Blog Posting #26, January 25, 2009

PLAYERS MAKE PLAYS
Category: Practice/Teaching

I once asked Coach Wooden, “If there is one ingredient to winning, more important than the rest, what would that be?” I expected him to pick out one of the three blocks in the “heart of the Pyramid of Success,” Skill, Conditioning, or Team Spirit, and that’s exactly what he did. He said, “The team with the most skilled players usually wins the game.” He added, “That team should win the game.” But what does “skill” mean? His definition in the Pyramid is, “The quick and proper execution of the fundamentals of the game.” At first glance, we might conclude that he is referring to players being able to dribble, pass, shoot, rebound, pivot, cut, slide, and sprint. We might even include balance and footwork.

So we run the drills that teach the fundamentals. As a group, or even in small groups, players are taught the cross-over dribble, the proper position of the elbow when shooting the jump shots, the many passes basketball requires, and defensive sliding. We do this every day as we should, trusting that, by February, the team’s ball handling, shooting, and defensive footwork is improved enough to give any opponent a good game.

All of that is very important; the level of proper and quick execution of the fundamentals, against extreme pressure and at high speed, is pivotal to a team reaching close to its potential. But, when Coach Wooden penned his definition for skill, he was thinking of more. He was thinking about creating extremely skills individual basketball players that could make plays quickly and properly when the opportunity came. And, as we all know, that’s what he did.

You may be saying, “We all know Coach Wooden taught the fundamentals like mentioned above.” Then, you may ask, “But how did he create those highly-skilled athletes, some of which were able to make extremely complex moves to score, steal the basketball when it didn’t seem possible, and obtain rebounds that were well out of reach?”

For anyone that has studied Coach Wooden’s practice methods, it is relatively widely known, his practices started at 2:29 and ended at 4:29. Those that are even more educated about Coach Wooden will know that, before 2:29, there was one half hour of individual work. We were all required to be there at 1:59, no exceptions. As far as we were concerned, practice lasted one and one-half hours. But, what few know is that, during that first half hour, coaches were developing highly skilled individuals. Here are some examples:

Kareem is working on a longer and quicker step when taking the hook shot. He is also are working on a counter move. Over and over again, Kareem makes the same move, each time receiving feedback from a Coach.

Sidney Wicks working on the quick pivot and fall-away jump shot, after receiving the ball on the duck move.

Keith Erickson learning how to judge whether to go for the steal, or drop back, when playing the back position on the press.

Pete Trgovich and Andre McCarter working as a team to learn how to prevent middle dribble penetration.

Ralph Drollinger learning how to decrease the time between the defense and the outlet pass.

Steve Patterson learning how to score from the high post, when his man drops to help on the two forwards. He is being taught the quick jump shot as well as the fake shot, one dribble, and pull up.

Swen Nater is learning how to become an extremely skilled cheerleader on the bench (Just kidding)

All baskets were being used. Those players that didn’t have direct instruction, were given exactly what to work on. They were not allowed to do anything other than what they were told.

The first half hour of practice was as carefully planned as the rest of practice. During practice, Coach Wooden kept notes on the back of his 3 X 5 card. Most of what he wrote down was information about how to improve individual play, particularly for his best scorers, defensive players, and rebounders. That information was considered the next morning, when the coaches planned practice.

The curriculum for that first half hour was not randomly chosen. Most of what was taught was directly relevant to the theme of the rest of practice. For example, Wicks would be working on the pivot and fall away jump shot, because the main objective of the practice was to get closer to perfecting the UCLA cut and Duck Move offensive play. Kareem was working on a quicker step for the hook shot because we were playing USC that weekend and the double team would come quickly. What common sense to precede practice with the things that can be put into practice that same day.

A coach may not think he or she can afford to spend one half hour on individual play before team practice. I think Coach Wooden would say, a coach can’t afford not to. Players make plays; plays don’t make players. The team with the highest-skilled athletes wins games.

Oh, yes. It doesn’t hurt to have the other two blocks in the “heart of the Pyramid,” conditioning and teamwork. Put all three together, and you’re going to be hard to beat.
         Swen
         www.coachswen.com