The Deep Three

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In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity. – Albert Einstein

Happy Thanksgiving Week!


I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving Day and get some much-deserved time for rest and relaxation.


Here's this week's edition of The Deep Three. Three thoughts that will help you and your team be more successful this season!


Also, as a quick FYI, there will be monthly cohorts starting in December. Next month there will be two for coaches and one for players. Be on the lookout for more info coming on Friday. Space is limited, and they're going to be 🔥🔥🔥!

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1. Shot Selection Matters!

When I was still coaching a team, I felt shot selection was often the single-most influential factor when it comes to winning or losing a game. The team that consistently gets the best shots over the course of the game will leave the gym with more points on the board nearly every time.


In the best programs, coaches have clearly defined what shots they value most for their team, and the players are aligned with the same language. Here are three things that every coach and player on a team should be able to articulate when it comes to their teams' shot selection:


1. Know the Shots You Want to Get

In our programs, there were two key areas we wanted to get a majority of our shots from (+/- 80%): inside the paint at the rim and outside the three-point line. Each and every player on the team knew that if they want to earn more playing time, they needed to be able to finish at the rim and knock down an open three.


2. Define Every Player's SCOT

Stealing a term from the great Dick DeVenzio, a SCOT is a player's

SCoring spOT.


Coaches, you don’t want players that shoot from anywhere at any time. You want players that know the top 2-3 spots you expect him/her to score from (in order of importance), and you should be spending time in practice each day where they're training from those spots.


Players, if you don't know what your defined SCOT is, go ask your coach! Alignment is key on shot selection, and in-game is not when you want to learn what your coach thinks about yours.


3. Stop Settling for "Good"

I found that at the high school level, most players are satisfied with taking “good” shots and most coaches allow “good” shots to be the ones that are consistently taken by their team. Not our teams. We wanted our players to pass on the “good” shots and take advantage of the “great” ones. So many times a “great” shot is just one more pass away, and teams fail to take advantage of it.

2. Dribbling is Overrated

I may be in the minority on this, but dribbling has become an overrated skill in basketball. Simply put, it's inefficient. Putting a majority of our time and effort into focusing on beating a defender off the dribble isn't what's best for 99% of players on nearly any team at any level.


Instead, focus on the things that make you most efficient when beating a defender. Things like a quick catch and shoot release, moving without the ball, using fakes, etc.


Focusing on those things will allow you to do special things like this. ⬇️ ⬇️

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3. Three C's to Becoming a Culture Keeper

Truly great basketball programs are known for their distinct and specific culture. They don’t solely focus on the end result of individual games, but they also embrace the importance of the journey and daily improvement. These programs are defined by having coaches and players who focus on becoming culture thermostats and not culture thermometers.

 

Here are three C’s to help you set the thermostat for your program as you journey on the path to being a culture keeper as a player or coach.


1. They're Committed

Culture keepers are fully committed to the task at hand. They know that teams are like families and that they have good days and frustrating ones. They demonstrate this gold standard of commitment by not allowing circumstances, feelings, or emotions to determine their commitment on a day-to-day basis. 


Bob Ladouceur, the highly successful football coach at De La Salle High School, put it this way for his program: “Our tradition [culture] calls for a commitment to accountability. This is not an assumption – this is a promise that I will be there for you, and I can count on you being there for me.”



2. They're Competitive

Culture keepers understand the importance of being competitive and developing the best version of themselves. This means building the habit of giving their best effort, every single time, even when it’s not easy or convenient. Their competitiveness is bigger than simple scoreboard wins.


As the great Vince Lombardi said, “Winning is not a sometimes thing, it's an all the time thing. You don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time." 


As a culture keeper of their program, you must use your role to help implement the competitive mindset Coach Lombardi is describing. Fight for your program’s culture every day and help develop it in the lives of others.



4. They're Contagious

There’s an old adage that says that certain things are “better caught than taught.” That is unequivocally true when it comes to the culture of a team. No culture is truly special if those keeping the culture don’t help spread it to others. 


Research has proven that growth is contagious. That means that as coaches and players grow in their own ability to demonstrate excellence in attitude, effort, and investment with their program, others around them will begin to reach their own goals, too. True success is then realized when this special, sustainable culture is built and then passed on to others.


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While each C may seem simple on the surface, many programs possess a very unhealthy culture and there is no secret ingredient to make each of them happen. Rather, it’s a conscious, daily effort that each culture keeper must make if they want to see a deep, long-lasting impact on their team.


Just like John Wooden once said, “Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

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