Ask Coach E #2 – Handling a losing streak

Jan 30, 2009 (0) Comments

QUESTION: How did you handle the mini losing streak? Was it more important to improve on-the-floor productivity or the psyche of doubt that creeps in with losing?

ANSWER: First of all, this is a great question and one most all of us will have to come to grips with in our coaching careers. There are so many areas that I could get into because so much of it depends on the make-up of your team. Are they young? Veteran? Been through these before? Take hard coaching? Need delicate handling?

If you have read my blog before, you will notice one common theme and that is you must constantly read your team. You must know your guys like no one else. You must invest time in building relationships so that you know what makes them tick. I will reiterate that Doc Rivers is one of the best I have ever been around in terms of keeping an everyday pulse on our entire team. He feels it is extremely important to know where each guy stands and how we can reach each guy at that particular time of the season.

So let me throw out some food for thought based on things I have done or observed through the years. I will also try to address specific areas of losing in future blog posts.

Truly evaluate your team. If you are a team that probably shouldn’t be winning games, then your approach should be less on the wins/losses and more on improvement. I would suggest you concentrate more on progression than perfection, that is, is your team getting better? Can you prove this to your team? Comparative stats will help you sell this.
If wins will be difficult, then concentrate on getting better and prove to your team that you are getting better. Give examples of teams that have had rebuilding years and then turned it around. Think about how you can sell “progression” and not live and die with wins-losses. Keep in mind that the goal of every team is to still try to win the game; you must let them know this but also let them know you have other goals that can keep you moving forward and keep you in a healthier state of mind through these losing streaks.

Progression of Evaluation. I always think it starts with the coach. Are you doing your job? Are you preparing your team in practices, walk-throughs, and games? Always start with yourself; my rule is to evaluate myself first, evaluate myself second, and then take a look at the team. Once you get to the team, take a look at – in order:

  • were you good enough to beat the team(s)? Personnel
  • are you doing things hard enough? The effort game
  • are you doing things well enough? The execution game
  • are you doing them with the right players? Tweak line-up
  • is the scheme or the game plan the right one? Tweak the system

Know Your Team. I can’t tell you one sure way to approach your team with the talks you may have with them, but I will say that I would always try to keep it positive. I think “hope” can keep motivation alive longer than anything else you could create. I think we are actually living this now with President Obama. He did a tremendous job of creating hope that things will change, but what I like about his approach is that he also kept it realistic and truthful. The same can be said for dealing with your team; acknowledge that you are in a losing streak, let them know the truth — but don’t do it in an accusatory manner or blame any one person.
We always state the truth and follow it up with three things: (1) stats, (2) film and (3) the solution (how can we improve). When all is said and done, there is no “right way” to bounce out of a losing streak. But there are definitely ways to stay in them: not working hard in practice; not evaluating your own coaching decisions; not truthfully evaluating your team; not bringing the problems AND THE SOLUTIONS up to your team; simply trying to avoid the issue or continuing to do the same things the same way.

We still believed in our system but we felt we needed more focus and a re-commitment to holding each other accountable for our team play. Through all of this we fortunately had players who stayed together and attempted to get through this together.
Fingers were never pointed — but rather hands often came together as one.

Battling the Dog Days

Jan 27, 2009 (1) Comments

Many of us across the country are into the “dog days” of our seasons. Not only are our coaches logging unbelievable hours but our players are experiencing that “lull” that seems to occur no matter what we do to try to get them out of it.

In looking at this “dog days” concept and relating it to the great players in the game, I have observed that the great ones do experience the feeling but do not surrender themselves to it. They refuse to give in to the temptation of fatigue. They refuse to give in to the notion that fatigue even exists. They simply know that they have to continue to do the things that got them where they are.

You can tell a lot about the difference in players by how they work in practice. There are players who go hard every day. There are players who do the required work. And there is that group of special players — those who do the unrequired work. These are the great players. They separate themselves from the rest of the pack. They find a way to overcome the dog days, to overcome the physical fatigue, to overcome the mental fatigue, to stay on track regardless of the obstacles.

