“The Laughing Coach”
In the present moment, offering help for seeing March Madness clearly. A playful guide to enjoying the game from an irreverent view of an experienced basketball coach.
My goal is to help you to see the game from fun new angles and to light – up the Madness for you in the process. May it be refreshing for you to experience a completely different view than those relying on acronyms such as “Quads”, “NET”and what I refer to as “Dumb-Alytics”. (to be further looked at in the future)
episode 4
“All Those Beautiful Bricks”
plus, “Good defense or Bad offense”
“They are standing still not moving”. These were the words spoken to me. “I thought you’d notice that” was my response.
Two days ago I received this phone call from one of my former players, “B”, who was a terrific shooter from a championship club team I coached 5 years ago in Germany. He called from NYC where he works now in a great job. We had stayed in touch via text messages. He had watched a few NCAA men’s games for the first time this season as the Madness was in full swing. I had asked him to let me know his observations.
Next came from “B” , “They shoot so many air balls!” “What’s going on coach?”
My response, “Modern basketball style, new approaches to the game.” “You always taught us to move without the ball and I can remember no more than one air ball a game by the team.” Said “B”.
Indeed, I share with him, that my friend and I can only shake our heads and chuckle at it as we watch many games.
“What was that?” exclaims my coaching friend as we watch a game, “I think it was a shot believe it or not” is my response. “What’s going on?” “Is gravity different now than it used to be?” he laughs as we have now seen two consecutive air balls, one at each end of the court. The norm used to be maybe two or three air balls a game, now as viewers watch NCAA games they are treated to 10 air balls a game or 10 shots a half that are barely scraping the rim or are, indeed, “Oxygen balls.”
The only way we can cope with it is to see it as the comedy circus it has become. “Do they practice shooting these on purpose?”, we ask each other. We each recall form our playing days that in practice or playing we, perhaps, shot 3 air balls total in all of our entire years of playing basketball. “It takes skill to do those air balls” is all I can suggest. “They must practice them a lot.” Most of them are open shots not closely defended.
No doubt, you too, as a viewer can appreciate the new “air – iness” brought to the game.
This then takes us to the latest fad in men’s college basketball which is demonstrated often by at least half of the teams seen this season on tv – “Standing is Offense” seems to be the new creed. The question that occurs is “How’s that going for you coach?” Do you remember when your team scored 5 points in 11 minutes?
Again and again and again,we see games where both teams are struggling to reach 20 points before half time ! “Are you kidding? “ Those are the words my friend and I can stir up as we laugh. On numerous occasions we have seen teams with 10 points or less with less than 10 minutes left in the half. All of this is a new phenomenon. It’s as if nature has now created a plenitude of new creations which used to be rare. It’s akin to when astronomers and astro-physyicists announce to us the discovery of new forms of galaxies not seen before. What do our brilliant game analysts on tv proclaim and tell us is the cause of these comical 22-21 halftime scores?
Mostly they tell us of the “good defense” , what we hear of offense is shooting percentages. But why do these percentages exist ?
Herein, myself and my coaching colleague posit a different thesis than good defense . “It’s the bad offense.”
I begin by pointing out, (as I did to my players I coached) a “law of the basketball universe” –
“It’s not difficult to guard a player who is standing still.” I suppose that is not a difficult concept for any viewer to comprehend. Said another way, “A statue is not hard to guard”. Through your tv telescope used for watching the basketball game universe today it could be noted that “dynamic” offense of today involves 4 players standing still and one player putting on a dribbling exhibition.
Now then, “Spacing” is important in basketball offense but “standing in outer space” is clearly ineffective as demonstrated by these frequent terrible offensive displays. The scores tell the story. (dumb-alytics take note) Of course, yes, there are often times when only 3 players are frozen in outer space. The other two attempt the obvious pick and roll. From the dribbler there do come some tosses to the statues who then entertain us with “oxygen” balls and shots skipping off the rim’s edge or the side of the backboard. These frequent displays in each game certainly do provide a wondrous contrast to make it more beautiful and spectacular when some teams do “shoot the lights out” on occasion. It’s like getting treated to a delicious meal now and then after having nothing but bad slop.
Above all, as we watch, it’s fun to keep in mind that standing still, combined with inconsistent or poor shooting and sloppy passing, plus over-dribbling is a recipe for losing even if a team plays good defense at the other end of the court.
Consider Hall of Fame coaches of the past speaking of offense: “Offense is ball movement” . “Offense is player and ball movement.” No wonder scores today by statue teams are sometimes lower than the IQ of an amoeba. Are you more eager than ever to analyze the games from a new telescopic lens ? We hope so. Laughs included.
Those shots banging off the backboard and rim are called “Bricks.” I had fun, not long ago, when coaching a men’s team who admitted to being ‘brick shooters” . Thus, I would stand in practice, as we did competitive shooting drills at each end of the court, calling out to them, “Behold all those beautiful bricks.” They loved hearing this. They embraced it. We admitted our team shooting was not splendid. The words were intended as encouragement to let them know I realized their limits and loved coaching them anyway. We found the humor. We did not credit defense for our poor shooting. We had to humbly taste it. (and we had to try to score in our games with much movement and passing and joy)
Now just add dessert – combine the shooting woes and the statues with one more thing of beauty in the hoops universe, “The quality of your passing will determine the quality of your shot.” Then why do I find myself giggling and asking my buddy, “Where was he throwing that pass? as a player heaves a ball to the woman seated in the third row. Obviously, all of this makes mediocre defense look good and makes good defense look spectacular. That is, until they face those teams few and far between who move the ball and players incredibly well, in a beautiful ballet, a team with one mind. Note the quote below from Dean Smith and may you watch for it manifesting in future viewing.
As you view the beautiful NCAA games may you appreciate how remarkable an achievement it is to shoot so many airballs and rim- scrapers ! May you enjoy “All those beautiful Bricks.”
May you also savor the game played smartly and well by some of the Final Four teams.
“Basketball is a beautiful game when the five players on the court play with one heartbeat.” Dean Smith, Hall of Fame Coach of North Carolina Tarheels.
The author is a graduate of UCLA during the John Wooden era who has five decades of coaching experience. This includes coaching high school young men’s championships in Southern California to coaching winning club teams in Germany including pro-players and, in between, also building winning teams from previous losing teams wherever he coached. He and his good friend have 80 years of combined coaching experience.