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

Happy Sunday and 4th of July weekend to those in the U.S! Welcome as well to all the new SG subscribers, it's great to have you as part of the community!

Today at a Glance:

🏀 SGTV-NEW Clinics ADDED!: Ryan Pannone AND Rikki Broadmore now on SGTV!

🎤 Inside the Episode: Tom Crean​

🥇 Best of the Week: Loop Stack Screen and "12 Rules for Life"​

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Let's dive in...

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*Note: This is the free version of this newsletter. SG Plus members get access to every piece of content in this newsletter (plus thousands of hours more). Join coaches and staffs from over 40 countries HERE!

It's summertime, and as coaches we're all eager to find ways to help our players improve in a way that benefits both the players themselves and fits into whatever program or scheme we're cooking up for next season. Coach Rikki Broadmore of Barking Abbey Basketball Academy in London has a terrific track record of doing just that, as he's help develop some of England's top talent into high level pros and collegiate players.

This past week Coach Broadmore joined us in our monthly SG Plus live clinic/Q&A session to detail his "SYNC" Player Development Program which he uses at Barking Abbey and beyond. It was a true masterclass on the philosophy, teaching points, and implementation of the program along with additional talking points on how it bridges with the tactical scheme of Barking Abbey Head Coach, James Vear.

In this almost 90 minute session Coach Broadmore walked us through a presentation on the background and philosophy of the program, followed by a detailed film session.

The one of the most impactful part of both the "SYNC" program and the clinic is the way that Coach Broadmore builds his player development sessions from 1 on 0 warm up routines to higher level 1 v.1, 2 v. 2, etc. "decision-based training" drills where certain constraints are used.

Below is a very small example from the clinic of a build-up for guards/perimeter play...

Guard Build-Up

#1 - "Pound/Pocket Dribble" - 1 on 0 w/Tennis Ball

Coach Broadmore walked us through a typical cognitive warmup progression where the players are using a tennis ball to "throw and catch" or "bounce and snatch" while they're working on their "pound/pocket" dribble...

Zooming In: During this warm-up Coach Broadmore discusses the goal and mindset of the players, working with them to focus on doing two things at once and separating them in their mind, while at the same time honing in on the technical skill of the "pocket dribble."

#2 One Hand Shooting while Holding a Ball

Another warm-up drill Coach Broadmore highlights comes in the way of the fundamentals of shooting. In this 1 on 0 drill the players are taught to hold a basketball up by their shoulder with their off hand. In the GIF below the players are shooting after bouncing the ball once, the first part of this warm up is with no bounce...

Zooming In: Coach Broadmore talks again about the goals of these drills and what he's trying to accomplish, as well as the importance of holding the ball by one's shoulder instead of behind the back or with some other constraint. As Coach Broadmore discusses, holding the ball up by your shoulder creates a more natural and realistic shot and simulates the of hand being up by the ball when a normal shot is taken.

During this segment of the clinic Coach Broadmore further discusses his four guiding principles when he works with a player's shot...

1. Legs Create Rhythm, Not Power
2. Elbow Creates Height
3. Wrist Creates Power
4. Fingers Create Accuracy

He also talks about the connection and chain of the four principles as well as why power comes more from the wrist and not the legs.

#3 Live Segment - 1 v. 1 Pull-Up Drill

After completing a series of various warm-up drills (many more shown in clinic), Coach Broadmore then discusses a number of "live" drills in which decision-making elements are incorporated. In the below example the players start with a live dribble and are working on the decision to shoot a straight pull-up, fade, step-back, etc., depending on where the defender is in relation to their shot...

Zooming In: More details of the teaching points and how to run the drill are in the clinic, but the defensive player cannot move until the offensive player moves their feet, and the offensive player is focusing on learning when and how to get a certain type of jump shot off against a contested defender.

As mentioned, this is a terrific clinic detailing many more drills, examples, and the overall philosophy of Coach Broadmore's "SYNC" Player Development Program. This full clinic is now available on SGTV below!

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Ryan Pannone PnR Clinic Series!