To be the best and to overcome the dog days, players have to understand the difference between required and unrequired work. Many believe that working with a coach after practice is unrequired work. We believe that any work that is done with the coach is required work. The great ones will work on their games regardless of whether a coach asks them to or not. Just thinking about the last few teams we have played, I can bet you that Dirk Nowitzki, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade — not to mention our three well-known players Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett — all do just as much unrequired work as they do required work.

They understand that success does not stand still. They understand that improvement is an everyday process. They understand that to be great requires more than the good players are willing to give.

I ask you to ask your players: where do you stand in this area? Are you giving in or giving more? Are you giving in to the dog days or are you giving more of yourself because you know this is the toughest part of the year?

To find the teams that put in the unrequired work, just go to league standings.

NBA Set: Set to get shot for a Wing Player

Jan 26, 2009 (0) Comments

kevin-eastman-january-200906

Do Your Job Completely

Jan 23, 2009 (0) Comments

I was watching my son’s high school team practice the other day and his coach asked me if I would speak to the team. His team is off to a great start and playing very well so I wanted to make sure I kept the theme of keeping this “team first” attitude going into the last third of the season and into the play-offs.

I mentioned a term we use with our guys that we got from the New England Patriots. I told them that many teams have players that do their jobs from time to time but the most successful teams have players that “do their job completely.”

This may sound simple, but when you think about it, it’s very difficult not just for high school players but also for college and pro players.

Doing your job completely means:

  • thoroughly knowing what your job (role) is
  • understanding everything that needs to be done on that job
  • accepting your job (role) unconditionally
  • doing your job every second, every minute, every quarter, every half, every game — all season long — the way it needs to be done

We don’t want every one of our guys just doing his job. We want every one of them to DO HIS JOB COMPLETELY! If every player does his job completely, we feel that we will have every weapon we need every night to be successful. Our staff and each player can trust that everyone will attempt to do his job completely on every possession he is in the game. We understand it may not be done perfectly, but if a player attempts to do the job completely every time that job is required, we will take our chances with that type of team!

Solutions and Proof

Jan 16, 2009 (0) Comments

If you are a Head Coach or CEO there’s no real need for you to read this post. This post is all about the assistant and one of the most important roles he or she must fulfill. Being a former Head Coach I know what it’s like to be in that seat. I also know that everyone out there can identify the problem, but very few come up with well thought out solutions. This is true on the court and in the corporate office.

I strongly encourage every assistant out there from this day forward to stop just telling the head coach the problems and complaining about what’s not working; instead, put sustained thought and research into two areas: (1) proof and (2) solutions.

Proof: once you watch the film and identify the problem, that’s when your job really begins. Example: we had an issue a few games ago with not moving the ball. We knew ball movement creates better shots and better chances for us to score. Identifying the problem was the easy part. Coming up with proof so that our players knew it was the truth was where my job really started. So I counted the number of passes thrown per possession and whether we scored on that possession. I was then able to give Doc (our Head Coach) stats that did not lie. Stats that he could use with our team to drive home the point that holding the ball hurts our offense — that going 1-on-1 hurts our offense. He had the stats that showed we scored on only 36 % of the possessions in which we threw 2 or fewer passes and we scored on 61% of the possessions when we threw 3 or more passes. We knew the problem but I wanted to provide proof so that the players knew it was the truth.

It is my job as an assistant to think about the problem and come up with ways I can help the Head Coach correct it. I am fortunate to be on a staff where every assistant understands the importance of such an exercise. We are simply all trying to make Doc’s job easier so that he can spend his time on the big things.

Solutions: it is our job as assistants to provide solutions to any problem on or off the court. It could be a wrinkle to an existing play. It could be a better play that could give our post man a chance to catch the ball deeper. It could be a motivational idea, story, or quote that can inspire our team. As an assistant it is our job to constantly put thought and search out ways to improve our team. We should never be in a position where our Head Coach has to ask us first. We should constantly be proactive in seeking solutions.

