Runnin' the Show: Basketball Leadership for Coaches and Players

by Dick DeVenzio

Runnin' the Show spells out what it takes to be a real leader on a basketball court. Insightful and unusual, this book covers many original ideas and creative concepts that lead to winning basketball. Not a typical basketball book, Runnin' the Show is an indispensable guide for coaches and players trying to lift their basketball to a higher level.

Genres: Basketball, Sports

139 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

Reviews

[Tim Baumgartner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ch. 1: Runnin the Show—Foundations
The Rusty Sword
Use what you’ve got to succeed.

College Failure
Ask your players, “Is there anything I have said or done that is keeping you from fully using your ability tonight?” (25)

Ch. 2: As a Coach: Suggestions for Coaches
Pavlovian Basketball
For example, when a player catches the basketball, you don’t want them thinking what to do, as there are a lot of options. There is only one option. Look to the basket. [If there’s no shot and no one open, then some thinking can be involved.]

Same with rebounding. At some point, a player has to decide whether or not to keep trying for a rebound, but not initially. [Head to the basket every time!]

His own personal “instant salivations:”
• In practice, when they hear a whistle, they stop. When two whistles, they come running. If they see a coach point to a line, they sprint to it and line up.
• Etc.

The more consistent you are, the more consistent your team will be. Dr. Pavlov didn’t hope his dogs salivated every time he rang a bell. He trained them until they salivated every time he rang a bell. (30)

Coaching the “Line Game”
• Emphasize Execution, Not Conditioning
• Make Laziness Work for You
“I am not so concerned with how well you can run as I am with how well you can execute, how well you can do the things we need to do to score buckets and stop them from scoring buckets.”
My emphasis is entirely on terrific basketball. (32)
[Don’t have them save energy for the end of practice—use it in every drill!]
• The Easy Way Out
Typically, a failure to execute results in a sprint to the line, a brief comment, and then an up-and-back (a sprint to the other end of the court and back). [They can get out of the sprint down and back IF they answer us properly].
• Searching for Reasons, Not Excuses
…turning your team into basketball thinkers versus basketball excuse-makers is a whole different matter.
o “I didn’t hustle coach.”
o “I didn’t get my hand up coach.”
o “I didn’t yell coach.”
o [Sometimes we hear things we didn’t even see!]
o KEY: Don’t surprise them! Hold them accountable for things we have discussed with them—pick ONLY 1-2 things to start out!
• Intelligent, Every-time Reinforcement
o Offense: only take good shots; take no unnecessary dribbles; throw no errant passes; positive emotions.
o Defense: get a hand in each shooter’s face; block out and move towards the ball on all rebounds; move their feet on D; avoid stupid reaching fouls; a sense of urgency in their faces.
o Consistency is key!
Principles Requiring Consistent Performance or Punishment
Write on a board the focus of the day!
Following is an explanation of the principles that I think are musts in coaching a successful team.
• Attitude
o Shows of emotion that are negative waste time and hurt team morale.
• Shot Selection
o LONHOBIRAT (Lay-up Or a shot with No Hand up, On Balance, In Your Range with Adequate Time to shoot.)
o 9=a very easy, uncontested lay-up
o 7=a good shot; I’m elated with it
o 5=a so-so shot; it works often—in practice
o 3=a bad shot; a very low percentage shot that everyone realizes should not be taken—you just can’t have these.
• P-Dribbles
o [Standing and dribbling with no purpose]
• Sure and Maybe Passes
o Good offense comes first over defense [according to Devenzio, who reasons if we can’t function offensively, the other team will get easy lay-ups and we can’t use our defense that “wins championships.”
o During scrimmages, punish bad passes uniquely. [Traveling violations, three second violations, charges—these have none of the devastating effects of a pass to the other team.
o No “throwing the ball up for grabs.”
o [Make a list of things I will not tolerate.]
• 3-2 Movement
o Have at least 3 players go to the offensive glass (the other two go to each elbow looking for long rebounds as well as getting back to stop the break.) 3-2 Movement!
o [Do I agree with this? I think I want to send 2 to the offensive glass, but ALL 5 to the defensive glass]. If this is what we decide to do, we should see 2-3 movement EVERY time.
o [One can go to the free throw line, and if it doesn’t come to him, look for their PG and where the outlet might go to so we can steal it. 2 others should be getting back on D.]
• Defensive Principles
o Every coach needs to make up their pet peeves and points of emphasis. Here are his:
• Keep the ball in sight at all times.
• Contest every shot.
• Never allow a right hand lay-up.
• Don’t allow the ball to beat a defender down the court. But if it does happen, there’s one acceptable response: an all-out sprint.
o I would punish any transgressions of these rules on the first day of practice and every day thereafter; and I would add some rules about talking and switching and urgent body language soon after.
o [Keep adding to the list, if possible, but it might be best to keep it between 6-8 crucial points. IF you want more, there better be some hawk-eyed assistants who can interrupt at any time!]

