NEW Article: Developing a Team Covenant

By Joe Haefner

I’m a big believer in developing “synergy” within your teams in order to over achieve in season. One of the things we are doing this year at UW Stout is working on developing a “team covenant”–a set of ideas that each member of our squad agrees to do that will help us establish norms and positive attitudes.

Below is a list of “I CAN COMMIT” statements that we will be reviewing with our team.

For the rest of the article written by Larry Ronglien of UW Stout Men’s Basketball, visit Developing a Team Covenant.

New Article (VIDEOS) - Early Specialization & Playing Multiple Sports With Pete Carroll, Dom Starsia, and Bob Braman

By Joe Haefner

If you’ve been reading articles at Breakthrough Basketball for any length of time, you probably have heard us say that athletes at the youth level, and at least through the junior varsity level, need to stay involved in multiple sports to become better athletes.

Watch Videos and Read More

Basketball Shooting Tips - What Part of The Rim To Focus On & The Guide Hand

By Don Kelbick

Question 1:

Do you focus on the front, middle, or back of the rim?

Response:

My teaching methods are a bit “out of the box” (non-traditional) and not everyone takes to it. I will answer you questions the best that i can, relating to the methods that have been successful more me but I don’t know if they are the answers you are looking for.

I do not teach target. I believe that shooting is a kinesthetic skill, not a visual one. I believe you shoot by feel, not by sight. I often teach players to shoot with their eyes closed. I want them to concentrate on form and feel, not whether it goes in or not. Given enough repetitions, they learn to adjust their feel for distance. I can routinely make 80% from the foul line with my eyes closed. That is based on that the monstrous amount of repetitions I have had in my life. I don’t expect young players to do that but it serves as a good illustration. Pro players routinely shoot for a higher percentage than I do. The direction of flight is determined by your follow through. Just follow through straight at the rim. To be more traditional, why not aim for the hole? Isn’t that where you want the ball to go?

Question 2:

Where is the guide hand placed exactly? Do the fingers and the thumb point up in the air or to the rim when holding the ball/releasing?

Response:

When I teach shooting early in the process, I teach it 1 handed with no guide hand. Once we add the guide hand, I usually stress comfort. As long as the ball is steady and and your guide hand doesn’t interfere with the ball and shooting mechanism, you can place it however it is comfortable for you, as long as it is the same every time.
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Handling Ball Screens Like Steve Nash

By Joe Haefner

While watching game 4 of the Bulls-Celtics series, Jeff Van Gundy stated that Derrick Rose needed to handle the switches on ball screens more like Steve Nash.

Towards the beginning of the game, the Celtics were switching on ball screens leaving a bigger, slower post player guarding Rose. Rose was settling for the jump shot or he would try to attack when he was already too close to the hoop to take advantage of his quickness.

When Steve Nash gets a big player switched onto him, he takes a couple of dribbles backwards.

This does a few things:

1. Lures the bigger player out further away from the hoop.
2. Allows the offensive player to gain momentum while dribbling towards the player which makes it easier to blow by the defender or change directions if needed.
3. Gives teammates an extra second to space the floor properly. This spreads the defense out which gives the player with the ball more room to penetrate.

After you draw out the defender, how should you attack the defender?

• If the defensive player drops into the lane, you can use the mid-range jump shot.
• If the defensive player stays parallel and does not move, you can explode straight past them.

• If the defense comes up and puts a foot forward, you can fake an explosion move or inside-out move, then cross the defender over.
• If the help defense collapses, you can kick the ball out to an open teammate.

In the 4th quarter of the Bulls-Celtics game, I noticed Rose started to draw out the defender with a couple of dribbles backwards like Van Gundy had mentioned earlier in the broadcast. I don’t know if he figured it out himself or a coach told him to do it, but it sure contributed to his 12 point explosion in the 4th quarter that helped the Bulls come from behind and eventually squeak out the victory in double overtime.

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8 Secrets To Success & How They Relate To Youth Coaching / Parenting

By Joe Haefner

Here are the 8 secrets to success mentioned in the video:

1. Passion
2. Hard Work
3. Get Good
4. Focus
5. Push Yourself
6. Serve Others Value
7. Ideas
8. Persist

Is it a coincidence that passion is listed first?  I don’t think so and I think almost everybody would agree that being passionate about something is probably the first step in being successful.  If you’re passionate about something, it’s a lot easier to work hard, get good, focus, push yourself, serve others value, come up with ideas, and persist through the “CRAP”.

If this holds true, why do so many coaches and parents push their kids into organized sports, make them practice, and act like drill sergeants?  I don’t know about you, but this treatment would  most likely cause me to resent the sport rather than love it.

Do you think MJ would have loved basketball if his dad was yelling at him every day to get on the court and practice?

Let the kids develop their passion and help guide them to succeed.

