Boston Celtics assistant coach Kevin Eastman and longtime NBA assistant Brendan Suhr teamed up to host Coaching U. in Las Vegas last month.
What made this event unique was not only the format, but also the opportunity to hear the experience and wisdom of two excellent teachers of the game. Coach Eastman shared many stories from the Celtics championship run of 2008, his involvement as a skills coach with Nike, as well as from his college-coaching career. Coach Suhr recounted his experiences working under the legendary Chuck Daly as well as his work with the Dream Team in 1992.
As you know, most clinic formats feature a coach who speaks for an hour or two. In most cases, the coach can only cover a limited amount of material and may not be able to stay longer to answer questions due to time constraints. Coaching U. offered an in-depth discussion of various areas on offense and defense, as well as the opportunity to network with the coaching staffs of several college programs from across the country. I expect next year’s event to be even more exciting and full of great information and ideas for coaches who are looking to improve their teaching skills.
For more information about the various programs available from Coach Eastman and Coach Suhr, check out http://kevineastmanbasketball.com/coachingu
Here are some of the nuggets of wisdom I picked up during the two days:
- 3 Parts of good Ddefense are position, awareness, and alertness. Positioning means be where you need to be vs. where you want to be. Awareness means down in a stance and anticipating what will happen next. Alertness means ready to move and react when needed.
- If you are going to trap a ball screen (or any situation for that matter), your trap must be effective because you are committing two defenders to guard the ball. A key concept is don’t foul in the trap. A great teaching point is to imagine a pane of glass between yourself and the ball. Don’t break the glass. Also, the 3 defenders behind the trap must be aware and alert to protect the basket.
- Coach Doc Rivers often uses “silent practices” in order to get his players to talk. The coaching staff does not say a word when they walk onto the practice floor.
- If you only hear sneakers in a gym, that is a sure sign of a losing team. Winning teams constantly talk.
- Coaching is god’s gift to you, you are not god’s gift to coaching.
- One of the advantages of pick-and-rolls is that you can run an offense without making an entry pass.
- The floor shrinks as you get to higher levels. Players are quicker and longer, so you must be able to finish plays.
- Coaching is about helping people get better.
- Coach Daly was a master communicator. He was assertive, articulate, and spoke in sound bites.
- Love your players.
- Skill development can create a career, improve a career, or revitalize a career.
- On defense, help should never get beat. The player guarding the ball might get beat, but not the defenders helping him/her.
I will share more with you in another entry.
Coach Suhr shared some of his favorite plays from his years in the league. The first one is 4 Up and was Coach Daly’s favorite.
From a box set, 1 drives off 4’s ball screen toward the wing area. 2 sets a cross screen on 3.
If 1 does not have the entry pass to 3, 1 reverses to 4 as 5 screens down for 2.
Now the counter for this play if teams trapped the initial ball screen is the following.
As 1 drives off the screen, 2 and 3 cross and spot up in the corners. 4 steps out and 5 dives to the rim.
