Saturday, July 30, 2011

Friday, July 29, 2011

Inbounding Philosophy

Inbounding the ball is different than a fast break; in a fast break (think Mike D'Antoni-era Phoenix Suns), the goal is to push the ball up court as quickly as possible and look for a quick score before moving into your secondary break offense. For the Suns, this meant getting a shot off in 7 seconds or less.

The inbounding philosophy that I believe in depends on poise and control and works best for teams who don't have the depth or speed needed to play a running game. We want to get the ball inbounds quickly and survey the court for scoring opportunities, but we don't want to get too deep into the half-court then waste time pulling the ball back out and setting up the offense.

Got some time? The 10,000 Hour Rule.



In Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers: The Story of Success he repeatedly talks about the "10,000 Hour Rule", claiming that the key to success in any field is a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.

Gladwell claims that greatness requires enormous time, using the source of The Beatles' musical talents as an example. The Beatles performed live in Germany over 1,200 times from 1960 to 1964, amassing more than 10,000 hours of playing time, therefore meeting the 10,000-Hour Rule. Gladwell asserts that all of the time The Beatles spent performing shaped their talent, "so by the time they returned to England from Hamburg, Germany, 'they sounded like no one else. It was the making of them.'"

In our multi-faceted role as coaches, it's easy to get lost in the busyness of day-to-day operations in the office, on the court and on the road. Carve out a set time for yourself each day to dedicate to professional development- read a chapter, watch a YouTube video, find some good blogs. A little bit of time each day makes a big difference!