Once I have put quality thought to the problem I will then write up my solution and put it on Doc’s desk. That way he can read it at his leisure and not waste any of his time having to discuss it with me first. I want him to have time to think about it before he talks to me about it. As an assistant we all have to understand that maybe only 1 in 10 solutions are actually implemented; but our job is to think of an 11th one. We have to keep thinking, keep analyzing, keep studying, keep reading. Our job is to help our Head Coach by providing solutions that may work, not just griping about problems.

Simply put, our job is to put sustained thought to how we can make our Head Coach successful. Our position is not about us. It is about doing everything we can to make the team and the guy we work for successful. You will be well on your way if you continually think about proof and solutions after each practice, each game, and about each player. Being an assistant is not about self-promotion, personal agendas, or recognition. The best assistants don’t seek any of these but rather, they do their jobs and accolades naturally seem to follow them!

Physical Talent and Mental Talent

Dec 30, 2008 (0) Comments

When I heard people talk about our championship team this past summer I almost always heard “you guys were so talented.” And we did have talent. But if physical talent alone were the only ingredient to winning a championship then we could all name a number of teams that should have won one at all different levels.

I would never argue that we had talent, and physical talent at that. What truly separated us from the rest, though, was that we also had mental talent. Physical talent alone will win regular season games, but you need more than that to win championships.

We had the mental talent that allowed us to understand and carry out a game plan. We had the mental talent to be able to maintain our focus through even the most difficult times of the long NBA season. We had the mental talent to enable us to hold each other accountable on and off the court and not mistake that for a teammate getting on another. We had the mental talent to understand that the coaches were coaching and not criticizing in their comments to players. We had the mental talent to see what went wrong in a game and work to make sure it didn’t happen the next time out. We had the mental talent to admit that we weren’t playing well and that a sub should come in for a starter. We had the mental talent to understand that playing defense every possession every night was going to win us games. And, most important, we had the mental talent to worry only about getting the win — not about who got the glory!

I believe that physical talent wins games but physical talent plus mental talent wins championships. We were like every other team in the nation in that things did not run smoothly the entire season. Where we differed is that we had the mental capacity and strength to fight through and overcome the many obstacles that face a team in its journey to win a title. We proved that there is more to success than running, jumping, and dunking.

Kobe: Film Makes Him a Better Player

Dec 09, 2008 (0) Comments

In the workout camp I ran with Nike and Kobe, he talked to the players about how much he watches games on TV and looks at film. It may be in his living room at home or at the practice facility. His point was that he learns from watching. It gives him an advantage over those players who don’t watch film.

One of the most interesting statements he made was that he sometimes picks up a move from another player he is watching on TV, and it doesn’t matter what level that player is. If it is a move he can put into his game that will make him a better player, then he will work on it.

This is his process for “working on it”:

  • run the move over and over and over again until he feels he has it
  • do it in slow motion right there in his living room
  • execute the move right there as many times as he needs to
  • go to the gym the next day and work on it by himself, going as slowly as he needs to so that he executes it properly
  • continue to work on it, speeding up until he can do it at game speed on the practice floor
  • do it against an opponent (another player, coach, etc)

    • The lesson here is that he is always open and willing to learn. I have found that to be a characteristic of the great players. They want to know anything that will give them an edge, because “great” isn’t a one-time thing. It takes work to stay great.

    The next lesson is that he spends the time needed (no matter how much) to master something new. He invests time in his improvement.

    Just as I wished that all players could have seen Ray Allen and Mike Miller in the gym 3 hours before the game (see November 25, 2008 post), I wish all players could observe one of the great players of all time, Kobe Bryant, improving his game and understanding that no one in this game has “arrived.”

Players: Log the Action

Dec 02, 2008 (0) Comments

A few summers ago I was working with Kobe Bryant, teaching a group of players about the game and about working out. Part of the session was “how to watch film on yourself and your opponent.” During the session Kobe brought up the process he goes through during a game with respect to how the defender is guarding him.