Assigning Duties to Players, Parents, and Assistant Coaches
• The assistants need to be told what their expectations are and what they are responsible for.
• Rebounding stats, shot selection stats, minutes played, timeouts remaining—you decide. Give them things to do that can help your team improve. Don’t let them sit around and be a problem when you can put them to work and help everyone.
• The same goes for players on the bench. Isn’t there information you’d like to know? How was the team’s help-side awareness? How well did the team communicate? Etc. But no one asks them to do it.
o How many uncontested shots did we give them?
o How many fast-break lay-ups?
o [We need info like this for the end of quarters or half-time.]
• Clipboards on the bench
o Have players who are sitting out to write down crucial successes and failures of the guy whose position he will be taking.
o When someone subs, they should pass it on to the other person and they continue the process.
• Busy, Not Troublesome, Parents
o Have them record their son’s performance at practice and games—especially if they are becoming a nuisance.
o Organize events at halftime for little kids.
o Who will check on the team’s grades?
o What about post-game snacks?
• Empower Your Leaders
o Don’t have a team vote for who are the captain(s)—unless, of course you have the final say-so.
o [Choose the player who can lead and who can get things done for you.]
o Don’t just make it a popularity contest.
o Really empower your captain and give them responsibility and let the team know we expect their cooperation.
• Give Your Players the Opportunity to Lead (Don’t Dominate the Action at Every Minute)
o Don’t always bark out commands—it prevents opportunities for others to speak up. Reflect afterwards and talk about how to move forward.
• Define Leadership (Let your players know what you want done.)
o Leadership is more learned than natural.
o Take extra time to talk to your leader every day.
o That way they will have extra information to share with the rest.
• Upset about Something? (Maybe you ain’t taught it well enough)
o If things aren’t going well, you have one person to blame—yourself
o Somehow you haven’t:
• communicated well enough
• explained clearly enough
• taught convincingly enough what it is that you want
o If something is important to me, write it down, clarify with the captains what my requirements are and give time to what I value.
• Good Coaches are Good Because…
o They realize they can’t get things done themselves or by begging. You have to form a partnership with your top players [and find out what they want].
o The way you develop a team has a lot to do with what you get the players to envision and agree to at the start of the season. [Prepare them in advance for the difficulties that lie ahead].
• Do Most of Your Coaching in Air-Conditioned Rooms
o [in relaxed atmospheres]
o The difference between maturity and immaturity is one hour. Maturity equals one hour. A mature player doesn’t argue with a coach in the gym. He performs, accepts criticism, does his best under the circumstances, waits an hour until after practice to express to you any ill feelings, misunderstandings, or disagreements that may have arisen during practice.
o If you ever have a player who can’t follow this equation, give him the day off and see him tomorrow—in an air conditioned room.
• Superior Practice Sessions
o Good practices over a period of time makes a team better.
o [However, many young coaches are more animated in games than in practice. The best coaches reverse this; they work a lot harder in practice than in games.]
• You need Winners and Losers—Successes and failures—on Every Play in Practice
o One of the biggest mistakes an inexperienced or ineffective coach makes is having practice after practice where it’s not really clear if your players are getting better.
o Don’t let a person dribble from half-court and make a lay-up when the defense is set up. There NEEDS to be helpside!
o [There needs to be a definite sense of success or failure…] it can’t be based on the fact that a stronger, taller starter happens to hit a so-so shot over a weaker, smaller kid from the junior varsity.
