CORVETTE HOBBY 

            COACHING CLINIC : Part 2

    COACHING AGGRESSIVE BASKETBALL 

                          COACHING AGGRESSIVE BASKETBALL BEGINS WITH CONDITIONING:

 You must be in better condition than your opponent. Most games are won in the 4TH Quarter. With all things equal , the team in the best condition will win. You must sell conditioning to your players. Every practice session I required my players to run 40 laps around the court for conditioning, in addition to their stretching, sprints and other conditioning drills.  I call the 40 laps " The Forth Quarter".

           TO BUILD AN  AGGRESSIVE TEAM , YOU MUST FIRST BUILD A STRONG DEFENSE:

To build an aggressive team , first you must start with a strong  Man to Man Defensive Philosophy. A team can not run an effective defense whether Zone or Man without understanding Man to Man Defensive principles. I call our defense " DENIAL MAN TO MAN"
 
I call this  Denial Man To Man  Defense because one player plays total Denial Defense with no help responsibility and the four other players play basic Man to Man defense with all man to man defensive  principles.  
                                             (Practice the 4 man shell drill 10-15 mins. every day )

            There are several key components that must be taught and to play effective 

                                                      MAN TO MAN DEFENSE

1. Always put maxium pressure on the point guard while bringing the ball up court.  Never ever let the point guard bring the ball up the court uncontested. Always force him to  one side or the other and make it difficult for him to get into his offense. Once the point guard passes the ball, try to prevent him from getting the ball back ( I call that "Cutting off the Head")

2. Use the Denial Position to put maxium pressure on your opponents best scorer , get in his head. He must know that he is your primary objective. The defender must be in his face the entire game whether he has the ball or not. Make their best scorer the target and make him work his butt off to get the ball.  Assign two excellent denial defenders  to guard their  best scorer and  rotate them in and out on an
regular basis. These two  denial defenders will NOT HAVE ANY HELP responsibility and they will pick up the best scorer   full court and should apply full ball denial pressure on him the entire game. Force him to have to run off two or three picks and screens to get the ball and never let up the pressure. The other four player will aid by calling all picks  and screens and open up so the pressure defender can
slide or can help  jump trap.

3. To be aggressive all defensive assignments must be simple , the players must have confidence that all other players will give them help . The coach must punish players for lack of effort and teach the players to overcome lack  of judgement. PLAYERS CAN NOT FEAR FAILURE. When I say "punish" , I am referring to having players run extra laps the next practice session.

4. To be aggressive you must constantly move , when the opponent moves the ball , each defensive player   must move , even if he is only moving his feet in place. The mind and body must always be in the   attack mode. Your defensive mentality must be like a linebacker in football, ready to act at any moment.

5. Each defensive player must play hard , must apply 100% pressure on the ball and can not foul. A foul is a breakdown in the defense. A foul is caused by poor positioning , poor decisions and lack of effort and is equalvant to giving your opponent a free scoring pportunity. Emphasize , Play defense with body positioning and  not reaching with your hands.

 6. All shots must be contested . Even if a defender is beat or even if it is a dunk , never let it go uncontested . Even though an offensive player may have a clear lay-up , to hear foot steps coming from behind may just be enough to cause him to lose concentration. A coach must punish uncontested shots.

7. You MUST teach your players how to foul. A foul is a very important element of the game. A wimpy foul that ends with an opponent making a basket must be punished. A foul must be strong , aggressive and through the ball. Although a foul must be fair, legal, and non- flagrant , it also must  send a message to the opponent that if you come in my house , you will pay the price. Coaches must implement a drill for fouling effectively and the proper technique for taking a charge. We were once told that football was a contact sport , but that is incorrect. Basketball is a contact sport , football is collision.

8. You MUST teach your players to rebound . Blocking out is only one part , the other part is exerting authority. When rebounding,  you are letting the opponent know that you control the boards... bring the ball down to the chest with power. Keep the elbows in but expand the body and create as much space as possible while looking for the outlet or the put back.   You must aggressively go after the ball.

9. The coach MUST emphasize blocking out,  taking the charge and diving for the loose ball. Put drills in your practice to cover these important elements of the game .These three areas separate the men from the boys

                        To build confidence and aggressiveness , you must teach these Basic Defensive Rules

 1. Always force the ball to the outside . Forcing outside enables the defense to use the sideline and baseline as two additional players. Keeping the ball out of the middle of the court , cuts the offensive attack in half.

 2. Always deny ball reversal . Ball side player must always step up in the passing lane to prevent ball reversal or to force the opponent to pass the ball deeper into their back court. When you prevent ball reversal now you have cut the court in half which total disrupts the opponents offense. 80% of all  offensive schemes are based on ball reversal. Stop the opponent from doing what they like to do.