Kobe told the players that he “logs the action,” that is, he keeps a close mental log of what his defender is doing on the different sets the Lakers run and the different cuts he makes. He said if you are counted on to score, that also means the opponent’s defensive focus will be on limiting your production. He said it’s important that players know the opponent’s mindset even before the opening tip.

Once players understand this concept of the opponent’s preparation, they then need to pay close attention to the opponent’s game plan, as that will give them their game plan for the night. The only way to accomplish this is to focus on how the opponents are defending you. Kobe keeps track of this early in the game and may not take advantage of it until later in the game.

Kobe watches a lot of film of how different teams and players defend him. He prepares as much as he can before the game then makes adjustments during the game based on his log. What players need to understand is that Kobe’s preparation is a never-ending process. The great ones — like Kobe — think the game and understand it’s not just the coach that has to prepare for an opponent and make adjustments during the game.

Where “logging the action” most notably comes into play is with your scorers, post men and best players. They are the ones who have to make the most adjustments during the game. They are also the ones that need to put in the extra preparation knowing that the opponent is spending their time scheming to stop them.

In my next post I will discuss the importance of the point guard position and how it relates to “logging the game”. After that, I will discuss the importance of film watching to other aspects of Kobe’s game based on the things he said during the film sessions with the players.

Two Pains

Dec 01, 2008 (0) Comments

In the sports world, the corporate world, in our personal lives, in a coach’s career — there will always be times when we have to choose between the pain of discipline and the pain of regret.

The Pain of Discipline
Being disciplined is a great characteristic to have, but a difficult one to maintain over time. It’s not easy to work out day after day after day. It’s not easy to get in the weight room day after day after day. It’s not easy to do go to work and grind it out day after day. There is a pain factor involved — physical pain, mental fatigue (brought on by boredom of doing the same hard things over and over again), emotional pain from sometimes working your tail off every day and not being successful. The types and intensity of the pains will vary, but the constant is that they will be there!

In our careers it’s not easy to keep reading and studying the books, articles and reports or to continue to figure out how to become a better coach, salesperson, manager, CEO. Success is a disciplined process, not an overnight miracle.

Speaking from personal experience with our team last year, I think one of the reasons for our success was that we were willing to recognize and deal with that pain, to work through that pain, to invest in and commit to the grinding process that you have to go through to become successful in any meaningful challenge. For every NBA team, that challenge is to become the World Champions!

The Pain of Regret
Simply put, when all is said and done, if you haven’t invested in the discipline needed to be successful, you will look back and regret not having done everything within your control to make the outcome a successful one. This is the ultimate pain of regret. We know lots of people who do this — the ones who are constantly saying things like, ”I wish I had…” rather than ”I’m glad I did…”

So you, your team, your company all have a choice — do you choose the pain of discipline and continue to do everything possible (whether it hurts or not) to become successful? Or do you choose to shortcut things? Maybe you aren’t consistent in your energy and enthusiasm, or maybe you don’t maintain the focus needed to succeed. In any case, if you don’t choose the pain of discipline, you will regret it.

I think about the pain of discipline vs. pain of regret in my approach to my job and in everything I do, from my morning workouts to the continuous film breakdown, to the constant writing of reports. I consciously think about the choice through the long grind that is the NBA season, through the constant reading, thinking and searching to find any little edge for our team or myself.

Discipline or regret? We were fortunate last year in that every player, coach, and Celtics employee chose the pain of discipline. This decision was the staple of our success and made us the NBA World Champions!

5 Characteristics for Coaching Success

Nov 21, 2008 (0) Comments

A good friend of mine — an excellent high school coach –asked me this summer, “What are the five most important characteristics someone needs to be a success in this business?” Needless to say, that sent my mind in motion as I am always curious as to what makes people successful in their fields. In fact, much of my reading revolves around this topic.

