Their substitutions can hurt us

My teams have had a recurring problem with the other team's subs for the past few years. We don't always notice it when there's a sub and the result can be a player left open. It's a priority for me and I always look over at the bench when there is a whistle to see if they're making a sub. I mention it to the players and occasionally I rant and rave but it still takes too much time to get it right.

A couple of days I ago I was walking home from my morning coffee and I realized that we don't spend any realistic practice time on it. It's true that I talk about it but we never set up game situations when we scrimmage. The players not on the court are on the sideline and when we make changes, it's both teams at the same time.

Here is the new procedure that we're going to follow for this season. The players not playing during a scrimmage will be on the sideline on either side of the scorer's table, just like in a game. Every time there's a whistle for a foul or a violation I'll check to make sure that all the players look at the scorer's table. We won't automatically sub both teams at the same time. In addition, we'll do the same things that we've been doing for a long time. The player coming on has a t-shirt or a towel that they hand to the player that they're replacing. They don't give it to them until they find out who they are guarding. The player coming off reminds the incoming player of pertinent details such as; are they right or left-handed, what's their best move, what defenses we are in etc.

I'll keep you posted as to how this works out. By the way, it isn't important unless you invest some practice time in it. By that measure, I wasn't giving this small part of the game the importance that it deserves.

The belt pass

I am hopefully going to coach this year and have decided to take the bull by the horns and stop teaching the chest pass. Instead, I will teach the belt pass which differs only in name...and perhaps in the mental image the name conveys. The most common error for many players is to make the chest pass "from the chest". I don't think that it's because of the name but who knows?

For a while I thought that the push pass was more important and that it could even replace the belt pass. There are clear advantages to catching the ball with the hands ready to shoot which means that the push pass is a natural option. I still think that the push pass with either the left or right hand behind the ball is a great pass. At the same time, I think that there are big advantages to teaching the belt pass first. Let me count the ways.
- It is easy to learn the push pass once the belt pass is mastered. The inverse is not necessarily true.
- The chest pass is a great pass for a quick long pass to ignite the fast break.

By the way, I am firmly opposed to either catching or throwing a pass with one hand unless it is absolutely necessary. I realize that some people do it well but none of them have ever played for me.

The two second rule

Like most coaches, I have been alternately perplexed and frustrated when inexperienced players refuse to make an easy pass and instead look for something better even when no one is open. This often happens at the start of an offensive sequence and the end result is often a turnover when the easy pass is cut off. It is of course worse if the've already given up their dribble. My solution has been to repeat "make the easy pass" and show both good and bad examples on video. It eventually works but I've been looking for something else to help.

This season I plan to put in the two second rule. I will tell players that they can only turn down an easy pass if they see a better pass that they can make within two seconds. The idea is to get the players to focus on making a decision based on clear criteria. They still are expected to think and make decisions but hopefully their decisions will be better with the two second rule in place.

The real value will come from a better way to ask questions. I can ask the player "Who did you think you were going to pass to in two seconds?". ""Was there someone that would have been open if you waited two seconds?". This will help the player learn to think and read both our offense and their defense. It's important to rememember that there are times when waiting is the right choice if it leads to something good for us.