside oriented. One is primarily outside oriented and one

is a combination of inside/outside and can be tweaked in a myriad of ways depending on

our personnel. Then to fill in the gaps I usually add a few quick hitters that can be run toensure that our best scorers can get a wide open shot when we need one.

Choosing the right offense for each team can actually improve your execution because you

will not be asking your players to do something that is completely out of their collective skill

set. In other words, if you want to run offenses right then run the right offenses!

3.DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Weve all heard the age old saying Offense sells tickets, but defense wins games, or its

upgraded version of Offense wins games, but defense wins championships. Both sayings

have a nice ring to them, sound good, and certainly possess a motivational quality, but they

are simply not true at least not entirely!

Yes, of course you must play good, solid defense and must be able to get a stop or series of

stops when needed! But teams that win constantly and consistently are teams that have the

ability to score. This is why a huge red flag is raised in my mind every time I hear a young

coach proudly declare that he or she spends 75% of their practice time on defense.

Offensive basketball requires many more highly developed and complex skills than does

defensive basketball. A decent athlete with an adequate amount of heart, desire, and

intelligence can be turned into an effective defender relatively quickly. But that same player

needs thousands and thousands of purposeful repetitions to become effective at shooting,

ball handling, and passing. As a result, offense is much harder to teach and takes much more

time to master than defense. (On a side note, if you want to help your players play at the


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next level, whatever that level may be, then you need to help him or her get better

offensively!. Lots of coaches talk defense but they almost all recruit offense!)

Because of this fact, I believe that many of those coaches who overwhelmingly stress defense

over offense do so because they lack either the necessary time or knowledge to develop their

players and teams offensively. In other words, they are taking the path of least resistance andconcentrating on what is easier.

Fortunately, coaching knowledge can be increased in several ways such as reading reports like

this and searching websites such as Basketballclassroom.com and Hoopskills.com. As far as

the necessary time requirements, UCLA coaching legend John Wooden often said that he

spent twice as much time working on team and individual offense than he did on defense..

Earlier this season I watched two of the best programs in the country practice (UCONN

men and UCONN women) and their time allotments were similar to Coach Woodens.

Now dont get me wrong Im not saying you should quit working on your defense andfocus solely on outscoring your opponents. What I am saying is that defense alone is not

going to get the job done alone. Offensive execution, rebounding, clock management, and

mastering special situations all factor into winning games and championships and need to be

nurtured and developed.

Take this time to look at not only your overall philosophy but also look at your practice

planning and determine if you are spending enough time improving ALL facets of the game.

Good defense will keep you and your teams IN most games, but dont forget its the team

that SCORES the most points who is declared the winner!

4.

THE STARTING 5 ARE THE BEST

This misconception has undoubtedly been around since the very first basketball game was

played and I am positive it is prevalent in other sports as well. The widespread acceptance of

this myth, especially amongst parents and fans, can certainly make a coachs job even tougher

than it already is but that still doesnt make it true.

Great coaches understand that the starting 5 is just that the starting 5 nothing more and

nothing less.

In fact, there are so many reasons NOT to start your best 5 players that we cant even list

them all in this report but here are a FEW of them:


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1. Want to start in the press and create havoc before your opponent is thoroughly

warmed up physically and mentally so you need more athleticism

2. One of your best players gets nervous at the beginning of games and plays more

relaxed after watching the action for a few minutes

3. You want to establish a physical presence from the very beginning but dont want

to risk your best post player getting in foul trouble

4. You dont want all your best players getting tired at the same time

5. You can emphasize defense by starting your best defender even though he might

not be strong in other aspects of the game

6. Your best 5 players dont always play well together

Team morale and chemistry is another thing to take into consideration when determining a

starting lineup. Several years ago North Carolina had a starting 6. The starting lineup was

different every single game (which made their opponents scouting and pre game preparation

much more difficult.) and every sixth game one of the starters came off the bench. It didnt

matter how well or how poorly they played during the game before, they followed the

rotation throughout the entire season.

I know that my situation may be different than yours but we usually have a normal playing

rotation of about 8 players and I try to have 3 of our top 5 players on the floor at all times.

