Minnesota Sports Forum

longstrangetrip wrote:I have a difficult time blaming this one on the coaching staff...you can see Sam on the sidelines exhorting his team to step up the pace after getting a rebound. I think this has more to do with Ricky being out. I'm a fan of Zach at PG, but as monster said earlier, he's not likely to reward a player streaking down the court on a break with a nice pass...more likely to take it himself. Maybe he can develop that part of his game, but right now it's not a strength. Let's see what happens tomorrow with Ricky back.

Running a fast break properly requires more than exhorting your team to pick up the pace. It's systematic. And I can guarantee you we have no system in place. As someone who has logged thousands of games on the bench coaching fast break offense, I know it when I see it.

I was more alarmed by the sheer number of minutes. I don't know if it's systemic or not.

You'd think there would be a loose ball or something within 2+ games...

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:I have a difficult time blaming this one on the coaching staff...you can see Sam on the sidelines exhorting his team to step up the pace after getting a rebound. I think this has more to do with Ricky being out. I'm a fan of Zach at PG, but as monster said earlier, he's not likely to reward a player streaking down the court on a break with a nice pass...more likely to take it himself. Maybe he can develop that part of his game, but right now it's not a strength. Let's see what happens tomorrow with Ricky back.

Running a fast break properly requires more than exhorting your team to pick up the pace. It's systematic. And I can guarantee you we have no system in place. As someone who has logged thousands of games on the bench coaching fast break offense, I know it when I see it.

I agree there isn't anything in place and I don't have the experience you do. Cool how much work does it take to get guys to run fast break reasonably well? I am asking a serious question because I haven't experienced being on a team with any type of legit coaching.

monsterpile wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:I have a difficult time blaming this one on the coaching staff...you can see Sam on the sidelines exhorting his team to step up the pace after getting a rebound. I think this has more to do with Ricky being out. I'm a fan of Zach at PG, but as monster said earlier, he's not likely to reward a player streaking down the court on a break with a nice pass...more likely to take it himself. Maybe he can develop that part of his game, but right now it's not a strength. Let's see what happens tomorrow with Ricky back.

Running a fast break properly requires more than exhorting your team to pick up the pace. It's systematic. And I can guarantee you we have no system in place. As someone who has logged thousands of games on the bench coaching fast break offense, I know it when I see it.

I agree there isn't anything in place and I don't have the experience you do. Cool how much work does it take to get guys to run fast break reasonably well? I am asking a serious question because I haven't experienced being on a team with any type of legit coaching.

I haven't coached it at anywhere near the NBA level, but my belief is that by the time you get to the league you have the requisite skill to adapt to any type of fast break system. Better athletes should be able to run better fast breaks. I also believe the fast break should be the first option in any offense. As far as how much work it takes, I'd say at least half my practice time is devoted to drills that enhance fast break skills. We run a lot of drills where the ball can't touch the floor and dribbling is avoided as much as possible. Movement and passing are king. Once this mindset is in place, teaching the specific scheme or system is the easy part. And the thing is, just about every player wants to get out and run. It's harder to keep my players from breaking than it is to encourage them to do it.

I hope that helps Monster, thanks for asking.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:I have a difficult time blaming this one on the coaching staff...you can see Sam on the sidelines exhorting his team to step up the pace after getting a rebound. I think this has more to do with Ricky being out. I'm a fan of Zach at PG, but as monster said earlier, he's not likely to reward a player streaking down the court on a break with a nice pass...more likely to take it himself. Maybe he can develop that part of his game, but right now it's not a strength. Let's see what happens tomorrow with Ricky back.

Running a fast break properly requires more than exhorting your team to pick up the pace. It's systematic. And I can guarantee you we have no system in place. As someone who has logged thousands of games on the bench coaching fast break offense, I know it when I see it.

I agree there isn't anything in place and I don't have the experience you do. Cool how much work does it take to get guys to run fast break reasonably well? I am asking a serious question because I haven't experienced being on a team with any type of legit coaching.

I haven't coached it at anywhere near the NBA level, but my belief is that by the time you get to the league you have the requisite skill to adapt to any type of fast break system. Better athletes should be able to run better fast breaks. I also believe the fast break should be the first option in any offense. As far as how much work it takes, I'd say at least half my practice time is devoted to drills that enhance fast break skills. We run a lot of drills where the ball can't touch the floor and dribbling is avoided as much as possible. Movement and passing are king. Once this mindset is in place, teaching the specific scheme or system is the easy part. And the thing is, just about every player wants to get out and run. It's harder to keep my players from breaking than it is to encourage them to do it.

I hope that helps Monster, thanks for asking.

Thanks Cool I appriciate your response. As a coach I wonder another question if you will indulge me. If Mitchell is spending a significant portion of his time on defense do you think it's going to be tough for him to find some good things going forward offensively? I know the NBA can be tough to implement too much during the season I wonder if the offense if going to be a level of frustration all year for us fans because of that.

monsterpile wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:I have a difficult time blaming this one on the coaching staff...you can see Sam on the sidelines exhorting his team to step up the pace after getting a rebound. I think this has more to do with Ricky being out. I'm a fan of Zach at PG, but as monster said earlier, he's not likely to reward a player streaking down the court on a break with a nice pass...more likely to take it himself. Maybe he can develop that part of his game, but right now it's not a strength. Let's see what happens tomorrow with Ricky back.

Running a fast break properly requires more than exhorting your team to pick up the pace. It's systematic. And I can guarantee you we have no system in place. As someone who has logged thousands of games on the bench coaching fast break offense, I know it when I see it.

I agree there isn't anything in place and I don't have the experience you do. Cool how much work does it take to get guys to run fast break reasonably well? I am asking a serious question because I haven't experienced being on a team with any type of legit coaching.

