Articles

I write about the art and science of player development. New articles are sent to my email newsletter first.

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LATEST RELEASES

 

Alan Keane: Observations & Trends from FIBA U18 European Championship

These notes, reflections and observations by Alan Keane (England u18 National Team Head Coach) from the FIBA U18 European Championship 2019 is too good not to share – much less to allow to get lost in the Twitterverse. Raw. Candid. Actionable. This is the kind of share that helps to deepen our collective perspective of …

Mike MacKay: Developing World Class Basketball Players

This. Is. A. Coaching. Masterclass…! Seriously. It’s rare to observe basketball practices that have been mindfully designed to integrate the mental, technical, physical, social and competive constraints in a way that reads like a book. This is why we (affectionately) call Mike MacKay: Yoda Master MacKay. In his day “job”, he’s the Women’s High Performance …

Closeouts vs. Contesting

A good coaching friend is hunting for a “sticky” term to offer up to his players for how they should contest shots. How would you answer his query? Searching for a “sticky” adjective to #teach our players how they should contest shots…? @PGCbasketball @CoachBobWalsh @coachwoodley @DrewHanlen @CoachBobStarkey @BCCoachStevens @SefuBernard @CoachJimBoone @kawhileonard @UVAMensHoops — Sam Ferry …

Basketball is NOT Basketball

There are very few absolutes in basketball. (To be honest, the only one that I can think of is: High score wins!) One of the dangers or blind spots we all have is that our perspective is influenced by our experiences—and the story we tell ourselves about those experiences. It’s like being a frog at …

The Iceberg Illusion & Why Mistakes Matter

Icebergs have two parts: what people see (above the surface) and what people don’t see (below the surface). Success Is An Iceberg We often get mesmerized by someone’s above the surface success and don’t factor in all the below the surface opportunity-costs they paid to achieve that success. This is the ‘iceberg illusion’. It’s been a …

Vision Combined With Technique Is The Great Equalizer

Milos Teodosic has been dropping these kinds of dimes for years. What he has improved, and what isn’t readily available to every player, is how he passes (e.g. underhand scoop pass, wide body hook-wrap-pass-with-spinology, etc). Those are “next level,” yet there’s one thing that he does consistently that is available to *all* players: what he …