My basketball philosophy

(Warning: long text ahead)

These are the principles i stick to because they make the most sense to me.

On fitness:

Basketball is all about execution. The team that can execute their game plan (full court press/ big man offense etc) usually wins.

When the team lacks fitness, it cannot execute properly. Players will be thinking about resting o...r saving energy.

Basketball is a anaerobic sport (start, stop, start, stop), so that is why we train suicides (4-ze)

On offense:

We play Motion offense (freestyle) because basketball is a chaotic game and 80% of the points are scored through broken plays (not set plays).We have players who can make good decisions with the ball when the situation is chaotic.

Offense principles:

- Force the defense to move.When the defense moves, it is easier to catch them sleeping. This is why we must pass the ball into the post and out, and swing the ball left to right.

- Maintain good spacing so that the defense can't double team your teammates. The defense has to run more to guard you when they recover from a double team.

- When you have the ball, be patient. Distract your opponent by faking a shot, a drive or a pass before executing your move (shoot, pass, drive).

- When you don't have the ball, do these to make the defense pay attention to you:

- screens: screen for your teammate (off ball recommended or on ball) or signal your teammate to screen for you

- cuts: v-cut to get open/ cut to the basket/ backdoor cut

- switch: switch position with your teammate (switch between post/wing/baseline/high pole etc)

- post up: if you have a smaller/weaker defender on you, post hard on him to tire him.

On playing against specific defenses:

Zone: Stand in the holes of the defense (in between their players). Less screens, more passing and cuts to shift the defense, more drive and kick to collapse and expand the defense.

- Against 2-3, we must have 3 players outside (2 wing 1 top of key) and 2 inside at the elbow (B spot).

- Against 3-2: we must have 4 players outside ( 2 wing and 2 baseline) and 1 inside at high pole.

Man to man: More screens (off ball) to get teammates open. More spacing to open up the middle. More cuts into the middle to get easy passes for layups. Isolation if our teammate has clear advantage over his defender (eg Weehong/Wenbiao vs a slower guy).

Full/Half court press: Aim is to get past half court. Team advance the ball together by passing quickly. No/minimal dribbling. Pass and move to an empty spot. Think netball.

On team defense

Play what is comfortable.Communicate. However, sometimes we have to adapt to the opponent:

Good 3 pt team (very rare): Man to man. Let them drive since we have help. No 3-2 because we will lose to the baseline 3 pointer.

Good shooting team: Man to man or 3-2 zone to take away their outside shots.

Tall big team: 2-3 zone to takeaway their offensive rebounds. Guards in front will have to work very hard because the guys inside will be working hard to counter their big men.

Small fast driving team: 2-3 or 3-2 zone. If they can shoot then 3-2, but always protect the middle.

1x superstar team: Box-1. Put our best defender on superstar to frustrate and deny him the ball. Stick 100% close to him and don't let him touch the ball. The rest of the 4 can play a box zone or normal man to man with help.

There are many other situations. We must adapt and be ready.

Defense principles (applies to man to man and zone)

- Defense is not about blocking and stealing. Defense is about making it difficult and frustrating for your opponent to do anything. Defense is about taking away his habits (his favourite move, shooting spot, dribbling hand etc.) Defense is about making him doing something he's not comfortable with.

- When your man has the ball:

- Stay lower than him (your head should be lower than his) to prevent drive.

- Harass by trying to touch the ball. This forces him to focus on protecting the ball or throw the ball away. Disturb his passing angles.

- If he starts to dribble, force him to go to his weak hand. If he is good, make him change directions at least 3 times to tire him out.

- If he shoots, stick close, jump and raise up both hands. Bother the shot. Make him lean/jump backwards, sideways to shoot over you.

- When your man does not have the ball:

- Ball-you-man when you are on the help side. Be in the position to see the ball and see your man and help.

- Deny when on the ball side. Deny the pass to your man when the ball is near.

- Block his path when he tries to cut into the middle (red square). Shove him out if he manages to get inside.

- When your man is posting on you:

- if he post high (let's say on left), stay on his right and bother his receiving hand. Shove him out to the 3 point line.

- if he post low, front him and stay low. Use ur butt to shove him to the baseline out of the court.

On defensive rebounding and starting the fast break

- When a shot goes up, find someone first and box him by pushing him away from the basket. Jumping right away is a sure way to lose the rebounding game.

- Always rebound as a team. Ensure the ball is secure before we begin fast break. No point running ahead when the team cannot get the rebound.

On offensive rebounding and stopping the fast break

- Offensive rebounds gives your teammates confidence to shoot, because they know someone will get the ball back if they miss.

- When a shot goes up, one man must stay back and protect the back court. The rest can go in for offensive rebound. Find, box then jump/collect.

- If the rebound fails, the man nearest to the opponent rebounder must trap/pressure and occupy him. The longer u can keep the ball on their side of the court, the less likely the fast break will happen. The rest of the team must run back to defense.

- If the opponent fast breaks, one man must quickly find the ballhandler, touch him and force him to pick up his dribble/pass. This will slow down the fast break. The rest of the team must run back to defense and stay in the middle first to protect from layups.

On passing

- All passes should be quick and to the chest/hands of the receiver. Receiver will get a good grip of the ball and go into his moves or pass away, instead of wasting time fumbling with a weak pass. Less time wasted means defense has less time to react.

- Cross court passes are allowed.It is a good way to swing the ball and force the defense to shift. You must zip the ball over with a overhead pass and not do a lazy lob pass.

On shooting

- Shooting is all about repetitions. You can be a better shooter by shooting more.

- Free throws are the best way to score. Training free throws is important.

- A high arc shot has a better chance of scoring than a low arc shot.

- Use the board more often, especially if near the basket.