Notice I didnt say 3 of our starters; I said 3 of our top 5 players! If I was coaching a youth,middle school, or club team then I would play even more players every game in order to give

everyone more of a chance to grow and develop and I would constantly rotate starters.

I think its important to help your players understand that you may not start your best

players and that they shouldnt get too excited if they happen to start the game on the floor

nor should they be disappointed if they start the game on the bench. Ive found that most

players will respond very well as long as they know the reasoning behind your decisions.

Parents, on the other hand, are not always as understanding as their kids and so I would

make sure that my philosophy of starters and subs is addressed in my preseason parentmeeting. (A detailed discussion and sample outline of such a meeting is included in the

BasketballClassroom.com curriculum.)

Parents and players alike need to know and understand that if winning is the primary goal

then who starts the game is not nearly as important as who finishes it.


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5.YOU HAVE TO BE FAST TO FAST BREAK

Fast break basketball has nothing to do with being fast! Instead, it is all about attitude,

commitment, technique, and teamwork. If your team has these things then you can have a

dominating, game changing, crowd pleasing, transition game even if you have below averageteam speed. If your team is lacking these four things, then all the speed in the world wont

make a significant difference in your running game.

The ideal fast break attitude is an aggressive,

constantly attacking mentality. Youve heard of

pressure defense? Great fast breaking teams

think in terms of pressure offense! Nearly every

player Ive ever met says he likes to run and fast

break but that attitude needs to be constantly

encouraged and developed to the point where itbecomes an integral part of your teams identity.

When it comes to commitment, coaches and players must buy in completelyin order for their

fast break to be a dominating factor. Coaches who want to fast break must first realize and

then accept the fact that they will not always be in control of the action, and that can be

very difficult for those coaches who want to influence or direct every possession. Coaches

who are fully committed to implementing fast break basketball must thoroughly train and

then trusthis team to make good decisions while playing at full speed. Again, the training

part is sometimes much easier than the trusting part, especially in the early stages when

everything looks a little chaotic.

If you want to have a championship caliber fast break, then all of your players, regardless of

the position they play or the foot speed they possess must commit to running hard on

EVERY possession, even during those times when they know that they have no chance of

getting the ball. Teams dont have to be fast but they must be relentless! More teams

sabotage their own fast break by refusing to constantly run hard on every possession than do

their opponents with transition defense.

There isnt enough room in this short report to fully explain all the techniques and

intricacies involved in teaching and implementing a great fast break offense. (More detail canbe found at www.BasketballClassroom.com) However, I can quickly mention two ideas that

will help you fast break with a slow team. First of all, practice and then insist on deep

outlet passes. Many coaches like their rebounders to literally hand off the ball to their point

guard who must then negotiate defensive traffic the entire length of the court. Instead, outlet

the ball at least as high as the top of the key and preferably as close to half court as possible.

Now your point guard is only two or three dribbles from getting into an area where he can

really make things happen.


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Secondly, utilize the three point line. Years ago fast break basketball meant trying to get

layups before the defense got back. While that is still an option, now running a fast break

provides great opportunities for wide open threes because defenses are trained to sprint back,

get in the paint, and protect the basket. It doesnt matter how much faster your opponents

are if they are not running to the same spots that you want!

Now lets say your wings are running to spot up on the three point line. Since guards and

wings are usually the first ones back on defense they have to decide whether to protect the

basket or stop the three. If they run to the paint then the three is open. If they stay wide to

stop the outside shot then the middle is left unprotected which gives your ball handler an

open lane to attack or your trailers a chance to cut to the rim.

The last ingredient necessary for a great transition game is teamwork because selfish play will

kill your fast break before it ever gets going. For your fast break to be most effective, players

need to be willing, able, and even anxious to pass the ball to their teammates who are opendown the floor. Some point guards play like the ball is glued to their hand and that wont

work if you want to run. A point guard who wont pass will soon find himself fast breaking

all by himself as others will not display the commitment to sprint every possession if they

nevertouch the ball.

The ball can be advanced down the court much, much faster by passing than by dribbling

and that is the main reason why you dont have to be fast to fast break. Its not how fast your

playersget down the court that is the most important but rather how fast you can get the ball

down the court that really matters!

6.

