ROUND TABLE 34 – IF YOU WERE NAMED THE CZAR OF BASKETBALL WHAT IS ONE CHANGE YOU WOULD MAKE IMMEDIATELY TO IMPROVE THE GAME? – EPISODE 542
Welcome to the 34th edition of the Coach’s Corner Round Table on the Hoop Heads Podcast. Each episode of the Coach’s Corner Round Table will feature our All-Star lineup of guests answering a single basketball question. A new Coach’s Corner Round Table will drop around the 15th of each month.
October’s Round Table question is: If you were named the Czar of Basketball what is one change you would make immediately to improve the game?
Our Coaching Lineup this month:
Please enjoy this Round Table episode of the Hoop Heads Podcast and once you’re finished listening please give the show a five star rating and review after you subscribe on your favorite podcast app..
- Erik Buehler – Chatfield (CO) High School
- Chris DeLisio – Olmsted Falls (OH) High School
- Bobby Jordan – Wagner College
- Liz Kay – Wahconah (MA) High School
- Aaron Meyer – 19Nine Vintage Basketball Apparel
- Matthew Raidbard – Author of Lead Like a Pro
- Don Showalter – USA Basketball
- John Shulman – University of Alabama-Huntsville
- Joe Stasyszyn – Unleashed Potential
- John Willkom – Author of The Walk-On Warrior
If you are a basketball coach at any level please check out our Hoop Heads Coaching Mentorship Program. You’ll get matched with one of our experienced Head Coaches and develop a relationship that will help take your coaching, your team, your program, and your mindset to another level.
Be sure to follow us on twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.
Let’s hear from our coaches about how they help their players improve their mental toughness.
Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!
- We’re excited to partner with Dr. Dish, the world’s best shooting machine! Mention the Hoop Heads Podcast when you place your order and get $300 off a brand new state of the art Dr. Dish Shooting Machine!
Prepare like the pros with the all new FastDraw and FastScout. FastDraw has been the number one play diagramming software for coaches for years, and now with it’s integrated web platform, coaches have the ability to add video to plays and share them directly to their players Android and iPhones via their mobile app. Coaches can also create customized scouting reports, upload and send game and practice film straight to the mobile app. Your players and staff have never been as prepared for games as they will after using FastDraw & FastScout. You’ll see quickly why FastModel Sports has the most compelling and intuitive basketball software out there! In addition to a great product, they also provide basketball coaching content and resources through their blog and playbank, which features over 8,000 free plays and drills from their online coaching community. For access to these plays and more information, visit fastmodelsports.com or follow them on Twitter @FastModel.
Grip Spritz is perfect for…
– Players: Tired of having no traction and slipping on the defensive end of the court or getting beat back door? Not anymore!
– Parents: Hate seeing your kids lick their hands to clean the dust off their shoes mid game? Never again!
– Coaches: Are you going through costly sticky pad and replacement sheets and players still aren’t getting the traction they need? Grip Spritz solves that!
THANKS COACHES!
If you enjoyed this episode let our coaches know by clicking on the link below and sending them a quick shout out on Twitter:
Click here to thank Erik Buehler on Twitter!
Click here to thank Chris DeLisio on Twitter!
Click here to thank Bobby Jordan on Twitter!
Click here to thank Liz Kay on Twitter!
Click here to thank Aaron Meyer on Twitter!
Click here to thank Matthew Raidbard on Twitter!
Click here to thank Don Showalter on Twitter!
Click here to thank John Shulman on Twitter!
Click here to thank John Willkom on Twitter!
Click here to let Mike & Jason know about your number one takeaway from this episode!
And if you want us to answer your questions on one of our upcoming weekly NBA episodes, drop us a line at mike@hoopheadspod.com.
