NBA Summer League: Chicago vs New Orleans Notes

 

Sitting down long after the game had finished yesterday morning. Melbourne is currently in Lockdown 6.0 due to COVID 19 outbreak and a year on I am again watching NBA Summer League , at least this time it has fans in the stands. 

Watching and taking some small notes on the game. My main reason for tuning into this game was to see what Australian, Damien Cotter now Assistant Coach for the Bulls and Head Coach for the Summer League team was going to run with the team. I remember seeing Damien coaching at my former club Diamond Valley Eagles and attended a few clinics where he was presenting. 

Typical of my younger days coaching I didn't value creating great networks so never took the chance to speak to Damien, now from a distance watching him on the side-lines at NBA Summer League is very inspiring as a coach. 

A few of my notes from the game (caveat I'm a Bulls Fans)

Strong use of 5 Out Spacing from the Bulls, even in transition on made baskets. 

Williams looks great for the Bulls, lots of talk how he has changed his diet and energy levels. They certainly take advantage of the 5 Out spacing with him attacking down hill or iso on the wing a bit like how Milwaukee used Giannis. He does seem to prefer to pull up short of the basket rather than muscle his way to rim.

Positioning in transition for the 3 point shot over the lay-up, the 5 out spacing begins very early in transition, with the Bulls compared to Pelicans running into corner and 45 spots looking for early 3 point shots or clearing the lane for drives.

Some sets I saw from the teams I liked. 

Pelican's ran this Scissor Cut to Screen action once in the first half and never saw it again, it did result in a foul at the hoop and was surprised not to see it again. 

An Example of Chicago going 5 Out and opening up the lanes to attack was this DHO to PNR 

Pelicans also used a little quick flip/ DHO into a on ball to create a straight driving lane. I have used something similar with RMIT but we do this going Across the floor rather than down hill for the drive.

Loyola Chicago Defensive Notes

I have put these notes from the video for my own use, but over time I have found that people also liked reading them so I thought in the interest of sharing I would take what's in my note book and put it on here.

We all fell in love with Loyola Chicago during the NCAA Tournament run, and Hoop Vision did a great breakdown X & O (at the bottom of this blog) of their defence which when I looked at this video and some game film was an interesting hybrid of what is popular at the moment, mixed with a bit of ''old school''

Loyola Chicago base defence is really a hybrid of No Middle, but also looking at match-ups and where they can ''prevent'' first rather than a hard and fast rule. 

A good example of this is they like to switch on ball screens, and at first look you would say they are always switching, to point they have a mantra around switching.

TALK IT, TOUCH IT, SWITCH IT, DENY IT

Yet knowing their key forward would be isolated against switching onto smaller guards they would play drop coverage. 

Other communication notes from Loyola Chicago are:

''Switch Up'' on the ball, putting pressure during the switching process rather than being passive

'' Give a Verbal'' talk on everything, all things are spoken about on defence nothing is silent

'' Reach for the lights'' always contest shots, force tough twos 

As well as drop coverage for slow moving forwards vs guards in on ball screens they know their scout and will go under screens against poor shooting guards, gambling with the poor shooting 3 over a driving/foul/score situation. 

Never cover off corner 3's strong and weakside. 

BYU Practice Notes

COVID and the start of the NCAA season has been a dream for coaching junkies like me, the chance to get behind the curtain and see what is happening on the first practice session is fantastic. 

BYU compared to other programs have used a high production team and commentators to obtain interviews with assistant coaches and comment on players and drills. 

VIEW SESSION HERE:  https://www.byutv.org/player/faeba95f-5503-4a6a-b59c-0bb980ea5722 

Notes from the session:

Warm-up was based on body movement and flexibility, you can see the coaches are heavily interacting with players, including throwing a football around and talking to players. 

5-0 to 5 v 5 Offensive Structure 

1 on 1 from the wing, pass comes from coach, player leads out no cuts and must play off two dribbles.

Losers in all drills do diagonal slides up the court and sprint back down the side line. 

BYU SHELL DRILL

The scout team is on offence

Key areas:

• No Middle Offered
• Pressure, force the ball to make a play
• Force everything baseline

If Defence get a steal or block they can run the floor on offence. 

OFFENCE 

2 v 1 from half court with guards and wings in a closeout situation

3 v 4 post players against a zone, working on finding seals.

Full Court 3 v 2 + 4 v 3 - 5 v 4 adding a player each time. 

Pass ahead, secured the disadvantage early.

3 v 3 with first action rules; they play games out of certain actions first. Below is the diagrams for each starting action. 

Another area of note was a large whiteboard at practice that charted WINS, an individual win or a team win, everyone got a win and competing was a big part of practice. 

