Airing It Out

I recently had the chance to witness something I've been looking for for a while now.

A while back, I posted this entry and mentioned that I was looking for a group willing to gel enough as a team to be willing to constructively go at each other and hold one another accountable for their performance. I saw a team really go at it, and just sat on the side and listened.

There was absolutely no filter. They were mad, and they let each other know it. Questioning each others effort for that game and even the effort to grow as an individual player. Calling out ballhogs, poor shot selection, and playing too timid. As I said in the post, dysfunctional teams lack that comfort with one another to be that honest. It was good to see all of that come out and get verbalized. One problem teams have, and I can vouch for that as I have the same issue at the office, is that there's that generalized problem. "You" is all too often replaced with "we" so that no one's feelings get hurt. The court is a warzone, and there's little place for hurt feelings there.

The one problem I have with the display I witnessed was there was no rebuilding. No healing, no strengthening of the bond. Just destruction. The team left points on the table in a big way. These types of meetings have to have purpose - and that purpose should be similar to that of a creature shedding a weaker layer to make way for a better, stronger, improved version. When a creature sheds the old, it goes and heals, as it is vulnerable for a time, and nurses itself to allow the new version time to adjust, strengthen, and take hold. They did not do this, and as a result, I don't really see much improvement for them in their future (I also don't see much because they are not basketball players but just average athletes who are not committed to one craft, but three) and that's a bit of a let down.

One day I'll see that whole process take place again. And hopefully it will end the right way.

Ramblings

Not really sure what to post about today.  Sure there are plenty of things to talk about, but my mind is a mess and the three drafts I attempted started getting a little weird. So, instead we'll just empty out some of those ramblings and hope that it will clear my head a little.

#1 - Dwight Howard could be good, but I think he's not worth all the attention he's getting - at least not now. Lakers will actually be better without him under their current coach. He was taught by a great center in Orlando (P. Ewing) and those skills need to find a system that needs a true center. D'Antoni doesn't do that, and has a hard enough time using Gasol, though he's a bit more versatile than Howard. Unfortunately, I have no opinions on where he goes, I just wish he'd go already so ESPN can talk about other moves being made. Stop with this "Howard is going to...oh wait now he's not sure again. He's leaving, oh nope staying." It may be official as early as Wednesday, but you never know with Dwight. Could work out in Houston though as they could really take advantage of his inside presence to help free up their back court to get some uncontested shots and driving lanes...

#2 - I have way too much time on my hands right now. Not that I don't have things I need to do in the off season, but when you are used to going from work to practice and playing 5 games a weekend, coming home after work and getting to actually cook dinner makes you feel like you have time to do a ton of stuff.  Like hang artwork, rearrange closets, and the like. Productive, well needed, but I kinda miss the hustle and bustle. I'll be asking for a breather in December though :)

#3 - There is big news to announce, but it will have to wait. Just know that I love the position I'm in and the energy surrounding it. Yes, to leave it at that is a little on the evil side, but I'm going to do it.

#4 - Glad to see the USA Men's World University Games basketball team thrash United Arab Emirates on Sunday by 94 points in a game that saw plenty of minutes for everyone and helped them in their bid to advance from pool play (Not unsportsmanlike to score that much, its in the FIBA advancement rules, and when you're in a pool as strong as the USA pool, well you take every advantage you can).  Seems they won again today over the Czech Republic by 43. Baylor's Cory Jefferson had a 10-point 15-rebound game, which brings a little extra smile to my face. Sic 'em CJ!

#5 - NCAA Football 2014 comes out tomorrow and looks pretty legit. I wish they still had college basketball games though. Recruiting is a lot more fun that dealing with free agency...

#6 -  I need more trophies. With this newfound free time, I decided to put up a shelf for trophies. Should have thought that through a little bit more.  I thought I had more than 3 trophies, but then I realized that coaches don't get trophies anymore because it costs too much. Most players don't either. T-shirts is the new thing, but I want trophies. They don't shrink or fade.  They just boast awesome.

All right, that's enough. I need to go do something productive (eat being one of them) to get ready for work tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be a bit more focused and put together something a little more focused next week.

 

My Year in Review

Maybe it's just me, or maybe its a coaching thing, but I have two different "years" going on. There's the calendar year which dictates my day to day, Monday through Friday, "9-5" (who actually works those hours?) life and it goes from January 1 to December 31. Then there's the coaching year which goes from something like August to June. July is just a hole and a time to catch my breath - for now. As each year gets completed, I try to take a bit to look back on what I did (or did not do) during the year and see if I feel like it made me a better coach or if I took steps backwards. Here's a quick recap on my own little self review.

This year was a tough year for me. It was the epitome of the phrase "peaks and valleys" and tested my confidence.  But as I said a few entries back, you need years like this. Times that push you out of your comfort zone and force you to grow.  It's human nature - adapt or survive. That mentality has served me well in life. It's how I learned to swim as a kid - my dad picked me up, dropped me into the deep end and pretty much said figure it out or drown (He was close enough to save me if I didn't save myself, but far enough away that I wasn't about to cling to him for dear life). It's how I learned to do solid work under crazy time constraints - nothing like writing papers and doing science fair projects the day before you had to turn them in. Basketball for me is no different, and I think it ultimately made me a better coach to struggle the way I did this year.

Not Good

From a record standpoint it was nothing close to what I expected. Some people who were involved would say some it was because this year the talent level was lower than in past years, commitment at times was flaky, and that may be true. But I also think I was the source of a lot of my own demise.

1 - Don't over-commit yourself

I started the year out coaching a 5th, 6th, and 7th grade team. The program was growing in size, but the younger kids were smaller and it didn't sit well with us to possibly put them in a position to get injured, and I loved working with them so much that I didn't want to just say, "Sorry, no team this season." So I volunteered to take all the teams. While my heart was in the right place, you can't do that with teams that young and my full time job. I was being pulled every which way and couldn't really focus on anything ever. We all managed, but I think ultimately none of us saw our full potential that season. 

2 - Ask for help sometimes

This has always been an issue for me, simply because I have such little faith in the general public, especially parents of players, to do things for you without expecting some kind of "favor." I'm always weary of parents who volunteer because I always expect them to look for extra minutes because they are helping out. I've seen it before and heard the horror stories of that kid who had 3 left feet (and as a result spent more time on his face than standing) yet played the most because daddy was a team sponsor. However, there are a lot of things you have to do as a coach and sometimes the mundane administrative stuff gets in the way. While I haven't quite figured out which of the tasks I can delegate, I know there needs to be less typing in emails and texts and more film watching and strategy sessions.

Good

This year reminded me of what it is to be successful as a coach, especially at the younger levels. While it may sound cliche, it's not entirely about wins and losses, and the experience can be the difference between a repeat player and having to go recruit a whole new team.

1 - Stronger relationships with players

This is especially true with the last team I worked with, but even guys that I coached my first year I still stay in touch with and chat with about all kinds of things. While usually they want to compare which team was better, the conversation also includes choices outside of basketball and has branched into academics. Sure it's not on the same level as some of our other coaches in the program, but it's definitely building bonds that will help keep them interested in our program  and working hard.

2 - Practice organization

While it wasn't as consistent as I would have liked, I feel like I did a pretty good job organizing and scheduling practices and making the most of the court space I had. I also created a kind of rhythm that the players could expect so practices were more about getting in reps rather than taking time to refocus and being non-productive. Once I figured out how to turn the scoreboards on so everyone could keep on track to complete the exercise in a given time, the improvement was very noticeable. It also kept me from talking too much. Less talk, more work, more organization, better team.

Not that this was a year I am content with, I'm also not ashamed of it. There are many things in life that go through such a transformation where an old layer is tossed aside so that something new and better can emerge. There were several moments that I can learn from and I look forward to the opportunity to put that new knowledge to the test next year. Should I repeat, then I would have cause for alarm - for now Ihave hope that I am capable of going much better.

The Road To Zero Gravity: Accomplishment

It was a long journey, but we'd made it. We'd managed to endure the pains of traffic delays and obnoxious driving long enough to make it to the hotel. It was late. We were tired and hungry but at the same time, excited and ready. We'd worked too hard to let those get in our way. We'd arrive in Foxborough and we were ready to test the best in the nation.

Because of the momentum and confidence we'd gained from our last tournament championship, the practices leading into the tournament were light and the energy was good. In my opinion, there wasn't much we could do - it's like cramming the morning before a final. If you don't know it before then, you won't know it that day unless it happens to be the first page of the test. Sure we had things to fix, clean up, but there was no reinvention that week. Confidence and positive energy were too important, so I did what I could to nurture that. We talked about what this meant for our team specifically. It was about experience and growth. None of us had played on this big a stage, myself included, and I knew there were going to be moments that the stage would possibly get the best of all of us. Win or lose our job was simple. Take in as much as we could so that the next time we found ourselves with that kind of an opportunity, it would be a fair fight with no outside help from nerves. We talked about what it meant for our program. We play together and never quit because that is what we want the Wolfpack to be known for. If we do those two things, nothing else matters.  If we did our jobs, we'd be fine.

When the pools of the tournament were released, I was glad I'd made those points very clear. We were scheduled to play Boston Amateur Basketball Club (BABC), Greater Boston Lions, Central Massachusetts Athletic Club (CMAC), and Visionary Basketball Club (VBC) Gold. The Zero Gravity Circuit ranks teams that participate in their events. All of the aforementioned teams - top 10 in the 8th grade level.

That's a tall order for a team on their first ever national appearance, but we had our goals and we were committed. Sure it was late, and even later once I'd eaten, but I wasn't going to put my guys on this mission without any advantage I could give. I don't scout much for the AAU season (mostly because teams are inconsistent) but this was going to be one time where I would. Late as it was after eating and getting semi-settled, I went and found where these guys were playing and set my alarm to get up in 5 hours and scout. 

Nine o'clock rolled around way too quickly...

However, I was not about to let my guys down and that 9:00 am tip-off found me on the sidelines with a pad and a pen, watching for areas we could look to exploit and give us a fighting chance. I did a pretty good job, I think, of picking up tendencies, strengths and weaknesses of the team as a whole and individual players. You obviously can't change what you do too much, so I took my notes and considered what would be in our realm to  adjust without losing who we'd become over the season. Those were the things we discussed during pregame, and successfully took advantage of on the court.

Our first game was against CMAC and we held our own for the most part. I would definitely attribute that particular loss to nerves and "stage fright" - we struggled to pass and rebound well, and shots we'd come to rely on just wouldn't drop. We did a great job with the scouting adjustments though and we absolutely achieved both goals we'd discussed in practice. We fell to CMAC 79 - 60, but we were still positive, and the guys got together and made their own adjustments to get over the nerves, which was good to see. As I said on last year's trip to Florida, chemistry is something you should  strive to build, because it is invaluable.

Next up was Greater Boston Lions. When I tell you it was like men against boys, I'm not exaggerating.  I knew that, so the message based on the scouting report was simple.

Remember why we're here. We don't quit, we don't go away - we are the Wolfpack. They live on the offensive glass, so let's put a little more effort into making sure they only get one look at a basket each trip.

And that we did. Sure, we got killed on the glass and scoreboard (I think the margin was 30 points), but we had a serious height, strength, and athleticism disadvantage. You could tell by the lack of fans that stayed to watch our game, that we'd been written off by most before the first tick of the clock, but by the end of the game everyone had respect for the Wolfpack. Every possession was a battle. We played with no fear, made sure that every point was earned, and even refused a guy his highlight dunk (it wasn't a dirty foul, but the message was clear - "No, No, No" <insert Dikembe montage>).  After that game, I made sure to have a moment with my team. I called the parents over to listen as well, because what was about to happen needed to be heard by everyone. I told them how proud of them I was because of the tenacity they played with that morning. I've coached teams that absolutely would have packed it in when they realized it was David versus Goliath. There was none of that, and everyone respected them more for it, myself included. The parents and I gave them all a round of applause as we were all proud of how far the team had come during our time together and these games were a perfect reward for the persistence, patience, and determination they'd shown.

The last game of the day was against VBC Gold. The mood was still upbeat. The energy was sky high. Sure we'd had a rough morning, but you wouldn't have known it looking at anyone. We were playing great basketball and challenged good teams. Why should we be upset? We took the court and blew everyone's doors off. Each game from the morning had stuck with them, and we were definitely learning from our games. Execution was on point, defense was suffocating, and before you knew it we were up 20 point on VBC. They didn't know what to do, as subs were flying in and out like I'd never seen before. They never recovered and we won by more than 20.  We were playing such great basketball, I didn't care what the score was. No one did. The parents were in awe - this was the same team that had so many struggles to move the ball just two months ago? That team just continued to earn respect, and it definitely helps morale when you are able to throttle the #7 team in a national ranking. It took a few hours to come down off of that cloud and go to sleep that night.

Our last game of the tournament was against BABC. If we thought the Lions game was a men against boys game, this was like men against toddlers. Their guards were as tall as our bigs! They had 3 guys dunking during warmups - we have two guys who barely touch rim. Easily outmatched, but we stayed true to our goals and did what we could to frustrate them, but they did a great job using their size to win by 40.

All in all, it was a great tournament and everyone was proud of the job the boys had done. No one left with their head down, and there was no bitter words exchanged. Sure we didn't have a record that people who didn't see the games would respect, but we knew the deal and we weren't upset. We got our taste of the big time, and next time we'll be better prepared. We'll be bigger, faster, stronger and smarter, and then it will be our turn to shine. At the start of the season, no one would have picked us to even get to this tournament, let alone compete with teams in the top 10. If you can't find joy in that, you aren't a competitor. We did what we set out to do, and could proudly say: Mission accomplished!

The Road to Zero Gravity: Juice

There's nothing a coach loves more than when he sees his/her team take a lesson from a past experience and apply it to become a better, more competitive unit. Well, except for when several of those lessons come together the weekend leading into your national competition.

The final weekend of competition before heading up to Foxborough was one where we really needed to make sure we grabbed up as much momentum as we possibly could. While there's many different ways to get momentum, as we found two weekends ago in the "desert", we were really looking for something a bit more convincing - a championship.

Due to some issues on the job with guys missing parts and needing phone assistance, I arrived at our first gym just in time to get there to warn up. Not that I had much to say leading up to the game anyway, the message was short, simple, and most of all, effective.

This weekend is about momentum. Taking all the things we've been through - our struggles, our successes, our bond - and coming out ahead. We don't back down - this is our time, our moment, our championship.

Our first game was pretty much a brawl the whole way. It was a very physical game, but at least the refs were consistent with not calling things. Clearly we learned from the last tournament, as we adjusted to the calls, didn't let the absence of the whistle deter us, and at points just bullied our opponent into submission.  While they did close the gap towards the end, there was no real concern (from us at least) as to who was going to win the game. Lesson from the beginning of the season - I told my guys that my panic button is hard to get to, I trust them to take care of business. As long as I don't panic, there's no need for them to. Sure enough, there was no panic from coach or the bench. Win number 1 in the books. Three more to go for that championship.As we lined up to shake hands after, a couple of the coaches commented on how physical we had been that game and what a difference that made. The also added that hopefully this was a wake up call for their group that basketball is a contact sport.

Sometimes all you need is to get bullied one too many times like we had...

We had little time to rest before our second game and our opponent had the luxury of watching our whole game, so they took the court a little cocky thinking they would take care of business. They figured since we had sliced up the other team's man-to-man defense that they'd go zone and force us to shoot. Reasonable logic, if only we weren't firing on all cylinders that day. Ball movement led to pretty much any shot we wanted whenever we wanted it - inside, outside, we were draining buckets from everywhere. And that was just on the times they could set up.  We suffocated them defensively and they practically gave us layups and a 20+ point lead with 8 minutes to go in the second half. At that point, I pretty much pulled all the starters and let the bench guys get some minutes. We had a couple of turnovers, and started to cool off in terms of shooting, and they in turn got hot. With about 4 minutes they lead was around 15 so I had to start getting starters back in. It wasn't a move I was fond of, and it bothered me a little even though we ended up winning easily. Not comfortable most of the afternoon with that quick panic button...

The next day we were fortunate enough to play the playoff games of the tournament in our own facility. Another short, effective message.

I let you sleep in a little, don't make me regret it. Don't get punked in your own building.

Not exactly movie-inspirational, but it got the point across.  We jumped on our opponent early. Steal, layup. Rebound, pass, pass, layup. Forced turnover, pass, pass, pass, 3-ball, BANG - timeout. They had no idea what hit them.  The next possession we went into our 4-high set, and they start calling out screens in anticipation. Sure, except - rip through, blow by, layup. We could do no wrong in the first half, and we were cruising. They were getting some 3's of their own to go, so score wise, they were within range to make a come back, but everyone in the building knew who was in control. At that point, I got the urge, understanding that this was about momentum and needing to have my whole team feeling it heading into the Zero Gravity event, I went to the bench a little early. The guys at the table was a little shocked. One ref gave me the side eye in confusion. I'm sure parents were bewildered. None of the players skipped a beat. The starters were in full support of the decision and cheered their teammates on. Sure the margin started to close, but there was no panic. At one point we were up by 17 or 18, and with 4 minutes left we found ourselves only up 10. I turned to my bench, and told a few guys, "If they cut this to 7, go to the table."

The 3 minute mark rolls around and they get fouled on a layup, the lead is 7. No one is at the table. No one is panicking, no one is being negative. The other coach calls a time out, probably trying to inspire his group to put up one last run to take the lead. I go to my guys, look the 5 guys on the floor dead in the eyes and say:

I pulled you guys early yesterday. I want you to know that I believe in you guys to pull this out. The guy at the table is saying I'm crazy. The referee is saying I'm ready to lose this game. But I'm telling you that I believe in you. None of your teammates are asking me to go back in. I even told some to check in and no one did. This is your time. Don't let it get to 5.

Break the time out, and the defense kicks in. Steal, layup. Turnover, pass, pass, jump shot. My bench wins that game by 12. Now we're rolling. The whole team has got the juice flowing. One last game to go.

The championship game, as much as I hate to say it, was over about 2 minutes in. Right out of the gate we jump to an 8-0 lead and the coach is calling a time out in less than a minute. His team gets a couple of buckets, but we answer right back with another run. We are just ballin' out of our minds at this point. Offensive rebounds, 50/50 balls, hustle plays - all ours and making it look easy. Again, our lessons from the desert kicked in and we just bullied that team out of our house with a huge margin of victory. We had clearly gotten into their heads and we were able to ride out the last 6:30 of the game.  We won a championship and played 4 phenomenal games of basketball. Did we have some issues, absolutely. But we have practices this week to fine tune that stuff. Nothing can compare to the confidence and trust we built in this tournament.

We set out to get momentum leading up to the Zero Gravity National Tournament, and momentum we got. Next stop - Foxborough!

The Road to Zero Gravity: Mental Toughness

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of taking a trip down memory lane. The days of playing basketball in one of the many driveways on my street with a basketball goal on a warm , 90 degree summer evening. Out there, if you don't break anything and there's no serious blood, you don't let the idea of crying foul creep into your head. It won't get honored, in fact you'll be laughed at as the opposition digs for reasons that he was in the right place and you just lacked the talent to score. Oh, the good ol' days...

The bad news is this trip took place because I felt like that's what we were dealing with in the first game of our tournament. It was like someone transported the Texas heat and locked it in this gym all day; you started sweating lacing up. Being from Texas, the heat doesn't really bother me much, so I made myself watch half of the game before mine, with the intention of scouting the other teams. That didn't take long. Pressure the ball handlers, make them shoot off the dribble, look to score in transition, and look for backdoor layup opportunities. Both were running a 5-out offense (which baffled me because they didn't cut hard or have anyone who wanted to beat their man off the dribble).  Maybe it was the heat, but that was probably the most stagnant game of basketball I've watched. But good thing I showed up, because I got to watch the officials. Why would you scout refs? They have the ability to control a game, so knowing what they look at, miss, temperament, easily influenced, et cetera could be the difference between winning and losing. The crew that night was not on the same page at all and were letting just about everything go.

The game ended and we were up next. As part of my pregame meeting, I told my guys to make sure they hydrated and that I'd do what I could to help them manage the heat so that they wouldn't have to play slower than we normally do to avoid problems. I also told them that they would be in for a physical game and to just play through the contact. Note to self - elaborate on what exactly that means next time...

Didn't take long before the officiating and heat got in our heads. Our pace was dreadful, we shot poorly from the field and the free throw line. Our defense was always two steps behind. At that point, I realized that if we were going to make any kind of run in a national tournament, our mental toughness had to improve. We've got guys who can take hits, so it's not a question of being afraid to get touched, but more so a question of when things don't go as we want or expect, can we find the will and determination to stay the course until it does.

The next day we had two games in the same oven, so I changed our pregame up a little. One thing I've learned from the high school coaches in our program, is that adjustments are paramount in tournaments. It's not just something the NBA does during playoffs, but even at our level, being able to adjust is huge. I had my guys stretch in a slightly cooler part of the school we were in. I also just talked to them about what it takes to  find wins at any level. I talked to them about what we as a group set out to do that one weekend when we started this journey. Then I probably blew all of their minds -

As much as I love you guys, the one thing I wish is that more of you would stop being so nice to everyone. The basketball court is a war zone. The only people you need to really be concerned with are the guys on your side; every thing else is just in your way. The other team, the refs, the crowd, and in this case, the heat - just obstacles. We obviously have to find some kind of compromise with the heat, and you leave that to me. The crowd is easy controllable with good defense and smart, efficient offense you'll have only supporters talking - the haters will shut up. The other team can be broken in the same way as we've done on several occasions.  The one thing I'm going to ask you to do at this point is to demand their surrender from the beginning. Don't drag it out and leave them with hope until the last 6 minutes. You go for the throat early. You set the tone by being aggressive and physical - for both the opponent and the officials.  If the refs let it turn into a street ball game, then you play street ball. If the ref does his job and calls it fair, then we play by the book.  They have to control the game or they won't be able to control the crowd, which never ends well for them. No more nice basketball. We're going to war.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are rules you have to follow, and we never want to see those malicious, dangerous fouls. But sometimes the only way to get a call is to be very, very physical. Put the ref in a tough situation where he has to call something. In the first game, there were a lot of times where we went to the basket without much conviction, got fouled and there was no call, and then on the other end the exact same thing resulted in an "and 1" situation. They were aggressive, we were not.

I guess my point got through (thanks to reminders during timeouts and half time, along with a "but don't kill anyone") as the next two games were just what we needed to test our new found toughness. The first game  was a back and forth game that looked like an old school tug of war game on field day. Just when the other team thought they had it with 2 minutes left we went on an 8 - 1 run to win. The same was true of the second game, just the ending was not as pleasant.  Back and forth the squads went, momentum swinging like the pendulum of a clock.

In the last 30 seconds, we were down one with the full length of the court in front of us. I get the ball just across half court to call a play looking for a back door cut into a layup (thanks BDG for the gem, by the way).  Only problem is our execution was terrible. We had time though so we looked for another opportunity. My point guard drove down the lane, got the defense to commit and dropped it off to my big man. If only he'd been ready for it...ball bounces off his fingertips and out of bounds. Eighteen seconds left, and we're in practically full ball denial.  The only option for the inbounder is their big, and we foul right away. The expression on his face, his teammates, and his coach said it all - he was a terrible free throw shooter.  We still had a chance! I put four guys on the blocks, the other coach only puts one, anticipating us to come down the court like lightning on the miss. First shot goes up, gets a friendly bounce and goes in, so we're down 2. Second shot goes up - bounce, bounce, off the left side of the rim! Yes!!! Wait, NO BOX OUT!! The one guy on the blocks gets it and tries to put up a shot, but gets fouled. He drains both, so we're down 4 with 13 seconds. I have two time outs, so I use one. I look at my point guard and tell him to get the ball and get it to me, I'll take the last time out to set up something. The other coach has his guys deny the ball just enough to keep us from rolling it to preserve clock, and we lose precious time because he opted to dribble it over rather than pass. These things happen, and I did tell him to bring the ball, so that's on me too. Have a quick teaching moment that next time pass because it's a lot faster and then draw up a play to get us a look at a three and bump the defender enough to hopefully get him to fly into the shooter just after the release so we can go to the line. The energy and excitement was there, but in enough of an excess that our execution failed yet again. We were able to get off a 3 at the buzzer, but there was no foul, and we lost by one

While it was tough to lose a heart breaker like that, the purpose of playing in the tournament was to get guys more opportunities to learn what to look for in special situations and more about ourselves as a team.  I would say, and quite proudly at that, we achieved both of those goals in that weekend. We fought through some pretty nasty situations in the last two games to remain competitive and at no point did it feel like we weren't trying to impose our will. It was even better because our second game was officiated by the same guys that did our first and they quickly realized that they were going to have to keep this under control and called a much better game. With one more tournament to go in preparation, I like the path we're on.