TRANSCRIPT FOR ROUND TABLE 34 – IF YOU WERE NAMED THE CZAR OF BASKETBALL WHAT IS ONE CHANGE YOU WOULD MAKE IMMEDIATELY TO IMPROVE THE GAME? – EPISODE 542
[00:00:00] Narrator: [00:00:00] The Hoop Heads Podcast is brought to you by Head Start Basketball.
Mike Klinzing: [00:00:21] Hello, and welcome to the 34th edition of the Coach’s Corner Round Table on the Hoop Heads Podcast. Each episode of the Coach’s Corner Round Table, will feature our [00:03:00] all-star lineup of guests answering a single basketball question, a new Coach’s Corner Round Table will drop around the 15th of each month.
October’s round table question is, “If you were named the Czar of Basketball, what is one change you would make immediately to improve the game?”
Our coaching lineup this month includes:
· Erik Buehler – Chatfield (CO) High School
· Chris DeLisio – Olmsted Falls (OH) High School
· Bobby Jordan – Wagner College
· Liz Kay – Wahconah (MA) High School
· Aaron Meyer – 19Nine Vintage Basketball Apparel
· Matthew Raidbard – Author of Lead Like a Pro
· Don Showalter – USA Basketball
· John Shulman – University of Alabama-Huntsville
· Joe Stasyszyn – Unleashed Potential
· John Willkom – Author of The Walk-On Warrior
Please enjoy this round table episode of the Hoop Heads Podcast. And once you’re finished listening, please give the show a five star rating and review.
If [00:04:00] you’re a basketball coach at any level, please check out our Hoop Heads coaching mentorship program. You’ll get matched with one of our experienced head coaches and develop a relationship that will take your coaching, your team, your program, and your mindset to another level.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.
Hey Hoop Heads! I wanted to take a minute to shout out our partners and friends at [00:02:00] Dr. Dish Basketball. Their Dr. Dish shooting machines are undoubtedly the most advanced and user-friendly machines on the market. Sign up now for their virtual camp. 2.0 featuring 10 days of workouts with pro trainers from the Dr. Dish family. Learn more at Dr. Dish basketball.com and follow their incredible content @DrDishbball on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Mention the Hoop Heads Podcast and save an extra $300 on the Dr. Dish Rebel, All-Star and CT models. Visit DrDishbasketball.com for details. That’s a great deal Hoop Heads! Get your Dr. Dish shooting machine today!
[00:02:42] Pascal Meurs: Hi, this is Coach Pascal Meurs from Belgium and you’re listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast.
[00:02:51] Mike Klinzing: Prepare like the pros with the all new FastDraw and FastScout. FastDraw’s been the number one play diagramming software for coaches for years. You’ll quickly see why Fast Model Sports has the most compelling and intuitive basketball software out there. For a limited time Fast Model is offering new subscribers, 10% off Fast Draw and Fast Scout. Just use the code, save10 at checkout to grab your discount and you’ll be on your way to more efficient game prep and improved communication with your team. Fast Model also has new coaching content every week on its blog. Plus play and drill [00:02:00] diagrams on its playbook. Check out the links in the show notes for more information. Fast Model Sports is the best in basketball.
Let’s hear from our coaches about one change they would make immediately to improve the game if they were named the Czar of Basketball.
[00:03:48] Mike Klinzing: Erik Buehler, Chatfield Senior High School, Littleton, Colorado.
[00:03:54] Erik Buehler: Hey, what’s going on Hoop Heads? This Erik Buehler at Chatfield senior high. And this month we were asked if we were [00:04:00] dissolved basketball.
What’s one thing that we would change about the game. And I think there’s so many awesome things about this game that we can all agree on. Being a high school coach in Colorado in the U S I would, I would change that we, we change high school rules to the international rules and we play with the shot clock and we change the goaltending rules and all those awesome things that we see in international.
That’s what I would change it. Thanks for having me again, everyone out there have a good week.
