COACH BOB KNIGHTS: THOUGHTS ON GAME PREPARATION

The team preparation facet of coaching boiled down for me to trying to figure out two seemingly simple and obvious things:

Number one, how to stop somebody -- different things you could do on defense: switches we could make and switches we couldn't -- all kinds of specially tailored tactics you could use to try to take away things that the team you were preparing for liked to do and did well.

The second thing to think about in getting ready for every game was, of course, offense - how could we scored on that opponent?

That's what coaching is all about. There are some fundamentals that have to be adhered to and mastered in any business. Some people grasp those fundamentals, and teach them or learn them, and others don't. And those who don't are never as successful as those who do.

In coaching, it's a matter of having a sound fundamental base, both offensive and defensively.

On offense, your players don't take bad shots. They don't throw the ball away. They move without the ball. They help each other get open.

On defense you teams don't give up easy points on conversion, on fast breaks. They don't commit bad fouls -- unnecessary or dumb fouls that keep the other team on the free throw line. Your guys never foul a guy who is in the act of taking a bod shot or a three-point shot. And they have to control the lane, and know where the ball is at all times. A good defensive player can never lose sight of the basketball, because it is the ball that has to be stropped, not a particular player.

When a shot goes up, they have to be consistently good at blocking out, because that one thing eliminates a lot of problems. There's nothing more demoralizing to a defense than playing well and forcing the opponent to take a shot he misses, then giving up a point-blank basket because a guy who wasn't blocked out sneaked in and got the rebound. The first thing you have to do defensively as a coach is eliminate cheap points and nothing is cheaper than that.

From: "Knight - My Story"

BOB KNIGHT THOUGHTS ON PRACTICE

1. Have rules on how you’re going to practice
.....Never let a kid step onto the court and shoot on their own

.....They needed to have a coach, manager, or other player with them
.....No free shooting on their own

2. Have things in practice that are physically and mentally tough
.....Drills where players will bang and bruise each other
.....Drills that will challenge their mind

3. Start practice with quick drills
.....Drills that require hand/eye quickness, and get their mind thinking right away

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4. Don’t practice too long
.....You get to a “point of no return” with practice time
.....Start of season: 2 hour, 15 min practice
.....End of the season: Never go longer than 1 hour 15min

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5. Drills that involve an individual skill – spend no more than 5 minutes

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6. Drills that involve the team as a whole – spend no more than 10 minutes

KNIGHT: COACH AND TEACHER

The following quotes come from a book by Monte Carpenter titled "Quotable General." These thoughts come from Chapter 3: Coach and Teacher.

"I'd rather be thought of as a teacher than a coach."

"A coach must remember that he is a teacher and therefore must prepare his team for every possible situation that may develop."

"Everyone remembers more when we write things down."

"What has been emphasized generally can be discussed specifically."

"The basketball classroom is one of the most demanding there is. Not only are there principles to be learned, but there's an immediate practical application of those theories."

"One of the essentials in teaching is to emphasize. How do you emphasize? Quietly? On occasion. By not saying anything? I thin you can. By really making a vocally emphatic point? Sure. You have to be a lot of different things."

"The best teachers I've know are intolerant people. They don't tolerate mistakes."

"I think every coach is ready to quit at some point every year."

"If you haven't coached, one of the most difficult things to understand is a coach's mentality."

"Coaching is a great balance between demand and patience. The coaches who are demanding -- constantly demanding -- are not particularly good coaches. The coaches who are extremely patient are not particularly good coaches. There's a balance between the two that I think is really important. Patience allows for development; demand brings about development at a rate that you have to have."

"I teach. I think of myself as a teacher."

"But the coach that really coaches and really teaches is the guy who goes out on a limb even though some kid isn't going to like him, or the team isn't going to like him, but he's out there doing that because it's the best way to get kids to play as well as they can."

"I concentrate on the way we could lose and what we can do about them."

"I try to win basketball games and as the same time prepare my players for the rest of their lives."

POINT_GUARD_TIPS

1. Vocal Leadership – If your PG isn’t vocal, they can’t command the team. It’s not enough to just “lead by example” on the court; the PG must be able to control the game and keep their team organized (calling out sets, etc)…

2. Lead by Example – We all expect our PG’s to be leaders, so they must lead by example on and off the floor. They have to have leadership qualities to be able to run a team. One good “on-the court” example would be their defensive stance and on-ball pressure as the ball moves up the floor. If they are a ball-hawk and showing extreme pressure to the ball, there is a good chance the rest of the team will also buy in to being in a stance.

3. Have a good relationship with the coach - We all say that the PG must be an extension of the coaching staff on the court, so there must be a solid relationship between the coach and PG so they can always feel comfortable communicating with each other.

4. Not a “Shoot-first” player - They don’t necessarily need to always be a pass-first PG, especially in high school where the PG might also be the best scorer, but they can not be a player that typically will bring the ball up the floor looking to go one-on-one and creating shots just for themselves. The offense will become stagnant and other players will shut down, because they know their chances of being involved offensively are low.

5. Have a high IQ for the game / feel for the game – They have to understand special situations, the flow of the game, the time & score, when to attack, when to pull it out, etc.

6. Have a high conditioning threshold – if the PG isn’t in shape and is expected to play big minutes and minutes at the end of the game, they will break down mentally once their body breaks down, so it is huge for them to be in great shape.

7. Make the easy pass, and not always the “assist” pass – Sometimes PG’s make foolish passes because they know the ball will be in their hand much of the time. Have them keep it simple. The reason Steve Nash can make the passes he can make is because he works on it every day and he is the best in the world. There aren’t a lot of Steve Nashes out there, so use the KISS principle – “Keep It Simple, Stupid”.

8. Be able to knock down the open shot – I couldn’t shoot, and I played a lot of minutes, and it definitely hurt my team at times. The PG typically won’t get a ton of shots off of set plays or screens because he or she is setting up others, but the PG must be able to hit the open shot in transition, on post-feed kick-outs, etc.

9. Have “Gears” – I’m talking about a change of pace in their game. The toughest PG’s aren’t the ones who are extremely fast, but the ones that are always playing at different speeds. They have deception in their game.

10. Have a “Motor” – summarizes a lot of the points already made, but the PG has to play extremely hard, and be eager to do all of the dirty jobs. The PG must be willing to guard the full length of the court, push the ball in transition, be vocal, and play with a tremendous amount of energy.

PREVENTING & LIMITING FAST BREAK OPPORTUNITIES

1. Take care of the ball offensively. Fast break basketball thrives on turnovers and bad shots.

2. Have good shot selection. Take open shots with teammates in offensive rebounding position. No off balance or rushed shots.

3. Employ sharp, accurate passing. Eliminate all unforced turnovers (bad passes and violations).

4. Go to the offensive boards. Force the opponent wings to defend (box out) against offensive rebounds instead of leaving early on fast break.

5. Maintain defensive balance. Especially on three point shots, where long rebounds can trigger a fast break.

6. It is imperative to have vision on the ball at all times. This is especially true when in defensive transition. Defenders should NEVER run back on defense with their backs to the ball.

7. Since most passers telegraph their passes, maintain vision on the ball handler's eyes.

8. Aggressively rebound (box out) and do not give the opponent any second chances.

9. Break off opponent’s turnovers and missed shots. Up tempo, fast breaking teams are very susceptible to counter attacks.

PRINCIPLES_FOR_TRANSITION_DEFENSE

#1 Convert mentally...once the defense has secured the ball, know where you have to be and get there.

#2 Don’t try to steal an outlet pass or steal the dribble from the point guard on the outlet pass...get back.

