To me it sounds like your teammates don't have that much experience outside of pickup games. You should arrange scrimmages with game level intensity to get them use to what works and what doesn't. Toss the zone if they are getting lost in the speed of your league games. If the problem is more athletic ability or basketball skill, there's not really much you can do to turn it around mid season if the players themselves aren't committed to improving themselves.
The biggest problem we have is that come game time, all the hours we spend learning something is forgotten. It's like stage fright, they loose position, run into each etc. Game time is a different atmosphere to them for some reason.
Fine. It's got "nothing to do with your attitude." (whatever you say, your majesty ) Answer my question, though... could you show them this thread and the comments you've made about them and their skills?
He should just say he wants to be on another team, and build one of his own. No need to tell people they suck or aren't any good, most of them will figure it out on their own. Or, if he wants to be an ass, he can just tell them he wants to be on a team with better players, guys that will push him to be better, and take it more seriously. It is his life, he can do whatever he wants, I doubt any of them would care one way or the other. IMO, he should just form another team on the side for the next season - and simply leave the one he is on now, they will probably never be able to satisfy his desire to win. DD
Some people want to compete, they burn to win, others just want to have fun, there is nothing wrong with either option, IMO. DD
Yes, I'm past the high school games of caring what they think about me, I'm all business. They understand i've been playing all my life, apposed to their few seasons. If they were to kick me off the team, look out 10-11 Cavs.
Play the old Hakeem Rockets offense. Kick the ball into the corner to your good SG. You and the SG play a two man game with you on the block. Camp everyone else around the three point line so that they get out of your way. You can run a back door cut with you PF for a dunk if you get doubled from there. If you have another guy that can shoot the three, put him at the top of the key for a kick out three.
That might just work, assuming his teammates can figure that out and their PF can put in a layup. As for defense, the team is really in trouble. I don't care whether you're the best defender in the NBA or the worst defender in 8th grade PE. Bottom line is, you're bound to get beat by your man at least once. This can be negated with a solid rotation. If your team can't rotate on D like you say, you're screwed. Better off just paying Suns ball.
Swoly, you're advice is so generic and unhelpful. Are you even a Rockets fan? "Teach them to pass, teach them to shoot," what is this, 5th grade? Criticize him all you want, but he's asking for strategic help for his sucky team and all you do and generically tell him to change his attitude. That's not helpful at all. Von, the dump-it-in offensive strategy is pretty decent. It's a very basic offense that allows for easy spreading of the floor. No matter how much they crumble, you have to keep feeding them open shots in-game for them to get used to it. The same goes for a 2-man offense with your buddy and spreading the rest of them out on the other side. Look, you said the know motion, but in-game they get lost and run into each other. That shows that your offense probably needs to be simplified. Defensively 2-3 and 3-2 drills can be found online and should be the easiest to learn. Is your buddy a decent rebounder? You might want to just camp inside with your buddy and hold the paint. If your other guys really can't box out, then it's better to keep them outside where they can get the balls that just come to them. If they end up rotating inside, then they'll continue to get schooled on the boards by opponents crashing in and going up top or around. You and your buddy need to be inside to grab the most boards. When you rotate to challenge or draw charges, he needs to be opposite inside to grab the miss, and vice versa. If you have the time, I found the Jeff Van Gundy trap and rotate defense to be deadly when I coached Boys & Girls Club middle school kids. We wrecked on teams full of AAU players, and I only had 2 on mine. Most teams loved their PnR and we trapped on those hard and rotated great. This takes time to install, but it's good if you can do it. Good luck.
Not a coach or anything, but depending on the level of competition, you could try just packing the paint and forcing the opposing team to hit jump shots. It'd only work on teams that can't shoot though.
There are several options. I've been on teams where everyone was better than I was. I did improve, when I ran the plays right and got the ball passed to me. Other times I would run the plays right, but the better guys were scared I'd choke and didn't pass the ball to me. When that happened, my skills deteriorated. If you run the plays right and do what you are supposed to, then explain to the guys what should have happened when they messed up. Afterwards work with them on the particular skill that caused them to mess up the last game, and always give them the option to have another shot. If you have confidence in them, or at least play like you do, they won't want to let you down. They will improve. When it comes to defense, it depends a lot on the other team. When the other team is knocking it down from the outside and they're slow then go to a 3-2 defense. It's easier to cover those smaller areas on the perimeters. If the other team is slow you can go man when it comes to D, but if they are quicker than your team and more athletic going man will get you killed. If the other team has one super star, you can go box and one, which is basically you or another good defender playing man defense against the superstar and then the rest of the team playing a 4 man zone. You may be beat but you will be forcing the ball out of their superstars hand and it will be the weaker guys that have to beat your team. You can also see if other teams have guys with suspect handles then press them a lot. There are plenty of times in rec leagues where teams will have trouble handling the pressure. No matter what you do, make sure you talk to your team when they blow a zone defense situation and tell them what would have worked and where they should have been, and why. Stick with your team. They will be happier and end up playing better.
1-3-1 is not hard to play. Considering you have a good center. This isn't pro-am so I doubt guys will be draining threes all day on you in the corners. If you guys get constantly beat on a man-on-man defense... and can't play 1-3-1 at all. Then I suggest box 1.