[00:04:34] Mike Klinzing: Chris DeLisio – Olmsted Falls High School, Olmsted Falls, Ohio
[00:04:42] Chris DeLisio: Chris DeLisio, Olmsted Falls. Tough to really come up with a change to the game. But I think that when you think about improving the game, I think one of the things I’d love to see is more collaboration between the coaches and the officials and in districts and communities and things like that.
I think that, [00:05:00] you know, the separation of You know, looking at the game from the coach to the official perspective is, is a gap that we could probably bridge if we would get together more and talk about the game and see both, both sides, perspectives, and coaches could hear what officials want from coaches and Vice-versa and I think that dialogue and some way to maybe get associations together and to try to communicate whether it’s some sort of conference or some sort of you know, some sort of clinic where we could get together, I think would really be beneficial for both sides and get us a little bit more on the same page as you know, it’s tough for both sides when coaching or refereeing basketball games.
[00:05:43] Mike Klinzing: Bobby Jordan, Wagner College, Staten Island, New York.
[00:05:51] Bobby Jordan: One change that I would make to immediately improve the game will be to Institute the shot clock throughout high school basketball in every state. I think this has [00:06:00] been a hot topic the past couple of years. But I just think it’s it’s necessary.
Not only does it prepare kids. So move on to the next level where there is a shot clock at every level. But also just helps out. Coaches helps out the players just play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. It eliminates the stall ball games that we see at times in high school basketball or even a new basketball.
And I think it would just teach kids the right way to play.
[00:06:29] Mike Klinzing: Liz Kay from Wahconah High School in Dalton, Massachusetts.
[00:06:35] Liz Kay: Hi everyone. Liz Kay from Wahconah Regional High School in Dalton, Massachusetts. And I’m excited to answer this month’s round table question on a change. I would immediately make to improve the game of basketball as a high school coach. For me, I guess it would be two things.
The first would be that kids are exposed to play man to man defense. At the youth level a lot earlier and a lot more often, I think it should be requirement in the sense that too often we see [00:07:00] people trying to win travel league games, playing a two, three zone sagging or, you know, pressing full court with trapping.
When they know another team doesn’t have a ball handler, but never really understand and learn the foundational principles of. Rotations on ball defense, proper close outs, et cetera. So that would be the first change that I would make as I really believe that it would improve the ability of kids to play defense before they get to see me.
The second thing I would change. Would be that I think it would be great if everybody had a shot clock in high school basketball. I think it, especially if they want to play at the next level. One thing I’ve learned from, from going from a state that did not have a shot clock to one that does, is that coaches, you have the ability now to.
To plan, according to number of possessions left in the game, rather than planning by score and the, and learning the proper way to, to run a delay offense when to [00:08:00] pressure on defense and just overall, I think it would really increase the IQ of players on the floor as they, as they go throughout their high school career and beyond hope, this is helpful.
Hope everybody’s doing well and happy October.
[00:08:17] Mike Klinzing: Aaron Meyer from 19 Nine Vintage Basketball Apparel
[00:08:25] Aaron Meyer: Aaron Meyer, 19 nine. What would I do if I was the czar of basketball? I think this one’s pretty easy. I’m going to cheat a little bit. I would say that anything that stops the flow of the game is what I would take. If I’m being specific, it’d be replay right now. There’s nothing that ruins the end of games.
Then watching three referees at a monitor checking whether the ball went off someone’s hand, just basketball is about a celebration of flow and athletics. And watching people watch a monitor is the antithesis [00:09:00] antithesis of that. So there are lots of other things like back court files that stop a fast break.
But if I had to pick one thing to start off with, it’d be repaly.
[00:09:12] Mike Klinzing: Matthew Raidbard – Author of Lead like a Pro.
[00:09:19] Matthew Raidbard: Hi everyone. This is Matthew Raidbard, former division one men’s college basketball coach, and excited to be here as a part of the Hoop Heads round table conversation. Also thank you Hoop Heads for allowing me to be the czar of basketball here for a minute and let everybody know. To change that I would make immediately to improve the game.