The Road to Zero Gravity: The Invitation

This Spring season, now that I have my own team to coach and opportunity to compete in a national event, I only found it fitting to record some of the events and the journey relating to it just as I did last Spring for the 17U team. The difference is that I'm starting a little earlier, since I know that I'm going. The next few blogs (and there will be a few between now and then) will be my attempt to have my first blog "series".  I'm not really up on all the blog lingo, so I'm not sure if that's even a legitimate thing or if it already has an uber cool name - but whatever. And now the world premier of...

The Road to Zero Gravity

(So yeah, that's not the most original title ever but I couldn't come up with anything. Open to suggestions though...)

Whether it's by rule or my own competitive nature and disgust with paying your way into things like this, I made it clear that we had to earn our ticket and invite. No trying to get by with a big enough check, sliding in as the New Jersey extension of the Zero Gravity circuit, or that we were sending so many other squads and we should just get to ride their coat tails. Though I'd be pissed about being the only coach not going, if we didn't get our invite, my team and I would be sitting at home doing nothing while the rest of the program was having a blast in Foxborough. In order to get the invitation, you had to win your division in a Zero Gravity event, and we had three on our schedule.


Event 1 - Hudson Valley Showdown

This event is one of those things that got lost in that period where my mind was a complete mess. It was early in the season and we were having rudimentary problems that just left me quite quite dumbfounded.  We made the drive and at times played terribly. The team was down on itself, from the top down. The good thing that came out of it, was all the driving gave everyone plenty of time to reflect. In our final game of the tournament with nothing to play for, we met and came to the consensus that everyone would find a way to help turn this ship around. We ended the meeting with the agreement that we were going to help the team we were playing, know that they could go home right after the game like us (we overheard a few of the parents talking about how inconvenient it was that they wouldn't know for a few hours whether they would advance - and we can't have inconvenienced parents, can we). Sure enough, we played our best game to that point and found new life, a renewed sense of confidence, and an enormous weight was lifted.

Event 2 - Spring Crossover

While things may have been a struggle between these two events (hence the Rocky Road post and lack of posts in between), we never what we wanted to do. We needed to win our division if we wanted to go to Foxborough, and we were running out of opportunities. We recognized that we let one slip away, and found ourselves working harder in the weeks coming up to it.  The week leading up to the event, we eliminated the distractions that had plagued us the weekend before. We came out and just balled like we were on a whole different planet. Ball movement was amazing, defense was suffocating, and we were hitting just about every shot that went up...at least during pool play.  Once we advanced out of our pool and got into the playoffs, the shooting seemed to cool off, which got in some of our heads and other things got a little sloppy. Nonetheless, we held it together enough to advance into the championship and earn our bid. Unfortunately, we ran into a beast in the championship and lost.

Event 3 - Garden State Classic

This event really didn't mean much for us in terms of getting an invitation, but we approached it as another opportunity to test ourselves against others who wanted to get their invitations and play on a national stage. In  essence, this was for confidence purposes. We finished the tournament well, but started off a little too sluggish and didn't get to advance out of our pool. We learned a lot about ourselves that weekend, and ultimately that's all we wanted from the event anyway (2 invites doesn't really mean much, it's like having 2 copies of the same movie).

Tournaments after our invite was secured served only as a way to build momentum leading into our national event. That momentum would be invaluable as most of these guys have never been on a national stage, and would need all the confidence, swag, or whatever the term you've coined for it is. Will we be the cartoon snowball that gains size, strength, and crushes all in its path? Tune in next time to find out!

Tomorrow...

I had a post all typed up, but then decided it probably wasn't  appropriate for what I'm trying to achieve here. Ctrl + A + Delete = Mature decision

I'll post tomorrow when I'm not fighting sleep while trying to eat and post.

To Play or Not to Play

Couple of administrative type things to get out of the way first...

Our Program Newsletter: May Edition - take a look: Click Here

Pancake Breakfast - Call the number on the flier or me for tickets: Click Here

And now to business.

We recently had a dinner event after a practice and I did something I rarely ever do - I sat down and had lengthy conversations with parents without being asked to discuss something. Don't get me wrong, I don't have it against the parents, just I got burned my first few years talking to parents about stuff, and just decided that it may be better for all parties involved to limit how much time we spend talking while I am their son's coach. Fortunately, I broke my own rule, sat down with the parents and we just hung out, talked about what's left of our season, and the like.

One part of the conversation that really struck me was that the parents were asking what our plan was for the next few weeks as we prepare for the Zero Gravity National tournament in Boston. I honestly hadn't quite decided what we were going to do as I was still trying to see if we wanted to play each weekend leading up to the tournament for momentum or play in one last tournament and then give them the weekend off to rest and recuperate. I know what you're thinking - you coach 8th graders, they don't need rest. I know that. But they do get burn out. Is was also my way of saying that I didn't want to kill the parents playing every weekend for the last 3 months with only 2 free weekends. In the past, I had parents complain about how busy the schedule was. I also had younger kids, and less experienced parents. Needless to say, the veteran parents - okay all of the parents - turned to me, looked at their kids, and then said, "Seriously, do you think they need a break?"

Well played, parents...

They then started throwing out all the reasons they wanted the boys to play. Momentum, staying active and engaged in the game, getting live game time experience with special situations and different styles of play and coaching. So yeah they won.  Which is good. I don't like off weekends. I get bored and then spend all weekend surfing the web looking at new gadgets and stuff that I really have no need to be looking at (or buying). I'd much rather be on a sideline somewhere. Besides, with some of the stuff that may be coming down the pike, I need every last opportunity I can to get better. Whether it's better with X's and O's, relating to my team, or even little details of the rules, I stand the chance to learn every time we play.

Maybe need to reevaluate my rule on parents.

Star Power

With the recent commotion regarding the Zen Master's (Phil Jackson for those that don't know) comments on Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) discussion has once again heated up. I typically stay out of such conversations because I feel like you can't compare across generations easily, and no one ever categorizes what is a requirement for being considered the GOAT. In essence, I could say Yao Ming was the greatest of all time, or Derek Fisher - just because it's currently, in most circles, an opinion based topic that requires zero substantial statistical backup.

In one recent discussion I was drawn in by some comments aimed at a friend and his stance on the subject. He came right out and said Jordan was a better player than Kobe, but he felt that Kobe was the GOAT because through all his accomplishments, he's still working hard while living in the shadow of His Airness and having done more than most in that discussion for a lot longer. Someone then said a few other names who could be thrown in there based on some other comments, and he went to say that he should be able to consider Tim Duncan in the conversation. I strongly disagree. While Duncan is a very fundamentally sound player with a great all star resume and a shoe-in Hall of Famer, he's been surrounded by a fairly decent cast through his career to help him achieve his best games.  To be among the GOAT's (in my OPINION), you have to have that star power that consistently forces teams to gameplan around you.  Kobe, LeBron, Rondo, Jordan, Westbrook - fit that in my opinion.  How often do you see teams play those guys straight up without demanding the help-side to attack them?  Duncan can be handled one on one.  Duncan is not a necessity for his team to win consistently (granted, they have a really good coach in San Antonio, which may hurt him in this particular argument).

As crazy as it may sound, you even have those guys at my level.  I have seen teams play like they have two different identities due to "that guy". In the past I would have denied this to a fault. "I believe in my guys, and as long as any 5 show up, we're going to battle." While that's partially true, I realize I may have been a little naive. I think I do a decent job of getting the guys to give it their all game in and game out, personnel plays a huge factor. I have that guy with the "star power" factor I mentioned above (I am not putting him in the GOAT conversation just yet mind you), and I've seen my team changed so drastically when he happens to miss a game. I coach the game the same way. I call the same plays. We just don't have that same edge, intensity, or fire like we do when he's there. He sets the tone on defense, and we find our way into more turnover and tough contested shots. His offensive ability to penetrate attracts the defense and he's got the willingness to make that extra pass to an open teammate. He is a game changer. His presence alone seems to give the team that little bit of cocky you need to compete. I see it on other teams in our program as well.  When they have that guy, the teams look to be on a completely different level.  Teams searching for that guy may play well, but struggle (I've coached a few of those).

