Slappin’ Glass sits down this week with the Assistant Coach for the Toronto Raptors, Pat Delany! In this terrific conversation the trio dive into Coach Delany’s thoughts on defending great offensive teams in the half court, and discusses coaching skills learned in the film room, along with efficient and focused practice planning during the always fun “Start, Sub, or Sit?!”
Transcript
Pat Delany 00:00
The last piece I think is a huge piece is why. Why is it important? You know, I think so much now for coaches of all levels, I mentioned my son earlier, coaches will yell at him or his teammates, do this, do that, which is fine. You can yell all you want, but I can explain to them why that’s important. Why is it such a critical piece of it’s playing that way or acting the right way or doing this and why it helps them and why it’s good for them and why it’s good for your team. And there’ll be moments, you guys probably experienced them as coaches too. They might not like it, which is totally fine. They’re not gonna like it all the time, but I think down the road at some point they’ll respect them a lot more.
Dan 00:43
I’m Dan Krikorian and welcome to Slappin’ Glass, exploring basketball’s best ideas, strategies, and coaches from around the world. Today, we’re excited to welcome Assistant Coach for the Toronto Raptors, Pat Delaney. Coach Delaney is here today to discuss defending and disrupting teams that play with great movement and pace in the half court, and we talk controllable practice elements and hidden coaching skills learned in the film room during the always fun start, sub, or sit. And now, please enjoy our conversation with Coach Pat Delaney. Coach we want to dive in with defending teams that play with great pace in the half court and kind of taking the transition part out of it a little bit, but focusing in on teams that are committed to moving the ball action to action side to side with great pace and not necessarily just come down and set up and run one simple thing in play but are really going to move the ball, move bodies, second side, third side, and how as a defensive coach you’re thinking about coverages, setting up your defense so that they can handle those kinds of teams at a higher level.
Pat Delany 02:49
Yeah, I think it’s a really good question because I think it ties to stretching the modern day NBA where pace of play is getting talked about and more and more frequent amongst teams. I think a lot of it starts with knowing your team, knowing what they’re capable of and what comes with that is the game of basketball. You guys know this as well as anybody. People say, Oh, we’ll live with that. But I think on the other side of it too is like, what kills you? What are those things that you just can’t give to that team? And obviously there’s certain teams throughout all levels of basketball that have numerous, they have eight, 10, 12 things that you guys know as coaches, you’re not taking them all away as any type of coach. You want to try to figure out what do we need to prioritize? And then what can we take away? So once you do that, and that’s part a of the whole process, you take those things, you say, okay, what are the things that are going to kill us? What do we try to limit? And I don’t think the word eliminate ever really exists because you know, if the team is really good at that and they play 20-30 and our league 82 games, there obviously is like, how can we get them from it? That’s what they get 20 points a night on this. So they get 10 or 15. How do we get them to five? How do we get them to seven? And just try to eliminate those types of baskets. I think you can do it in a variety of ways. Is it your base coverage that you’re starting with? Again, that ties back to knowing your team. We’re going to start the game with what we do, what we do at a really high level, and we’ll see where that goes. And then what’s B for us? What is our adjustment? And what is it going to take for us to get to that adjustment? Is it, Hey, we’re just going to do it because we’re not playing super hard. So we’ll adjust is that we’re going to do it because Hey, our base coverage isn’t executing or isn’t working. And or C is it like, hey, we’re just going to throw it in as a wrinkle. We’re going to throw it in after timeout. We’re going to throw it in as a side out of bounds. I think a lot of times as coaches, myself included, we try to do so many different things during a game where we try to take everything away. You know, you go back and watch a film, your life didn’t really take any of it away. You’re kind of looking back on it after the fact. And I think that when you get ready for those types of teams that have multiple actions at our high pace, that ball is going to be moving side to side. What are your prioritizing? What are the actions? Who are the players you’re prioritizing? I think that’s a more and more popular thing here in the NBA is not this person, not this player. And we got to find different ways to come up with coverage to come from a matchup that you’ve kind of prioritized throughout the game. And then obviously, as you guys know, there’s the regular season type of preparation. And then when you get to the playoffs, there’s a whole other level to it from tendencies to multiple coverages, game one to game two and so forth. So that’s where I would start when you talk about those types of teams of how you try to just slow them down.