As soon as I got this question, my mind went in one direction immediately, and that was that we need to add a four point line couple of caveats to that. You know, I would only add the four point line in the last two minutes of each. And also I would make the four point line 10 feet back from whatever the distance was at that level.
I think this would do a couple of things for the game. I think it would, it would help [00:10:00] to open up the courts at the end of games and at the end of halves just to allow for just more creativity, more flow. I also think it will allow defenses to be more creative, to have to pick up higher defenses.
We’ll have to kind of design schemes. Some unique coaching decisions can be made in these last two minutes of both halves. Not only will also add to the excitement. I think it’ll kind of, it adds to the strategy of the game. It allows for more opportunities for. In the last two minutes, you’re kind of that idea of never being out of it is really amplified even more once there’s a four point shot.
And I also think it plays into the, you know, the growth of the game and where we are with on the men’s and women’s side, which the depth of what. Players are shooting from now, but I think it does it in a controlled way so that we don’t have it for the entire length of the game. And that just becomes the new focus is shooting these, these deep four point shots.
I think it becomes much more structured and allows for coaches to help integrate it into the game in a more [00:11:00] strategic way. So thanks for having me as part of the round table discussion and let the conversation around the four point shot big.
[00:11:12] Narrator: Are you
[00:11:12] Mike Klinzing: Are you tired of slipping and sliding on the court and sticky sheets, just aren’t giving you grip? Grip-Spritz solves this problem without having to lick your hand to clean your shoes. Grip-Spritz is used by countless AAU [00:16:00] high school and college programs. Semi-pro teams as well as NCAA and G league players, unlike other products, Grip-Spritz has solutions for individual players, not just entire teams.
We’ve used Grip-Spritz at our Head Start Basketball Camps, and players love it.To keep you and your team from slipping and sliding. Visit gripspritz.net to learn more.
Don Showalter USA Basketball
[00:11:57] Don Showalter: Hi, Don Showalter here with USA basketball. [00:12:00] If I was named the czar of basketball, one thing I would change to make the game much better immediately would be to adopt a fever rules at all levels for all basketball played in the United States and all over the. The fever rules certainly make the game much, much better for the players develop skills better.
And also it puts a, it lets coaches really have a say in the ability to coach players and teams at a high level, when you have fever rules. I think the other thing I would say. And if I was czar of basketball on one and one thing to put in besides a fever rules would be to have every coach be licensed in basketball in some way and form which would take care of coach has just come in off the street and saying Eric coach and, and be, and be able to coach without any experience [00:13:00] knowledge, or basically being accountable to anybody. Thank you.
[00:13:06] Mike Klinzing: John Shulman – University of Alabama-Huntsville, and the 720 Sports Group.
[00:13:13] John Shulman: This is John Shulman, head coach at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. And the question this time is if you were the czar of basketball, what would you change immediately? And I’m going to take a different route to this.
I don’t think I’d change anything. The game is always changing and you’ve got us stay ahead of it. And I love that part of it. Three point lens moving back this year for us on the division two level. It’s a pretty deep three and but I think it makes you think. How are you going to play defensively?
How you going to play off offensively? Is it worth the shooting 24 footers? Or should you go back inside? Can you guard the entire court now? Because the court [00:14:00] now is more spread for us? I think the game. Always changing. When I changed the shot clock, no, it’s just, it evolves. Would I change the lane?
No, but if it, if it changes, we’ll we’ll adjust. And so I don’t the only, the only thing I don’t like about the game, I think there’s probably too much talking China to belittle your opponent. Especially as, as I’m watching you, you just, you know, make a shot, move on back down the floor, go dunk on someone’s head and don’t make a commotion out of it.
Just get on that dental floor. But that, you know, that’s the part, the social media part of it breaking, you know, I never understood breaking again. Ankles and making them fall and missing a shot that doesn’t do a whole lot for me just go play, but I’m also old school with that. So that would be the only part I would if I could change.