Don't take any part of this post the wrong way. I'm talking about guys in high school and lower that may not see a minute of professional basketball or even Division I college ball. And I will not say that star power is the only factor to consider in the GOAT argument. One thing I can say with certainty is every coach knows what I'm talking about.  And the beauty of it is that "stars" are born every day. I wouldn't be surprised that because of being around a guy with star power and a little leadership, that a new star emerges. And in the case of star power, I'd have to give Kobe and Jordan a tie - but only in that case.

Rocky Road

So things in my life didn't level off like I thought they would.

It didn't level off for the team either.

It's been nothing short of your cliche "peaks and valleys" model.  We had a great couple of weekends of basketball, and then a total breakdown.

Times like these test your mettle, and they let you know more about who you are, providing that crucial understanding of who you are and what your identity is.  Some people fold, some people rise to the challenge, some people may even go as far as "evolving" into a completely different self altogether.  While I'm not sure which of these the team and I fall into yet, I will say that having my birthday roll through this turbulent period prompted me to do a quick reflection on things.

For those that don't already know, my disdain for having my name shortened comes out of respect for my father and all the things he's done for me.  While I'm not saying I was a terror child, I will admit dealing with me was not a simple task.  I'm sure he had moments where he couldn't be prouder of me and then I'd do something absolutely stupid and ridiculous that would probably have him asking if he'd been getting through to me or talking to a wall.  Through all of those less graceful moments, he always remained positive, inspiring, and never gave up on me.  I only have to deal with my team for, at most, 16 hours a week.  My dad put up with me for a lot longer.

One thing I always remember was that when I "slipped" he would always be there to explain what I did wrong and how much it disappointed him because he knew I was capable of so much more.  While it may not solve the issues at work or in the other areas of my personal life, it perfectly fits into the struggles we are having on the team.  Hopefully all the talks will pay off and we'll get back to playing with passion and intensity.  Time will tell, but if it worked for me, I'm sure I can find some success applying it to the team.

Finding Comfort in Discomfort

So yes.  It's been a while.  I intend to get back on schedule and post on my normal Monday evenings.

I want this place to be dedicated to coaching.  The struggles, the victories, the excitement, and the frustrations.  I realized I was not in the best mental space due to stresses on the job and that the purpose of my blog would have been corrupted by a few posts.  So I made the decision not to blog until I felt like I was ready and in a better place.

Then the season kicked in and we had our share of struggles.  Didn't really help.  Actually, let's just call it what it was.  I was a mess.  I felt like I couldn't do anything right, doubting myself, and just completely miserable.

I don't really know if a switch in my head flipped, or if someone said something, but I just suddenly found myself with less.  It hit me.  As much as I try to keep my two lives separate, that's a little naive.  When I see success and joy in one, the other seems to improve.  When one gets overworked and stressed, the ability of the other is weakened.  I hate that. Coaching was supposed to be my escape.  It was my place to put all the stresses of the "9-5" in a box and shut the lid tight.  You can't though.  You can control it to a point, but it's like all things in life - When the cup gets full, it's contents have to go somewhere.  Once we made that realization and accepted it.  Rather than split them entirely, I just made the decision to refocus the energy a little bit and became more determined to maintain a balance that had a more positive result.

It all rings true with the theme the team has come up with this season as we work collectively to learn from our mistakes and "right the ship" this season.  In essence, we all said we need to find our next level.  For them it's about thinking faster, executing sharper, and playing harder, but for me its about preparing, game time adjustments, and things like that.  But you have to be mentally ready, mentally committed, and when you get to that point where you find yourself wanting to be lazy, or take a shortcut, to have the conviction to stop yourself and refocus and push to the goal. It's been said that if you want to get to the next level, you have to be uncomfortable.  I was absolutely uncomfortable for about a month. Through that discomfort, I've learned, refocused, and seen improvements in my coaching ability (and yes things at work got a little better).  As we push through the season, the last few weeks of practice have sent the boys home practically exhausted, and most are actually sweating - but our play has seen improvement.  We're not where we want to be.  In fact, we're far from it. Once we adjust to the system, and the uncomfortable becomes comfortable, we'll have found our next level and have a season we can be proud of.

While it isn't something you want to do constantly at an extreme clip as I did, every now and then you need that jump start to encourage (or practically force) you to find that next level.  It's been a while since I felt that, and as a coach it was a nice reminder of what I'm asking players to do all season long.   It reminded me that to be effective, I have to not only encourage growth but take time to celebrate it so that players don't get to a point where they are overwhelmed as I was.

Season's End

The winter season has officially ended for me.  I try to look back over the season at this point to see what I did well, what I can improve on, and things like that.  

This was a unique season for me.  The last couple of winter seasons gave me plenty of talent and experience, which allowed us to dominate most teams with minimal effort.  I didn't allow them to settle, and they were already familiar with what it took to win games, the agony of defeat, and were prepared for what a winter season is like.  Most of those players were familiar with how to dribble while looking up, were comfortable handling the ball with both hands, and could finish at the rim on either side.  The knew what I wanted from a good, solid ball screen or a back door cut.  So I walked into it expected a similar situation.  Needless to say, I need to spend a couple of practices just evaluating the IQ of my team next season.   I wasted so much time before I realized just how far behind this group was in comparison to my previous teams, and had I taken a few days to make that evaluation, perhaps we would have won more games at the start of the season.

Another thing the season taught me is that while there are different ways that people react to motivating, there are also different ways to motivate.  This season, after the experience in the spring and fall seasons, I decided to try to adopt some of the other coaching styles from coaches I'd worked with or against, and one big thing was to try to be more stern.  Well, not only did it not work for the players, it didn't work for me.  It made me more negative and made it harder to stay energized (hence my post a few weeks ago : Growth Experiment: Energy) and it actually started to be more work than fun.  When I relaxed and went back to being where I felt comfortable, we saw more energy, fight and determination, and it was just more fun coaching.  

The last big thing that the season taught me is that I'm a coach, not a player.  While my competitive side helps to keep me constantly looking for things to improve, I have to keep it in check.  Ultimately my job is to develop talent and winning games is a bonus.  While I would have loved to go 49 - 0 as a competitor, the growth we saw as a team en route to our 17 - 32 record made me proud. I'm not satisfied, but I'm also not destroying myself over it because of my understanding that my job is to create these kinds of things.  Like I said earlier, the team was so new to the game that many people wondered how we would do, if we'd even get 10 wins, and the like.  Our first few games were shocking - defeats by large margins, struggles to do basic things - but so were our last.  We looked better, we were able to beat presses that suffocated us before, able to run some offenses, and were competitive in most of our games in the final month.  There's still plenty to do, but everyone agrees that the boys had improved, which means I did what I was asked to do.

These are just a few of the things I'm thinking about during my little intermission.  It's an important part of my off-season, but I can't stay on it for too long.  I have a new challenge about to start with the spring AAU 14U team coming up very soon.  A team that looks to be very competitive, with high expectations, and at a level I'm not familiar with.  I have to focus, I have to prepare, and I have to believe.  This last season provided me with several lessons that will help build on what I've been through the last 2 years and this new challenge will need me to put them all together.   These boys from the winter were determined to work hard and find success, and that shall be my inspiration to do the same in the spring.

All Star Game? Pfft...

One of the leagues we compete in had its annual All-Star game this past weekend.  For the 3rd consecutive year, I sent no one.  For the third consecutive year, I've had to explain that decision.

I don't like what All-Star games have come to represent. For as long as I can remember (and my quick Google search confirms it - NBA All-Star Scores), defense is optional.  But aren't these players supposed to be the best of the best of the best players the game has to offer?  Championship teams attribute their titles to their ability to defend, yet in the game of the best, there's none to be had.  There's minimal team play as it turns into one-on-one with 8 spectators each possession. I vividly remember a healthy Dwight Howard, a premier shot blocker that year, watching and failing to rotate over in help defense as a member of the West took the ball to the rim.  The NFL All-Star game was such a joke that the league considered not even having it anymore.  I have a hard enough time trying to convince players to play defense to let them play in a game where it really is an optional facet of the game.