Pat 05:23
When prioritizing actions that you want to take away, especially as we look at through the lens of a team that’s going to run multiple actions, you know, I often think and the teams have connecting actions, whether it’s a handoff or, you know, whether it’s just a screen away or a guard to guard handoff within these connecting actions, are there certain actions that you feel you as a defense should be more aggressive on or can be more aggressive on, or it’s like worth the risk to maybe gamble a little more to blow up these actions, so to speak. Moments to like disrupt their flow and stagnate them.
Pat Delany 05:56
Yeah, I think that’s a really good point. I think what are your players capable of what’s resonating with them? And what can they actually execute? I think as coaches a lot we’re like, oh we do this this and this They won’t get to that and that but then you go out in the court and you know your players are like wait What like this is totally different from what we did The last three months. So I think when you find those one or two things of what’s realistic What are they capable of doing? And then you put them in those situations of hey If we switch this dribble handoff and we keep this ball on the sideline here They won’t get to this pick and roll or this stack action or this spain action or whatever, you know They kind of blow up some of those type of movements and in the NBA. There’s so much Movement to kind of get to their final action of what they’re really prioritizing I think just kind of being ahead of it But there’s so many games at our level that you guys know that you have to have your base coverages And that really is going to carry you more and more of your personnel To your base coverages to your adjustments and then maybe there are one or two things that you can come into play at night If it’s not a back-to-back of hey, we can do this. They have a confidence They have a belief in it Which is a critical piece for them to go out and do it on a high level or not Because you guys know at any level of basketball whether it’s one player You need every all five on the floor to know what you’re doing And when you bring in a sub need everybody all five to know so as much of those ideas as we have as coaches We want to prioritize ourselves and think of all these things in the offseason. We’ll do this this and this again being an expert tying into your base coverage and then what are those couple of things that you want to prioritize that we can take away? Maybe those multiple actions to get to something else
Pat 07:31
Following up on that, I guess against these teams that play multiple actions, what is more concerning to you, and I’ll give you like, of course, probably number one is like ball penetration, but in terms of player movement, or ball movement, when you’re playing teams that you know are going to get the multiple actions, I guess, generalizing what would be more concerning, like, let’s take away their ball movement, or let’s prioritize their body movement.
Pat Delany 07:54
Yeah, I think the body movement part of it for me, I think it’s just a lot of times players I’ll be in this spot when this action occurs or this situation occurs I want you to be here But when they have all this movement Miami back in the day with dua luol dang And a lot of times your low man your mig whatever you’re calling them They would be as you were helping on a pick and roll They were constantly cutting behind the defense along the baseline, you know sort of thing So they put you in that bind of what are you going to prioritize? Knowing that this 5 man might be rolling and you know, you might need to help there So I think the body movement and I think more and more we’re seeing across the NBA the cutting throughout the game the ball movement The spacing all those things are coming to play but I just think that the constant body movement I think is the hardest thing for you to kind of lock in when you’re game planning You know when you just say hey the ball is going to move move move, but it’s going to get to this point I think the player is able to kind of resonate like okay when it gets here. This is where we need to be When it’s you know, the body movement comes into play He could be here. It could be there. It might be empty side Those types of situations really put a lot of pressure on your defense And that’s where the communication has just got to be and we can’t walk through all of it, right? There’s so much, you know, hey, this is what we’ve seen the majority of Be aware for this have an alertness to it And then obviously these guys are the best players in the world They oftentimes make great plays and they’re teaching us at the same time like oh, well, that’s you know We didn’t really need to overthink that they’re just instinctually making those types of plays.