When a parent loves doing something and makes that same activity enjoyable for the child, the child will be more likely to pick up that same passion.  Is it a coincidence that my dad and brother were coaches before me?  I don’t think so.

What do you think?

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Creating Team Unity With Coach K

By Joe Haefner

Have you ever watched a Duke game and noticed what happens if there is a Duke player on the ground after a dead ball?

Every single Duke player on the floor runs to the player on the ground and helps him up.  I’m certain that Coach K engrains this into his players from day 1 and it’s important that you do too.

How does this help your team?

1. It builds the team unity. 

2. Intimidates the other team, especially if they do not represent the same team unity.  Not many people like to feel like it is 5 versus 1 or 5 versus 2.  If they do, they’ll never accomplish much in a team sport like basketball.

Put yourself in the player’s shoes.  If you get knocked down, what feels better?  To have 4 teammates sprinting over to help you up or seeing your teammates just looking at you and you have to get yourself up.   I would think knowing that your teammates have your back no matter what would be the better feeling.  This feeling naturally boosts confidence as well.

When your team helps each other out like this, it natrually builds that togetherness that you want.  This unity leads to the extra pass being made, teammates setting better screens for each other, and players playing harder for each other.   

 It’s the little things that separate the great teams from everyone else.

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Importance of Communication With Your Coach & How It Helped the Villanova Wildcats Reach the Final Four

By Joe Haefner

If any of you have followed the Villanova Wildcats, you’ll know that Dwayne Anderson has played a huge factor in Villanova’s run to the Final Four this year. Despite being an impact player averaging 9 points and 6 rebounds per game this season, Dwayne barely played in his first 3 seasons at Villanova.

Alan Stein is a Strength & Conditioning coach for the perennial powerhouse Montrose Chrisitan and has trained NBA players such as Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley. One of the many players he has trained and developed at Montrose has been Dwayne Anderson. Alan recently wrote an article about Dwayne Anderson and the reason behind his sudden success this season.

“He worked brutally hard every off season and exercised great communication with the Nova coaching staff on not only his desire to earn playing time, but exactly what he needed to do to earn it. He basically worked as hard as he could to fix the areas he (and the Nova staff) found weak in his yearly evaluation. In other words, he didn’t make excuses or point the finger and he didn’t feel entitled to more playing time… he rolled up his sleeves each and every off season and put in serious work. He was focused and determined.”

So many players want instant gratification and would quit within 1 or 2 years if they’re not getting playing time. This happens because a lot of these players have never faced adversity and were “The Star Player” throughout their whole playing career. When they’re not getting big minutes and scoring a lot, they quit.

Players are not the only ones guilty of this. The North American culture is obsessed with short-term success and has forgotten the long-term approach. Dwayne could’ve easily transferred to a mid-major and been an impact player, but he stuck it out and worked his butt off to get to where he’s at. He didn’t take the easy way out.

John Wooden once said, “Don’t look for big, quick improvements. Look for the little improvements one day at a time. That’s the only way change happens. And when it happens…it lasts”

If you want to play, if you want to improve, and most importantly WANT TO WIN, you need to communicate with your coach. You need to put your ego aside, improve your game, and do whatever your team requires you to do to win.

If that requires you to score 0 points, make the good pass (notice, I didn’t say assist), dive for the loose ball, take the charge, and stop the star player on the opposing team, DO IT!

If it requires you to be patient, work hard in the offseason, sit on the bench, be a great practice player and challenge the players who get the playing time like Dwayne Anderson did for Villanova, DO IT!

If you have this mentality, you’ll not only be successful in basketball, you’ll be successful in the most important game…

LIFE.

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Shooting Tips - Finger Placement & Analysis Paralysis

By Don Kelbick

Question:

Position of the shooting hand before releasing: Is the middle and/or index finger in the middle of the basketball?

Response

To be honest with you, I don’t know where those fingers are. All I want is for your hand to be behind the ball (as opposed to on the side) and in the same place every time. Again, it is a feel thing.

I do not get into the really picky little things, such as what direction your fingers face or making everyone put there hand in the same place. It will be different for different people. I think that the most damaging aspect of any skill, which coaches seem to add to, is “analysis paralysis.” That is a saying where you worry so much about the little things, you examine what you are doing so much that you paralyze yourself and can’t perform the skill at all. I prefer to remain focused on the big picture.

If adjustments need to be made, make them generally. For example, I will say, “put your hand under the ball,” instead of “put your hand here.” I want players to shoot the basketball without thinking of anything. The more minute you get with technique, the more they think about and the less effective they become.

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Developing A Basketball Workout For High School & College Tryouts

By Don Kelbick

Question:

Is there any way that you could send a workout schedule using your drills in order to be ready for some basketball try-outs in April? I’m a 6′2 guard and will go to college because of my shot. I really need to work on dribbling, defense, speed, and quickness in order to be up and going at the college level.