Another reason is just because of my philosophy as a coach.  I demand a lot from my entire roster.  Everyone has a job to do, and I expect all of them to do it.  Some guys are scorers, some are rebounders, defenders, and the like.  When all the guys play their parts, we play well.  When someone overdoes it or doesn't fill their role, we look a complete mess.  So in a system like that, how do you determine who is eligible to be an all-star?  Do we work on all facets of the game in practice?  Absolutely.  But when you deal with young players, you have to make an effort to make sure that the kids are placed in positions to maximize their strengths, limit their failures as a result of their weaknesses, so that they will continue to work on those things and grow.   I also preach all season long to play as a team, put the team above the individual, work together because we are the sum of our parts, etc.  It's fitting that we are the called the "Wolfpack" because that is just how a pack of wolves thinks.  To go an entire season talking about that - preaching, demanding, and expecting team work - and then to select one or two individuals as all-stars feels dirty.  Add that to the fact that you are telling a 10 or 11-year old, who has worked all season long to fill his role, earn his time, build his confidence, and his coach's trust, that he was not selected as an all star but someone else was.  Thanks, but I don't want to deal with that.  Or to the kid you've selected - he'll take that to mean that he's got the green light to score at all times, even when it's a terrible shot decision - because he's an all-star.  Again, thanks, but no thanks.

This season only further justifies my beliefs.  We struggled through so much this season, but the team has really started to come together, roles are getting filled, and we are playing great basketball AS A TEAM.  After all the struggles, frustrations, and low points, we still have a legitimate chance to play for the league championship.  That opportunity for the team means more to me than a couple of individual opportunities to play in an all-star game, and I don't see that changing any time soon.

So Close...

Two weeks ago, we were gearing up for our trip to Boston, and struggled through that gauntlet of games and events to come back home to games in Clark, Wayne, and Lincoln Park, New Jersey.  For a travel team, six games in three days is unheard of, as the leagues generally make sure that you don't play more than three a week.  After the struggles we had enduring in Boston, you'd think we'd be wary of such a tough schedule of travel and new competition.  I spent the week thinking about how I'd handle the rotation to keep guys somewhat fresh and put up a competitive showing.  Then, came game #1 of the weekend.

We had a late game Friday night in Clark, which is about 45 minutes away with traffic.  The boys showed up energized and excited.  I had a good day at work, so we had the energy level high, had a few laughs, stretched, got loose and took to the court with fire and purpose.  The Readington team we played had a taller kid who could do just about everything, and he definitely caused some problems for us early - guys were afraid to attack the rim, had a lot of fade aways, but we were able to get him away from the ball long enough for us to get some good looks and played great defense to get some quick transition buckets and force them to burn a time out first.  Message of the time out: Keep playing great defense, and don't be afraid of his height - dare him to block you without fouling.  I don't know if it was the energy, or if the elevators are making it to the top floor, but we just played a great game all around.  In keeping with trying to keep fatigue at bay for the weekend, bench guys got more time and made the most of it and gave some quality minutes.  We won by 8 and everyone was all smiles.  Somehow though, the facility reported us with an 11-point margin of victory (key detail, keep it in the back of your mind).

Saturday was a full day for everyone.  Three games in one day - whew!!  Our first game was in Clark against Cranford.  Good, tough, battle the whole way, but we just fell into a hole early with some bad box outs and a surprisingly good shooting percentage by the other team.  We fought to the end and fell short by 5.  The boys got a few hours to relax and then we had a playoff game in Wayne.  I knew I really had to play it safe with the minutes so we could play our last 3 games of the weekend.  We had another good game of quality minutes from the bench, and while the margin of victory was just 2 points, what impressed me most is that there was no panic.  I spent seasons telling my team that until you see me panic, there's no need for you to panic, only to see them reaching for the red button and just falling apart.  Not a sign of panic, just trust in each other and their coach to get this victory. The last game of the day was around the corner in Lincoln Park.  Again, got quality minutes from our bench but you could tell that the boys were getting tired - more so mentally than physically.  We were moving, but the mistakes were just those that said their brains were fried. Again, the boys impressed me with how much they fought and willed their way into a competitive battle to a 7-point loss, even though everyone in the building could tell they were playing on fumes.

Sunday - the last regular season game of our league and of all the games it was our cross-town rival.  If you looked at the match up on paper, and our records, the margins of victory, and things like that, you would have been floored by the game that took place that morning.  It was a battle, and we were right there the entire game, staying within 5 points for most of the game.  Ultimately, if we could have gotten more shots to go in, we may have pulled the upset, but again - just about everyone in the gym expected us to get destroyed and we held our own.  We all left feeling good about what took place - we played with pride, intensity, and energy.  All the things I've asked for all season long finally coming through and giving us something to be happy about.  The momentum from the effort in the morning carried us down to Clark in the afternoon to secure a 7-point victory over Roseland with yet another solid team effort.

We then take a few moments to see how we stack up against our pool in the Clark tournament, and when we walk over to the board and see a +11, -5 and +7, which adds up to +13.  Cool, there's on game left to be played and if Cranford loses to Readington, we'll get a 3 way tie and it will come down to points.  Well, Cranford was sitting at +13, Readington was sitting at 0, so all we needed was for Cranford to lose and we'd take the 1 seed, if Readington lost, we'd lock up a 2-seed.  We were so excited to finally earn another trip to a tournament playoff bracket.  Cranford ended up losing by 10.  3-way tie! And we won the points race! Oh wait - they reported our first game score wrong.  We are only at +10 (+8, -5, +7) and Readington is +13 (+10, -8, +11).  And then to break the rest of the tie, it goes based on the head to head record, which gave the 2-seed to...Cranford.  So we DON'T get to play in the playoffs?!?  So close, and after a great weekend filled with the spirit of basketball, you don't get to advance.  This is arguably one of the most heartbreaking endings I've experienced, because the kids were so excited and had me so excited for them, only to have to go back and say that we didn't even get in.  I just hope that they remember how it felt to play this weekend, and carry it forward.  Like I said, maybe the lights are starting to come on, or maybe just having experienced a tough weekend in Boston, or a combination of both made this weekend one of the most exciting weekends I've experienced.

Don't Have a Title For This One...

Over the weekend, we took the boys up to North Andover to compete in the 5th Annual Ryan Bourque Invitational Tournament.  It was a good weekend for the boys off the court, with trips to the Nashoba Valley Snow Tubing Park and Dave & Busters. but we did get bit by the inconsistency bug on the court.

I will admit that some of the problems we encountered were that there were rules in place that we weren't used to.  If that were the only problem, I'd have a much sweeter taste than the foul, bitter taste that the trip left me with.  I can't really argue on the side of poor officiating, because one thing last Spring taught me is that if you aren't going to stand your ground against an aggressive, physical team, then the refs may not feel compelled to call the foul. I know some people will say that the boys were tired - 4 games in three days, complete with swimming, snow tubing, arcade games, and the NBA All-Star event mixed in could be a bit much for a 10-year old.  I completely understand this, it makes sense.

What has me at a loss for words is how we seem to always fall the same way.  We play a couple of really good games, and then play a few terrible ones.  We play hard, we play smart, we play basketball.  Then in the blink of an eye, we go back to playing like it's November 15th and we are just getting together as a group; we can't use both sides of the court, we can't pass the ball, we just look like we haven't spent hours upon hours practicing, growing, learning.  No one gets upset enough to dig deep and find a way to beat back fatigue long enough to earn the respect of the fans and opposition.  That I think is the most difficult part.  There's no anger in most of the guys, no getting upset enough to help me try to rally the team.

It's frustrating, it's borderline infuriating.  It's hard to stay upbeat and positive when we play this way.  I know I want to improve in that area, but it's so tough when you have so many swings like this.  It'd be hypocritical of me to give up, so I'm not.  I'm mad enough to keep looking and finding a way to keep working, keep my energy up and be more positive when it gets dark.  I'm not a quitter, and I still believe in my team - through all the ups and downs, the hours of work, the sacrifices we've all made, how could I stop?  We've got a few more weeks, and although we'll end the season with a losing record, I'm going to find a way to secure a victory for these guys in some form - even if it is just a moral one.

Happiness Does Come in a Box

The last few weeks at work have been tough.  I'm not going to sit here and deny that it doesn't affect my mood outside the office and my effectiveness as a coach.  Shoot me, I'm human.  There were many a practice I walked into worn down, beat up, and exhausted.  You do what you can to keep the two worlds separate  but sometimes that just doesn't happen - Mr. Hyde overstays his welcome.

But then, you take a couple steps into that 84-foot by 50-foot hardwood box and all the pain, misery, anger, frustration disappears.  The world seems to stop.  The problems of the day - the angry calls, the nasty emails - all fade to nothing.  All that matters is my little space of happiness, my 84' x 50' box of joy.  Losing, winning, playing well, whatever, it doesn't matter.  All that matters is I'm free. I'm happy.  It's a remedy.  Back in the day, we'd call it my "anti-drug" (raise your hand if you even remember those commercials), and it is one thing that keeps me from going over the edge and getting consumed by all the "bad" of the workweek.