Razorbacks Training Notes

With COVID effecting the delay of the NCAA season and fans most likely unable to attend games, programs are looking to engage with fans in a way that helps us coaches. With many programs returning tot he first official day of team practice, many opened the doors to cameras and live streaming of sessions. 

These are my notes from the Arkansas Razorbacks session, link below to watch. 

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=347211763062307&ref=watch_permalink

While much was the focus was on sets and offence a few things stood out from this session compared to many ''club'' team sessions I see. 

• There seemed to be an order of scrimmage then shooting, scrimmage then shooting. Focus on catch & shoot from the Wing 2s and 3s along with Corner 3s.
• Assistant Coaches always active, rebounding, talking, getting players to drills
• No Walking, Not at all. 
• Injured players working two ball dribbling drills on the sidelines
• Scrimmage, and there was a lot of 5v5. It was a short game, pause. Group up in teams (Red v White) discuss and then back out again in short bursts. 

Drills & Sets 

3 v 3 Full Court Celtic Defense

• Focus on contain the ball first, hedging towards the ball
• DHO Defense, switch underneath
• Double Team, rotate out. 

PDF FILE OF ALL TRAINING DRILLS

Full Court Shooting - this was a big feature between scrimmages. 

On Ball Coverage - more detail in Training Drill PDF Download, but this was a shell drill with the post player making a on ball from the wing. The Razorbacks are doubling the ball till after the first pass and then the post player is chasing back on defense with the roller. Key is the wings sink in to help protect the basket.

Continuity Offence 

Interesting to see them run this set continuously for 30+ passes in a row, counting out load! 

Notes of the set are in the PDF document

Wing & Corner 3s - First team to make 5 wins

Full Court Transition - starts 2 v1, 3 v2, 5 v 4 and then 5 v 5 and then resets.

Scrimmage - with assist coaches coaching teams and head coach working between groups, short sharp full court games, stopping like a timeout quick changes and then back in again. 

Damon West Mindset Summit - Quicknotes

Damon West once had it all. However, the former Division 1 Quarterback was introduced to methamphetamines and became instantly hooked - and the lives of so may innocent people would be forever changed by the choices he made to feed his insatiable meth habit. Damon would be sentenced to serve sixty-five (65) years in a Texas maximum-security prison.

I have attached at the bottom of this post the link to watch the video, but the take aways from this talk for me that I think we can use on and off the court are.

WORKOUT EVERYDAY

Working out every day isn't just the physical side of you body, we should be able to tick the boxes of looking after ourselves MENTALLY, SPIRITUALLY & PHYSICALY. 

SERVING OTHER & BE HUMBLE

The key making the biggest steps in your life is about helping others first and foremost without the need for recognition, we all talk of being servant leaders as coaches but how many can hand on heart not look left or right at the success of others and wish it was them. Be at peace in serving those around you. 

WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL

There are 4 things you and only you can control. 

• What you say
• What you do
• What you think 
• What you feel

YOUR PAST DOES NOT DEFINE YOU

To often we count what we did before now as the reason stopping us today, I missed that job or that opportunity. With COVID many people will face struggles today but not tomorrow or next year. Is this a period of our life that defeats us.

ENERGY IS ABOUT YOUR BODY LANGUAGE

We talk of smiling and the world smiles back, but you can control how you think and what you feel, so tell yourself is a great day, flash a smile in that first meeting be excited as you shake hands and meet that person eye to eye. 

https://masteryourmindsetsummit.com/myms20day1

Elam Ending Plays

The Basketball Tournament or TBT as its known has been running with the Elam Ending concept now since the event began. 

Let me save you opening up a google page ....

What is the Elam Ending?

How it works: At the first dead-ball whistle after the time goes below four minutes in the final quarter, the clock gets turned off. At that point, a target score is set, equaling the leading team’s point total plus eight. Then, the first team to hit that target score wins.

If the defensive team commits a non-shooting foul during the Elam Ending with the offensive team in the bonus, the offense will receive one free throw plus possession. According to TBT organizers, this eliminated an incentive for teams to foul in one specific situation—when the defense could reach the target score with a free throw or two-point basket while the offense needed a three-pointer. The idea for this change came from a user with whom Elam interacted on a message board.

Now that we all know what we are on about lets look at the coaching side of it.

There is a few clear examples from teams/coaches as how to close out the final point. 

1) Bucket getting ball handler

Pretty simple really put in the hands of your ball scoring guard, spread the floor and let him attack the basket. 

