The Basketball Podcast: E09 with Jake Scott on a Games Approach

In this basketball coaching conversation, Coach Jake Scott asks questions, and discusses, a games approach to coaching with the creative mind behind Basketball Immersion, Chris Oliver.

Jake Scott just completed his first season as the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Division 3 SUNY Cobleskill. Scott’s previous coaching experience came as the Head Coach at SUNY Maritime. He also spent three seasons as an assistant coach at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and as a graduate assistant coach at Division I Virginia Commonwealth University.

Podcast Quotes

“We need to keep getting our skill work in but also, basically, make practice more fun.”

Q: “How often are you stopping live practice?”
A: “Every time we need to . . You need to have an agreement with your players that you can coach them.”

“Ultimately, for this to be successful I can’t have me be the leader, solely. I need my players to lead each other; I need my players to follow each other.”

“The BDT concept is really a mix of things together . . instead of training ball handling in isolation, then shooting in isolation, we can mix it all together at once.”

“When I teach a new play, no matter how complex it is, we will do it 5-on-5 . . for me to develop decision making, I need to have defense present.”

“Whatever style you play there are going to be structured and unstructured moments . . so what I believe in is giving them a structure and, within that structure, they get freedom of decision making.”

“Basically, in every situation for the player with the ball the goal is to score. If they can’t score we hope that they drew help. And if they drew help, then we’re in reaction.”

“Within our practices, we teach a ton . . but it’s all in the context of the game.”

“My goal is to improve all my players . . but they won’t improve without feedback . . they have to be willing to accept it and be willing to apply it and be willing to receive it directly in the context [of the practice].”

“When we scrimmage more in practice and did this games approach . . I thought the films from practice were just as beneficial as real games because of how much action we were getting.”

“After you get to a certain point in the season, the two areas [to focus on] are game prep and special situations . .”

“We don’t need to be doing the same drills at the end of the year that we’re doing at the beginning of the year. And if we are, then we know we’re just wasting time . . Your job as a coach is to constantly add layers of challenge to those drills.”

“I find we spend less time on scouting reports . . because you’re spending so much time on each situation within the games context.”

“We love this game for a reason so we’ve got make sure we’re teaching it that way.”

“A lot of coaches, frivolously, interpret it as just rolling out the balls . . but it’s not. And that’s where I keep coming back to it — stop it and coach them . . I stop and coach more than I would in a drill.”

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Jake Scott Breakdown:

0:00 – Introduction
2:00 – Players like to Play in Practice
3:00 – Practice Evaluation
4:00 – Coach Scott’s Practice Routine
5:40 – When to Start the Games Approach
9:00 – Sloppy and Messy Learning
10:00 – Figure Things Out
11:30 – How Often to Stop Live Action
13:00 – Feedback Process
14:00 – Adjust in Unscripted Situations
15:15 – Shared Leadership
17:30 – Games Approach and Skill Development
18:40 – Time-on-Task on Practice
19:30 – 2-on-1 Weak Side Advantage and Shooting Drill
20:50 – Using Constraints
22:40 – Create Drills
23:30 – 2-on-1 Offense and Defense Drills
25:00 – 5-and-0 Inbound
28:30 – Unstructured and Structured Moments
29:20 – Set Plays and “Reaction”
31:00 – Asking Players about their Thought Process and Decision
32:30 – Practice Time Management
33:30 – The Value of Feedback
35:10 – Better Conditioning in Practice
37:26 – Breaking Down on Practice Film
40:40 – Game Preparation and Special Situations
42:00 – Scouting Report
45:50 – Repetitive Process
47:00 – Asking Players for Feedback

Jake Scott Links:

Bio: http://fightingtigers.cobleskill.edu/staff.aspx?staff=45

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/coachjwscott?lang=en

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