It seems like I came up with different sets of five each new day I thought about it, so even though getting to an exact five is difficult, I can tell you that the these are five I have focused on in my career:

  • Respect: I strongly believe the greater the respect for the coach, the easier the buy-in from your players (I will write about how to encourage buy-in in a future blog post or podcast). And the more often you can get your team to buy in, the more you are going to see them do what you want them to do. I have always tried to gain respect by outworking others in the business and trying to learn as much as I can at the place and position I am in. Work ethic and knowledge have been keys in my ability to gain respect.
  • Relationships: I believe relationships are the foundation for success in any field. Get to know your team; get to know about your team; talk to your players in good times and bad; let your players know you care about them; and develop a trust with your players. One of the most important things you can do for a person is to let them know you genuinely care about them and their life. They have to feel you are in it for them and not for some personal agenda.
  • Curiosity: I have found that the most successful people in any business have an unbelievable intellectual curiosity about their field. They talk to the best in the business; they read about others; they listen to CDs and DVD’s; they want to know what the best are doing and how that can relate to them; they are curious to know what you know and how that might help them and their program.
  • Ability to motivate: This is an aspect of coaching that requires one constantly “read” what is needed for their team and each player on a daily basis. It also requires much thought and study to find new ways of accomplishing these tasks. Find out what makes players tick and then create ways to motivate them to get the most they are capable of each day.
  • Choosing the right job: Make sure you know all you can about a job before taking it. I have often said that you have to find out if the expectations of the job exceed the reality of the job. Don’t jump at a job that sounds good or has a certain perceived prestige without learning all you can about that job. No one can be successful at a place that does not have or cannot create an environment to succeed. Finally, keep in mind that timing is also an important factor. It can be a great job at the wrong time. The onus is on you to thoroughly investigate and evaluate the job before you make a final decision.

Entitlement vs. Investment

Nov 10, 2008 (0) Comments

As I travel around the country and work out with the best of the best from the High School, College, and NBA levels, I am continually reminded of what these players have in common that makes them great:

  • they want to get better
  • they want to know everything they can that will help them become a better basketball player
  • they are committed to improvement of their bodies and their game
  • they are very serious about the game every time they hit the floor
  • they want to be coached

The best example I can give you is Kobe Bryant. He once told me that he does not work out any more……he now blacks out. He said that a workout just isn’t enough anymore if he’s going to stay on top of his game and take on all the players he knows are going to challenge him. He said he has to go beyond what all other players doing. He took his to a higher level. He took his to black out status!

What Kobe also was saying is what all players need to hear and need to know. He is willing to invest in his improvement and not stay the same. He was willing to invest in his future and not stay the same. He is willing to invest in his game and not feel that he is entitled to be great, entitled to take every shot, entitled to have everything given to him. He was, and is, going to earn it.

The lesson here is one that I tell every one of the great players I work with: it’s not about entitlement if you want to be the best. It’s about investment.

I ask that each coach who reads this share this with his players. They need to know that being the best is not easy. They need to know that they need to invest in their futures (both on the court and off the court for that matter). Entitlement will lead to ultimate failure; investment will lead to future success.

Skill Development: Shooting

Oct 29, 2008 (1) Comments

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As I read more and more about how coaches teach shooting, I keep coming back to the same thought — keep my teaching as simple and understandable as possible. Shooting is such a difficult fundamental to master that many coaches are so technical in their teaching that it actually confuses the player.

First and foremost, the player must understand that mastering a shot takes a tremendous amount of repetition. Repetition alone is not enough, though; it has to be “perfect form repetition”. It has to be a daily process of taking hundreds and hundreds of shots. Ray Allen is one of the best shooters in the game today and he comes out every day and takes hundreds of shots either before or after practice — sometimes both. Kevin Garnett is fanatical about his daily routine and will not miss a day!

It’s no secret that the best shooters in the NBA are also the ones who work on their shots the most. Reggie Miller was always out there two or three hours before every game, perfecting his shot. Ray Allen is on the floor three hours before every game we play working on his shot. He actually works at such a game-like speed that he sweats nearly as much in his pre-game routine as many players do in a game!