#3 In getting back, we are looking to straight line sprints...you are immediately sprinting back towards the paint...our goal is to have five players sprint back and get at least one foot in the paint before approaching their offensive player.

#4 Low post defense in transition starts at the free throw line...we want to meet all post players at the free throw line and make them cut behind us to get into the low post...this is a great place to pick up a charge on a slow-footed post player.

#5 Allow no shots in the paint in transition and allow no open looks for 3-point shooters.

#6 Once we have stopped the opponent’s break we want to immediately get into our half-court defense (it doesn’t matter if we are in man or zone)...don’t relax!

ALLOW OUR OPPONENT NO EASY SHOTS!

COACH_PETE_NEWELL_

"The success of basketball teams normally

depends upon their mastery of fundamentals of

play. While the coach associates sound fundamentals with team success, he realizes that a sound and definite philosophy is synonymous with good coaching. A coach's philosophy is the foundation upon which he predicates his success."

from "Basketball Methods"

By Pete Newell and John Benington, 1962

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following Coach Newell quotes come on a variety of subjects from "A Good Man: The Pete Newell Story" by Bruce Jenkins.

On defense: "You start with the fact that there's only one way to play defense. Shuffle your feet, knees bent, hands up."

On developing habits: "I believe you can never change a habit, or create one, with a word or a piece of chalk. You can talk all day, put all sorts of diagrams on the board, but a habit is not going to change. It's a conditional reflex, created by a repetitive act."

On morale: "Morale is something a lot of people talk about, but seldom really address. You've got to practice it, show that you're committed."

On part-method teaching: "Part-method teaching tells a kid why he's doing something. In five-on-five drills you're not teaching, you're coaching. Break it down to one-on-one, two-on-two, three-on-three, go through every option of the offense and defense, and the players will understand why you're doing it. And if they make mistakes, you can point it out. The parts make the whole. It's like your car engine; you work on the sparkplugs or the carburetor or whatever's causing the problem. You don't have to get rid of the whole motor."

On tempo: "We want to make the other team play a game we think we can play better. We do this by making them play at a speed they're not used to."

On emphasizing defense: "Everything to me is calculated toward the defense and letting the players know they can assert themsevles."

On reverse-action offense: "A really sound offense will have that variety. With reverse action, we'd have a screener, a cutter, and a passer, and if you have the three minds working together at the same time, you'd get a real good shot."

On criticizing players: "I never berated a player coming off the court or on the bench. I may have raised hell on the practice court, or watching films the next day, and sometimes it was my fault. But I wasn't involved in blaming people. It was why, why, why. Because when you know the 'why' of something, you can do something about it."

On coaching & teaching: "Coaching and teaching are two different things. The coaching never turned me on that much, but I always enjoyed the teaching, the practice sessions."

On little things: "It's little things. Like coming to a jump-stop when you catch the ball inside in post-up position, so now either foot can be a pivot."

Probably no story summed up Pete Newell more than the one Coach Bob Knight shared in his book, "Knight: My Story" when to told of Coach Newell taking the time to visit with Coach Fred Taylor to discuss defense. Coach Taylor was the at Ohio State, with a young Bob Knight on the team. Coach Newell openly shared his defensive philosophy with the Ohio State staff. In 1960 Ohio State defeated Coach Newell's California team in the NCAA championship game and it had a profound effect on Coach Knight:

"What he represented to me in this case was the responsibility a teacher has to share with others whatever he has come up with that he found to be of some benefit. When later I was in a position to do that, I always did. If we were doing something that people were interested in, I never held anything back at clinics or in conversation with fellow coaches, especially young ones."

This has had a domino impact on many of us in the coaching profession. I have attended Coach Knight's practices at Indiana -- they were always open to coaches -- as well as attend his clinics. When you think of Pete Newell, Bob Knight and Don Meyer, you think of not just great coaches but people who care enough about the game and those of us who coach it, to want to share their knowledge. It is a major premise behind the creation of this blog.