Pat 09:19
With the body movement when you look at your base coverage are you more worried about the communication is it like communicating it’s a forty five that’s kind of this rotation or how to take away body like stagnating standing in my gets like the physicality versus the communication and defending body movement cutting?
Pat Delany 09:38
I think in a perfect world, if I’m being honest with you, I think as coaches, we would love both, you know, being like, yeah, we’re taking it all the way with physicality communication. I think a lot of times in a drill sense, we’ll be like, hey, let’s communicate this, talk this, talk that. And when we get out there, you don’t really necessarily hear all that communication, you know, sort of probably a lot of it, honestly, is more of an awareness, your repetition of doing it time and time again. And then guys just instinctually communicating with each other on their own, maybe without even verbalizing, you know, saying, Hey, this guy tends to lose vision of his man. So I’m going to pick him up. I’m going to tell him to stay high. Those types of things that come about. But I think so much of your foundation just comes through repetition, communication. And then I think just the player empowerment of their voice, you know, when we do drills everywhere, I’ve been it’s, Hey, this is what we’re doing. This is what we’re working on. And then getting feedback from the players, I think is critical. What do you guys seen? What are you guys feeling? Does that make sense? You know, I’m giving them an opportunity, whether you’re doing a scout to say, Hey, like, did you guys think about this? And you can say, Oh, yeah, we saw so and so do that. Or yeah, we thought about it, but this is why we can’t do it. Because this leads to this other action. I think that type of collaboration in those situations just helps your team grow day by day. And then sometimes you play great defense, you guys know, and, you know, so doesn’t matter, you know, the great player often leads to something else. So there’s a lot of layers to it. I just think the repetition, the talk, having your base, what do you believe in? And then just being in a daily constant theme, I think really helps players build confidence. And then, you know, as you guys watch film, we watch film, right, we’re doing pause, rewind. Oh, why didn’t they move there? Why didn’t they make this pass? Like, and they’re playing the game that, you know, this quick instinct, I always love watching the ESPN, I don’t they call it the 360, right? They’re showing a replay of the highlights and the camera angle goes and you’re almost like looking at it from the vision of the player. And you’re like, Oh, like, yes, that player was open, but they couldn’t see them because so and so’s arm was there, you know, or this body was there. But a lot of times when we’re pausing, rewinding, the emotional piece comes in and we’re like, Oh, man, they should have made this play. That’s why we do what we do. You know, so that’s why we love it.
Pat 11:52
Coach, looking at the physicality piece and also knowing your players, what is coaches can we impact from the physicality and not like making, you know, soft guys like the next run or test, but how can we marginally impact physicality with maybe guys who you wouldn’t really necessarily assume are physical defenders?
Pat Delany 12:11
I think the physicality part of it and we started across our league a lot last season and throughout the playoffs is What is physicality? When you talk to players a lot of times it looked upon as He’s the strongest guy or there was a fight like that guy would be the guy that would win it You know sort of and there’s so many things in terms of the intricacies of teaching Younger players older players like here’s an opportunity off the ball. I think you know There’s a great opportunity to be super physical now, obviously depending on your level play How the league is officiating? But is there an opportunity to body up? Give a little nudge to that player before that screen comes when they’re going down the court a little extra you know nothing illegal. I’m not trying to hurt anybody, but that type of physicality I think you need to have a wearing mentality On an opponent on an individual. I think it’s a critical piece. I think of players now one it takes a lot of effort It takes energy. I think a lot of those things kind of fall to the wayside as we’re prioritizing offense and defense but there’s physicality and different things you can do how you guard the ball When you get a pick and roll coverage are you just hopping into space or you? Into really into the body and trying to have that wearing mentality on an opponent. So I think to your point I think that we can do a lot of different things in terms of physicality I think it starts at a young age I got a 12 year old son that plays au and you know when I go and watch and they watch what they see on Yes, the end of the highlights of the pros and you give them the ball. There’s 20 kids shooting half court shots. You can step back threes There’s not a lot of boys or girls working on those individual skill development things and then also understanding the why what can I do to create this a little advantage? We talk about advantage offensively a lot of coaches because advantage is in terms of the physicality piece I think that would tie in to the defensive side as well And I think you’ll see a lot of it throughout the season across the league
Dan 14:02
When it comes to advantages that you just mentioned offensively, but, you know, certain players also have defensive advantages where maybe they’re just better length or they can defend the rim or they can get up under the ball and pressure. As you’re building out and talking about your base and we’re talking about guarding these actions, when you have certain players that have the ability to create an advantage defensively, how does that work into your base coverage? You know, different players, different ways that they can play. How does that work into if they can do certain things others can’t, per se?
