The 4 Traps That Steal Simplicity

Estimated read time: 4 minutes

Hey Coach,

"What are you focusing on this season?"

This is the question I ask coaches as they prepare.

Each usually responds with a list of 12 things. My eyes gloss over about halfway through…

Great coaches have a 1-item list.

Don Meyer said it best:

"You can do anything you want to do. You just can't do everything you want to do."

The S in SAVI is Simplicity. Simple isn't easy. Simple is what wins. While there may be many ways to move the needle on your objective, the key is knowing what the objective is. We have to increase our eFG%, or we must lower our TO rate, or we must improve our transition offense. Simplicity is what happens on the other side of sophistication. After you’ve done your deep dive, triage the issues. That’s SAVI.

Below are the 4 traps that pull you out of simplicity. And a fool-proof method to keep you in it.

Trap #1: Letting What Perturbs You Control You

You have pet peeves. Lazy closeouts. Bad shot selection. Sloppy passing.

When something perturbs you, it grabs the wheel. Now Tuesday's practice is fixing the thing that bugged you on Monday. Not the thing you decided in August would actually win games.

Frustration is a terrible head coach.

When the next thing perturbs you, do this: stop, zoom out, and ask if it's on the list of what actually drives winning. If not, let it go for today.

Don't run a practice that makes you feel good at the expense of your team's improvement.

Trap #2: "I Have a Play For That."

This is the maze with no exit.

Different team? New play. New skill needed? New drill. Tough scout? New BLOB.

You'll address every symptom and never cure the sickness.

If you spend 20 minutes a practice on a single sideline out of bounds for 4 points a game, but never teach your players how to get open, you're locked into that 20 minutes for the rest of your career. As soon as it's scouted, you need a new one.

That's procedure-based coaching. And procedure-based coaching procedures you to death.

Plays solve possessions. Principles build teams.

When something breaks, don't reach for a play. Zoom out to the greatest principle. Apply it. Let your players figure out the rest.

If you have a play for every situation, you have too many plays. You're doing too much.

Trap #3: Failing From Fear

You're going to fail at some things this season. Every coach does.

The only question is: when you fail, will it be from a courageous decision or a fear-driven one?

Coaches are scared of looking bad. Of losing buy-in. Of the assistant's opinion. Of a player quitting. Of a parent's email.

That fear traps you into compromise. And compromise bleeds your culture out. Death by a thousand cuts.

The right thing is still the right thing, even when it costs you.

Fight the identity battle once and never again. Say it plainly: "This is the standard we hold."

You can be inclusive. You can give players autonomy and responsibility. But the way we do things isn't up for debate.

If a player won't commit to the way you do it, you don't love them any less. They just go sit on the side. Because over here, on this team, our way is the price of admission.

The standard is going to hurt either way. Now or later. You get to choose when.

Trap #4: Downhill With No Brakes

You've been here. Mid-practice, mid-explanation, feeling sharp… and you look up to realize you lost the room three minutes ago.

That's coaching downhill with no brakes.

We get rolling, and we don't have a system to stop us. So practice gets longer, the install gets bigger, the playbook gets thicker. And the team gets more confused.

Complexity makes you a confusing coach, not a smarter one.

Whether the complexity comes from a pet peeve, a fat playbook, or a fear of saying no, it all ends up in the same place: confused players, fuzzy practice, and a season you spend reacting instead of building.

You need brakes. Here they are.

The Fool-Proof Method to Stay Simple

Three steps. Run them every season.

Step 1: Pick the one thing.

List everything you want to improve. Re-order the list by importance.

Ask your assistants to re-order it. Ask your players to re-order it.

Pick the single most important thing. Name it. Post it where everyone sees it daily. Write about it. Read about it. Talk about it.

The language matters. Decide the exact words your program will use to describe that one thing. Same words, every coach, every conversation. Confusion dies when language is shared.

When you're done, every player knows their one job. There are zero excuses.

Step 2: Measure it.

Measure it in practice. Measure it in games. Post the numbers where everyone can see them.

When you measure something publicly, it gets better. Every time.

Measurement is magic.

Step 3: Repeat until it's automatic.

Don't move on until your players do the thing without thinking. Until it's a habit. Until it's identity.

Then, and only then, go back to the list. Pick the next thing. Run the same play.

There's no clock on this. It takes what it takes.

You'll be tempted to skip ahead because, of course, you'll see other stuff that needs work. You'll coach those other things along the way. But you don't move the priority off the main thing until the main thing is automatic.

One Last Thing

Most coaches lose because they're trying to do too much.

DeVenzio knew this 40 years ago. Don Meyer knew it. Every great coach figures it out eventually:

Simplicity wins.

The game isn't simple. But your team can only execute what they can remember.

Pick one thing. Name it. Measure it. Make it automatic. Then go to the next.

Apply this, and you'll enjoy coaching like never before.

Stay SAVI,

-Tyler

P.S. If you liked this, you'll love our SAVI Coaching Podcast, The Hours. We cover stuff like this every week for your drive or your workout. Subscribe here.

P.P.S. Want to do this work with us? Join the SAVI Basketball Community for our courses, consulting, and cohorts. 👉 Click here to try it FREE for 7 days.

P.P.P.S. Want help finding the one thing for your team this season? Book a discovery call, and we'll help you figure it out. Click here to book 15 minutes with us.