A good coaching friend of mine, Tates Locke, is a great guy to be around if you want to soak in his vast experience. He has a saying (and you may have heard it already) that’s worth using not only with our players but with our staff: “There are three types of people out there: [...]
Basketball Specific
Keep Eyes and Ears Open
I direct the Skills Academies for Nike and our goal is to hire the best teachers out there for these elite High School and College players. In doing that, it’s almost a mini clinic for me as I go around watching and listening to the different coaches at the different stations. A few observations about [...]
True Leadership
There are so many players in so many fields that want to be in a leadership position but don’t want to deal with the toughest part of leadership. To be an effective leader, you must be able to tell the truth. Sounds simple, but there are lots of factors that go with this statement. First [...]
No Plays Off
When going after a championship, I’ve found that the hardest of all to accomplish is this: neither players nor coaches can take any plays off! Championships are won by the team that stays in every possession. There can be no “plays off.” The average person or coach may say: “it’s only one play,” but what [...]
Staff Construction
Putting together a staff requires a tremendous amount of thought. The staff you have is a big part of every Head Coach’s success. Here are some things about our staff that, I believe, make it one of the best around: Loyalty: We all believe in and truly want to see Doc be successful. Ego-less: We [...]
Shooting Slumps
As many of you have read about already, Ray Allen set an NBA playoff record this past week. He had a record game, hitting eight 3-pointers in one game. Then in the very next game, he went 0-13 in game 3 of the Celtics/Lakers series. The interesting thing in talking to Ray about how to [...]
Preparation
Many have probably already read that one of our assistant coaches, Tom Thibodeau, has been named the new Head Coach of the Chicago Bulls (to be official after the Finals). I have had the pleasure of working with Tom over the last three years and have learned a lot from him. Tom is known for [...]
Resolve
The NBA Finals pits two teams that have made winning a championship a priority. It’s two groups that have come together and understand that any group of players can wear the same uniform, but only those who sacrifice their individual goals for the betterment of the group can be called a team! To get this [...]
We’re Not Getting Younger
After our series with Cleveland ended, Lebron James and Kevin Garnett got together near mid court to exchange some words of respect. We all know that Lebron has some big decisions ahead. One of the things Kevin said (I am paraphrasing here) to Lebron was that it’s hard at times to get your youth back. [...]
Next Level Defense
We’re seeing it in the NBA Playoffs and we saw it in the Final Four games of the NCAA tournament. Defense keeps teams in games and keeps players on the floor. Any player who thinks defense is not important is fooling himself and hurting his team. Not only is defense important, it’s critical to winning [...]
The Ultimate Player Sacrifice
This much we know is certain: winning teams have common characteristics that separate them from losing teams. It’s no secret. As a matter of fact, I would say they are not just characteristics, they are actually high character-driven traits. The ultimate trait is that of self-sacrifice, i.e. the ability to give up one’s personal glory [...]
Player’s Choice: 3 Roles
We all have players that want to do things differently or might see things differently than we do. Or they want to complain to the officials the entire game. While these actions may satisfy the player and make him feel better, in effect they sabotage the focus of that player and the team. We have [...]
Back and Forth Mentoring
This is a great time to spend getting better, finding that “difference maker” idea, or simply re-confirming what you’re already doing. There are so many coaches out there who would love to sit down and discuss basketball. The only thing stopping them is a phone call or an e-mail…an invitation! Take action now! Contact those [...]
“Team Think” Time
With the summer months approaching, it becomes critical for players to work on their individual skills and to come back better players. We hope will this will allow us to be a more talented and skilled year than the year before, but that doesn’t guarantee that we will be a better team. I think the [...]
The Comeback
We’re all going to be in a number of games where we have to come back on a team. We get down big for whatever reason and we have to find a way to come back and turn it into a game again. First and foremost, your team has to understand that doing everything faster [...]
