“Nuggets”- Selective Additions to Your Systems and Philosophies

Instead of a regular article today, I thought I’d back up a bit and put a little perspective on Hoop Coach and the articles we’ve been sharing.

Back when I was a young coach, and attending a lot of clinics, I heard a wise speaker by the name of Hubie Brown say that from these clinics, one should really try to just find “nuggets”, which I took to mean short phrases that get to the essence of an idea that resonates with you. A perfect example of that to me at the time was this defensive gem, “Make your man put the ball on the floor and then make him pick it up.”

I thought then and I still think now the nugget approach is a great way to steadily grow as a coach whether one is attending a clinic, reading a book/article or watching a televised game/instructional video. What Coach Brown was really saying that day was, “Don’t just copy someone’s system, playbook, program or philosophy; develop your own and then selectively plug in nuggets from others that help you communicate your ideas to your players.”

So, this is precisely what I had in mind when I began writing articles for Hoop Coach. My thought was to present ideas to the readership for their consideration and if an idea clicked with individuals, they could incorporate it as a nugget, Hoop Coach was providing a necessary and potentially valuable service. As a forum for sharing ideas, one of Hoop Coach’s strengths is that it’s not “selling” and it’s not expecting “buyers” at the other end.

Because Hoop Coach is for the “serious” basketball coach”, many of you, if not most, have formulated well-developed philosophies and systems. But, the very fact that there are 18,000 of you means you’re likely still looking for ways to improve and/or advance.

With that in mind, we’ll keep providing topics and thoughts to consider.

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