3. Always apply maxium ball pressure , once the opponent picks up the ball. Mirror the movement of the ball and make it difficult for him to pass , but NEVER FOUL a player when the ball and the player is not attacking the defense.

4. Always be in a Ball-You-Man position when the man you are guarding do not have the ball. This means that if you are one pass away from the ball , your ball side hand must be in the passing lane. This assist in preventing ball reversal. If you are two passes away , your entire body is in the passing lane and you should be two steps off  your  man in help position toward the ball if the ball is above the foul line. If the ball is below the foul line , the defender must have his entire body in the passing lane with one foot in the lane , inorder to give ball side help. You must see the ball and your man at all times , keeping your feet moving and your head on a swivel. NEVER let the player you are guarding make a penetrating cut to the basket or to the ball by cutting across your face. Always force him behind you while staying in a Ball-you- man position.

5. Always double down on penetrating passes into the post. NEVER let your post defender guard a post player with the ball alone. I call this Help and Recover. Although you double down to help the post defender , you must be able to immediately recover to the player you are guarding to prevent the kick-out for the three point shot. This is very important and must be practice in drills every session.

6. Always jump and fake trap on ball side penetrating drives. I call this Jump and Recover. If a ball side defender is beat on the dribble , the ball side help defender must slow down the penetrating drive  inorder to give the ball defender a second to recover by faking a trap and then returning to his man . This must be practice in drills each session.

7. Final, put in a drill to Jump Trap the pick and roll

                                                                      OFFENSIVE PHILOSOPHY:
      

                       An aggressive defense and an aggressive offense goes hand in hand in creating an agressive team.

                                           WE FAST BREAK ON MADE  OR MISSED BASKETS AND FOUL SHOT

Always assign one player to pass the ball in quickly, we use the 4 man .. As soon as the ball goes through the nets after a made basket or a foul shot, the 4 man should catch the ball immediately step out of bounds and start the fast break ,  The reason we do this is because the quick inbound pass takes advantage of the fact that pressure defenses, especially zone, need time to set-up and most team press only after a made basket or a made free throw.

We want to get the basketball up the court in 2 to 3 seconds in full attack mode and never giving the defense a chance to set up . Never ever walk the ball up the court. The 4 man first look is down court for the 2 Guard on the release , his second look is to the point guard who will push the ball full speed up the court looking for the 2 guard or the 3 man breaking down the opposite side of the court.  

Please understand that there are hundreds of  half court offensive sets that are effective, use the ones that are best suited for your program or best suited to attack your opponents defense. But always try to score in your transitional attack and use your half court sets as your second option. 
                                                    
                                                                          OUR BASIC FAST BREAK

 1. Always release your Two Guard. When the ball leaves your opponents hand on a shot , your Two Guard should automatically release into transition to a specified area down court. This extends the court and gives your opponent a larger area to protect and also may convert in to  some easy baskets.  

2. The rebounder first look is for the outlet pass to the Two Guard down court, looking for the quick lay-up. 

 
3. The rebounder second look is the outlet to the Point Guard.
 
4. The Point Guard first look is to the Two Guard down the court, setting him up to attack the basket in a one on one situation.

5. The Two Guard must have a scorers mentality , he has to be determine and confident. He must understand that  once he get the ball in transition he must not and can not be stopped by one defender. The Two Guard needs to come away with a score or a foul in a one on one situation. He must take ball strong to the basket.

6. The Three and Four Positions must crash the boards looking for the shot taken by the Two Guard.  They must rebound and put back the miss , so they must sprint the floor full speed. Keep in mind 7 out of 10 of these shots will be missed and it will set up an opportunity for the Three and Four Positions  to get some cheap baskets from the middle and off-side.

I found that the Three and Four Positions  are willing to run the floor for those cheap baskets knowing that their opponent is oncentrating on stopping the Two Guard and the basket is left  poorly covered. With this concept , the Two Guard should feel free to shoot the ball knowing that the Three and Four Positions are coming to follow up. This is what I call my Primary Fast Break. Please note: Playing the miss shot is a extremely important element in our fast break. 95% of the time , the rebound will be on the off-side of the basket.
 
 7. If  the point guard can not get the ball to the two guard we go into your Secondary Fast Break , which consist of hitting the Five Man or  (Trailer) attacking from the reverse elbow. Now that their defense has collapsed into the paint, the Five Man should have 8-10 footer chip shot from the elbow. This is what I call the secondary break.

8. If the seconday break is not there , the Trailer cuts to the opposite low post, the Two and Three position V-cuts to the wings and  we go into the regular half-court offense.

                 THIS  IS  THE  BASIC OUTLINE OF WHAT I DID AS A COACH . I HOPE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO NTERGRATE
                        ONE OR TWO OF THESE ELEMENTS INTO YOUR PROGRAM . IT JUST MIGHT MAKE A DIFFERENCE......