The fifth and final installment of my NABC series comes from the clinic by Mike Dunlap, assistant coach at St. John's. In my opinion, this was the best clinic of the entire convention from a learning standpoint. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that while I love the creativity of coaching the offensive end of the floor, defense is the focus of our program at Houghton and it's where I believe champions are made. Coach Dunlap did a fantastic job explaining how St. John's goes about creating a defensive mindset. There are some points in here that will absolutely make it into our playbook next year - enjoy!
- 8 keys to creating a defensive mindset:
- Have a philosophy
- Know what it is, and what it isn't. Having one is more important than what you have.
- So many different ways to coach, styles, X's and O's. Teams who commit to a philosophy have repeated success.
- You have to give players the "why"
- They want to know why they're doing what they're doing
- Give them the "why" early - so later when quick changes need to be made, they understand and trust that you have a vision behind decisions
- You are what you emphasize
- Get to the hard stuff early - there's no reason to wait
- If you want to emphasize your D, you need to simplify your offense
- That doesn't mean simple - cutting back on how much you do will allow you to use good action but spend less time on offense.
- Create your own deflection chart
- What are the most important hustle plays to you? - Chart them
- "Taking a charge is the most selfless thing a player can do in our program. A charge = winning the drill."
- Transition D
- What are your keys? What is your emphasis?
- Coach Wooden had a triangle and sent two to glass because he had the best bigs. What gives your team the best coverage?
- Easy baskets win championships
- "Easy" = lay-ups, uncontested 3's, FT's, and put-backs.
- St. John's research: Teams shot 17% worse on contested 3's (hand up on the shooter).
- The less easy baskets you allow, the harder the other team must work on offense - taking energy away from THEIR defense.
- Validate all victories (in drills)
- Get "the big stop"
- One stop to win the drill/game
- Simulate the end of a game when one stop will win it.
- Get "the big score"
- One score to win the drill/game
- Simulate the end of a game when one score will win it.
- Execute for a score.
- Score off of a specific action/number of passes/etc.
- FT's
- Must make them for a W
- Think of how many times a day you could practice those late-game situations where one play is the difference between winning or losing just by validating W's.
- Ball Screen Defense
- Have 3 or 4 ways that you have practiced and are confident with
- If you can't stop it one way, you've already practiced a backup plan.
- "Destroy their practice time."
- Guarding ball screens and guarding the ball are the two biggest weaknesses in most individual defenders. Everybody emphasizes help side so much now that guarding your own man gets lost.
- Video
- Use it as an instruction tool as often as possible.
- Players can't argue with film, it doesn't lie.
- If you can't do it as a team or daily, break down into smaller groups 1 or 2 times a week before/after practice
- Verbals
- What is the language for your program?
- Create a program "dictionary"
- Designing Drills
- Know the emphasis of the drill
- What are we trying to teach?
- Know the rotation
- How do we move within the drill?
- Know the rules
- Dribble limits, defensive positioning, etc
- Know the victory
- How do you win
- Teaching new drill:
- Tell themàShow themàThey show youàCorrect themàRepetitions
- Do not interrupt a drill until a player is through the rotation
- Unless you want to emphasize it to everyone
- Give a way to tighten practice
- Build "quick wins" into your practice plan
- 1 or 2 perfect possessions = win and move on
- Incentive for higher performance
- Creates positive peer pressure
- "Don't ever let money cause you to lose your creativity"
- Creativity earns your new opportunities and responsibilities
- New opportunities and responsibilities bring more money
- Money causes us to play this safe so we don't fail
- Playing it safe means we give up our creativity
- Evaluate what you do - don't be afraid to purge
- Either the action is bad, the teaching is bad, or the personnel is bad
- "You can't see a thing you don't think about"
- If you can't imagine a situation or outcome, you'll never be able to visualize its solution
- 3 ways to improve yourself
- What you read
- Where you travel to see others instruct
- Your DVD/video collection
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