Pat Delany 14:35
Letting them breathe and breathing confidence into them when they have those things is a huge thing. Whether you’re the head coach and the assistant coach, I think that to your point, you have your base. I’ll give you an example. We had Michael Carter Williams in Orlando, and MCW was an elite pick and roll defender that we, having not coached him, didn’t really know a lot about in terms of his defense and the tangibilities, but he would literally just move and navigate in a way only opposite of what we were coaching in the drill of like, Hey, get low, bend your shoulder. You know, he would just take care of the screen on his own in his own way. And the probably the best thing we did was, okay, that’s not overcoaching. Let’s not be like, Oh, no, that’s not what we’re saying. We’re doing it. So I think that allowing whether that player has a unique strength or skill set or length or positional size allows them to do it. I think they’re only going to help your team. It may take a little bit of from the coaching side of I got to let go. Cause when they do get hit on the screen or when it doesn’t work in your favor as a team, you got to know that those other eight or nine times that you allow it, it has benefited. You can’t look at that one moment and be like, Oh man, like, that’s why they need to do it the way that we said, or we taught them, you know, sort of thing. And I think there’s a lot of guys in the game of basketball, NBA college throughout that just, you know, not actually do things. Coaches get credit for a lot of things they shouldn’t get credit for. And we get blamed for a lot of things we shouldn’t get blamed for. But I think that when the players have those natural and single that you want to let them go out there and excel at it and do it.
Dan 16:02
Earlier you mentioned what kills you defensively, things like that. And when we’re talking about pace, one of the actions, I know you see a ton in the NBA, but other levels now too a lot is the ghost screens and they’re run at such a high pace. And as a defensive coach, seeing those night in, night out, any learnings about teaching how to guard that high paced screen from the defensive side.
Pat Delany 16:28
I think in a perfect way, I think a lot of us like to, we talked about physicality. As those screens are occurring, can we keep contact? Can we be physical before the screen occurs? As much as we want to, as you know, sometimes when the ball is moving, we don’t get that moment to really get physical with them. And then what are you prioritizing? I’m a big believer in getting the ball under control. The ball is what’s going to hurt you the most. You know, so I think when a guy comes on a ghost screen, you know, slipping out or small, small, however you wanted to find it, you know, you end up running with the guy that slipped out or out of the space, but that person on the ball is turning the corner, putting more of a demand on the person on the ball. You know, try to really be square, which is hard to do knowing how great the players are and how quickly they only need a half a step, if that, to take advantage. I think those two things, the physicality with the screeners, as much as you can working on it, drilling it, what your communication is, trying to be more square on the ball, keep that ball under control. And then also going through those situations of, okay, our base coverage wasn’t clean, we didn’t get it perfect here. What does it look like now? The role they got below us, you know, the guy slipped out. He rolled below us. What is our coverage like? What’s our cover mentality? He went out to space. You guys went with him. The ball is turning the corner now. Now it’s not so much of a schematic thing as much as it is. We got to make a play. Multiple efforts. Who’s coming to help? Where are we going to from here? And again, if teams are running more and more, like you said, if they’re happening 20 times a game, you’re probably not going to, in my mind, I’m like, yeah, we’re going to be great on all 20 of them, but can we be great on a 15 of them? Can we really keep that ball under control or less, you know? And if we’re able to do that, again, maybe that’s something you prioritize going into a game plan with an opponent and hey, this will give us a real chance, you know, to come into play, be there at the end of the game.
