The Basketball Podcast: EP434 with Charles Hantoumakos Inside Canada’s Historic FIBA Upset

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Charles Hantoumakos Quotes:

“We had a really great culture and I think that that showed itself throughout the tournament. We were able to maintain a level of competitiveness regardless of the situation. If it was a big win or if we were facing adversity in the middle of a game, that character was shining through and we were able to stay cohesive as a unit and continue to play for each other . . a huge testament to the players.”

“I do think there’s a community in this country [Canada] where coaches do want to help one another. I remember years ago when I started, it was going to the Nike coaching clinics and buying the coaching DVDs and sitting and trying to figure it out on your own. As we’ve evolved, I do think there’s a community where coaches want to help each other.”

“Two things I think the players really bought into were being the toughest team in the tournament and not deviating from that. And the other one was understanding, and it was something we talked about every day, just how much bigger this was than all of us individually — playing for our country, putting on for our country, putting on for our parents who sacrificed for us . . and just understanding what a small piece we play in this moving forward, but having gratitude for the moment.”

“We had 10 guys that had double-digit scoring throughout the tournament. I think we led the tournament in that. And it was constantly, ‘It doesn’t matter who as long as it’s us in the end . . It was just such a special group of guys that really played for each other and moved the ball, wanted to play the right way, and wanted to create advantages to play for their teammates. So, I think that was where our success came from.”

“We had a total of 5 days [preparation before the FIBA Men’s AmeriCup] . . how do you find that balance of keeping it extremely simple for the players but . . create a difficult offense to guard? [How do you] keep it simple for the players but intricate enough with coaches that you can manipulate pieces to attack a weak defender, a weak off-ball defender? I think that’s the toughest part when you’re looking at a 5-day camp and getting guys ready, all the while keeping a culture and kind of a vision for the team and keeping everybody aligned.”

“I learned at a young age that sometimes the best thing you can do when you’ve got a great player is put him in a place to be successful and then stay out of his way.”

“It was just getting guys to understand the why behind what we do. I think sometimes, as coaches, we inundate our players with action, action, set, set, movement, movement. I’m really big on getting the guys to understand why and what are we trying to extrapolate from the possession that we’re in. And that comes from making a decision based on what the defense does and who the defenders are.”

“We would be in film for about 20-25 minutes, but I try to be interactive with it. I try to put a lot of it back on the kids instead of the coaches sitting and talking constantly. We try to get information from the guys and have them talk about what they’re seeing. I think that’s just getting them to understand. Again, it goes back to I’d rather have my players understand the why and have it come from them than us trying to inundate and overload them with information, hoping that they’re going to understand it.”

“I make it a point to say, ‘If you come into practice and you’re not making mistakes, and we’re watching film together and you’re not seeing mistakes, then we’re wasting each other’s time.’  The whole point of this is to continue to make mistakes and getting the guys to understand it, but really trying to change their mindset from ‘I don’t want to make a mistake’  to ‘No, we’re celebrating. We’re celebrating that growth.’ It’s not a mistake. It’s growth. It’s a growth opportunity for you. And that was something culturally we set early.”

“When you see a player that’s made a mistake and you’ve celebrated the mistake, when they get it, I think it’s just as important to celebrate the fact that they’ve moved on and now they’re able to make new mistakes and grow. And I think that fosters a culture of growth for the kids where they don’t feel pressure.”

“In these situations, you always want to have 2 prompts. You want a, a gestural prompt and a verbal prompt . . whatever it is, you’re yelling it out but you’re also pointing. So, if it’s a loud gym and there’s a couple thousand fans in there, maybe you won’t hear the voice, but you’re going to see the gesture. You’ve got to do everything you can to communicate in these environments. So for me, I’m really big on gestural and verbal prompts to what we’re doing.”

“What’s really important, and I think critical to a team’s success is, do players understand what to do based on what the defense is doing? If they’re over, if they’re under, if they’re switching, if they’re denying. And then all the while keeping your spacing as close to perfect as you can so that you can take advantage of whatever the defense is doing,”

“We had an amazing analytics team and we tried to quantify toughness and offensive rebounding. And we did 2 parts. One, how many times did you crash as an individual and what was your conversion rate? So how many times did you crash and how many times did you actually get the offensive rebound?”

“One of the mantras at Canada Basketball is ‘develop while winning.’ Put development first for these young age groups . . It’s so important at the grassroots level to get these guys to worry about their development. The winning is a byproduct of development.”

Charles Hantoumakos Breakdown:

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