PG SG SF PF C

Primarily because of the influence of the NBA, a common misconception has developed over

the years that it is necessary to play with a so called traditional lineup of point guard,

shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center. Because these current positions

have been seemingly ingrained in popular culture its extremely common for young coaches

to feel almost obligated to field a team with similar classifications. They take the biggest kidand make him the center, the next biggest kid is the power forward, and so on until the

smallest kid becomes the point guard. For example, while watching my daughters middle

school tournament, I heard one coach tell a 53 90 pound sixth grader that she was going in

the game to play power forward!

There are three issues with the misconception that you need to play this way. First of all, I

think assigning any player younger than high school age a position is a big mistake. Simply


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calling these kids a power forward or shooting guard does not make them such and may

very well prevent them from developing a complete and versatile skill set. Secondly, too

many youth and middle school players with outstanding potential are cut from teams

because there are already too many playing that same position on the roster. Rosters should

be filled with basketball players not positions. Thirdly, playing with a traditional line up may

not necessarily be the best way to win games. If you are running a 3 out 2 in High/Lowmotion offense with a guard that you are calling a power forward, you are not only doing the

individual player a huge disservice but the entire team as well.

Instead of coaching your players to play specific, predetermined positions, coach them to be

complete, all around players and then play to their strengths. Then either design or choose

your offenses and defenses around what your personnel really is not what they are labeled.

Realistically, every team falls into one of the following six categories:

1. 5 Smalls

2. 5 Bigs

3. 4 Bigs and 1 Small

4. 3 Bigs and 2 Smalls

5. 2 Bigs and 3 Smalls

6. 1 Big and 4 Smalls

Now in the above groupings Big and Small refer to general skills sets not body types

The only one of the six even close to being a so called traditional line up using todays labels

is #4 3 Bigs and 2 Smalls. However, there are competitive advantages with all six groups

and when paired with the right offenses and defenses and then coached properly, each group

can have championship potential. In other words, take what you have and work like crazy to

make them better. Coach your team and ignore what others say in regards to what your team

should be like or look like.


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7.

EXPERIENCE IS NECESSARY FOR SUCCESS

Everybody likes to make a big deal about experience. During the NBA and NCAA

championships the announcers are always talking about which teams have the biggestadvantage because they have the most experience. Plumbers, electricians, lawyers, politicians,

babysitters, and countless others all publicize how much experience they possess. Even

McDonalds wants to know about your experience before they will hire you!

Thats great and everything except for one thing experience alone is neither a prerequisite

or accurate predictor of success. Why? Because all experience isnt the same and so doesnt

necessarily carry the same weight. What if all of someones experience is bad, negative, or

dominated by failure? Is that experience you can count on?

Now what does this have to do with coaching basketball? Several things. As a young coachyou may find it difficult to get a coaching job because you lack experience. You cant get a

job because you dont have experience and you cant get experience without a job! Im not

saying that its right; Im just saying often times way too much emphasis is placed on

experience. As a young coach you may want to look for a mentor to guide you. If you do,

whether its in person or on line, dont be fooled into thinking that just because someone has

been doing something a long time that means hes good at it. Everyone should be much

more concerned and impressed by talent and results than by experience!

The same principle holds true when working with players. You cant expect to have a great

team just because you happen to have a little experience on your roster. Nor can yourreturning players expect to have a stellar season just because they are now a year older. This is

how I explain the situation to my players at the end of every season. I tell them that one of

my goals is to always be better next year than we were this year, regardless of how successful

we already are and there are only two ways to accomplish that. One, our players can continue

to get better or two, we need to bring in better players. I really dont know of any other

option because talent is always more important than experience!

UCLA great John Wooden, who coached long before college players were allowed to leave

early for the NBA is quoted as saying Id rather have a lot of talent and a little experience

than a lot of experience and a little talent.

These days there are a lot of NCAA coaches who shy away from recruiting the best high

school players in the country for fear of them leaving after one or two years. Kentuckys John

Calipari is not one of those coaches. He wants to put on the court the most talented players

possible even if they have limited college experience. Of course, experienced talent is best,

said Calipari. But if I had a choice between a talented team and an experienced team, Im

taking talent every time.


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Impress upon your returning players that they must continually work to improve their skills

because experience alone does not give them the right to play and to be successful. Impress

upon your new and younger players that the best, most talented players are going to play,

regardless of how much or how little experience. Take the stance that talent is more

important than experience and stick with it!

Now as a coach, you too must work constantly on improving your skills and subscribing to

BasketballClassroom.com is certainly a big step in the right direction because throughout the

program you are going to get access to the knowledge, skills, and strategies that are still

helping us win year after year.

Everybody can gain experience but only those who work at it can improve their skills. And

that holds true for both players and coaches!

8.PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

One of the most used sayings by young coaches also happens to be one of basketballs biggest

misconceptions. Although we all wish it were true, the simple phrase practice makes

perfect is not completely accurate. Much more accurate phrases would be practice makes

permanent, and perfect practice makes perfect.

Granted, its a proven fact that repetition is the mother of all learning and that without hoursand hours of practice a player has absolutely no chance of ever perfecting his game.

In fact, Malcolm Gladwell supports this idea in his book

Outliers, when he writes, The idea that excellence at

performing a complex task requires a critical minimum

level of practice surfaces again and again in studies of

expertise. In fact, researchers have settled on what they

believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten

thousand hours.

While 10,000 hours might be the magic number in terms

of how long a person needs to practice, what is often

overlooked is how a person should practice. No matter

how long you practice, you will not achieve excellence or create perfection if you are

practicing incorrectly. Instead you will only make bad habits permanent.


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This is why its crucial for coaches at all levels, but especially important for those who work

with younger athletes, to constantly teach and reinforce the correct fundamental techniques

of dribbling, shooting, footwork, and passing in every single team and individual work out.

It is much easier to start creating a good habit at the middle school level than it is break a

bad habit at the high school level and then be forced to start over!

Since it takes a fair amount of time to become excellent, make sure that you and your players

are spending your time wisely. I completely agree with former Princeton coach Pete Carrill

when he says players need to be good at the things that happen the most. There is no sense

in being great at something that never happens, so always concentrate on the basics.

Practicing the right things, the right way, for the right amount of time is the only way a

player can ever perfect the skills necessary to be great!

9.

ITS NOT WHETHER YOU WIN OR LOSE ITS HOW

YOU PLAY THE GAME

You might have said that occasionally to your players hoping to make them feel better; to the

parents of your players to keep them off your back, and to your school administrators in

order to keep your job, but you as a coach cannot believe that. You MUST NOT believe

that!

As coaches we have a uniqueopportunity to teach young people

life lessons through competitive

athletics and one of the most

important lessons that need to be

both taught and learned is that

results matter. By teaching our

players that trying our best on the

court is the only thing that

matters, we run the risk of

teaching them that trying hard offthe court is all that matters as well.

Like it or not, we live in a results oriented society. The salesman who tries hard but doesnt

sell anything is going to struggle to support his family. The student who tries hard but gets

only average grades is not going to get into the best colleges. Should we be satisfied that we


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are tryingto win the wars on crime and illegal drugs? What about those who try their best not

to drink and drive do they deserve a pat on the back for their efforts? I could go on and on!

Do we need to teach our players to do their very best at all times? Absolutely! Teach them

that playing hard matters; playing fairly matters; playing unselfishly matters; working hard

matters, and persevering matters. But young people need to know that winning resultsmatter too! Not only on the court, but more importantly off the court!

This brings us to Part #2 of this misconception and that is the idea that Losing Builds

Character, as if to suggest that losing could actually be a good thing. Losing doesnt build

character; losing reveals character because it requires some type of reaction. It requires either

accepting defeat or regrouping and taking on the challenge even stronger and more prepared

than before. Lou Holtz has been quoted as saying, Life is 10% what happens to you and

90% how you react to it.

Helping your players build and strengthen their characters is an ongoing process. If youand/or your players are lacking in character to begin with, losing is certainly not going to

help you build it!

FINAL THOUGHTS

We hope you got something out of this special report. If you are interested in reading about

any of the other misconceptions and myths that are floating around the world of basketball

coaching, or if you happen to know of any that we should be aware of, please contact usthroughwww.BasketballClassroom.com. We would love to hear from you!
http://www.basketballclassroom.com/http://www.basketballclassroom.com/

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Basketball Coaching Misconceptions

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