Dan 18:11
On the ghost screens, you mentioned something about that next layer of defense, recovering. How do you work on that, build that out in your defense? And I’m thinking practice-wise, drill-wise, film-wise, where things don’t go perfect, and then how you sort of drill or get better at the next level, which sometimes is more gray with need to make a play or things like that?
Pat Delany 18:33
It’s a really good question because I think the game, the way we drill it at times or practice it, isn’t the way it happens when they get into live play, right? It’s super messy. I always think about shell situations more than anything else. We do it in camp, four out, one in. They’re all going to be right here in these spots. And then in the game, we’re like, wait, why isn’t that person in the dunker? That’s how we do it. And that works that way. But at that point, specifically, I think you need to cover them. I think you need to do them. I think you need to talk about them because they’re going to happen. So if you’re just like, oh, no, we’re going to be great. We’re going to be super physical. We’re going to be square on the ball. They’re not, they’re not going to get below us. We’re not going to send two guys there. And sometimes you don’t want to overthink it for the players of like, this was a, here comes B, here’s C, here’s D, let’s be great at A. And then whatever occurs after that, we’re going to need to cover a communication, apply around a multiple effort, however you want to define it to your team and the verbiage that you use. And sometimes it works. But sometimes where can we narrow that gap of the frequency that it happens where you’re not great at it. But I think whether it’s on a film, a walkthrough, I do feel like players in my personal opinion, in a walkthrough, it might not be the same, but when they’re actually playing it live, they just don’t feel it the same or, you know, maybe you’re like, Hey, coaches are on offense and you’re trying to duplicate that scenario, but they’re too physical for the coaches and they’re too quick.
And they’re like, Oh, that’s great. Yeah, that’s great. We’re doing a perfect every time. And then, you know, next night you’re going to go out and see this player and you’re like, okay, a little quicker than this coach that we had on the floor yesterday is trying to play as much as you can. Small sided games around three, two on two. And I think really building a defense that way, I think is the best of starting one on one. I think when I learned this for some of the great coaches is you’re talking pick and roll defense, which obviously is a frequency across basketball is this start with the two people involved before we talk about where it’s three, four, and five. Let’s talk about these two and what your expectation is for them. What are the priorities of those things on the person on the ball, your screen coverage, and don’t skip it. Don’t just do it one day and say, Oh, well, we talked about it yesterday and now we’ve got everybody else on the floor. It’s just, you got to do it. You got to hammer it. And then even when you get good at it and hopefully great at it, you got to continue to work on it. You want to keep your strengths. So how do you continue to find ways to do it? Even in our league where you can’t maybe be so live every day as it gets later in the season, how can we find some small, different creative ways for the players to really know what you’re covering, what you’re prioritizing, and what you’re working on. But maybe it doesn’t feel like the way you were doing it when you did in training camp. I know with the preseason, I think that’s part of the evolving and adapting as a coach as well.
Dan 21:06
Coach, going back, you mentioned something with Michael Carter Williams about how he defended and just made plays. Over the years, your thoughts on a player stance, actually how they guard the ball or actually how they are in help side, always in the past, when you go to a clinic or camp, it’s, you know, sit your butt down, you know, see both ball man, all that kind of stuff, with how fast the game is played and moved in the athletes, like, has that changed? Is that there’s still part of that? That’s true? I mean, how do you think about the actual stance of guarding the ball or in being in help side?
