The Cross Over Movement Blog

I watched a game this weekend between a talented team that was overcoached and an untalented team that was undercoached. The game was frustrating and I could not decide which team was more frustrating to watch.

The talented, overcoached team ran some Flex-like set plays every time down the court. However, they ran the plays with little enthusiasm or effort. They made sloppy cuts and never looked for the cutter off the Flex screen. They scored in transition, off turnovers or when one player broke off the offense and attacked the basket, usually leading to an offensive rebound putback. Out of timeouts, the team executed and scored and it scored on many of its underneath out of bounds plays.

The untalented, undercoached team played hard. It scored when one player repeatedly drove to his right for lay-ups and the other team failed to rotate and help; when the defense had a breakdown and left someone wide open, like when 4 guys were clearly playing zone and one played man, vacating the block for a wide open lay-up; or off hustle plays. This team was smaller and scrappier and got to almost every loose ball. They ran a five-out offense which basically meant get the ball to one guy, watch him dribble his man to sleep and then take a bad shot.

The untalented team led almost the entire game, while the best player on the floor for the other team - a slasher - never had space to penetrate. If he had switched teams, and been given as much freedom as the bad players on the untalented team and played against the lazy defense of the talented team, he would have had forty points. Nobody on either team could guard his first step or handle his power when he jump stopped in the lane, yet he had to fight around his own teammates when he attacked the basket.

With 3:00 to play and an eight point lead, the untalented team’s coach decided to run plays. He called three consecutive timeouts and his team turned it over on three consecutive plays. The talented teams eschewed the offense and attacked in transition for baskets to cut the lead to two. The only thing that saved the untalented team was missed free throws, a missed wide open three-pointer and a lack of urgency by the talented team.

The game was hard to watch. Which is more frustrating: watching bad players take 15 dribbles trying to make a 1v1 move to get to the basket or watching good players sleep-walk through a game and never allowing the one really good player on the floor to use his talents?

Either way, the game confirmed one thing for me: in general, the team that plays the hardest wins. At lower levels, there is often more uneven competition, so a team can outhustle an opponent and still lose. But, as the levels progress, this holds more and more truth. Look at the top teams in men’s Division I basketball every year: Duke, UCLA, Michigan State, Carolina etc.: these teams do not take possesions off. They play hard all the time. Sure, they have talent, but they typically are the more aggressive, scrappier, tougher team.

You can make the game as complicated or as simple as you want, but if your team does not play hard, it will lose to teams that outhustle and just want to win more. In Jerry Powell’s gym, he has a sign that reads: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” That sums up winning and losing. If two teams play equally hard, the more talented team will win; if one team plays hard and one does not, the team that plays hard will win. Effort and hard work are skills, and probably the most important skills to develop.

Sefu Bernard forwarded me this article written by Terry Stotts for NBA.com. The former Bucks’ Head Coach is traveling to learn more about coaching, which should be applauded. Over the break, I spoke to a couple parents who told me that they tried to give Cross Over to their son or daughter’s coach, but the coach said he was uninterested and did not have time to read.

Stotts’ situation is different, as he is being paid not to coach this year, the benefit of the guaranteed NBA contract, while most youth and high school coaches have numerous other responsibilities. However, Stotts is not giving interviews complaining about the good old boys’ network like Scottie Pippen; instead he is trying to learn by visiting Ettore Messina (CSKA Moscow), Zelimir Obradovic (Panathinaikos, Athens), and David Blatt (Efes Pilsen, Istanbul).

Stotts finally gives an appropriate description of the European game, as opposed to the televised media who speaks about European basketball without having seen a quality European game. Stotts says:

Both players felt the biggest difference between the NBA and European basketball was the team concept played in Europe…there is more passing, more willingness to pass and more expectation of passing. The “extra pass” is the norm rather than the exception. Dribble penetration is a BIG part of the international game and the NBA game. Yet much of the penetration in the international game is to look to pass rather than score (unless it is a clear shot)…In general, there seems to be more movement in the European game…Pick and roll/pop situations are as much or more prominent as in the NBA … Coach Obradovic’s team probably runs more of these than anyone…The international game seems to be more physical in the paint; more contact is allowed on drives to the basket; and the shooter is not protected as much as he is in the NBA.

Somehow, there is this perception that Europeans do not dribble, do not use post players and do not play defense. In my experience, the pick and roll is the dominant entry into offense for many European teams. Look at the European guards in the NBA like Jose Calderon, Tony Parker and Juan Carlos Navarro: they are great pick and roll players. Did that just suddenly happen when they joined the NBA?

Stotts also makes an interesting point regarding the Spurs:

When talking to the coaches in Europe, they all very much appreciated the San Antonio Spurs. Perhaps this is because the Spurs have done such a good job of combining the best of both games. Certainly they have been the leader of the international player movement over the past few years.

The American media constantly points to the Warriors and Suns as European teams. However, I have never seen a European game between good teams that looks anything like a Warrior or Suns game. It is much harder to get transition points in Europe because teams commit “professional” fouls: In transition, they bump the dribbler to pick up a foul before he can pass ahead for a lay-up. The NBA does it when teams have clear 1v0 breaks, but European teams do it almost anytime there is a numbers advantage.

Watching a good team, like Panathinaikos is like watching the Spurs. They use pick-and-rolls or they get the ball to the block and use the post as a passer out to three-point shooters. The Spurs are the best team in the NBA in terms of making the extra pass, which is why I have thought their ball movement is better than the Suns (which I wrote in an issue of my newsletter last spring). The Spurs and the Jazz are the most “European” teams in the NBA.

Credit to Stotts for seeking out different learning experiences. I visited a local junior college practice this week. I have tried to visit a Division I practice, but apparently they do not allow observers. Personally, I invite people to watch my practice; there is a college student volunteering with my team this year just so he can take notes and watch our practices. I love when I meet guys like him who want to learn; it disappoints me when I meet coaches who are too closed-minded to share with others or seek other learning opportunities.