Decision Making On the Court: It's Really Just A Matter of Yes or No?
#48- Decision Making on the Court
It's Really Just a Matter of Yes or No?
It's Really Just a Matter of Yes or No?
by Alan Lambert
Introduction
Hall of Fame Coach Dean Smith once said "you can't teach savvy (court sense)." While I believe there is a lot of truth in that statement as a coach, that doesn't mean as a player you should throw in the towel on your teams playbook if find yourself making poor decisions on the court. In fact just the opposite should occur. The more you understand your teams’ offensive and defensive schemes and drill those systems to the point of automation, the better decision maker you will undoubtedly become. Most poor decisions on the court are the result of the combination of several things.
First, it's playing under control and within your capabilities. Trying to do too much no matter what your skill level is like driving a clumsy car fast around a sharp turn. Somewhere you are going to lose it. Second, poor judgment occurs when you find yourself in situations you have not adequately practiced. Being creative on the court can be a good thing, but if you confuse your teammates by "creating outside the system" you will often find yourself walking the turnover plank with no possibility of return. The great teams and players drill for hours on the same situations (e.g. a mid-high pick and roll) so that they understand all the possible options a defense may throw at that event which makes the decision making easier and more automated. Finally, poor judgment occurs when your skill level limits or removes possible options which are the most obvious choices. A good example of this would be as a guard and getting attacked with a double team trap off a mid-high pick and roll. If your dribbling skills don't allow you to either split the double team and attack the basket, or use an explosive back up dribble to escape the trap pressure to create a safe passing space or attack angle than your decision is made for you. Lack of polished skills in most situations produces box canyon decision making. Your choices are made for you. Today's Playground Pointer focuses on these three aspects in helping you to understand that decision making on the court is really just a matter of learning yes or no decisions based upon practice.
Playing Under Control
Players practice and build basketball skills such as a jump shot, dribble patterns, defensive footwork as what are called motor programs. This analogy comes from computer science where a programmer writes a piece of code to perform a specific action. As human begins we develop a skill by piecing together a number of coordinated-timed movements commands. Through practice the amount of errors that occur in performing the skill are gradually reduced (refinement of the motor program) until it is nearly automated, done without thinking. Over time reducing error and wasted motion allows this motor program to be rapidly pulled out of memory, sent to your muscles, and executed in a very brief amount of time. This applies to the concept of playing under control because we learn and automate our skills at a given speed. Once you exceed that speed the integrity of your motor program to control all your movements deteriorates. Not only do you perform the skill more poorly (as a result of speed-accuracy tradeoff) but you are less likely to be able to successfully string together a series of motor programs to successfully complete your task. The result is you play off balance, out of control, making a poor pass, taking an off balance shot, or gambling on defense taking yourself out of proper position. While your brain may be presenting you with "practiced YES-NO" decisions by experience, playing out of control presents situations you rarely practice producing inconsistent feedback for making those court decisions. Here are a few tips to remember when building your basketball skills to produce the most efficient and automated motor programs;
1. Practice a skill slowly only until you get to the point where you can generally perform the mechanics of the skill correctly.
2. As soon as your mechanics become fairly automated, increase the speed with which you practice and keep practicing at that top speed until you begin to lose control of the skill.
3. If you lose control of your skill, drop it back a notch until you can gradually perform it at the game speed required at the level you play.
4. Practice each of the basketball skills you learn in various combinations, e.g., shoot off the pass, shoot off the dribble, and dribble penetration off the catch, chaining together various dribble moves in the open court and work to make the parts unpredictable and interchangeable, always with control.
5. Any time you feel you are losing control of your skills because of the speed of the game, go back to individual practice and work on further refining and automating that required basketball skill at a faster tempo, with more power and control. Remember you will only be able to make YES-NO decisions as fast as your skill level allows you to respond and execute that skill at the critical decision time.
2. As soon as your mechanics become fairly automated, increase the speed with which you practice and keep practicing at that top speed until you begin to lose control of the skill.
3. If you lose control of your skill, drop it back a notch until you can gradually perform it at the game speed required at the level you play.
4. Practice each of the basketball skills you learn in various combinations, e.g., shoot off the pass, shoot off the dribble, and dribble penetration off the catch, chaining together various dribble moves in the open court and work to make the parts unpredictable and interchangeable, always with control.
5. Any time you feel you are losing control of your skills because of the speed of the game, go back to individual practice and work on further refining and automating that required basketball skill at a faster tempo, with more power and control. Remember you will only be able to make YES-NO decisions as fast as your skill level allows you to respond and execute that skill at the critical decision time.
