In today’s uptempo game, athletes are faster and stronger than before. It’s important to go over the principles of transition defense and today we’ll break down Kevin Eastman’s tenets on transition defense.
Kevin Eastman was a college coach and NBA assistant for almost 40 years before retiring. One of his greatest achievements was helping mastermind the 2008 Boston Celtics to an NBA championship, a team that prided itself on great defense. As I looked through his Celtics notes and various writings on defense I knew I just had to share his ideas with you guys.
We’ve covered transition offense before by breaking down Tom Izzo’s numbered fast break. To recap, the goals of the offense are:
Get layups/ open 3 point shots
Play off a numbers advantage 2 v 1, 3 v 2, 4 v 3
So in our defense, we want to take these away by:
Sprinting back into the paint area to prevent layups. Force mid range jump shots.
When there’s a numbers advantage, go into a zone temporarily until help gets back.
Sounds simple? Well it’s easier said than done- I’ll break down these principles in depth for you and explain what drills you can use to teach the vital concept of transition defense.
Passing is possibly the most neglected fundamental of basketball. Often we show our players passing drills when they’re learning up the game, then never go back to them for the rest of their basketball career.
Think of the reasons why the San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors and team USA (of which you’ll see video proof of below) run passing drills every day in practice. Think of all the components to a pass that turn a turnover into an assist: vision, accuracy, precision, timing and speed. A pass needs to be on target to the same degree of precision as a jump shot- and we make many more passes in a game than jump shots, but I’m willing to bet that there’s a very good chance 90% of the coaches out there will work on shooting for 1 hour and passing for 10 minutes. Continue reading “18 Essential Passing Drills for the Aspiring Spurs Team” »
At this age, you’ll probably be introducing basketball to kids for the first time. It is at this age that they will start to develop what will hopefully become a lifelong passion for the game. I’m a big fan of Basketball Canada’s Long-term athlete development model (LTAD) and this post is largely based on that model.
If there’s 1 thing to take away from this post, it’s to make practice FUN and ENCOURAGING.
Last week, we sat down with Coach Steve Collins, who has lead Madison Memorial Basketball Spartans to 3 State Championships, 7 State Finals appearances and an unprecedented 12 straight Big 8 titles. He also coached NBA player Wesley Matthews.
In this interview, Coach Collins shares his secrets on:
Why small sided games are the best
How to teach proper spacing
Why you need to practice the BANK SHOT
Rebounding drills
How to practice for special situations
Keep reading to find out how you can apply his championship winning ideas to your own team!
So you want to be like Kobe? Kobe has scored over 40+ points against every team he has played. He’s become a basketball legend because he outworks everyone, both on the court and off it.
But they don’t know he was there probably at 1 p.m. getting up shots.
To put into perspective how much work he puts in, this is just ONE part of the infamous 666 workout that Kobe does- during the OFF season. That’s right- when players are holidaying in Ibiza, Kobe is putting in 6 hours of work, for 6 days a week, over 6 months. He breaks down each 6 hour workout into 2 hours of track running, 2 hours of shooting and skill conditioning, and 2 hours of conditioning and weightlifting in the gym. Today, we show you the exercises that make up the running and weightlifting parts of Kobe’s 666 Workout.
For all but the most elite of athletes, following Kobe’s entire workout will lead to overtraining and injuries, especially without proper recovery. Whilst it might not be possible to train for 6 hours a day, you can easily form an hour’s workout using these exercises as a template. As we’ve seen with Kobe, you will only get out what you put into it.