Scouting – “The Great Chess Match” for Coaches and Players

I have always been fascinated with scouting. During my coaching career, I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to serve as scouting coordinator at the highest level of high school basketball during my 10-year tenure as an assistant under Coach Stu Vetter at schools such as Flint Hill Prep, Harker Prep and St. John’s Prospect Hall.  During that 10-year run, we played in high-stakes championship games against opponents like perennial powers St. Anthony’s, Oak Hill, Mater Dei and many more.

 

As I moved on to become the head coach at Bishop McNamara, scouting took on an even bigger role while competing in one of the toughest leagues in America – the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC). The league has traditional powers DeMatha, Gonzaga, St. John’s and Bishop O’Connell among others. To compete in this league night in and night out, you had better invest the time to scout your opponents and prepare your team to compete. It was through scouting, preparation and execution of the game plan that gave our teams the opportunity to be successful.

 

One of the greatest coaching experiences I’ve had is being selected as an assistant coach and scouting coordinator for USA Basketball’s Junior National U16 & U17 Developmental Team for two years.  The position afforded me the chance to learn the international game and rules, and the different playing styles of each country we played. More importantly, it allowed me to become even more of a student of the game.

 

My USA Basketball coaching experience came on the heels of the “Redeem Team” – the U.S. Senior National team’s run at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  My access to that team through USA Basketball permitted me yet another unique opportunity to learn, understand and watch the international game up close and personal, thus making scouting easier, more efficient and more effective. The combination of our talent, preparation, understanding of the scouting report and execution of the game plan allowed our Developmental team to win two GOLD MEDALS!

 

Now in my first year as an assistant coach at George Washington University, I continue to enjoy scouting, or what I like to call “The Great Chess Match.”  With as much technology and software available (Fast Scout, Fast Draw, Synergy, Sports Code, digital filming) to us at the highest level of college basketball, one must be careful not to get bombarded with information overload.  Information overload can and does render players helpless because they have gone from an instinctual athlete to a player who is thinking too much and trying to process too much information.

 

Therein lies the dilemma for the coach doing the scout – how much information is too much information? I have come to realize that the answer to that question lies in four areas:


1. The overall basketball IQ of your team.

2. The amount of information to be processed.

3. The amount of time to process the information.

4. How many different ways can we teach it: visually, written, verbally and kinetically based on different learning styles.

I believe that coaching staff’s scouting reports should contain all the necessary information that fits the head coach’s style. This is very important because it allows the head coach to become comfortable in developing a better understanding of the opponent. The head coach becomes confident in the game plan and better able to motivate and prepare his team to win.

 

The player’s scouting reports, in my opinion, should be considerably smaller in size, simpler with quick-hitting key attributes/weaknesses, and clear do’s and don’ts to eliminate gray areas.  I also believe the scouting report and the presentation of the scout should reflect the personality of the coach in charge of it. This makes the scouting report that much more believable to the players.

 

Scouting is “The Great Chess Match” because it allows the coaches to compete and play the game mentally after their time to physically compete and play passes with time and age.

 

The “chess matches” continue as coaches get up early and stay up late trying to find anything they can to give their team the best opportunity to be successful. Basketball is a game played like checkers, but requires the thinking of chess!

Positively Impacting Kids Lives

Positively Impacting Kids Lives

Written by Kevin Sutton

Assistant Coach at George Washington

 

 

Positively Impacting the lives of the Student/Athlete should be a primary focus of every coach.  The role of the coach is to take an interest in the development of his players in the following areas:

1. Academically
2. Athletically
3. Socially
4. Spiritually

The constant challenging and encouraging of them to reach their full potential in all of those areas.  Give them the opportunity and the platform to share their dreams, and their goals. Hold them accountable to do the work necessary to pursue and hopefully reach their dreams and goals.  Through the relationship that is developed the student/athlete can becomes a positive representation of your program.  A “living trophy” which is far more important that the trophies that sit in cases.

 

Team building will occur through constant communication in all forms. The clear articulation of the program goals; expectations, standards and affirmations that are vital to create the necessary “buy in” to be successful.   The Head coach must develop individual relationships as well as collective relationships with the players so that they can develop an understanding, which will lead to trust.

 

The formation of the team will take place through shared experiences and the understanding that in time the program will be bigger than the individual and that they are apart of the something special.

 

A Fellowship of Believers will be formed through:

1. Shared ownership
2. Shared suffering
3. Individual responsibility
4. Team before self
5. Collective Pride
6. Holding teammates accountable
7. Acceptance of roles
8. Belief in the overall success of the program

The bible passage Act 2:42 says, all the believers were together and had everything in common.

 

Winning is the by-product of consistently doing the right things over time.  Consistency is always about staying true to your core values and principals.  How you lead your life should speak volumes to others as to who you are and what you stand for.  Consistency is the cornerstone of all successful programs/organizations.

