Feb
21
A Basketball Counting Problem, from Scott Brooks
February 21, 2008 |
Okay, here's my dilemma. I have to coach the team by myself Saturday evening, my first foray into coaching by myself. We're playing the best team in the league. They are quick, fast, can jump, dribble, shoot and they play an incredibly aggressive game. Every member of their team can. They have no weak links. If all my players show up, I will have nine kids. Here's what I've got to deal with. First, the main problem. I have three kids that simply can't play. They are complete liabilities. I've been on teams with guys that weren't very good, but they weren't liabilities. We could teach them to do something well. So they could at least do something of value — set picks, or play defense against the other team's weakest player. We would be better off playing with only four players than having them on the floor. But this is an instructional league and I have to play all kids roughly equally. Two of these bad players can only play. One of them can play guard on offense, and play forward on defense. I use the word "play" very loosely here. Now, on to the good players. I have two good true guards. One of those guys has to be on the floor at all times, or I've got no one to handle the ball. I have one kid who can "float" between guard and forward. He is actually good enough at guard that he could bring the ball up, but I'd prefer that he not. Three kids who are pretty much only forwards. I don't really want them to bring the ball up the court and I'd prefer they do as little dribbling as possible. So, how do I run the team with the fewest bad players on the floor at one time. If I could do it with only one bad player on the floor at a time, I could stick him at the 3 position on offense — weakside forward, which is to the left of the point guards (getting kids to move to the left at this level is difficult). Doing that pretty much keeps him out of the way, except that the 3 position has to cover against fast breaks (and the team we're playing is a fast break machine). I've got to run five guys on the floor at a time, and I've got three bad players. Here's what I'm thinking about starting out with: I'll run one of my two good guards at the 1 point guard position I'll run the kid who floats at the 2 guard position. I'll run one of the bad kids at the 3 position (and pray that he moves up to stop the fast break). I'll run my two best forwards at the 4 & 5 positions. How then do I run the other two kids in and out and only have one of them on the floor at the same time, while giving them essentially equal playing time, keeping in mind that the opponent is scary good I don't want these boys to get blown out. Any input would appreciated.
Comments
10 Comments so far
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Scott
One thing I don’t see in your story is the ages of the kids. Ironically, I face an almost identical dilemna this weekend with my 5th grade “instructional” team. I have had to suck it up and come to the conclusion that until High school (in my opinion) equal playing time means plaing the hand you are dealt talent-wise. If your kids are this age or younger, although there are no good answers to your dilemna, there are still great lessons–remember, this is an INSTRUCTIONAL league. Maybe (yes, probably) you will get blown out. But I am afraid it it doesn’t matter as much as letting these boys take their licks and take those lessons of value that come from giving your best effort as a team, even when you are out-manned.Bottom line…NO ONE will remember this weeks game but a lesson of some sort just might stick to one or two of these kids this weekend. And that is pretty cool.
How about teaching them how to deal with being blown out? Useful lesson for a future trading life
Send 1 bad player in and tell him to be very aggresive-to try and get the ball at any cost-hopefully he will soon file out-Repeat with #2 bad player-Then on #3 bad player tell him to back off as you have seen the errors of your way.Thus you will have 5 players to finish the game. I have done this and though we still got killed the team was upbeat about the defeat because they all felt we went down fighting and just got out played.Good luck
having faced this problem myself in my first year of coaching under 12 league where everyone had to play I can make some quick points here.
First of all keep things simple. After all these are kids and in all likelihood they are scared. Putting pressure on them will only make matters worse. And be sure that they ae relaxed and having fun. Otherwise they will freeze up. Always be the calm in the storm. talk slowly. it is better to make one point well than throw alot of info at them.
on offense
Number one, make sure that the ball gets in the hands of the best player on your team. You have to give yourself a chance to score some points. If your two best players are ball handlers then your best chance of success is to have them play together at the same time. That way the defense cannot gang up on them. thus reducing mistakes and turnovers. You cant score the ball if you dont get it near the basket.
Be careful not to tire out your best players. that means substituting if only for a few minutes assuming you can do so. within the rules.
and dont drive them too hard. Be very wary of their stamina. be flexible on this.
On inbounds have players designated ahead of time who will bring the ball in. I found the most successful strategy here is to put the second best player to inbound or your tallest player and put it in the hands of the best.
Use the other players as complements to the best players. Let the best players shoot. Advise the others to concentrate on other things. This means on offense tell them to aggressively try to rebound. If they get the rebound give them free reign to put it back up. Once again dont complicate things.