Practice Team Situations Repetitively
Once your basketball skills show signs of maturing it becomes important for a player to completely understand your teams offensive, defensive and transition systems of play. I heard it said as a young player, you should know everybody's position on the court and what they have to do in every situation. I'm not sure that is realistic in today game with many complex offensive and defensive systems, but it is critical that you know all the possible play situations based upon at least your two most often played position that you find yourself during the games. If you are running a set play offense this might require you to know two positions in a dozen or more set plays through not only the first option, but the second and third options as well. Out of each of those options, the defense will normally try to take away the prize option and force you to execute a counter play. The point I'm getting to is this; if you don't pay attention in practice, practice hard through all the team system drills, and develop the ability to pull a counter move from your brain and execute it under control against pressure, you will most likely put yourself into a poor position to make the proper decision on the court. This is especially true when you are playing basketball a team sport that requires you to understand the timing and spacing of 4 other players on your team and 5 defender at any given point in time. To simplify my point here let's take one example; a baseline flex cut within your offense.
An excellent coach will put you into 2 on 2, 3 on 3, on up to 5 on 5 practice situations where you learn specific options as the flex cutter. You might; a) cut over the top of the flex screen when the defender tries to go baseline side, b) duck under baseline if the defender attempts to slide over the top of the screen, c) step back for a quick diagonal return pass to the corner from which you started after you fade back to the corner when your defensive player cheats and gets inside the flex screen too early, or d) touch and go with the initial flex cut screener when teams attempt to switch this screen, resulting in you accepting the second flex down screen for the elbow jumper. The poor coach will not present you with enough practice time to automate the key decision. The good coach will have you over-practice it to automation.
It is your coach's job to put you into practice situations offensive, defensively and in transition so that you can practice all the possible variations to automation (the decision in a sense become its own motor program so to speak). Then it simply becomes a process of reading the critical cue (your defenders position as you come shoulder to shoulder with the flex screener) as a simply YES or NO decision.
While it is boring and redundant, there is no way around getting to this point in your game decision making without executing hundreds of repetitions of each situation. That is why it's so important to pay attention, go 100% all the time to create realistic game type decision situations. Here are a few tips for practicing in team situations;
While it is boring and redundant, there is no way around getting to this point in your game decision making without executing hundreds of repetitions of each situation. That is why it's so important to pay attention, go 100% all the time to create realistic game type decision situations. Here are a few tips for practicing in team situations;
1. Listen closely when your coach presents a specific team skill and pay particular attention to the details of proper execution of your position.
2. Try repetitively to execute your part of the team skill just as the coach wishes it done at game speed with control.
3. As your opponent begins to cheat or take away options begin to practice training yourself to see the critical cue which tips off whether you execute the primary, or counter option of a set action. This is essentially practice your yes-no decision. If you are uncertain of the cues, ask your coach to explain in more detail the team concept and what you are to do when your primary option is removed.
4. When you are on your own practicing your skills transplant your mind back into these practice situations and then work on improving the speed and quickness of your skill execution at these "decision nodes". Referring back again to our baseline flex cut example, this might be working putting your defender into and under the flex cut screen and exploding over the top. Then cut hard, push back and fade as if your defender cheated early to beat you to the lane and practice your jumper off a corner fade pass. There are literally hundreds of such situations in the game and you should ask your coach for a list of these to work on at your position if you are not experienced enough to pick them up on your own.
5. Use only cuts, dribbles, passes, and shot that you practice in individual time in team situations. If you discover you are lacking a critical skill necessary to make and execute good YES-No decisions in your team settings, than make a mental note and get back to individual practice time to work on them.
2. Try repetitively to execute your part of the team skill just as the coach wishes it done at game speed with control.
3. As your opponent begins to cheat or take away options begin to practice training yourself to see the critical cue which tips off whether you execute the primary, or counter option of a set action. This is essentially practice your yes-no decision. If you are uncertain of the cues, ask your coach to explain in more detail the team concept and what you are to do when your primary option is removed.
4. When you are on your own practicing your skills transplant your mind back into these practice situations and then work on improving the speed and quickness of your skill execution at these "decision nodes". Referring back again to our baseline flex cut example, this might be working putting your defender into and under the flex cut screen and exploding over the top. Then cut hard, push back and fade as if your defender cheated early to beat you to the lane and practice your jumper off a corner fade pass. There are literally hundreds of such situations in the game and you should ask your coach for a list of these to work on at your position if you are not experienced enough to pick them up on your own.
