Exploring basketball's best ideas, strategies, and coaches around the world

Happy Sunday and welcome to all the new members from around the world! We're excited to have you as part of the community 🙏

ICYMI: Last week, we examined how Real Madrid's crafty veteran guard, Facundo Campazzo, neutralizes his size disparity in the post and explored the techniques he employs to leverage his physical attributes. View the breakdown HERE.

This Week at a Glance:

📝 Podcast Year-in-Review - 2023 Takeaways & Themes

🎤 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Name That Pod!​

🎁Gift Cards: Caught last minute without a gift? Slappin' Glass Gift Cards can be applied to any breakdown or towards an SG Plus Membership. Purchase Here!

Let's dive in...

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Podcast Year-In-Review

It's that fun time of year again where we take a moment to reflect and say thanks all those who have continued to make the Slappin' Glass Podcast a favorite project of ours. Our goal, as always, is to produce unique, high quality, and in-depth conversations on topics that are valuable for coaches. The podcast wouldn't be anywhere near where it is today without the support of all of you who listen, share, and support the show, along with the 50+ coaches a year who provide the amazing and insightful interviews. So thank you 🙏

We're both coaches ourselves, so we understand the long bus rides, messy practices, difficult conversations with players, the thrill of a tough road win, the "can't sleep" pangs after a tough loss, and the brotherhood that this crazy profession is, and our aim is to bring all of that to the podcast each Friday with a respect and openness about each person's unique view on the craft of coaching.

In this Friday's latest episode we had a fun "Year in Review" episode where we played a game called "Name that Pod", where we pop quizzed each other with different quotes from the podcast this year and then discussed our biggest takeaways afterwards. How well do we know our own podcast? Well, you can find our here!

In today's newsletter we'll pull out some of the bigger coaching "themes" of the year that arose multiple times on the show in different ways.

Culture & Environments

"Culture" can be a bit of a buzzword and easy to throw around, so anytime we approach this topic on the podcast we always ask if there's a different angle we can take when diving into it. More specifically, trying to uncover the underpinnings of what makes certain coaches' cultures and environments unique and effective. This year we found a goldmine when it came to this topic as there were numerous podcast guests that hit it out of the park.

In this week's "Name That Pod!" we discussed in length three of our favorite podcasts on this subject with Transylvania WBB Head Coach, Juli Fulks, Wisconsin Green Bay Head Coach Sundance Wicks, and High-Performance Coach, Owen Eastwood. However, we would be remiss if we didn't continue the discussion with a few other fascinating conversations on this subject this year:

🎙Meg Griffith {Columbia University}

A wide-ranging conversation about energy as a coach, including how to re-energize mid season, along with playing with the Columbia "EDGE" and peer-to-peer communication.

🎙Ryan Schmidt {College Park Skyhawks}

From establishing an identity to creating an environment where players could feel successful, Coach Schmidt shares his strategies for building a winning culture. We explore "long DHOs", pitches, and hard cuts to create opportunities for bigs, as well as the importance of breaking down the game into smaller segments and keeping a consistent message and vision throughout the season.

🎙Grant McCasland {Texas Tech}

We explore Coach McCasland's philosophy on the importance of people in a winning environment, elite individual defenders, competitive drills, "basketball ninjas", and timeout usage.

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Coaching Development

Though each podcast could be considered "coaching development" in their own ways, there were a number of terrific conversations this year that specifically focused on the education of a coach from various angles. Whether is was in the way of drill design, becoming a better teacher, seeking mentors, or learning from failure , these podcasts hit the mark:

🎙Peter Lonergan {Head of Coaching Development Australia}

Coach Peter Lonergan, who is the Head of High Performance Coaching Development for Basketball Australia, brings a wealth of knowledge to the game and speaks deeply on the topics of developing young and talented coaches, "flight path" coaching, and the :Power of 3."

🎙Brad Stevens​

Coach Stevens joins us a 2nd time on the podcast to discuss teaching in high performance environments, drills to ignite the room, and building trust amongst peers.

🎙Jeff Van Gundy​

Coach Van Gundy also made his 2nd appearance this year on the podcast to share his insights on a number of valuable coaching topics including attacking a box and one defense, getting through rough patches during the middle of the season, shortening rotations, and much more.

🎙Dusty May {Florida Atlantic}

Coach May shares his insights on true coaching education, the randomness of winning, deceptive off-ball screens and defensive communication.

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Defense, Defense, Defense

Is it just us, or have offenses across all levels become increasingly hard to stop? Coaches are artfully crafting their offenses around space, pace, clever cutting and movement, all backed by savvy analytics and an increased knowledge of premier shot selection. Maybe that's why we loved the many in-depth conversations we had this year discussing ways to tip the scales in a defenses favor. Whether it was unique zones, closeouts, daily defensive stations, No-Middle, or Hedging vs. Drop Coverage responsibilities, there was a ton to think about this year.

🎙Wes Miller {Cincinnati}

We dive into a host of great topics including building a pressure defense, guarding the ball, station work, the baseline runner series and learning how to win.

🎙Jerrod Calhoun {Youngstown State}

We explore a number of interesting topics with Coach Calhoun on both ends of the floor including defensive "fixes", rotation drills, and Player-Led Film sessions.

🎙Marko Barac {Mega Basket}

Coach Barac dives deep into the areas of Hedging the PNR, Defending the Short Roll, and gives his thoughts on Offensive Rebounding Analytics and Spain PNR.

🎙Walter De Raffaele {Italian Pro Coach}

Coach De Raffaele details his unique insights into running a matchup 3-2 zone, including the rules, reads, and philosophy behind it, along with "real coaching growth", and Princeton-based set designs.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Coach Walter De Rafael's 3-2 Matchup Zone breakdown.

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"In-Game Coaching and Adjustments"

As much as we love diving into the ins and outs of coaching in practice, training, and off the court, equally important and of interest this year was the art and science of "in-game coaching." From lineup considerations, substitution patterns, late-game strategy, or knowing when to adjust, this year's guests offered a ton of valuable insights on trying to bring home the W so you can enjoy, instead of drown in those post game wings and beers.

🎙Xavi Pascual {Zenit St. Petersburg}

Coach Xavi Pascual joins us to discuss a wide range of subjects including in-game coaching and strategic decisions, substitution considerations, playing small and practice flow.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Xavi Pascual's Off Ball Screening Techniques.

🎙Stephanie White {Connecticut Sun}

2023 WNBA Coach of the Year Stephanie White has had success as both a player and a coach and we discuss relevant topics including late-game philosophy and preparation, how to practice for end of game scenarios, PNR screening angles and obtaining player buy-in.

🎙Sito Alonso {UCAM Murcia}

Renown coach of the Spanish Club, Murcia in the ACB, Sito Alonso joins us for a conversation on in-game play calling, freedom vs. flow, adding layers to sets, Post Automatics and sources of creativity.

✚ Pair With: Sito Alonso's Post Automatics.

🔒SG Plus Content: Sito Alonso's "Spy" Pick & Roll Defense.

🎙Ben Resner {Greensboro Swarm}

Greensboro Swarm Assistant Coach, Ben Resner shares his thoughts on an array of topics including lineup and rotation considerations, including special defenders and playmakers, and locker room leadership.

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The Best Businesses in Basketball

Lastly, we enjoyed putting together the first episodes in our "Titans" series, exploring the stories and innovations of the best companies coaches rely on. From HyperIce's story in improvement recovery and injury prevention, JustPlay becoming the leader as an end-to-end platform for scouting/recruiting/etc., to the rise of Noah, the shooting and data tracking system used in almost all NBA and many NCAA facilities, we learned a ton this year about where some of the best companies are headed and how it's helping push the game and profession forward.

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Stay tuned for next week as we flip the script on the podcast with "Start, Sub, or Sit?" where we'll put each other on the "Hot Seat" to discuss some of our favorite breakdowns studied in 2023. We will follow up on the podcast by featuring our most viewed offensive and defensive breakdowns from the final quarter of 2023 in next week's newsletter.

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Quote of the Week

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

We're proud to partner with the leading Sports Travel company in the basketball world, Beyond Sports! Follow the link above to learn more about why more than 600 universities have trusted Beyond Sports for their team's foreign trips. Let them know Slappin' Glass sent you!

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