Continuing with our recent Clinic Extravaganza, we are also excited to share Two Clinics from the G-League's Birmingham Squadron Head Coach (and former podcast guest), Ryan Pannone! Both clinics provide insightful takeaways to help Coaches improve their PnR attack and important PnR Concepts that can be applied to their player development sessions.

In his 1st Clinic, Coach Pannone shares his learning and takeaways from his time as an Assistant Coach with current Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach, Oded Kattash, and his "3-2 PnR Motion Offense." Kattash's offensive was a PnR attack centered around two non-shooting bigs and Pannone details how they were able to maximize their space on the floor to have one of the most efficient offenses in Europe. Highlights and takeaways include:

• Playing in Transition: Race, Space and Pace
• Spacing & Floor Balance
• High PnR Rules
• Side PnR Rules
• 3-2 PnR System Rules

In Coach Pannone's 2nd Clinic, he walks us through various PnR Concepts important in attacking any PnR Defensive Coverage and then further hones in on specific concepts to attack the Drop Coverage. This clinic is a Las Vegas breakfast buffet of the best concepts and actions Coach Pannone has seen from some of the Top Coaches and Players all around the world while adding under-taught and underutilized skills Coaches can implement to their offense and player development plans. Highlights and takeaways include:

• Twist/Flip Screens
• Pass Fake Finishes
• Teaching the Early Pocket Pass
• Using Multiple Screens against the Drop
• Low Step Up/Empty Corner Step-Up Screens
• Off Ball Screens against the Drop

Coach Pannone is a generous sharer of the game and both these Clinics are packed full of insight to help you improve your Pick n Roll Offense and Spacing. Go to SGTV to view them both!

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SG Podcast- Inside the Episode

This week we had the pleasure of sitting down with former Georgia, Indiana, and Marquette (where he led them to a Final Four) Head Coach, Tom Crean! Coach Crean is an absolute basketball junkie and loves to explore all aspects of the game, so this episode is packed with a ton of thoughtful and valuable teaching points on the game. Here's a few from the show:

• Accountability to One's Talent: A terrific discussion on the ways Coach Crean holds players accountable to maximize the talent they are given.
• The Art and Analytics of Extending Games: Coach Crean dives into his late-game philosophy of extending games to give your team the best chance to win. We explore different scenarios where a "quick two" is better than attempting a three, as well as why he always wants to go home with a timeout in his pocket...
• "Start, Sub, or Sit?!": Another fun segment this week where we hear Coach Crean's thoughts on the versatility of "Horns" and "1-4 High" Alignments, the best ways to disrupt a team defensively, and Little Caesars Pizza 😃

You can listen to the entire terrific episode with Coach Crean here...

Listen Now!

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Tactical

📺 ASVEL Villeurbanne - Stagger Flare ​

"A quick hitting flare screen out of the stagger entry used by ASVEL to generate important buckets in their series victory over Monaco in the French Finals."

✚Pair With: Our Deep Dive Breakdown on several actions teams are executing out of the Stagger Away Entry.

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📺 Turnout Step Up Screen - Moving the First Screener​

"Noticing all the different ways teams will move the big after the first empty side PnR in order to attack the coverage on the Step Up Screen."

✚Pair With: Our Deep Dive Breakdown on the Loop Step Up Screen.

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Interesting Reads

📚 12 Rules for Life​

"11. Hold your anger for a day: After receiving news of some military setback or failure, Abraham Lincoln would write a letter to the offending general and put it in a drawer for a day to see how he felt the next day. If memory serves, he never sent them. In the calm following a night’s sleep, Lincoln regretted what he had written. If something riles you up, wait a day before responding either in person or in an email..."

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📚 20 Useful Frameworks​

"The Pygmalion Effect: High expectations lead to high performance (and vice versa). If you consistently see people as their potential, they will achieve more. When you're occasionally let down, consider it a tax you pay for all the benefit from those you believed in."

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📚 Which Women's Sports Benefitted the Most from Title IX​

"It’s informative to look at where the growth in women’s sports has come from on a sport-by-sport basis, and how that has changed over time. Here is total girls’ high school sports participation in four-year intervals for the dozen most popular sports of the last 20 years, according to data from the National Federation of State High School Associations..."

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Quote of the Week

A Buddhist metaphor on the burdens we choose to carry...

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Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

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