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

Happy 2022 and thank you for reading! This weekend we look back at some of our favorite podcasts, quotes, videos, ideas, and actions of 2021 from around the world of basketball.

Today at a glance:

Podcast: Year-In-Review and 12 Bits of Wisdom
Top 3's of 2021: DHO's, BLOB's, Off-Ball Cuts, Zone Actions, and Side Stack PNR's
Lists for those that like lists: Most Viewed Videos & Newsletters of 2021
January "Coaches Corner" Q&A Session

To get access to every video and piece of content in this and all future newsletters, you can join SG Plus for less than last night's GrubHub dinner HERE. 😃

Let's dive in...

Slappin' Glass Podcast - Year-In-Review

Thank you all for listening, sharing, and engaging with the podcast in 2021. It was an unforgettable year getting the chance to sit and converse with so many fantastic coaches from around the world. We look forward to much more as we turn the page to 2022.

To wrap up 2021, we put together our 2nd Annual "Year-In-Review" Episode where we went back and picked out some of our favorite "Start, Sub, or Sit?!" segments of the year from 10 of the most listened to/downloaded episodes. It was a ton of fun going back through and picking these out, so we hope you enjoy hearing conversations from the likes of Geno Auriemma, Brad Stevens, Sue Bird, Tuomas Iisalo, Andrea Trinchieri, Jeff and Stan Van Gundy and many more.

You can listen here...

Year-In-Review Podcast!

Along with the episode, below are 12 more thought provoking quotes from the podcast in 2021 (in order of release date)...

12 Bits of Podcast Wisdom

1) Australian Pro Coach, Liam Flynn, on the "tax" teams pay for defending "High in the Gaps":

Sometimes we gave up one, maybe two backdoor cuts per game, and we were like, 'that's the tax you have to pay for being a great defensive team', because the other forty possessions of defense we were able to impact the offense by being higher (in the gaps)...that's how I'll be coaching defense for the foreseeable future."

2) International Pro Coach, Will Voigt, on winning and connecting with people:

"Your ability to connect with people is going to be more important than your ability to come up with "peel switching" or whatever it might be. At the end of the day, if you take a group of guys and get them to play as a team, with maximum effort, and play unselfishly, you'll win."

3) Ireland's U18 National Team Head Coach, Paul Kelleher, on keeping composure and focus as a coach:

"A phrase that I have on my board all the time now is 'What do they need now?', and it's really help me bring my attention (back). So I will always have my board to see that phrase because there will be times when I won't be focused enough to ask myself at that particular time...'What do they need now?' Do they need a hand around the shoulder? Do they need a specific detail? Do they need to be told 'keep doing what we're doing, it's going to drop', do they need to be chewed out at that particular time? And hopefully as we go along, the last one becomes less and less, where we can trust them and they can trust me that when we're talking, we're talking as a trusting unit."

4) UConn WBB Hall of Fame Head Coach, Geno Auriemma, on the truth about coaching your best players:

"The real truth is, is that (your best players) want to be coached so hard, so bad. They want to be pushed beyond their capabilities every minute of every day. They want to be told everyday what they have to do to get better. The fastest way to lose your best player is to not coach them. The fastest way to have them lose respect for you is to let them get away with crap that they know they're not supposed to be doing."

5) St. Thomas Aquinas Head Coach, Tobin Anderson, on finding success in a difficult situation:

"Sometimes the Coach of the Year in the conference is the coach who goes .500 in an absolutely impossible job."

6) 5-Time Euroleague Champion, Kyle Hines, on the role of the leader:

"In the 'Last Dance' when the Chicago Bulls were going through their issues, Phil Jackson drew a circle and he asked everybody to place a dot where they felt they were at that moment with the team, and Scottie Pippen placed his dot so far outside the circle because he said he felt isolated. So, that is the job of the leader, to make sure everybody is still in that circle and still together, that we we can build and try and go through those problems collectively."

7) BC Andorra Head Coach, Ibon Navarro, on connecting good habits and values:

"Unselfishness is not just giving an assist. Unselfishness is when you sacrifice yourself, and we give values to things that are good habits. And if one of them is unselfishness, or commitment, or team spirit, that means that the players must know which actions belong to that value."

8) Long Island Nets Assistant Coach, Jimmie Oakman, on being "all-in":

"Just try and be curious, at all costs. Taking things on a wim like going out to random events, just being at a clinic and being around people, and surrounding yourself with the people in those environments. I was in a situation not too long ago where I was the only coach at a clinic that didn't have a name on my polo, and I couldn't get a call back for a DIII GA spot. Situations like that, where, over time if you keep sticking to this thing, it's great. (But) you've gotta be willing to dive in somewhere, you know, sink or swim, whatever level you want to be at you've got to be all-in."

9) Regis University Head Coach, Brady Bergeson, on leadership under pressure:

"I think it's important for coaches to be aware that your leader is whoever the eyeballs look at under pressure. You ask the team who the leaders are they're going to know. I can put a 'C' on a guy's chest, but ultimately it's going to be the guy who everyone looks to under pressure. Figuring out who that is, is an important start point as you're building your team".