Some of the key teaching points I use with our players:

  • take “game shots from game spots at game speed”
  • be “ready on the catch” – knees bent; feet ready; hands ready
  • have “10 toes to the rim” – if you have 10 toes to the rim you will be squared up
  • keep “feet under shoulders” – gives us balance
  • remember that “the quality of your feet determines the quality of your shot” – footwork is so important to balance, and balance is so important to a quality shot
  • have “perfect follow through”—we feel there are three ways to follow through (the first two are wrong and often lead to a missed shot): (1) straight up to the ceiling – forces shot to be short (2) straight at the rim – forces a short “no arc” shot (3) a follow through half way between both – up and over the front rim so that the shooting elbow ends up above eye level
  • have “perfect feet – perfect follow through” – I am constantly repeating this to our players; we feel that the beginning of the shot (the feet) and the end of the shot (the follow through) are the most important parts of the shot; I will discuss the elbow in future blog posts as I know that many feel this is also important

Establishing Roles

Oct 03, 2008 (0) Comments

Establishing roles is a major part of every coach’s job description. A coach must (1) analyze a player’s strengths, 2) analyze a player’s weaknesses and 3) determine how each player will fit into the style of play. Once we know these things, we have to sell these roles to the players. That’s not always easy, since most players think that being a role player really means being a “never get to score” player!

With most players, if the role involves scoring points, they are happy. We know that not everyone can have that role — but we still have to make sure each player will buy into the role he is given. I have found that most every Championship team is made up of players who accept their roles.

We will always give a non-scoring role player some goals to accomplish each game, including scoring. For example, a big man we want to be a screener/defender might have these goals:

  • Get one pass ahead fast break lay up per half (4 points/game)
  • Get one offensive rebound basket per half (4 points/game)
  • Make two free throws per half (4 points/game)

We now have him scoring 12 points, which should make him feel good about his offensive game that night. But the best part of it all is that none of these points has to come through our offense. You can actually keep his offensive game to purely a hustle-type of game, yet still help him score 12 points.

Roles are not always easy for a player to accept as they sometimes do not feature the player the way they think they should be featured. We will often tell the player that your role may not be what you want but it is what is best for the team. We feel if we put it into the context of the team there is a greater chance that it will be accepted…. Coach E

Discipline

Sep 30, 2008 (0) Comments

As we begin our training camp with the Boston Celtics we know that one of our greatest strengths from last season, DISCIPLINE, must be carried over to this season. If you were to analyze any Championship team you would find that a big part of its DNA is discipline.

I see discipline as the bridge between goals and accomplishment. The basketball season is a long, long season. We were together for 287 days in 2007-08. Without individual discipline coupled with team discipline, we could never have accomplished our goal of winning the NBA Championship.

Discipline takes on many forms depending on the player: from Ray Allen arriving at the game site 3 hours before tip off so he can go through his shooting preparations before anyone else on either team is in there (and I will tell you this was the case every night because I was right there with him), to Rajon Rondo making a minimum of 100 shots before each game so that he develops not only good form on his shot but also the workout discipline needed on a daily basis to become an improved shooter (we estimated that he made almost 12,000 shots total before all of the games combined last year — and 12,000 shots if done with fundamental form can improve your shot, to Kevin Garnett working on some part of his game just about every one of those 287 days (he is a very big believer in fundamentals and repetition). And this doesn’t even take into account a Paul Pierce working on the treadmill many days whether we are practicing or not.

There were a number of ingredients to our Championship run and without a doubt our discipline was one of the key ingredients. If anyone out there is looking to become number one in their field, discipline must be a part of your everyday existence!…Coach E

Welcome to Coach Eastman’s Blog

Sep 26, 2008 (2) Comments

I know there are many blogs out there. There are some great ones, and there are some that just don’t offer much real information. So what will you find in Coach E’s Blog? Relevant, practical thoughts and information that can have a real impact on your team, your philosophy, and even your own personal motivation.

I want to reach as many coaches and others interested in the game as possible and share what I have learned through the opportunities and good fortunes the game of basketball has given me…from discussions with top coaches around the world, my journey through the collegiate and NBA ranks, and my work with the best of the best from high school, college, and professional levels. I want to share as much as I can for as long as I can.

– Coach E