o You have to remind your players constantly to practice as though there are bigger, stronger stars in the gym, not the second string.
o The things we do has to succeed against bigger, better players; otherwise practice is wasted.
• Was a hand in their face? If so, a point goes to the D.
• Was dribbling in a huge zig-zag? If so, a point to the D.
• Play 10-12 players in every game
o “The way you practice is the way you play in the game.” [What does this say about the converse? What if they don’t play in games?]
o Give people clear roles and clarify what a good performance is.
• Fighting for loose balls
• rebounding
• defending
• hustling
• play error-free on O
• Recognize you will likely only play a minute or two a half, but it will increase as long as they can show their abilities are on the same level as the starters.
o Keep track of player’s plus/minus! [What was the score when people entered the game? What was it when they left?]
o I don’t believe any coach who says he has no bench and can afford to play only five guys. I think he has to have confidence in himself and he has to have a better understanding of how to teach athletes to perform.
o Typically, the reason a coach doesn’t have a bench he can go to in the second half is that he doesn’t go to that bench in the first half.
o Note: If you have six or seven substitutes [#11 & 12 men—last 2 off the bench]capable of playing at nearly the same level, I would use the sixth and seventh players in substitute roles during the last minute of, perhaps the second or third quarters—and play them along with the best three or four players you can find.
• Decide your players’ playing time before each game begins
o Let each pair of players (two players for each position) know how they will split the playing time, dividing the splits by quarter.
o Some pairs may split 6-1, with six minutes going to the star and one minute going to the lesser player; while other pairs have 5-2 or 4-3 splits.
o Notice that the splits add up to seven minutes, not eight. That gives me the opportunity to use my whims during the last minute of each quarter if I want to, or to make sure that a player scheduled to play one minute gets his full minute of play should he not be able to enter the game immediately upon reporting to the scorer’s table.
o Or, you can follow bullet #2, and go by our gut feeling in the fourth period.
o 3-1-3?
o It all balances out in the end according to fate, as the author puts it.
o In my opinion, the power I give up by surrendering control of substitutions for most of the game is more than made up for in team spirit, commitment, and confidence.
o This system says loudly and clearly: I have confidence in you.
o If you mess up, so be it. You have another chance coming soon. Get ready for it!
o Don’t allow them to be scared of making a mistake and then they will be yanked.
• What about a player who is hot?
o Stats say it doesn’t matter.
• What about blowouts?
o Try to get better—don’t take it easy.
• Spend 5% Max Talking to Referees (And 95% talking to your players)
• Throw Away the Handcuffs
o (Let Your Players do their thing)
o You want players to build stardom from the ground up, step by step.
o Emphasize what needs to be emphasized. Change your criticisms from “Don’t do that!” to “Hey, that’s not your thing, is it?”
• Take Time to teach procedures [Such as:]
o How do you want practice to start?
o What do we want players to be doing when coaches get to the gym?
o How do we want players to huddle during time-outs?
o How do we want them to go into and out of games?
o How do we want them to be prepared for meetings?
o Can they throw a towel, kick a bench, throw a paper cup/water bottle, etc.?
o Don’t be afraid to bore your team with details—put in writing exactly as we want.
• Put important things 1 on a page and have the manager pass them out and have ANYONE tell us when things are not kept.
• One Bad Apple
o “One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.”
o If we can’t control that one player, and we try to get them to stop doing things, either kick them off the team [and get rid of the cancer] or blame those who are quiet and not speaking up.
• Over-coaching
o Try to do a few things well instead of lots of things not very well.