On defense play a 2 -3 or a 212 put your worst players on the ball handler. Even two on one like a trap on the ball handler seems to work. they can work the ball man to man coverage. Tell them to be very aggressive make sure you slow the ball down. the other three you can put on a front line. a wall of defense if you will and encourage them to rebound rebound rebound.
Last point is watch the flow of the game. If you notice your guys losing concentration or becoming disorientated call time out and assemble them together and slowly remind them of the fundamentals.
One last point. Above all have fun. You will lose the game but that is not the issue here. You said it is an instructional league so instruct. Try to make them a little bit better, encourage, and never talk about the score or winning and losing. They are going to look to you for leadership. So lead and set the tone. John Wooden never talked about winning and losing even at the level he achieved. he always forced his players to concentrate on the fundamental aspects of everything.
Good luck.
I have more experience playing than coaching. But I have helped coach some teams of youngsters, and watch my niece and nephew play on various teams.
One thought I had is to try to turn your disadvantage. Poor basketball players are an irritation, but maybe you could coach them to run full speed while on the court. Have them pursue the ball at top speed and run full-out while in the court. The other team will find this quite annoying and may make a mistake, and in any case your players will get a workout in a shorter time.
I haven’t tested this theory though…
Greg Rehmke
I’ve coached many teams, and one was like yours. You should play a zone defense and pack it in under the basket. Tell everyone to keep both arms staight up when someone’s driving to the hoop: no reaching in. On offense, tell the scrubs to set picks and always be ready to get back on defense.
You’re too nervous. Instead of the three scrubs playing 5/9s of the game, play them 4/9s. That way you’ll have two scrubs in together only a third of the game. Then let the game flow. Sometimes you can sneak them in when the other team’s star is on the bench. But you never know. Oftentimes the first two minutes of each half are very important, and can set the tempo for the rest of the half.
Tell everyone to fight to the end. As long as they do that it’s a positive experience. Stay positive and don’t let the parents with stop watches bother you.
Okay, to add some clarity: The age group is 13 & 14 year olds. For some of these kids, this is their last year of playing basketball as they aren’t going to make their High School teams.
I think what I’m gonna do is use the “Hack a Shaq” strategy. Hopefully, I can get my 3 bad players to play like crazy men, foul, foul, foul. Since this is a “running clock” league (the clock never stops for any reason until the last 2 minutes of the game).
If I can get these 3 boys to foul the other team everytime they touch the ball, I can slow game down enough to hopefully keep it competitive.
As far as getting blown out goes…..there are good lessons to be learned from that. Unfortunately, these boys have gotten blown out to much.
I want them to find success.
It’s especially frustrating for the boys that can play. They want to win and they know it will be nearly impossible due to the make up of the team.
The worst thing about this is that we’ve got one Dad who is a quasi-assistant coach who has a attitude problem. All he does is yell to the boys, “Pass the ball to _______” (his son), and when they don’t he gets demonstrably aggravated with them. He tells them on the bench, “___________ was wide open, why don’t you pass the ball to him?” (said in a very angry confrontational manner).
The boys don’t know how to respond to this kind of inquisition…..or I should say, since they are really nice kids, they don’t want to tell the Dad that the reason that they don’t pass to his son is that when the “son” touches the ball, he turns it over. Or if has the chance to shot, he gets his shot blocked 2 out of 3 times….and the one time that he doesn’t get his shot blocked, he shots an airball.
A couple of weeks ago, this dad got so upset that he started calling some of the boys “ball hogs”.
So, although I’m gonna do my best to teach these boys something that will help them become better men, I also have to contend with this dad who will likely be on the bench with me as my assistant coach.
Scott
I coach 4th graders and would tell you to enjoy them first, teach them second, and put winning in the back sit. We were down 19-0 at halftime and I went to our area to yell at them to play better. I sarcastically asked them in they were having fun? They all raised their hands. That put it in to prospective.
Scott,
The kids may be in middle school, but you have only some idea who is going to be in the varsity starting five in a few years, let who will be on the varsity team.
Some kids are about done growing; others have yet to shoot up. Some kids will spend their summer in front of the TV; other will spend day in the driveway shooting and evenings at the park courts. Some lose interest; some love the game and adults do not know what is going on in each kids’ head.
As a 14 year old the adults had no idea I’d make a talented varsity team; I can only speculate about my playing time and performance had I matured physically at 17 instead of 19.
Good luck!
aholes like your “ASSistant coach” compelled me to never volunteer to coach my daughter’s teams…every week I am amazed at the self-absorbed, clueless, morons who scream and curse as they try to “help” their kid play better. Nothing gets my goat more….