That's the feeling I am hoping that my boys get one day.  For some it may be tomorrow, for others it will be next year, two, three, six years later.  But I hope that one day, they too realize that happiness could be found in a simple little box with a tiny ball.  They too will find that place that they can go to when the entire world decides to just beat them down and feel invincible.  And I hope that when they sit down, maybe not to blog as I have, but to just recall the simple things that make us happy, that I'll be among the list of people they attribute that feeling to.  This season I'm working with a local high school student who used to play in the program and he recalls his 5th grade basketball season like it was yesterday. He always tells the team how those moments that made him so happy and ultimately brought him back to help now.  His coach that trusted in him, helped him grow and inspired him.  One day, I hope I'll be included in that list for a child, and that will inspire him to do the same.

Okay, so this post was a little on the sappy side. I just needed to put it out there. I think a lot of times that people see me on the sidelines demanding more every play, every minute and maybe feel like I'm some madman - always angry.  But I'm not.  I'm quite the opposite.  And one thing I can tell you from my experiences, the people I've been around - the best coaches are the ones who find that little piece of happiness on the court too.

Growth Experiment: Energy

This post is definitely one that I'm writing to remind myself to continue to improve on.  So, before we get all crazy and talk about being hypocritical - I am putting it out there that I definitely need to improve this area of my coaching.

A while back I wrote about how important communication is between parents, coaches, and players.  There's the obvious method of communication - verbal - which is always what people always focus on when the word communicate is mentioned.  That is not where this post is going. Instead, we are going to focus on the less obvious, and more often forgotten, method.  The words you never actually say, but vocalize with your eyes, arms, posture, and gestures.

This season especially, has made me take a step back and really look at my approach to preparation and games. With all the progress that we've made, albeit inconsistent, one thing I've noticed that really made a difference is the energy of the team. I've spent more time in practices and pregame meetings discussing what the team has done well, how much they have improved over the season, and emphasizing my belief in them while encouraging them to continue working hard.  It has definitely made a difference as the first quarters of games have been engaging and entertaining.  For many coaches, myself included, this is easy.  You believe in the guys you've chosen to go into battle with, so it's easy to see the glass as half full at this point.

Then comes the part that I am going to strive to improve.  As coaches we all look to keep our teams playing at a high level through the game.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who sees a significant drop off in some games as the game progresses. One of the things I noticed while watching some of the less entertaining games (you know the ones where we lost by 20+) is that generally the drop off started when my energy dropped.  I noticed that it was happening before recently, but thought it was my energy that followed the level of play, not the other way around.  It's tough to watch your team make silly mistakes - the same mistakes you just spent a week drilling - and keep the energy and hope. I think that maybe, just maybe, if I find a way to keep my energy up, the team will find a way to right the ship and recover a lot faster.  If I can keep the energy up, then maybe the boys will feed off of that, realize that I do really understand that they are going to make mistakes from time to time, and won't beat themselves or their teammates down when they fail to execute successfully.

Like I said, it's something I am going to work on.  I don't like losing but, based on the game a few hours ago (where I really forced myself to stay positive and energized as much as possible), I may be able to do this and get the results I'm looking for.  Even though we lost, the team and I made an effort to stand together, supporting and cheering from start to finish, and it felt pretty good.  I've got a couple of games left in the season and am really going to remind myself to put this theory to work.

After all, this blog is about me learning and growing and I have to be able to admit my mistakes.  There will be an update in a few weeks on how I think this little experiment is going.

Believe

As I start to gear up for the last stretch of the season, and start preparing for the AAU season, I looked to step up our practices with hopes that by getting more reps that we'd start getting more consistent play and just be better prepared for pressure.

The boys responded very well.  Surprisingly, no complaints from anyone, we just got straight to work.  Had to respect that - their willingness to keep working, even though we're having a rough season.  When we got together before our Friday game, the meeting wasn't on what to focus on physically, but what to remember mentally.

We started the season, with a 2 - 9 record before we took a break for the Christmas holiday.  Since then, we've gone 7 - 5.  One of the guys did mention that we've lost a couple of games by a lot, but the fact is, if that doesn't show signs of improvement, what does.   Before the break, the team didn't move the ball well.  There was no bond, no trust, and it was really elementary basketball.  Since then we've slowly transformed and made strides to look, play, and feel like a team.  I also reminded them that I believed in all nine of them when I made the cuts after tryouts, and I still do.  I knew it was going to be tough, I knew we were going to have our struggles, but I felt like there was plenty of room to grow.  I felt like we could put together a team where we'd all learn from each other and come out with a winning record and lots of great memories.  I still had that feeling, even with our 10 - 14 record.  The problem was that not enough of them had that same feeling.

It's easy as a coach, especially me, when you are never "satisfied" (not in a bad way, but in a Coach Popovich from the San Antonio Spurs way), to get too caught up in what your team doesn't do well.  When your team is doing well, they tend to take that criticism better.  But we had a very tough loss still fresh on our minds, so I just felt like they needed to know that they still had my support.  I even admitted that the last loss was expected.  I can admit when I'm beat - it was a better team.  I am okay when we lose to good teams IF we play our best, and we didn't which is why I was mad.  The moment I said that, I could just see a lot of pressure come off these kids.  We played two great games this weekend.  Sure we lost one, but the team is 8 - 1 in our league and very good.  We pressured them the whole game and gave them a serious challenge.  Our second game of the weekend was also a great game, and all the guys just seemed to work together and play hard to get a solid win.

Sometimes the only thing you need to say to motivate someone is the simplest thing - "I believe in you."

Earned Respect

So a few weeks ago, one of my more experienced guys went down and had to get his appendix removed.  You would think he'd be out for a good while recovering from surgery.  I didn't really expect to see him back trying to move around on the court for probably two more weeks.  But then sometimes, that hunger just takes control...

Last Monday, I walk into practice and he's on the court dribbling.  He's not really dressed to do a ton of running or anything, but he showed up.  I didn't ask him to show up - didn't say anything about it at all.  Then we start doing some shooting work and he's helping pass the ball back in to shooters.  Finding ways to be at practice and involved.   So I talk to his mom and she tells me he's cleared to practice, but just keep an eye on him.  I figure I'll let him do some light conditioning, give him extra breaks, let him sit out reps the next practice. 

We show up to the next practice and we do some sprints to start after stretching.  I'm expecting this guy to be last, and I'm okay with that.  He's two weeks out of surgery.  He's finishing in the middle of the group!  Whoa.  I had to call out the other players on it.  "This guy is two weeks out of surgery and at 100% he wasn't beating most of you.  HE JUST HAD SURGERY!  I expected him to be a little rusty and out of shape, but he's crushing some of you." I turned to him, shook his hand, and said, "You sir, have earned my respect."  Even after calling them out, I think he outworked his teammates that practice by far. 

I gave him spotty minutes during games last weekend just to help gauge his progress.  He still has some work to do to get back to full strength, but he was so determined- you couldn't tell him he wasn't supposed to be playing at this level.  He was not going to quit.  Even when the pace got a little too fast for him, he gave everything to keep up and be in position to help his team.  If he was 100%, I'm pretty sure I'd have let him play every minute of every game with that attitude.  I missed it.  That pure, innocent, "I just want to play ball" mindset.  The attitude where I just want to help my team do better no matter what and even though I'm a little tired and sore, I'm going to dig deeper.  While I'm not wishing appendicitis on anyone, but maybe that brief time where he couldn't play was the difference maker.  They say sometimes you don't realize how important something is until you can't have it.  Maybe that's what's happening here.  Closest I could get is benching a kid for a whole game, but that's generally frowned upon with 5th grade, or anyone not in high school apparently (borderline soft if you ask me).  All I know is that hunger, desire, determination brings a smile to my face.  To any athletes out there, trust me when I tell you - your coach will absolutely have more respect for you if you just go and give it your all for every second that you are on the court. 

A Tale of Two Games

Interesting weekend for me to say the least...

As a coach you spend time looking at each game looking for where you can improve, what the "next level" is for your team, and that's a tough enough task as it is.  Then you have weekends like mine where one team shows up one day and a totally different team the next. It's like a case of stolen identity or something that makes you wonder if 9 guys got abducted and replaced by alien copies or something.

