The Basketball Podcast: EP424 with Steve Donahue on Teaching the Game that Wins

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Steve Donahue Quotes:

“When you’re an assistant, they [the players] will tell you things – how they’re feeling, how confident they are. I think that helped me, when I became the head coach, to understand a little more about what each guy was feeling. In particular, some of the guys that I wanted to take a bigger step in their development.”

“I allowed myself to look at what they did well, tried to put them in those positions to do well, and tried to limit my beliefs on how the game should be played. I think there’s some core things, but what I learned is that I can eliminate some things and really help these guys streamline how they can be successful. And that’s what we did.”

“As much as we love the three pointer and the freedom and the beauty of the game at times with four guards and one big, think of the Golden State warriors, I feel the ability to play two bigs allows you a lot more margin for errors. It allows you to rebound better on both sides of the ball. It allows you to challenge shots. It also allows you to get your shooters, your playmakers open more.”

“I want us to have great decision making. We took the least amount of hard twos in our league and we forced the most hard twos. To me that has to be consistent. We want to be the best 2-point percentage offense and the best 2-point percentage defense. So, whatever we do, that is the goal in mind.”

“In every drill we do, every passing situation, my teams have always put our bigs in the guard things. We all do the same drills, we’re cutting the same, we’re passing the same, you’re doing them. So not only are you setting ball screens, you’re in ball screens. Not only are you hitting the cutter on a baseline cut, but you’re also spotting up and knowing when to cut, how to cut, what the repercussions are as you re-space.”

“We tracked all our rebounding, every practice, in terms of effort. Maybe you didn’t get the rebound, but if there were 20 shots that went up and you went after 18 of them, that’s 90% rate of attacking those and giving it effort. That’s what we needed. The margins had to be really good because we were not a good three-point shooting team.”

“We were not built this year to expect that guys one through five are going to chase balls down and really be an offensive rebounding team. Although we judged our fours and fives on that, I do think that’s a big component going forward for me as we change how we’re going to win and I go back to how we’re going to roster build. Hopefully, we have four or five guys in those spots that are going to be judged on going after the ball.”

“We play games with no dribbles. Or one guy can dribble, the trigger can dribble. We put those constraints in there at times and the guys are amazed at how good of shots they get with the limited dribbles.”

“The first thing you try to teach guys is, ‘How is your man guarding you?’  If you’re off the ball, if he’s a ball watcher and you see the back of his head, you should be cutting, at least testing that, and then re-spacing quickly if it doesn’t work. But that’s your first read.”

“Playing in smaller space, three-on-three, gives kids so many more reps than when they play typical pickup basketball and they don’t get those important reps. As you get older and every level you go up, it’s all about the half court execution and the players aren’t prepared for that.”

“You love continuity. You’re trying to recruit your best players back. You try to recruit at least one culture carrier in your program that could help you, even if you don’t feel it’s necessarily an on the court thing.”

“An incredible, important concept. I have always erred on the side of I’m not going to pigeonhole a guy into what I think he should be. I’m going to let him tell me based on what he does day in and day out. The honest fact is the roles change based on what that player has done and how his growth has happened and what he accomplishes, and I try to reinforce that every day.”

“I think it’s very important that you reward great practices by playing that person . . I tell everybody my better players better win, that they better show why they’re the better players each and every day. To me, that competition fosters the growth that you want in your team. And when I do get chances, I do try to grab guys individually and try to express that.”

“That’s what our role is [as coaches], in particular with younger guys, not limiting them to what they can or can’t do. Try to foster that teaching aspect in practice as much as you can so they can get better.”

“I think the most important thing is that you remember why you became a coach and what you loved about it . . I love waking up every day and figuring out what I have to do today to make my team better. I just love that aspect of it . . I love being part of a team, helping young people, being just a part of their lives as we go through this journey.”

Steve Donahue Breakdown: