So I am going to be the coach of my 17 year old brother's recreational league basketball team. There are many kids in the league with very little basketball skills and there are a few that are good enough to play for the high school team but choose not to. Any ideas or tips to coach a team with a huge difference in talent from top to bottom are welcome! Including what type of offense and defenses to run. Thanks for any tips!
You hire a shooting coach to discipline and teach these bad kids how to play the game properly. Perhaps one of your good friend's brother is up for the job.
I'm not positive who is going to be on the team yet, but the best player will probably be the point guard. The tallest guy, about 6'2" or 6'3" is actually pretty skilled as well. My brother is 5'11" but plays post. He's really strong and athletic, not very skilled on offense though.
The evaluations are tomorrow, and in the next couple days I'll know the entire roster. I'll make list of the players and their strengths and weaknesses and I'll rack the brains of all the basketball experts here.
Flex offense. Pick and roll all day long. I coached a freshman bball team before. Had a bunch of drills. The classics are the 3 on 2 and the weave. x
That's actually what I was thinking. I played 4 years of high school "rec" with the same coach and we ran a 1-3-1 zone on defense. We had a normal one and a 1-3-1 trap that worked to perfection. So many steals and fastbreak points. Very few kids in this league can handle pressure.
That's what I was going to say. Play zone, make them shoot over you, box out, fastbreak. Keep it simple.
It's funny, I was thinking zone and trap hahaha. I would just work on conditioning. Get the guy in good shape so they can run and trap until the other team is exhausted.
Backcourt press, then zone with a trap on their best guy. You'll know who their best guy is after 5 plays. An uptempo offense will keep your opposing coach off-balance.
Also figure out who their worst guy is and let him shoot Actually, I remember when I played rec league, our coach would always try to deny the ball to their best player, and would just get all over him if he did get the ball.
Okay, I've got my squad. Player 1: Quick point guard. Good at shooting but better at driving and facilitating. Player 2: Strong and very quick guard. Great shooter, great driver, not so great of a passer. Would have played good minutes on High School Varsity team. Players 3 & 4: Guard/Forward with good shot, not good enough handles to drive. Good defense. Player 5: Forward. Very athletic. Great defender and rebounder. Not a main option on offense. Player 6: Forward/Center. Tall and lean. Not fast but not slow. Good outside shot and skilled inside. Player 7: Center. Tall and strong. Not fast but not slow. Decent shot, skilled inside. Good defense. Would have played good minutes for High School team. Players 8 & 9: Forwards. Not very skilled but good hustle players. Player 2 is the overall best player, with player 1 and player 7 behind him. What type of offense is good for this roster? I have much more talent than I expected I would and I don't want to squander it.
Player 7 is 6'4" and strong. Player 6 is 6'3" There's probably 3 other 6'3" or 6'4" guys in the league.
Obviously without seeing these guys this is all conjecture... but it looks like you've got a good halfcourt team. You've got a decent point guard. You've got a decent shooting guard. Small forward seems iffy. Decent power forward and decent center. I'd probably start players 1, 2, 6, and 7, with probably player 5. I'd have player 5 guarding the opposing teams best player. If they try to zone you, bring in one of your spot up shooters and have them just zone bust. Have your two big guys crash the boards and run the pick and roll all day.