I haven't coached it at anywhere near the NBA level, but my belief is that by the time you get to the league you have the requisite skill to adapt to any type of fast break system. Better athletes should be able to run better fast breaks. I also believe the fast break should be the first option in any offense. As far as how much work it takes, I'd say at least half my practice time is devoted to drills that enhance fast break skills. We run a lot of drills where the ball can't touch the floor and dribbling is avoided as much as possible. Movement and passing are king. Once this mindset is in place, teaching the specific scheme or system is the easy part. And the thing is, just about every player wants to get out and run. It's harder to keep my players from breaking than it is to encourage them to do it.

I hope that helps Monster, thanks for asking.

Thanks Cool I appriciate your response. As a coach I wonder another question if you will indulge me. If Mitchell is spending a significant portion of his time on defense do you think it's going to be tough for him to find some good things going forward offensively? I know the NBA can be tough to implement too much during the season I wonder if the offense if going to be a level of frustration all year for us fans because of that.

Practice time is a precious commodity. In my practices every minute is pre-planned and accounted for. If Sam is devoting more time on defense than normal, it's natural to assume a smaller focus on offense. The thing is, at the NBA level you are doing far less teaching and much more scheming. So even if defense is a greater focus (and I agree with Sam that it should be), he should still be able to build his offense bit by bit. It's all about the process and not focusing on game by game results. You have to build your team week by week or even month by month. The players do most of the skill development on their own, so he should have plenty of time to get his schemes the reps they need. I guess to answer your question specifically, have patience with the offense. It should come along just fine. Remember that a lot coaching is adjusting to what the opposing defenses are doing to you. The quality of those adjustments ultimately helps define how good of a coach you will be.

Our problems on the fast break are not due to the guards not pushing the ball enough. When a PG has to go back to get the ball the fast break opportunity is gone already. Our PG's could still push the pace, but that's not a fast break. We'd have no advantage in that scenario. Our bigs are taking extra time to secure the defensive rebound and when they secure it, the first thing they do is look for a guard to get the ball to and they hold it until a safe pass can be made. A real fast break system has an outlet pass immediately off the board to a guy up the court to push the ball. So our lack of a fast break is due to the bigs taking their time securing the rebound and not finding the outlets quickly after securing the rebound. That alone is enough time to let the defense get back. Love would get the board, turn and sling it down the court immediately if Brewer had a step. Our bigs have to do that, but in a little bit safer and more realistic way of slinging it to half court to an outlet instead of full court like Love can do. None of our bigs are looking to push the ball after the rebound. They're looking for a handoff which points to a lack of a transition system in place. Focusing on defense is great. Sam should also however be taking the next small step forward in teaching them how to push the ball after a miss properly.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:I have a difficult time blaming this one on the coaching staff...you can see Sam on the sidelines exhorting his team to step up the pace after getting a rebound. I think this has more to do with Ricky being out. I'm a fan of Zach at PG, but as monster said earlier, he's not likely to reward a player streaking down the court on a break with a nice pass...more likely to take it himself. Maybe he can develop that part of his game, but right now it's not a strength. Let's see what happens tomorrow with Ricky back.

Running a fast break properly requires more than exhorting your team to pick up the pace. It's systematic. And I can guarantee you we have no system in place. As someone who has logged thousands of games on the bench coaching fast break offense, I know it when I see it.

I agree there isn't anything in place and I don't have the experience you do. Cool how much work does it take to get guys to run fast break reasonably well? I am asking a serious question because I haven't experienced being on a team with any type of legit coaching.

I haven't coached it at anywhere near the NBA level, but my belief is that by the time you get to the league you have the requisite skill to adapt to any type of fast break system. Better athletes should be able to run better fast breaks. I also believe the fast break should be the first option in any offense. As far as how much work it takes, I'd say at least half my practice time is devoted to drills that enhance fast break skills. We run a lot of drills where the ball can't touch the floor and dribbling is avoided as much as possible. Movement and passing are king. Once this mindset is in place, teaching the specific scheme or system is the easy part. And the thing is, just about every player wants to get out and run. It's harder to keep my players from breaking than it is to encourage them to do it.

I hope that helps Monster, thanks for asking.

Thanks Cool I appriciate your response. As a coach I wonder another question if you will indulge me. If Mitchell is spending a significant portion of his time on defense do you think it's going to be tough for him to find some good things going forward offensively? I know the NBA can be tough to implement too much during the season I wonder if the offense if going to be a level of frustration all year for us fans because of that.

Practice time is a precious commodity. In my practices every minute is pre-planned and accounted for. If Sam is devoting more time on defense than normal, it's natural to assume a smaller focus on offense. The thing is, at the NBA level you are doing far less teaching and much more scheming. So even if defense is a greater focus (and I agree with Sam that it should be), he should still be able to build his offense bit by bit. It's all about the process and not focusing on game by game results. You have to build your team week by week or even month by month. The players do most of the skill development on their own, so he should have plenty of time to get his schemes the reps they need. I guess to answer your question specifically, have patience with the offense. It should come along just fine. Remember that a lot coaching is adjusting to what the opposing defenses are doing to you. The quality of those adjustments ultimately helps define how good of a coach you will be.

Thanks for the insight Cool I appriciate it.

You should have a Cool's coaches corner thread or something where you sorta step outside your fandom and just look at things from a pure coaching perspective. I am sure that coaching perspective really drives the way you watch the game and it's never really gone. I hope to remember that when reading and considering your posts. My brother who used to coach women's basketball says especially watching live games it's hard not to start getting into coaching mode and it's been over 10 years since he last coached. Lol