Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Don't belittle the code

Steve Shields used to take a lot of flack from run-and-gun fans because he would teach his players, "Pass up a good shot to get a better shot." But after all, that is Coachspeak. He is talking to a bunch of kids who are hungry for the bright lights and ready to jack it up at the first opportunity. Good is good to the players. "Better" is better to the players. A lot of players never saw a shot that wasn't a good shot, so you have to by-pass that one in their thinking to get to an acceptable shot. "Pass up a borderline shot to get a good shot," is what the coaches really mean.

If the coaches were blunter, they might say, "Don't just jack up a 3-pointer the first time you are open for a split second." It is all code talk, and what the coaches meant in their code was good basketball.

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