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.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
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.
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.
Monday, January 28, 2013
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."
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."
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
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.
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.
Monday, January 14, 2013
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.
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.
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