5. Use only cuts, dribbles, passes, and shot that you practice in individual time in team situations. If you discover you are lacking a critical skill necessary to make and execute good YES-No decisions in your team settings, than make a mental note and get back to individual practice time to work on them.
Eliminate Your Weaknesses to Improve Your Choices
I believe the greatest cause of poor decisions is the lack of a necessary skill at a critical point in the game. The player's who have all the dribbles, passing skills, and footwork has the greatest amount of options and can more freely play the game and respond to a series of rapid YES-NO decisions in a fluid successful manner. Note however that just having great skills does not make you a great decision maker. Good decision making is a combination of Usable Skills + Game and Practice Experience + Understanding Team System and Concept + Automation (or repetition) / Time. The more experience, skill, and understanding you have and the quicker you can execute them under control, the better your decision making becomes. The one thing that holds you back from playing at a faster more powerful tempo is often simply your basic skills: dribbling, passing, running, jumping, shooting, and defensive footwork. You might think of this as you being in a high speed dragster and using street tires to compete in a 6 second sprint. Don't let yourself play with street tires, develop the real deal. Here are a few tips for practicing to improve your individual skills;
1. Practice systematically so that you are either competing against a clock, someone else, or a goal. This helps you to understand if you are actually improving or back sliding and will reinforce good work habits when you practice.
2. Make full use of all your practice time. Great player don't fool around. They realize over the course of their career they have a given amount of time and make full use of all of it to improve areas they lack in on court performance.
3. Pick one weakness a year and spend a considerable amount of time automating that skill to bring your game to another level. This might be your left hand dribble, passing skills, shot off the dribble, 3 point shot, defensive slide footwork, etc. If you pick one skill a year, after 4-5 years you should be left with relatively few if any weaknesses.
4. When practicing your individual skills against a teammate or friend, practice the concept of YES-NO decision making. Learn and build a library of experience to pick up critical cue by your opponent which signals a primary or counter move to beat them to the goal.
5. Practice with individual skills with high intensity and effort at all times. Remember timing is critical to developing good decision making and the more you vary the speed you practice the longer it will take you to adequately automate your basketball skills slowing your progress toward becoming a faster and more efficient decision maker.
Summary
When you can put together these three aspects of your game: 1) playing under control with speed and power, 2) practicing for hours team decision making to the point of understanding all your options, and 3) eliminating all your skill weaknesses, you will be properly prepared to become the best decision maker you are capable of becoming. Experienced players talk about the game coming to them in "picture frames" and the game "slowing down" as the decisions become easier and more apparent. At each picture frame there is an obvious YES-NO decision which generally produces positive results on the court. This only comes through the process I have discussed in today's Playground Pointer. The YES-NO decisions do become easy. It's working hard enough, disciplined enough and focused enough to put together these elements that lead you to becoming a confident player and decision maker on the court that require your full attention.
2. Make full use of all your practice time. Great player don't fool around. They realize over the course of their career they have a given amount of time and make full use of all of it to improve areas they lack in on court performance.
3. Pick one weakness a year and spend a considerable amount of time automating that skill to bring your game to another level. This might be your left hand dribble, passing skills, shot off the dribble, 3 point shot, defensive slide footwork, etc. If you pick one skill a year, after 4-5 years you should be left with relatively few if any weaknesses.
4. When practicing your individual skills against a teammate or friend, practice the concept of YES-NO decision making. Learn and build a library of experience to pick up critical cue by your opponent which signals a primary or counter move to beat them to the goal.
5. Practice with individual skills with high intensity and effort at all times. Remember timing is critical to developing good decision making and the more you vary the speed you practice the longer it will take you to adequately automate your basketball skills slowing your progress toward becoming a faster and more efficient decision maker.
Summary
When you can put together these three aspects of your game: 1) playing under control with speed and power, 2) practicing for hours team decision making to the point of understanding all your options, and 3) eliminating all your skill weaknesses, you will be properly prepared to become the best decision maker you are capable of becoming. Experienced players talk about the game coming to them in "picture frames" and the game "slowing down" as the decisions become easier and more apparent. At each picture frame there is an obvious YES-NO decision which generally produces positive results on the court. This only comes through the process I have discussed in today's Playground Pointer. The YES-NO decisions do become easy. It's working hard enough, disciplined enough and focused enough to put together these elements that lead you to becoming a confident player and decision maker on the court that require your full attention.
Check back next month for another Playground Pointers courtesy of The Basketball Highway®.