What To Do When Your Team Can't Execute

Hey Coach,

Today’s letter is from Mark Cascio.

Mark is the Director of Coach Development at SAVI Basketball, and many of you know him as the creator of the Drive and Space offense.

I first met Mark when I watched him present at the Indiana State Coaches Association Clinic. He spoke just before me and I was learning and taking notes. 

When I went up, I just said, do what he showed you for offense. Now I'll teach you the LockLeft Defense :) He's a genius basketball coach and teacher. Enjoy this one from him. 

Late in the season, the temptation's real. 

Add one more play. Install one more wrinkle. Find the thing that fixes everything.

I get it. I've felt that too.

But if I'm being honest, the years where I added something late season were rarely my best teams. It never became who we were. We didn't have enough reps. We weren't comfortable. And it usually didn't show up the way I hoped when it mattered.

That doesn't mean you should never add. You know your team better than anyone. But I wouldn't start there.

I'd start by doubling down.

A college coach I work with reached out recently. He wanted three things.

Be better on the glass.
Create more disruption with their press.
Improve their offense.

He'd already installed three set plays. He was considering adding more, but he paused and asked the right question.

"This might be the worst execution team I've ever coached. How do I get them to execute better?"

My first question back was simple.

What're you executing well right now?

Not what you want to run.
Not what you ran with a different group.
What's actually working.

Then we zoomed out.

What coverages are you seeing most?
What're teams trying to take away?
Where are you already creating advantages?

From there, we talked about one idea: Prevent coverage or punish coverage.

Take switching for example.

If teams are switching your action, you've got two options.

Option one. Prevent the switch. Can you change spacing, timing, or tweak the action so the defense never gets the switch they want?
Option two. Punish the switch. If they do switch, where's the advantage? A mismatch. A slip. A post seal. A drive. Something's there.

Every coverage takes something away.
Every coverage gives something up.

Late in the season, the goal isn't to add more stuff.
It's to get really good at punishing what defenses are already giving you.

The next four weeks aren't about expanding the menu.
They're about mastering the best items on it.

If your team's struggling to execute, adding more usually makes it harder, not easier.

Double down on what works.
Strip away the rest.
And teach your players how to recognize and attack what the defense's showing them.

That's how teams play their best basketball when it matters most.

If you're thinking "but what about..."

I hear you. Hit reply. I'd love to hear what you're working through right now.

Cheers, 

-Mark

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