Winners Make The Most Mistakes

In an excerpt from John Wooden's book, Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court, Coach Wooden writes,

My coach at Purdue, Piggy Lambert, constantly reminded us: "The team that makes the most mistakes will probably win."

That may sound a bit odd, but there is a great deal of truth in it.  The doer makes mistakes.  Coach Lambert taught me that mistakes come from doing, but so does success.

The individual who is mistake-free is also probably sitting around doing nothing.  And that's a very big mistake.

When we are doing individual skill workouts in our program, we encourage and push our players to make mistakes.  It's not that we want them making mistakes all the time, but we want them to push themselves past their limits.  We want our players to go so hard that they can realize and achieve something that they didn't think was possible.  When players know that they can go hard and make mistakes without a coach yelling and screaming at them, it allows them to take risks that will ultimately lead to success.

For example, if we are doing a two ball dribbling drill we will make our players go "harder and faster" until they can't keep up with the drill.  We are OK if they lose a handle or bounce the ball off of their foot, as long as they are going hard.  If we are trying to work on a players shot, sometimes they will feel uncomfortable and air ball a few shots.  They know it's OK as long as they are striving to improve.

Obviously, in games we want to have as few mistakes as possible.  Our goal is to make a lot of mistakes in workouts by going hard, so that when games come we will be able to handle the pressure.  You will need to find a balance for your program as to what type of mistakes are acceptable during a game.  Mistakes in games are OK as long as the player learns from it and doesn't do it again.  They become a problem when they are repeated over and over again.   

I would love to hear your perspective on mistakes and how you handle them.  As Coach Lambert told John Wooden, "mistakes come from doing, but so does success."  Winners make the most mistakes, but they do so because they are doing everything they can to be the best they can be.  

“The doer makes mistakes.”

— Coach John Wooden

Land The Plane Safely

“Coaching is like flying an airplane. There is going to be a lot of turbulence, but your job is to land the plane safely.”

— Chuck Daly

As the season nears its conclusion, I am reminded of one of my favorite "Dalyisms" that reminds us to finish well.  Like most programs, we have had our share of exhilarating highs and gut-wrenching lows this season.  No matter what circumstance you are facing at this moment in the season, it is important to find a way to finish the season with success.  Your job is to land the plane safely.  As written in a past article by current LSU assistant coach, Brendan Suhr, we know that championship caliber teams are able to perform this by giving concentrated focus on the task at hand.  Coach Suhr wrote,

"During the season, there are going to be a lot of ups and downs, but as a coach you have to understand you have to remain calm and poised and remember the goals that you have established for the team.  On the road to each championship season, we had major turmoil occur, but Chuck landed the plane safely."

Chuck Daly & Brendan Suhr

Can You Do It?

Success is something that all of us want to obtain.  Hard work, long hours, and an undying determination to be the best are all components necessary to achieve it.  However, what do you do once you reach a certain level of success?  How do you maintain your foothold at the top?

HOW DO YOU HANDLE SUCCESS?

One of the worst things that can often happen to a team and/or a business is success.  Elation overcomes team members and it's a natural tendency for people to boast about what they've done.  They focus on their recent efforts and forget to pursue continual growth.  Social media also presents an easy and tempting platform to showcase pride in our accomplishments.  If boasting and arrogant pride isn't the proper way to handle success, then what is?

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”

— Proverbs 16:18

KEEP GROWING

Handling success is a constant battle.  It takes a conscious effort to fight off pride when it tries to creep into your heart and mind.  Team members need to understand that their success is the byproduct of trusting each other to do their jobs.  The pathway to success requires individuals to put away their selfish ambitions for the greater good of the team.  Each person is required to fulfill a specific role to make the team great.  Unfortunately, once success is obtained, it isn't unusual for individuals to think that they did something special. The best teams will understand that they still aren't perfect and success actually drives them to focus more.  They strive for continual growth and look to improve in all aspects.  They continue to lift each other up and perform their role to the best of their ability as a service to their teammates.  When praise is deserved, they allow others to build them up as opposed to lifting themselves up for the world to see.  

The key to handling success is maintaining a humble spirit with confidence and trust.  Fight away prideful and arrogant thoughts before they penetrate your heart, or they will bring you down in an instant.  The best teams only become the best after they learn how to handle success!  Can you do it?

Eliminating Baskets in Defensive Transition

In the article, Factors to Successful Pack Line Defense, I briefly wrote about three characteristics that make our Pack Line defense successful for our program at Bob Jones University.  I would like to take each of those factors and go more in depth with them.

TRANSITION DEFENSE

Our transition defense always begins when we take a shot or turn the ball over on offense.  On the shot, it is our practice to aggressively send THREE offensive players to the glass, while our 1 & 2 guards GET BACK.  Obviously, if we get the offensive rebound we will continue to execute our offense.  However, if we do not secure the ball we will need to immediately get back in transition and stop the ball.  In a turnover scenario, everyone will just immediately get back.  In order to successfully accomplish this, we will need each one of our players to perform their role at a high level.  Note: each of these role descriptions should be performed with the three MUST-DO'S at the end of this article.

Roles Defined

It is the duty of the point guard to initially STOP THE BALL!  He is the first line of defense and his role is crucial in eliminating easy baskets in transition.  His job is to engage the ball handler by the time he reaches half court. He needs to slow down the ball handler, eliminating any passes up the sideline.  He will do this by attempting to turn the opposing player 2-3 times.  By doing this, our point guard is limiting the ball handlers options to either retreating or making an ill-advised cross court pass. 

Our 2 guard is SPRINTING immediately to the paint.  His primary responsibility is to eliminate anything that comes near the rim.  Whether it is by dribble penetration, a pass ahead, or a post feed, it is this players responsibility to take away any baskets in the paint.  He will perform this role until his teammates get back in position at which point he will closeout to the perimeter player.  

The other three players need to GET BACK as quickly as possible by SPRINTING.  A tendency of many inexperienced players is to be content in "buddy running," which basically means they run even with the player they are guarding.  To be successful in transition, this can't happen!  We need our post players to recover to the paint to relieve our 2 guard of his duties.  They will then need to fulfill the responsibility of protecting the rim.  The last guy back will need to sprint to the weak side of the floor and eliminate any ball reversal that takes place.

After successfully eliminating the primary break many teams will ease up.  Great teams understand that their job, however, is never done and the real fun now begins!  Players will now need to instinctively go from a "transition" mindset to a "half court" mindset.  This is the time that our defense can now make a statement.  

Championship Habits in Transition

Realistically, many teams perform their roles that are listed above, but still find ways to give up easy baskets in transition.  Why?  Because they do not perform the minor details that great teams demonstrate.  These following habits are MUST-DO'S for any team that wants to become great in defensive transition:

1. Proper Floor Balance - When each player performs their role correctly, proper floor balance comes naturally.  However, there are still times when one or two players will run to the wrong area, leaving an opposing player wide open.  Great teams make it second nature to be in the correct place to keep the defense balanced.
2. Exceptional Effort - Effort is 100% controllable by each member of your team.  If anyone lacks desire to sprint or communicate properly, one would have to question why that player is in the game.  Players will NEVER (yes, that's an absolute) be able to to perform their roles to the best of their ability without exceptional effort.  Transition defense is something to take pride in at all times.
3. Clear and Precise Communication - Verbal and non-verbal communication is crucial to successful transition defense.  Not only should each player be verbally talking through what their role is, but they should also be non-verbally giving their teammates cues about where to go and who to pick up. 

All three of those MUST-DO'S go hand in hand and will only be successful if they are habitually ingrained in your player's minds.