Skill Execution

Coach,

These are some great ideas.  They go back to Bob Knight's concept of keeping practice moving, constantly challenging and making the players think for themselves under pressure.   In reality a coach who doesn't put his players into these rapidly changing challenging envionrments can't expect his players to execute and make sound decisions when they face them in game situations.  Great point you make.

Coach Mac,

The basic premise of the Run and Jump is that you can get a less experienced ball handler, or player to make a poor decision when you constrain the area of the court they can pass into, the vision they have and the ability to dribble with their head up to see the open man.  At the pro level the ball handlers at this level are simply too good at breaking down a pressuring defender, seeing the open man down the court or maintaining control of the ball under heavy pressure.  The reason the Pro's can sometimes successfully double or trap and rotate in the half court is because the offense is working against the shot clock.  Most teams at the pro level will stunt or trap in the backcourt not so much to get a steal, but rather to take 6-8 seconds off the shot clock for the attacking team in the front court.  If you can get the shot clock down to 10-12 seconds the offense might only get the first or second option of a play.  It's easier to stunt, trap or rotate a half court set if you know the offense has limited time to get the shot off.  In the full court setting, if you "run and jump" (stunt early) the chances of getting beat down the court at the pro level are much higher than progressively lower levels of basketball like college, high school or junior high where the shot clock is less of a factor.  Some Pro teams will use it, but the goal is more times than not to take time off the clock rather than a high rate of gambles to eat up the clock.  The other factor for not seeing it more is that it requires a substantial amount of practice time and energy to execute over the course of a season.  Teams playing in an 82 game schedule have neither and much be very judicious about what types of defenses they commit time to, and the energy required relative to the return on their investment.

In reality, I think the Run and Jump can be very effective at the Jr. High, High School and college levels but more as a surprise defense against most teams.  Run it out of time outs, when a team substitutes a back up point guard, or must play a 2 guard at the point with less handles, or near the end of a quarter or half when a team is tired and less likely to make sound open court decisions..  What I like about the Run and Jump is that it is a great teacher (with practice) of the time and space a defender can cover and recover in an open court pressure defense.  The more your practice it, the better all your press defenses become.  Players learn with confidence they can cover a specific 15' to intercept a ball, or play the player and angle to the basket.  This is a skill I believe not being taught enough on the defensive end of the basketball court today.

Caoch Mac,

Thanks for the nice comments on the OLD Highway.  We're working on bringing back all the old clinics, drills and information back so we appreciate your patience modify some details to make many of the archived material work.  At some point I'll ressurect more Ask the Coach questions as well.  In the meantime, one of the ways you can challenge your players to focus in any drill is by making it competive.  In any drill you should compete against yourself (a previous goal, e.g. 80 straight free throw makes), a clock (15 made 3 pointers in 2 minutes) or an opponent (first team to 3 offensive rebounds wins the drill).  This forces players to execute with concentration or intensity just like in game situations.  Too many coaches fail to watch all their practice drills and insure they include some element of competition (once the initial teaching point is made).  You have made an excellent point through your personal experiences.  I hope other coaches take notice.  Competition also increases the joy of practice for most players.  It's the GAME that fun.  When drills don't include a challenge or game they become redundant, boring, and players lose focus.

Coach Mac,

I think your observations and experience in skill execution are very astute.  I see it as well as a season progresses coaches loose focus on the actual day to day reminders of the simplest skill execution and divert that energy into systems of play.  The problem as you identified and backed by Morgen Wootten's approach, you only successfully attain what you emphasis.  This is a critical detail for young coaches.   You cannot get more complex without getting better at the basics.  When the basics go south on a given week, or period of time, you have to get back to emphasizing the most basics of skill execution.  The great coaches do this all the time, regardless of the complexity of their drills.  They are also keen from game to game in flagging any skill areas where they see skill slippage prior to them becoming a "skill slump".   Please coaches share more ideas about your skills and drills and how you maintain focus.    Just a few points of emphasis or even just one in a drill is a very good place to start.

Coach Lambert