#NikeClinicVegas

The power of twitter...  Eventhough I am currently in Wisconsin, I have been following along the clinic in vegas.  Here are some of the things that have been tweeted with the hashtag #nikeclinicvegas

 Josh Pastner

• You can win on energy and emotion alone sometimes in college and high school basketball. 
• If you have talent, you have to let them be able to create on offense.  
• Everything we do in practice is simple, competitive and about getting to the paint.

Don Meyer

• Talk doesn't cook rice. You have to be a living example for your kids to follow
• 2 things you never talk about as a coach: 1. Being satisfied 2. Retirement  
• Adapt do not adopt everything at a clinic

Shaka Smart

• 1 of 5 reasons behind 
• setting ball screens - "Create a role for unskilled bigs."  
• Smart: 99% of ballscreens run by VCU stolen from Billy Donovan, who he says is the nation's best at it. 
• Smart: keys to ballscreens include exploiting guards who "melt" and immobile bigs. Attack the poor defenders.  
• if VCU beat Indiana and faced UK in tourney, I would have brought Anthony Davis out and made him defend ballscreens.
• make ballscreens tougher by forcing defensive movement and getting them out of position.  
• Anytime we pick and pop our other big ducks in hard and posts the defender low on his body. 

Tony Barone

• "you have to find the roles for your team and get your players to be comfortable in that role."  
• Your team won't buy in to your system if they don't buy in to YOU!
• Barone uses Zach Randolph as example of good "role" player. One of 11 players to avg. 20 pts 10 reb la
•  st year.  
• "in order to show your team how to play hard, you have to put them in drills that challenge them." 
• You develop mental toughness through repetition.
• when you defend the pick and roll, the first rule is the player with the ball cannot get the shot. 
• when you defend the pick and roll, the second rule is that the first pass out cannot get the shot. 
• "The best defenses are noise. A team that TALKS well on defense is intimidating."
• Barone talks about the importance of having a glossary of terms and making sure your players understand each of them.
• "be a coach who wants to learn. You have a license to plagiarize. If you see something you like, use it."  
• "instead of getting a player to be who he is not, get him to be who he is."

Frank Allocco (De La Salle HS)

• too many coaches don't focus enough on bball IQ. They get great athletes and let them go. Help them understand.
• it's important when running drills to involve a lot of different skills, not just the ones you're working on. 
• Says he tries to get his team to have that same constant communication on the floor
• Allocco's pet peeve is players who stop when a shot is taken. Teach your players action continues until the ball is secured
• Allocco: teach your players when rebounding to always "chin" the basketball, elbows out. It's the strongest position.
• going through drills on using screens. "if you're not good enough to get open, get somebody else open." 

Jay Wright

•  zone defenders are taught to play with their hands up, so we always bounce pass into the zone. 

Bob Knight

• just getting kids to concentrate is one of the toughest things to do in coaching these days  
• anything you do on O or D requires great concentration. So do anything you can to help them do that
• "do something in your drill that makes kids think during every practice." says he's done it since days at West Point
• start every practice with something that makes your team have to concentrate intensely.  
• "we as coaches overlook the value of a free throw and players overlook the value of a free throw." 
• the baseline is the best defender in the game. With exception of the post, I tried to keep my O 8 ft above baseline
•  when coaching I learned there were 3 major things: offense, defense and conversion. Conv. Is the most important.
• "Every time the ball hits the floor, somebody has to move to help.
• it's important for your practices to make kids think and react. Change things up and keep them on their toes.  
• "we try to make our practices tougher not b/c they're longer or harder but because they make you think more." 
• Q about length of Knight's practices: Christmas break 2hr 15min, but never more than 90 min otherwise.  
• the biggest weapon vs. zone D is the dribble. Penetrate gaps and draw 2 defenders to exploit weaknesses

Mike Anderson

• The goal is to disrupt with traps, switches and doubles. No easy buckets
• playing intense D means you must have conditioned players. He spends time at each practice on drills to help that
• conditioning drills include full court sprints a defensive slides. Then zig zag dribbling with defender.  
• with these drills "we're creating a monster on D. We wanna be tough and be tough on other people." 
• when D overmatched, put a player in the lane to buy time and prevent layups. Allow trailing defender to recover
•  "defense is about trust. You have to be one heartbeat."
• it's not Run and Gun its Run and Execute!

Kevin O'Neill

• post player very important to beat zone D. They should be moving, flashing, and not posting, standing.  
• attacking match-up zone is one of the most difficult tasks as coach. Don't be afraid to run man offense against it.
• up 6 and less than 2 min left always have 5 back on D. "if you lose, it's because you (messed) up."  
• sell your team on your D and stick with it. Your job is to get them to believe, and once u do u got something good.
• O'Neill on playing tough, physical: the first ballscreen the opponent sets, run right through it. Set the tone.