Ch. 3: As a Player: Suggestions for Players
...reminders are among the most overlooked skills in sports.

Miss America in the Huddle
Keep eye contact on whoever’s coaching/talking during the huddle at all times.
[Be ready to tap a player on the shoulder or make eye contact to get a person on track.

MJ in the Gym
Play like you’re trying to impress MJ who just walked in the gym.

The “Parable” of the Rich, Red-Hatted Lady
[Read pages 89-90 about the story to the team and share it at tryouts for motivation to give effort on every play.]

The 6-to-1 Ratio
Lots of people complain that they want to lead, but people won’t listen to them.
[Plan on sharing 6 good things for every criticism or correction.]
To be a leader, maybe you need to go home and think about what others are doing and try to find ways to encourage them. Write some things down.
[Most people aren’t willing to pay the price to be a leader.]

Leadership Energy
You will have to train yourself and work to improve your ability to give leadership energy.

A Name is a Spotlight
Use names, approximately 240 names per practice (2 per minute) in order to spotlight them and encourage them.

SCHAPE-ing a Practice Drill
• Spirit
Spirit is noise. A quiet gym is a loser’s gym.
• Communication
Remind teammates of things constantly. Good NITE [Names, Information [Be specific], Tone of Voice, and Eye Contact].
• Hustle
People can turn it on and off, but it limits your development.
• Approach
A good coach finds almost every player’s approach to the game inadequate, even the so-called dedicated athletes whose peers may call them coaches’ pets.
Do NOT allow the player’s who are sitting out watching a scrimmage play with another ball—even if it is working on a certain skill. They need to stop focusing on individual development and focus and maximize the team’s time.
Demonstrate the Intelligent Observation-Commentary principle.
Think of making a “skirmish,” which is making a scene when an opposing player dribbles your way but because of your enthusiastic body language and communication, they turn and go another way. As an observer, your job is to compliment your teammate! But we often don’t and it keeps us from performing in good habits.
• Precision
We allow things to get worse [in practice] because of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Abundant opportunities exist for teams to improve themselves since our tendency is to be lazy.
• Enhancement
Try to make a game out of everything you do on the court. Ex: If you’re doing a shooting drill, say something like “Let’s hit 7 in a row!”
It doesn’t really matter what you say. The important thing is that you are involving your teammates in the activity and creating a sense of importance about what they are doing.
Be creative in coming up with rewards!

Why Excuses are So Bad
An excuse maker can’t possibly be using his energy thinking about how to enhance what is going on or about to go on because …
Bowling Pins
When trying to change things, go to your friends, then your acquaintances, then the youngest and most easily influenced. Strike it hard in the middle and you will sway the rest of the group. The only failure is to fail to try [and get a gutter ball].
It’s crucial to be resourceful listen, and find out what moves or motivates people—especially the most influential person. It takes time. Ask questions!

Talking Trash: The ETDMTYS Approach
Expect To Do More Than Your Share!
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking to yourself, “they’re not doing it, so I’m not.”
Think of a golf course and an empty lot. What is different? People value one and not the other.

Make your teammates feel special about themselves—like Magic Johnson did.

Ch. 4: As a Person—A Personal Report Card
Usually people write the author and say what great students they are [4.0+], but how mediocre they are as basketball players. In reality, the author questions whether this is really true by asking a series of questions about 21 topics:

State of the Person
Self-Test Report Card
1. Concentration
Are you able to focus fully on whatever it is you are doing? If you can be left off in a library in a strange town and amuse yourself effortlessly for six or seven hours, this would be a step in the right direction. If you could pick up a book in any subject and study it for two consecutive hours, this would be another step. A good person ought to be able to concentrate.
2. Systematic Improvement
Do you consistently work on goals and measure daily performance levels so you can clearly chart your improvement? Without a plan and a method of periodic measurement, you really can’t claim to be maximizing your talents. If you don’t have a chart or two around the home that you mark daily, or at least twice a week, you surely are achieving below your capacity.
3. Curiosity
Are your classes exciting? Are ideas exciting? Are people interesting to you? Or do you chuckle at the idea of going to an opera, a ballet, or a lecture at a local university or library? Have you been to a gay rights meeting? A demonstration? A debate? Ever turn the TV on purpose to something you normally wouldn’t watch just to enlarge your sphere of knowledge and awareness? It ought to be possible to get curious about any subject at all. If you ever claim to be bored, you aren’t even halfway there on this one.
4. Cheerfulness/Enthusiasm
Do you seem happy to be alive at home and in school? Are you consistently excited by people, school, and opportunities? And is it obvious to everyone? Are you a joy to be around because you add a spark and energy to life? The famous opera singer Beverly Sills, who had a lot of misfortune in her life, once said, “I may not ever be happy, but I hope I can always be cheerful.”
5. Workmanship/Production
What can you show off? Paintings, pottery, papers, poems, notebooks? What is the look of papers you turn in to teachers? Are you proud of the way you represent yourself? What do you have that is concrete and substantial to show for your time on this planet? If someone snooped around your things, what could they find that presents evidence of your good efforts?
6. Gratitude
Have you written a thank-you note recently? Do you write at least one per month? So many people do so much—parents, teachers, coaches, janitors, cooks—and rarely do they get any thanks
[Up to #21].

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is one inexplicable section in this book that accounts for a 2 star rating, instead of the 3 or 4 it would otherwise have received from me. (See bottom for details.)

After I read Stuff Good Players Should Know, I immediately checked out everything he has written from the library. This is a quick read that is about 2/3 for coaches and 1/3 for players. Unfortunately I can't recommend the entire book for players (more details below), but it there are some really good sections that could be photocopied and shared with key team leaders.

Divenzio shares really detailed recommendations about managing practice and a season. He is very deliberate in his approach to preparing his teams to understand and perform consistently. He is extremely realistic about the average player's ability to concentrate, work hard, and remember what the coach is teaching. He recommends enlisting the aid of team leaders in motivating and reminding the team in practices and games, which sounds like a great approach.

While the general concepts are useful for all basketball coaches, the detailed recommendations are most useful for a coach of a school team with 10 hours of practice and games a week. I have coached youth teams with limited practices and games (<3 hours of basketball a week) and most of this would probably never really be practical or relevant.

**Major caveat: hidden at the end of the players section book is a mindbogglingly bad chapter recommending that kids learn from Magic Johnson's ability to keep "5 girlfriends" happy with his wonderful interpersonal skills. And if the player can pull it off, he is a "scoundrel" (wink, wink). I kid you not. And yes, this was written post-HIV.

I was a long-time Magic fan, and I have read the gory details of his life on the road. His behavior was total garbage and a huge betrayal of his wife. To think that the author recommends players emulate the finer points of this behavior probably reveals major character flaws of his own. (I have no interest in researching his habits.) But at a minimum, this prevents me from recommending this book for players.**

[William Auman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thankfully had the opportunity to learn about basketball and life from the late but great Dick DeVenzio, beginning in 1973 when I first attended one of his many camps. He was a mentor and inspiration, not to mention a very capable author and one of the best basketball educators that I ever encountered. This book is essential reading for every aspiring coach and player.

[Elizabeth Vertz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book with practical applications for coaches and players on how to lead on and off the court!

[Logan Nutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book of info & advice for coaches!! Worth the read if want to improve!