Friday night we had a game, and we couldn't have played any more aggressive.  We had our share of mistakes, forgotten rotations, and poor shot choices, but they were minimal and generally we recovered well.  If a guy entered a zone, he was met with ball pressure, most shots were contested, rebounds were ripped out of the air.  All the stuff we had preached since November was starting to settle into a semblance of a great game of basketball.  Add to that an electrifying energy from all the players and we were unstoppable.  I even got on Twitter, Facebook, and texted other coaches about how they missed something special.  It was crazy.  I stayed up until like 2 in the morning just hyped up from that game and thinking of how far we've come and how we can really shake our leagues up if we keep going strong.  Never did it cross my mind that two days would be a totally different story...

Sunday we played another team, and the boys showed up with a little extra in their walk.  Fair enough, we did ball on a whole new level a few days ago, and they needed the confidence.  I was okay with that.  We talked about some of the blown rotations on defense, took a little time to focus on the task at hand and took the court.  Our opponent came out in a man to man press.  Nothing new, we know how to beat this.  Turnover, layup. Um, okay. Let's settle in, but it's early and that's just 2 points.  We're good. Couple of possessions later - press, turnover, layup. Turnover, layup. Turnover, layup. What in the world is going on here.  This press isn't that good.  We're beating ourselves.  Timeout.  Maybe we just have to settle.  Let's go back to basic fundamental passes.  Dribble with our heads up. Yeah - needless to say that went nowhere and the first quarter is over with a score of 21 - 3.  Where did my team go?  We've beaten this defensive scheme before.  Why are we struggling?  There's no energy, we're blowing simple assignments, people aren't talking, we aren't rebounding, we're playing scared.  The list goes on and on.  And I'm not exaggerating or being overly negative - you watch the video and you'll see I'm just being honest.  Let's just say the final score was a little embarrassing...

As a coach, what do you do with this?  These games were on such opposite extremes, you can't even say, "Well in both games we did A, B, and C," and go off that.  Night and day.  And the parent reaction was the same.  Friday night and Saturday I'm a genius.  "The boys are really improving!" "Great job with the team coach."  Then after Sunday's game, there was "Coach, you know that defense [that we've been in all season long but is the best defense we have so far] doesn't work against good teams because we are slow to rotate." "You know, the guys on the floor [that played really well together Friday] aren't the right 5 to generate offense."  Really?  I kind of know how Avery Johnson felt.  "You know, you give me praise for these last few weeks, then we hit a rough spot, and now I'm terrible."

I refuse to let it kill my spirit though.  Parents are your average fan.  Many of them are fickle and only want to see their child on the court scoring every possible point. I just wish they'd do their talking away from me where their kids and I can't hear it.  For the players, well I've got a few hours to figure out something, all I know is that there will be lots of conditioning, drills, and intensity in practice.  Players will have to realize that it's that time of the season where you put up or shut up, and that we've worked too hard to have nightmarish performances like Sunday's.  We will find delight in any and all forward progress, but cannot stand for any (further) backwards steps by anyone.  This upcoming week gives us plenty of opportunity to bounce back, let's see if we can make the most of it.

Big Wins (Literally and Figuratively)

Every coach has to adjust to the situation.  Sometimes you get to prepare, sometimes you get blindsided.  But at the end of the day, you've got to find a way to overcome and get out of the game with a victory.

After the great steps forward during the Holiday Slamfest tournament, we ran into yet another obstacle.  Two of the starters were out of action this past weekend.  One kid was on vacation, while the other caught a stroke of bad luck and ended up with Appendicitis. The team averages somewhere around 26 points (that average is skewed as we didn't score much initially) and the two guys who were out average 14 points a game.    They also brought some leadership and height to the team.  To sum it up - we had the potential to have a terrible, demoralizing weekend.

My guys knew that the loss was going to be big - you can't hide an elephant behind a toothpick.  I refused to believe it though.  I absolutely felt that we could run with the teams we were matched up with.  I believed in my team enough that I was a little offended that one of the coaches made comments after our last meeting that made me feel like his only threat were these two guys.  It motivated me to make it a point of emphasis that the team as a whole is growing, improving, and not to be taken lightly.  I shared my frustration and told the players that not only should we look to beat this one team again, but to beat them worse than we did the first time.  We probably had the best practices we've had all season as we worked hard to make sure that everyone was ready.  People were going to have to step up, they were going to get more chances to shine, and the opportunity to earn the respect of their parents, teammates, and coaches was waiting for them to seize it.

It was a slow start, but as the confidence of the guys who were just getting used to the extra time on the court grew, we began to roll.  Once we settled in at halftime, the score jumped from 16 - 10 to 30 - 13 in about 3 minutes.  From then on we never looked back.  The defense forced bad shots, we moved the ball well against the zone without some of our top guys.  That game was big for the team - the first half you could tell some of the guys weren't really convinced that we could win or even compete.  But then it was like a light clicked on and we were rolling.  The next game was a tough one, and although we didn't get the W, we were in it up until the very end when our short bench got the best of us.  But we were able to claw back from down 12 to draw within 4 in the final quarter.  It was a little frustrating to be so close and then fall short, but all in all I'm proud of the boys for stepping up.

This weekend was a huge morale booster, and I can tell by the body language that some of the guys who were hesitant are now more confident which has helped their game.  I was pleasantly surprised and now have to reconsider my rotation a little.  And the opportunity is still there as my player recovers from his surgery.  Hopefully people will continue to step up and understand that the misfortune of one player is a great opportunity for them. All I can say is that some of these guys that really came through will be pleasantly surprised when they suit up this weekend.  It's just as they say, good fortune/luck is what happens when opportunity meets hard work.  They've earned it.

Finish Strong

So due to user error, this did not actually auto-post when I wanted to (I hit the save button instead of publish) this is late.  Had my coworker not asked me how my boys did, I probably wouldn't have even thought to check.   My apologies.  No edits, so just pretend it's still Dec. 31, 2012 while you read this.

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So the trip back to New Jersey was interesting.  After my last post I hopped on the second leg of my return flight and then was stuck on the runway for about an hour and a half waiting on a mechanic to fix a part of the plane.  Obviously, most people would be happy such an issue was discovered prior to take off - except when you find out that the broken part of the plane was a seat that wouldn't stay in the fully upright position.  And to make it worse, a member of the cockpit came back, looked at it, put some makeshift thing in place to solve the problem in about 5 minutes.  The remaining hour and 25 minutes was spent waiting on the mechanic to answer his radio and confirm that the fix was sufficient to meet regulations and let us leave.  Then once the plane gets to Newark Airport, we have to sit on the tarmac another 45 minutes because they didn't have a gate for us.  Did I mention I had a game to be at.  I got off the plane as fast as I could, made a couple of quick texts to Coach HH to find some basketballs, and made my way straight from the airport to the gym.  I'm so glad I put just about everything I'd need to coach in my car before I left.

I arrived in time to have a quick meeting with my team, and break down how important is was for us to finish strong.  Finish the year with a sense of just how far we've come over the last six weeks.  Finish with a sense of pride that would energize us to a great run in 2013.  Finish strong because that is what the best of the best do.  We jumped out of the gate well that night, outrebounding, outworking, and just outwilling the opposition.  It was far from a great game, but considering how much better it was looking from our first games in November - it was amazing.  The determination spoke volumes, and it was like a rite of passage getting that win, especially when the margin was over 20 points.

Many people would think that a fluke, and the other coaches and I refused to let it sink in.  The next day, the message to the team during the pregame meeting was simply, "Don't repeat last night's performance - improve it."  We talked about some of the areas we needed to focus on, and I tried to gear it towards the things we do well, our strengths would be what carried us to a second victory.  Sure enough, we came out with more toughness, fire, and won a second game by over 20.  We kept the formula the same thoughout the weekend and managed to go 3 - 1, advanced to our first semi-finals appearance, and improved our record to 5-11. 

It may not look like much on paper, but to see the smiles, feel the confidence level triple, and hear the kids talk about how now they can really compete made those 3 wins probably the biggest of the year for me.  It was a great way to close out the year.  Sure we lost the last game, but the three wins outshine the loss by far.  I look forward to getting more wins in 2013, and just getting more out of the team as I finally feel like we can move past some of the basic, low level type stuff in practice.  It feels like we finally have a foundation to build on.

As the year comes to a close in these final minutes, I wish that everyone stays safe, makes at least one resolution they can keep, and remembers to finish strong.  Happy New Year!