2) On-Ball Screens 

Again, working with the ball scoring guard a post player sprints out of the paint and screens without rolling, this creates space for the scoring guard to attack the basket

3) Drive Kick 

We here coaches talk about a lot, put your feet in the paint, draw 2 find 1

4) Offensive Rebound 

If a jump-shot is taken outside the paint, rushing the offensive board. This is particularly noticeable with teams that have a lead advantage of more than two scores (this means they don't risk losing the game on a cherry pick) crashing the O Boards for a quick put back. This tactic works well as teams at this level tend not to crash O-Boards and so defenders get a little lazy.

See below some sets I have seen up till the First 16 Round. 

I will be following these endings at putting the finishing touches on an ELAM ENDING playbook, email be at olly_reid@yahoo.com.au for the PLAYBOOK

Some other interesting rule changes:

TBT uses a modified version of NCAA men's basketball rules. As of the 2019 edition, the most significant exceptions are:

• Games are played in 9-minute quarters instead of 20-minute halves (or the 10-minute quarters of the NCAA women's game).
• Players are disqualified upon their 6th personal foul (instead of 5th).
• Bonus free throws follow NCAA women's and FIBA rules, with two free throws on the 5th and subsequent non-shooting fouls by the defense in a quarter. An exception to this rule will be added for the 2020 tournament; any foul during the Elam Ending (see below) that would result in bonus free throws will instead give the non-fouling team one free throw and possession of the ball.
• FIBA rules on basket interference are followed, except on free throws. Once the ball hits the rim on a field goal attempt, any player on either team can play the ball, regardless of the direction in which it is moving or its position relative to the basket. The only exception is that no player on either team may touch a shot that was in the air at the time the game clock expired for any quarter, even if the ball has touched the rim, as long as it has a chance to enter the basket.
• Replay review is governed by NCAA rules, with one modification—any review allowed only in the last 2 minutes of a game under NCAA rules is allowed in TBT only if either team is within 3 points of the Elam Ending target score.
• Due to the adoption of the Elam Ending for all games, there is no overtime.

 

Southern Cross Challenge 2020

One from out of the notebook; notes I made during the event that were never meant for a blog more for my own reference point. Peeling through the pages this is why I fired my blogging back up to create a place I could keep/share these items with everyone I know. 

Held at the State Basketball Center, the invitational tournament allows selected under-14 and under-15 teams from across Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, ACT and Western Australia to prepare as elite athletes and participate in high-caliber competition.

Victoria Metropolitan had three sides per age group featuring at the Challenge, these elite players from the Showcase represented Vic Metro Orange as bottom age players and received an additional boost to their development efforts throughout the weekend-long tournament.

I had the opportunity to work with Head Coach Scott Christiansen, a Vic Metro coaching leader with multiple National Championships. An experience that not only opened my eyes to how the State Program has changed but also the full scale of State Wide player evaluation along with coach evaluation is happening on a weekly basis. 

The 3 Day event in January (2020) not only opened up a chance to chat with a range of high profile coaches in the junior ranks, the conversations were great and the observation of not just the Victorian Teams but also what the other States had in the way play calling and style was interesting. 

Team Victoria - Navy U15 Boys 

Offensively: With the best young talent in the state we could of ran anything, but Coach had us in a 4 out set, space and play with a real focus on ''pin downs'' and ''middle on ball screen''  

Defense: The required intensity was up a notch and the demand on players from the HC was great to see, an error (missed switch, missed help rotation) resulted in a sub. The focus was full court coverage at all times, and while the group had only 1 training session before the event, the focus was coaching the effort. My biggest take away was the 3 word mantra.

• Contain - your man 

• Contest - every shot, every loose ball

• Compete - for the rebound

I felt this mantra spoke to the players, was easy to understand and breakdown. Post game we would ask the question of each word and what the score out of 10 was for that game, I felt over the weekend this stuck with the players most and its translation at any level of play could be used. 

Sideline Observations:
The State Programs had agreed to make this event Man to Man; but there are many ways to play Man to Man. 

• Man to Man was a big feature including, switching everything (SA & Vic Country Programs)

• 1-2-1-1 was seen in the girls side 

• Packline was used heavily by WA Metro sides and ACT, when done well this had the look of a zone defense.

Offensively: 
On my Instagram account I broke down some diagrams of ACT & WA Metro. 
Across the tournament the majority of teams played a 4 out style set, with exception of SA Metro most played a high post or elbow set and looked to create driving and kick opportunities. 
ACT - used a variety of DHO & Hawk Cut options off the high post. 
WA Metro - with size and aggressive drivers int he line-up used Triangle entry options to create overloads. 

View this post on Instagram

Observation from U15 Southern Cross Challenge. Was great in January to Assist Vic Metro, took lots of notes but tried to film some games. This is ACT, small team with no post player ran this and variations of this action, DHO into scissor cuts off the high post.

A post shared by Olly Reid (@coach.olly) on Feb 8, 2020 at 12:02pm PST