I know I said I’m going to college because of my shot, but I’d still love to continue to get my shot better and better.  I’d appreciate it if you could come up with a workout routine for me, even if it’s the same workout repeated daily or a 3 or 4 day different routine.

Response:

It is difficult to come up with a workout program without seeing you play or knowing how much time you have to work. I can give you some guidelines that might help you.

• You can’t work on everything at once. It is counterproductive because you don’t spend enough time working on anything to improve. Pick a couple of things you want to get better at and develop a plan. In general, it will take 6-8 weeks for any adjustments or new skills to take root. Probably longer in competition, so you have to stick to it.

• After you decide what you want to work on, pick some basketball drills in sets that you think will help you. What I mean by that is to pick 3 drills that are progressions (eg. jump shot, 1 dribble move, 2 dribble move) and that is a set. Work that set several days in a row. Then change to a different set.  Same thought, but different drills so you have some variation in your workout to fight boredom. After using the new sets for a couple of days, go back to the original set. Keep that rotation for a while.   As you gain more confidence and improvement, you can start to put in some new sets to work on different skills.  Remember, it takes more time to develop a skill than to maintain a skill. So as you move on, occasionally throw in some old stuff to maintain those skills as well.

• Be honest with yourself as to how much you practice. If you are alone every time you shoot the ball, you also have to rebound it. So, in reality, if you practice shooting for an hour, you are really spending 15 minutes shooting and 45 minutes chasing the ball. Make use of every minute you are on the court. Multi-task, but don’t mix skills. I use ball-handling drills to stretch out. I also use it to condition. You can use defensive drills as conditioners. That is what I mean by multi-tasking. However don’t mix skills. Don’t practice your dribble while practicing your shooting. There are no moves that will have you put the ball through your legs 3 times, change direction 4 times, spin twice and end up with a jump shot.  Then, the only thing you are practicing is ways to spend time on the bench.

For The Frustrated Coaches That Turn to Zone Defense

By Joe Haefner

This article is meant for coaches at all levels, especially youth, junior high, and junior varsity.

If you have ever gotten frustrated with your man to man defense and decided to use zone because it was easier to implement, I had an experience early in my coaching career where being persistent with the fundamentals and using the long-term approach paid off.

When I was a senior in college, I had an accounting internship close to my hometown and decided to become an assistant coach for the freshmen basketball team at my former high school.  I was an assistant to my Dad.  

At the beginning of the season, he had gotten frustrated because he couldn’t get the kids to play man to man defense and decided to go play some zone. Haven’t we all been there?

At the beginning of the season, we played a team called Marion from Iowa that was quite talented. We got trounced by something like 67-22. The funny thing is that it could’ve been much worse.

So my dad and I met, because we wanted to figure out what was best for the team.  We decided when we modified our short-term and long-term plans that we would always ask ourselves…

What can we do to prepare this team for the varsity level?

Who cares about wins and losses, how much we get beat by, and what any of the parents and spectators think.  What can we do to make this team better in the long-run?

We knew that we had to focus on man to man defense and fundamentals of the game.  We also had to spend time TEACHING the game rather than just running tons of drills.  

We knew even if they wanted to play zone at the varsity level, they needed to have these fundamentals pounded into them in order to be successful.

There’s a saying that goes “If you can’t play man, you can’t play zone.”

Some coaches believe that they can hide poor defenders within a zone. Sometimes, this is true, but when you face a quality opponent, they will exploit your poor defensive players.  Also, a zone isn’t very effective if you can’t stop the ball. 

So, we knew that man to man defense was the right way to go.

Day to day we saw little improvements and all of the sudden those little improvements turned into a huge improvement over the season.

Well, it comes to the end of the season and guess who we get to face. The same undefeated Marion team that smoked us by 45 points at the beginning of the year. This was a totally different game.  We were staying between the man and the hoop when playing the ball, communicating, rotating on defense, and forcing low-percentage shots.

All of the sudden, it’s the 4th quarter and we’re winning by 2 points!! Unfortunately, some balls didn’t roll our way and we ended up losing by 4 points. It was like 46 – 42 or something like that.

When I was riding home, I just got goosebumps all over, because it felt so good to see that team which had such little confidence at the beginning of the year learn that they could compete with anybody by playing the right way.

Four years later, the same group of kids ended up beating that same Marion team for the first time! I believe Marion was ranked 6th in the state at the time.

Was part of that rooted back to when we pounded the fundamentals in them when they were Freshmen? I like to think so.

Stay persistent and focus on the fundamentals of the game. It may not pay off today. It may not pay off this season. It may not pay off next year, but it will pay off in the long-run.

If you would like to learn more about defense and how to build your defense from the ground up, take a look at our Man to Man Defense System.