But you know, this kind of, part of it, the teams that want to talk, talk, and the teams that want to play, [00:15:00] play teams that want to play zone, get to play zone. And if you believe in it, and if it’s very sound, you know, there’s a thousand ways to defend a thousand ways to score the ball. They’re there.
All right. If you truly believe in it and none of them are wrong and it’s just kind of whatever you believe. So if I was the czar of basketball for a day, what would I change? I don’t think I’d change anything. I think it’s a beautiful game and a wonderful game. And. Someone asked me the other day, would you know, how are you going to guard penetration?
How are you going to guard penetration from the top? And you’ve got a guy in a ball sack quarter and you can’t help off the ball sack quarter. Why not? Why can’t you? Some people do most dealt. I don’t mind it. So, you know, what we try to do is know free those. No second shots, no layups. So is that bad? Well, most people, a lot of people want to take away the three-point land right now.
So, so that’s what makes it interesting and fun [00:16:00] is, is the kind of the different things of basketball. You can do it in different ways and no one does it the same. So I know this doesn’t help. I know I didn’t answer the question correctly, but boy, what a great game. And I wouldn’t change any part of it.
[00:16:17] Mike Klinzing: Joe Stasyszyn – Unleashed Potential Carlisle, Pennsylvania
[00:16:23] Joe Stasyszyn: Joe Stasyszyn – Unleashed Potential. This month’s question is if I was czar of basketball, what is the one change that would make to improve the game here in the United States? That is a loaded question. The first thing I would say is. One change I would make, I would make is that we should follow the fever rules in the United States.
We’re the only country, probably in the whole world that doesn’t play by the FIBA rules. So there’s a lot that goes into that. I’ll try and focus on one major thing in terms of youth basketball, starting at the grassroots level a [00:17:00] and grassroots level. The first thing I would say is Euro player.
Tend to be way more skillful than players you, you players in the United States. So first of all, I think we got to really get back to dedicating ourselves, to teaching the fundamentals in the youth where it’s not about winning all the time. But it’s more about learning how to play the game. You know, for instance, in youth basketball, a lot of times coaches will put the biggest player in the post.
The biggest kid will play in the post. I think we have to get away from that and concentrate on more on making bass kids, basketball players, rather than. Locking them into positions because just because of the biggest kid in the youth game, you know, in the early development does not mean that they will be the biggest kid later on.
So I think we’ve got to focus more on making them basketball players rather than teaching them how to play a possession, teach them how to play all around basketball. The other thing that I really think that goes along with this is. In the, in the youth [00:18:00] basketball, not allowing players of teams to play zone defense.
I know in other countries like Canada, for instance, that they have what they call zone monitors that will go around to youth basketball. And they will stop a game if they see a coach playing a zone defense in a youth game. So I really liked that idea. And I think that that will go a long way for us in grassroots basketball and not how it not allowing them to play zone defense.
The other big part of this is also the having you know, over Europe. They have most countries have a coaching certification to coach at any age, any player of any age now here in the United States, I think we’re making, we’re making a great start by having a USA basketball license. I’d like to see that taken a little bit further at some point and have an actual coaching certification where coaches have to have continuous coach development, take courses and continuous coach development, because a lot of times coaches are in it for the wrong reasons.[00:19:00]
They’re not trained. They’re all the only thing they care about is winning. So I think a coaching certification will go a long way here also in the United States to have every coach trained and certified by like say USA basketball and something like that in that regard, because we need more structure in our game, especially at the grassroots level.
And I think certification would help to do that and also be able to teach fundamental. Of the game and teach team basketball because, you know, in the United States, a lot of times we get more carried away with, you know playing games, playing 80 or a hundred games a summer, rather than working on our skills.