 

 

Tags: Bill O'Brien, Coaching, George Washington, Head coach, Health, Joe Paterno, Team building, United States

Abilities of a Player

The ability to play hard for a sustainable amount of time is what separates the above average players from the average and below average player. The things that make it possible for the above average player to be successful is:

1. Their ability to handle and deal with adversity
2. Their ability to compete at a high level with consistency
3. Their determination/drive to be the best
4. Their ability to deal with and conquer boredom
5. Their ability to play through lapses/lulls in the game
6. Their ability to handle early success
7. Their ability to handle failure
8. Their work ethic and attention to detail
9. Their preparation/approach to all task related to their game
10.  Their WILL

 

The simplicity of the game becomes complicated when players:

1. Lose their focus – due to lack of concentration
2. Are confused (information overload)
3. Fail to listen with their ears and learn with their eyes
4. Simply are not talented enough
5. Too selfish
6. Too stubborn – not coachable

Consistency can lead to compliance in others because:

1. Your effort is taken for granted.
2. Expectations start to become the norm
3. New people enter the picture with no frame of reference of what it has taken you to build your program.  They also start to offer their opinions without respect of and for the past.
4. Perception growth becomes the reality that a change needs to be made.

Advice For Life

My advice to all of you is very simple:

1. Be true to yourself and your personality. Teach to those two talents.
2. Dream big, but set obtaintable goals.
3. Write them down and place them were you can read them daily. Give them life by speaking of them to yourself and others.
4. Learn the art of networking.
5. Identify people you respect in your field and study EVERYTHING about them.
6 Read as much as you can and take notes on what you learned.
7. Develop your speaking skills and communication skills by using them.
8. Don’t be afraid to fail.
9. Create your our own opportunities
10. Stay focused through the good and bad times.
11. Share your ideas, thoughts and questions with people you respect.
12. Develop a relentless desire/work ethic to be SUCCESSFUL.

Tags: basketball, coach, Coaching, College and University, Communication, Education, kevin sutton, ksutton, National Basketball Association, National Collegiate Athletic Association

Basketball IQ the NEW Talent/Skill!

Basketball IQ the NEW Talent/Skill!

• Have you watched a basketball game lately and the game just left you wondering what happend?  Or why did that player take that shot? Or why didn’t the team call timeout? or Why did they foul?
• Have you ever wondered why so many time outs are called late in the game to diagram a play?  Why doesn’t the team have a play for that situation?
• Why do games just end with no strategy employed?

For that very reason, I have come to realize that the new talent/skill in the game of basketball is BASKETBALL IQ!  I define talent/skill as the ability to do something easily and quickly that sets you apart from others and makes you unique.

Examples of talent/skill in the game of basketball are:

• Dribbling skills - Chris Paul
• Passing skills – Jason Kidd
• Court vision skills - Steve Nash
• Shooting skills – Ray Allen
• Scoring skills – Kobe Bryant
• Rebounding skills – Kevin Love
• Defensive skills – Dwight Howard

I feel that basketball IQ is:

1. having the ability to process information at game speed
2. reading the flow of the game and determine if it needs to be changed
3. the understanding of the importance of time and score
4. the understanding of shot selection
5. the understanding of his teammates strength’s and weaknesses
6. knowing and developing an understanding of the scouting report/game plan
7. developing a relationship with the coaching staff so to better understand the system
8. knowing your opponents
9. watching tapes of your team, of yourself, of the opposing team and the person you will defend
10. listening to knowledgeable people, reading about the game, studying the game.
11. having the ability to understand what was drawn/discussed in the timeout, execute it on the floor and being able to make the proper “basketball reads” if the play isn’t there. This is especially important in late game situations.

I really believe that college coaches need to place an emphasis on recruiting BASKETBALL IQ just as much as they recruit the other 7 skills that I have listed above. The teams/programs that find those players that have high basketball IQs are going to be the teams/programs that will consistently win the close games.  When games are close a players basketball IQ thus becomes the real talent!

Tags: Accountability, basketball, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Intelligence quotient, Jason Kidd, kevin sutton, montverde academy, montverde basketball, Ray Allen, Sports, Steve Nash

Rotation and Scramble

The difference between defensive rotations vs defensive scramble at all levels, is the team that commits to defensive rotation and executes the rotation the best, will win majority of their games.

The team that forces itself into scramble situation means that offense is in control and thus will have a better opportunity at winning the game.

Here are my thoughts on the difference between ROTATION and Scramble.

1. Rotations are organized, pre-planned movements that are predicated by the ball movement and what has been determined by the scouting report.

2. Scrambles are random movements by the defense in an attempt to defend the ball.

3. Rotations start with ball location. Often times the location of the ball determines which rotation coverage will be employed.

4. Scrambles start as a result of the defense being too man oriented. Often losing site of the location of the ball.

5. Rotations require communication(information given,received and understood) verbally and nonverbally.

6. Scrambles are a by product of lack of communication.

7. Rotations start and end with TRUST!

8. Scrambles are a by product of a lack of focus.

9. Rotations are an example of early recognition and early thought.

10. Scrambles are an example of late recognition and late thought.

Tags: Baseball, Earned run average, Fort Bragg, Opening Day, Rotation, Sport, Teams, United States

Interview

Click HERE to see Coach Sutton being interviewed on Bright House Sports Network.

Tags: basketball, kevin sutton, ksutton, montverde basketball, mva basketball