Greetings founders of Breakthrough Basketball and coaches,

My friends and I formed a new amateur basketball team, I was selected as the coach/captain/whatever since I have earned a basketball coaching certificate, I am one of the player too. Anyway, I read through some articles in Breakthrough basketball. I do have some coaching philosophy myself, here is it:
Defense > Rebound > Fastbreak > If fastbreak fails, create spaces for taking easy shots/lay-up.
I am not keen in using tactics, maybe at this moment, since i believed that tactics need lots of time to practice, to understand and to execute a smooth one. Plus we are now having 2-day training session per week, so I would emphasis on the above more.

Therefore, I would love to ask for advises on any aspect of the team, every single aspect. Please feel free.

Here are some more information about the team.
Player Age: 15-22
2 training sessions per week
2 hours per session
Philosophy: Defense > Rebound > Fastbreak > Create spaces for taking easy shots/lay-up
Defense formation: Zonal 2-1-2
Offense: Free form I would say.

Thanks to all^^

You can find all kinds of coaching advice here:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/coaching.html

I would also suggest some DVDs and/or eBooks on the offenses and defenses you'll run. Basically learn as much as you can and then get really good a just a few things.
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/three-things.html

I think you will have to look at your talent and be flexible in formng your philosophy on defenses and offense.

You have 4 hours a week to prepare your team for competition.... you need a good practice plan with long range goals and short range goals too. Because of the time frame use the KISS method, don't overload your team with too many options. You will need to be able to break presses, full and half court... inbound plays under the basket and sideline.

Any time you get a chance to work on your defense, work on some m2m skills, you will have to be able to guard someone regardless of the defense/ I don't envy your situation because of the time limits, so be prepared and use your time wisely.

I might add this, give them some offensive principals, pass and cut, pass and screen away etc. Something very simple for now.

Good luck.

Thanks to both coaches
I had already read through some articles in the "coaching session" of the page
Therefore I came-up with three thing to focus on
1. Zonal Defense
2. Securing Rebounds
3. Fastbreak Offense
Reason for this is because of our young squad and most of the player are small sized, therefore I would consider speed and athleticism as an advantage
Here is a rough sample of our practice plan
20 min position work, post: post moves(pivot, footwork), backing down dribbling, pass and receiving; perimeter (dribble penetration, catch & shoot etc.)
20 min defense drills
15 min rebound drills
5 min water break
20 min transition & fastbreak drills
30 min scrimmage
10 min conditioning

Please feel free to give comments on the practice plan

This is how I do things, so take this with a grain of salt..

First I would not do conditioning at the end. If players know there is always running at the end, they will sandbag and save them selves for the end. As a result they rarely give their absolute best effort during the main drills of your practice. Instead all my conditioning would come from the drills during practice (defense, transition, and skill drills are all opportunities for conditioning). Not to mention, if players are going to run, I want a ball in their hands so they get better while they condition.

I would find more time for skill work. Maybe the 10 min of conditioning can turn into skill work. I would also spend a little time on half court offense, although that can be done during scrimmage and/or skill work. The more you can have a ball in each players hands, the better.

I usually scrimmage much less than that because I want to spend so much time on skills and player development. But that's just me.

Jeff makes some great points - take my suggestions with a grain of sal t also... I would just say this.

First of all, forget the conditioning, IF you have a good practice plan, you will condition them as you are practicing.... a couple of hard drills and then some shooting drill. Do this throughout your practice. We had two sessions of shooting, man & zone. 10 minuts eacg... and shot free throws 3 times a practice 3-5 minutes each. You can adjust your own time frame.

Forget the water break.... we told our kids, you can get water any time you want as long as you are not in the drill/scrimmage or the coaches aren't talking. Saves you 5 minutes a day, mulitiply that by your number of practices.

Cut down on the amount of time you spend on rebounding - 5 to 7 minutes would be plenty. 10 minutes a day on transition offense and defense should also cover what you need.

I also agree with the scrimmage time being a little long... 20 minutes should work... use the time for skill work,

You also need to work on breaking the press... we called that our PRESS OFFENSE. We worked on that 10 minutes a day, I didn't want to get beat by some Mickey Mouse press. JMO

Keep your drills short so you can keep your players moving. In the beginning, you might spend a little more time on some drills, offense and defense because you have to teach it first. OK, these are my thoughts, take what you want from Jeff and I and work it into your philosophy.

Thanks coaches
Would you mind making a draft of how my practice plan should be regarding my basketball philosophy, if i am not making any changes soon (Zonal Defense, Rebound, Fast Break)
thanks again
and i would like to know if minor changes should be made from time to time?
reason to prevent boredom and respond to practice efficiency
thanks again and again