I think it should be reversed. I think it should be at least 70% skills versus 30% game play. So I think that goes along with the whole idea of. Really evolving the grassroots game of the way that we that, that we coach it and that we teach it here in the United States. And probably the last [00:20:00] biggest thing, I would say there’s so many different issues.
There’s so many different things you can tie into this. But the last biggest thing with, with playing the fever rules is w we’re probably one, or if not, the only country non states is still does not have a shotgun. For high school and youth basketball, you know, it really makes no sense at all that, you know, we go to college and we have a shock clock.
We’d go to the NBA or MBA. We have a shotgun. We play internationally, you know, in, in a FIBA America’s championships, in a different world championships and they have a shot clock, but here in the United States, we still do not have, for the most part. The majority of the country does not have a shot clock, which is I think is a really, really big issue today that kids need to learn how to be able to play with a shot clock because everywhere else, everywhere else.
Beyond youth basketball, they have to play with a shot clock, either nationally or internationally. There are just some ideas that they, you know, [00:21:00] that, that we could improve the game, especially the grassroots game here in the United States. Thank you.
[00:21:08] Mike Klinzing: John Willkom – Author of Walk-On Warrior.
[00:21:11] John Willkom: Hey everybody. This is John Willkom, former Marquette basketball player, Milwaukee Buck employee and author of the book, Walk On-Warrior and just overall basketball enthusiast. I’m excited to answer this month’s round table. Question about if I was a star of basketball, what would I change? I think the number one thing that sticks out to me is just the inconsistency of rules across every level of the game.
Watching the NBA versus a college game versus a high school game and just how it’s officiated. It just gets on my nerves. You know, I think that there should be a standard of basketball in terms of, in terms of what the rules are. And especially as so many young kids, you know, idolize and, and watch NBA players you know, the way that they play oftentimes you just, you can’t do certain things [00:22:00] that you, that you watch an NBA game.
In high school game, for example. And so, you know, we’ve talked about traveling and some of those things for years, I’m talking about more. You know, the way that you can play defense and just how the game is officiated. And obviously the NBA is trying to you know, create excitement by because they want scoring, you know, they want off fence.
They want statistics that grabs headlines. And it’s what everybody wants to see. But I do think in a lot of ways it’s, it’s bad for the game. Just because there is so much inconsistency. And then at the same time, As a coach, it just really limits what you can do. You know, I laugh because there was a stat that said that, you know, the first year of, of NBA coaches challenges 44% of the calls were overturned after video review.
And I’m thinking to myself, all right, if you know, several assistant coaches are watching, you know, the jumbo Tron replay of, of a play and potentially other people, even from a boat and. Only only 44% of the time. [00:23:00] What those coaches see the referees agree with. It just shows you how how gray, you know, the, the rules are.
You know, if you challenge a call and you have, you have consensus amongst your coaching staff, that, you know, something was a foul or it wasn’t a foul or there’s clear evidence to, to throw that challenge out there. You think that number would be, you know, probably over 90%. So I think, I think that’s crazy.
I think it would be good if there was more, more rural consistency. And I think it’d be more fun because. You know, whether you’re in high school and you’re watching something that you think is cool. The other thing from a coaching perspective, it’s just what you can do. Especially defensively as a coach you know, watching 82 games in the NBA of, of, you know, a hundred percent man to man defense.
It just, it, it looks like the same thing over and over again. So, you know, I would love to you know, see more. Full court, trapping defense you know, different types of zones utilize even some of these, you know, junk defenses or certain strategies on a [00:24:00] specific players. And I get that it’s 82 games and you’re not going to probably do that often just from a, from an energy conservation standpoint, but just, just the ability to change some things and coach the game with, with a full toolbox.
I think would be really cool.
Mike Klinzing: [00:24:12] Thanks for checking out this month’s Hoop Heads Podcast Round Table. We’ll be back next month with another question for our all-star lineup of coaches.
Narrator: [00:24:27] Thanks for listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast presented by Head Start Basketball.