Push your Decision Making

Getting players to grow in their decision making is a huge goal of a good coach. Playing great basketball is about making a good decision at the right time. Skill and athleticism make up our ability to do certain things, but the decision making and the use of our brain and our past experience is what separates players.

There is a lot of noise for players in the way of feedback. For example, the feedback of making a shot in a game tells the player “good shot”. That shot could have been a horrible shot, but it went in so the player (and fan) thinks it was great. Coaches must help their players learn to evaluate their decision making, which will lead to success, over and over.

In basketball (and in life) we need to reward the decision, not the outcome. Things don’t always work out the way you wanted them to, but was the decision you made correct? That will ultimately be more important and will prove valuable over time. Train to make the right decisions on the court and stop worrying about the scoreboard or the “false feedback”.

Here’s a few habits that will help with your decision making:
-Play off two feet, especially in the paint
-Shot fake
-Play pick up and try to anticipate on defense (make mistakes)
-Play 1 on 1
-Evaluate your play after games (watch game film: shots, passing, mistakes). What could you have done different/better?
#getbetter