10) Former NBA Head Coach, Stan Van Gundy, on honest conversations about playing time:

All of us at every level get this question from multiple guys every year...'What do I have to do to play more'? And I think you have to be really careful with that one, because I think, with all good intentions, what we do is give guys the areas that they need to improve. 'Well your defense has got to be better, you've got to shoot the ball better.' Ok, now the guy starts doing that. Is he going to play more? Well, maybe not, because the true answer is, 'you've got to be better than that guy who's playing ahead of you.'"

11) NFL Hall of Fame Head Coach, Bill Parcells, on the most valuable lesson he learned from his High School basketball coach, Mickey Corcoran:

"The most valuable thing he taught me is... if you've been critical or hard on a player, you do damage control before that player goes home for the night, and you talk through the situation and why you behaved the way you did or why you were trying to explain this technique to him, so that he has peace of mind in knowing that he had done something that we needed to alter, but that you weren't mad at him for it. We used to call it 'damage control'. Go to the player and say 'Do you understand why I'm on your case about this? Do you get this? Let's go through it so we've got it together. That's what I'm here for, that's what my job is.'"

12) Washington Mystics Head Coach, Mike Thibault, on perfecting your craft:

"What I've tried to pass along to everyone that I've been around is that you have an opportunity everyday to learn from somebody, to soak up something. And I look at some young coaches now, and they want everything to come quickly. 'I want to move up, I want to do this', they're always looking for the next job. And I think we forget sometimes that, just like going to school for anything else, to be a musician or to be an artist, there's a lot of hours that go into perfecting your craft. Whether it's watching film or getting on the court, or going to clinics. I did that when I was young and it gave me context and contacts. And so I learned from a bunch of different people, and I learned that you can't be somebody else, you've got to be yourself."

Best Sets and Actions of 2021

The last couple of weeks we combed back through many of our favorite sets and actions in 2021. Below are the Top 3:

Off-Ball Cutting Actions
Side Stack PNR Actions

Additionally, for members of SG Plus we also put together the Top 3:

BLOB Sets
DHO Actions
Zone Sets/Actions

3. Elbow Dive Cut (click link to access video)

"A spacing & penetration automatic, placing the big at the elbow to pull his man away from the rim, & then dive cutting on middle penetration."

Pair With: Our Crunch Time Session with Georgia's Director of Basketball Strategy David Gale, where he discussed the effectiveness of this cut.

2. Flare Front Cut

"An effective cut out of the 4 Corner PnR set up, front cutting off the flare screen."

Pair With: Our Deep Dive Breakdown on Moncho Fernandez's 4 Corner PnR Offense.

1. Corner Banana/Tomahawk Cut

"Defenses are so prone to closing the baseline pass and defending the three point line. An opportune cut to the front of the rim on the penetration can generate easy buckets."

Pair With: Our podcast conversation with Stan Van Gundy, where we discussed the challenges of teaching cutting.

3. Charlotte Hornets

"Coach Borrego and the Hornets execute a Side Stack Ballscreen out of the Iverson entry."

Pair With: Our podcast conversation with Charlotte Hornets Assistant Coach Nick Friedman, on adjusting egos and player development systems.

2. Heidelberg Post Side Stack Screen

"German Bundesliga club Heidelberg runs the Side Stack Ballscreen for their PG out of the post. Stressing the defense with an action from a different angle & spot on the floor."

Pair With: Our Deep Dive Breakdown on Inverted Screening Actions.

1. FC Barcelona

"Barcelona stacking actions to get into an side stack ballscreen. Using the turnout entry and pistol action to to set up the primary action."

Pair With: A Bonus Set from Birmingham Squadron HC Ryan Pannone, also using the turnout entry to get into the Side Stack PnR.

Most Popular Videos and Newsletters

If you're a fan of lists, here are the Top 5 "Most Watched/Best-Selling" Deep-Dive videos of 2021 on SGTV:

And here are the "Most Read" Newsletters:

Our Monthly Q&As will return in January for SG Plus members. To start off 2022, we will be hosting an open roundtable discussion with our members. A chance to share ideas, hear what other Coaches are thinking about, and learn from our peers.

When? Sunday January 23rd, 9am PST/6pm Central Europe

Where? Zoom link will be posted in the Coaches Corner

Topic? Open Q&A

Thank you all for such a memorable year. We look forward to much more in 2022.

Have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

We are proud partners with InStat Basket, their platform has been a tremendous aid in producing our weekly breakdowns and this newsletter. With InStat we get access to their complete catalog of NBA, Euroleague, NCAA, WNBA, and International film. Followers of Slappin' Glass can now receive a Free Month and 10% Off the platform by using the Promo Code SGPOD at www.instatsport.com/form.

Slappin' Glass

Year-In-Review -- The Best of 2021

Today at a glance:

Slappin' Glass Podcast - Year-In-Review

12 Bits of Podcast Wisdom

Best Sets and Actions of 2021

Most Popular Videos and Newsletters

🏀 We'll Always Have Spain

🏀 Doubling Down

🏀 Full Speed Ahead