The Basketball Podcast: EP27 Bryan Gates on NBA Basketball

In this week’s basketball coaching conversation, NBA assistant coach Bryan Gates joins the podcast to discuss NBA player development, offense and defense.

Bryan Gates was most recently an assistant coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Before joining the Timberwolves, Gates was an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings and the New Orleans Pelicans. Outside of the National Basketball Association, Gates was the head coach of the Beirut Blue Stars, Oklahoma Storm, and Idaho Stampede, and while with the Stampede twice won the NBA G League Coach of the Year Award.

Bryan Gates Quotes:

“A close out is a closed stance and you have to control the ball for a second.”

“I get kind of tired of people talking about ‘defense is just all energy’ and this kind of stuff . . It’s a big part of it but there’s some serious technique to it.”

“You can’t do passing drills enough at any level.”

“At any level, you have to dictate and you have to tell your team what shots you want and where you want to get them.”

“When you are in the help position, your feet are still moving . . just so you can react and get out [on the closeout].”

“If you are a deny team, you can’t be a ball pressure team. You just can’t get beat in denial.”

“My defensive philosophy is, ‘You can’t catch every rain drop.’ . . Take away something . . tell your team how the other team is going to score.”

“You can’t work on passing enough. The Utah Jazz pass the ball 360 times a game. If you’re going to do something that amount of times, you may want to work on it once in awhile.”

“You can challenge your guys and put them in a situation at any level.”

“As assistant coaches we have to remember that our head coaches have multiple people that want to talk to them as much as we want to talk to them.”

“The best way to get a head coach’s attention is write him a note and leave it on his desk . . send him a text . . and don’t get upset if they don’t reply to you immediately.”

Click below to listen in if you listen on:

Bryan Gates Breakdown:

1:00 – Introduction
2:00 – Making Shooting Drills More Random
3:00 – NBA Players don’t like to Pass in Shooting Drills
5:00 – Knowing Coach Gates
6:00 – The Shot Clock
7:00 – Guard Your Man
8:00 – Closeouts Stands and Controlling the Ball for a Second
9:30 – Value Your man and Understanding on the Offensive End
11:00 – Closeouts
13:00 – Quicking
14:30 – “3 feet” and Controlling the Ball for the First Second
15:30 – Arrive on a Catch
16:30 – One-way Closeouts
17:30 – In Denial Teams One Pass Away
20:00 – “You can’t catch every raindrops”
21:00 – Defensive Guy
23:00 – Whispers in His Head
25:00 – Passing Drill in the NBA
27:00 – Passing Concepts
28:30 – Having a 5-and-0 Practice
30:00 – NBA are more Player Driven than Coach Driven
31:00 – Compete at a Higher Level at Practice
33:00 – Never Post Time on Practice
34:00 – Ideas of Being an Assistant Coach in the NBA
35:00 – Write Head Coach a Note, Text, Email
36:00 – Best Assistant Coach is Trying to help Head Coaches
37:30 – Helping Head Coach as Possible
38:00 – Assistant Coaches to Coach a Game
40:0 – Conclusion

Bryan Gates Links:

Bio: https://www.nba.com/kings/roster/bryan_gates

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