[Juan Chavez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with great tips for coaches, administrator and players
Key ideas
1) 88 x 44 - Play those dimensions on the basketball court. That should give you the cushion to avoid little mistakes
2) Most players - even the most dedicated only give 38% effort. The goal should be to give 100% every time
3) Make adjustments to how the game is being played or officiated.
4) The story of the Rusty Sword. - Solider threw down a rusty sword because he didnt feel it could help him and ran away. A General picked that sword up and led his army to a victory. It is all a matter of how to look at things
5) Make things habits - 1 whistle Players lock in. 2 whistles - Players run to you or where you are pointing
6) Dont focus on conditioning but on execution.
7) Use players laziness to your advantage. If players are not hustling - They run
8) Search for reasons - Not excuses - Ask players to explain why you stopped practice. Give players the opportunity to show what they have learned.
9) Re-enforce what you want players to do. BE CONSISTENT on what you are looking for. Make sure players know what will make you happy. What you are looking for.
10) Attitude - Players or parents should not show any NEGATIVE emotion. Head down, unfocused, putting team members down. We need only positive emotion
11) P Dribbles - Dribbles that go nowhere. Usually dribble right next to body in a stationary position. They take away explosiveness, Slow down your team's movement, Slow your leadership - You cannot direct players, Trigger Traps
12) LONHOBIRAT - Lay-up Or shot with
No Hand up On balance, In your Range with Adequate Time to Shoot
13) Shot selection - Rating system 9-Very easy uncontested layup, 7 -Good Shot, 5- So-so shot, when most of the time in practice, 3 - Bad Shoot NEVER shoot this
14) Not sure-Maybe Passes - Do not accept Maybe passes - passes that might get there. Those are soft lazy passes. Sure passes only. Passes that are hard and crisp.
15)3-2 Movement - 3 players crashing the boards. 2 players getting back on D or leading the break
16) Defensive Principles - Keep the ball in sight at all times, Contest every shot, Never allow a right handed layup, Never allow the to beat a defender down court
17) Assign duties to players, parents and assistant coaches. Have clipboards on the bench for players to track stats. It keeps them engaged. Rebound stats are useless unless we know how many rebounds were available.
18)Empower your leaders, let know what you want done, Let them own it. Assign assistant coaches with specific duties to better the program, allow players leadership opportunities such as leading warm ups.
19) If players are not doing what you expect, maybe you have not taught it well enough.
20) Good coaches are goo coaches because they get buy-in from star players, parents, assistant coaches. They create a culture and get everyone involved.
21) Do most of your coaching in air-conditioned rooms. Away from the gym that is tense, and full of anxiety.
22) Superior Practices - Have winners and losers in every drill. Make winning when players do what you want. For example, offense wins when they shot and make a good shot. Not when they make a shot even if it was a bad shot.
23) Plan your playing time. Have a plan before the game. Make sure player know exactly when they will go in and for the most part how much time. Explain to the players what they need to get more playing time. Do not change rotation even in blowouts
24) Dont spend more than 5 mins talking to the refs.
25) Dont talk about mistakes but about opportunities to get better.
26) Plan every detail of your practice and games preparation. Everything from how you want practice to start to how you want water breaks conducted. Practice water breaks in practice. Practice tracking stats for games in practice. Take the time to teach procedures.
27) Bad apples- Try to change them by focusing on the good apples. Those will peer pressure those bad apples. If you cant. Get rid of them
28) Over-coaching - Focus on improving execution rather than on teaching new systems
29) Players should focus on giving reminders before they are needed. No use in giving reminders once the play has already happened.
30) 6:1 ratio. 6 praises for every criticism. People will follow after they have been praised more than after they have been criticized.
31) Give reminders and praise using their names. Have a goal for saying someones name 240 times in practice. People respond better when their name is called.
32) Leaders lead with energy. Have SCHAPE approach to everything. Use NITE Communication
33) Leading by example if a bad habit. Leaders engage others in what needs to be done.
34) Intelligent observation commentary - You learn the game through observation.
35) Focus and dedication and a growth mindset is one that has to be constantly practiced or it will fall apart and crumble.
36) Expect to more than your share - Always
37) See team leadership in action (end of book)
38) See personal report card (end of book)

[Kelton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good book. I just love reading books about basketball. Talks to you about being a great teammate and having the characteristics to go far. Pretty interesting.