Pat Delany 21:37
I think guarding the ball, I think it looks a little different for everybody in my opinion. I think we wanted to be, to your point, how we grew up and we’re square, we got our chest in front. We talked about MCW earlier with pick and roll. He did our base coverage. His technique was unique that he did when he guarded pick and rolls. So he was, whatever we were doing in terms of the coverage, but his ability to navigate screens, it wasn’t really what we were doing, he just did it at a very unique and a high level and a successful level. So I think on the ball, it looks a little different for everybody. I also think off the ball, I think your position where you need to be, it needs to be the same for everybody for here when the ball is there. But then there’s also the read anticipation IQ feel some guys might read, I don’t need to help as much on the ruler. And they have a really good feel for reading how much help is needed. Where some other players might be like, I’m not sure. So what do you want to, let’s protect the rim. Let’s protect the paint. If he ends up going, because he was in the right position to start, it will give us a chance at the end of the day. I don’t know if off the ball, besides in the NBA, the size and length that you see with a lot of players comes into play as much as like you’re down in your stance off the ball. I think a little bit of positioning probably showing size of length because if the players at this level see one or two extra steps, it looks like, you know, mild to them. So I think that’s emphasized a lot. I think it’s super critical as you’re building it. But I think beyond the ball probably looks a little different for everybody who you’re guarding their strengths, your quickness, all that stuff comes into play for sure. And then I think off the ball, I think some of the best are always the ones that have a little bit of instinctual IQ feel. While you can hopefully get your group to have a little bit of length and size, you know, to show that at least on the defensive end.
Pat 24:31
Coach, I’d like to follow up on sticking up on kind of like the gap integrity and, you know, taking away, not necessarily looking at like roles, but, you know, it’s always like a battle for space in terms of what the offense maybe can create to attack versus what the defense can take away and get into. And so when you look at the gap integrity for you guys, is it up the line? Is it in a passing line? Maybe also kind of referring back to the stance, but maybe as it bleeds into special player defense, how much is it based to on scout? Like maybe knowing who you’re guarding versus maybe the player who has the ball and what you guys are trying to talk with your players again, maybe about the reading of how much you can or cannot be in gaps?
Pat Delany 25:09
I think it’s hard to just discuss, but I think it’s a critical piece of defense because they’re the best players in the world. So you better be in a gap or however you define it in your positioning and you have to be there. I think one of the things that, you know, we constantly talk about, I was trying to be there earlier rather than on the move or when the ball moves and I’m very basic and the ball blows, you need to be moving with it, you know, type of thing. But I do think it’s a critical piece of just being there or counter earlier and then you’re positioning, you know, what are you prioritizing? Are you a, we’re not giving up threes, hey, we’re not giving up the paint, hey, is it a personnel designation for if it’s just player out here, we’re staying home, if it’s just player out here, we’re a full body help. I think as you build your defense and start with what are your beliefs, what are your prioritizing, what are your non-negotiables? And then from there, there’s the game planning piece of it. But I think your overall defense, I think the gap or however you want to word it is a critical piece just because to your point, offensive, individually and collectively want to see space. They want to see room. And I, you know, the best teams have the ability to be in those gaps. And then also the read anticipation, when is the ball picked up? Is it a flat drive? Is it a blow by? I think sometimes when you guys post some of the stuff with the next defense, you know, some teams that are doing those types of things out of gaps, not necessarily how to pick and rolls. How much of that do you want to allow? How much of that, you know, because it does open up a can of, oh, if I get deep, I’ll just rotate the next guy. And then you’re constantly in rotations.
Pat Delany 26:38
But I also think there’s a place for it. So as your defensive balls, as your personnel and your roster balls is prioritizing what fits, you’re the expert again, what really makes it work for the group. And then what can we add? What can we do from night to night? What can we do from month to month? I think that most of the coaches I’m sure around the NBA and all level the basketball, you have some sort of like checklist, right? You have your offensive checklist. We want to install this and that’s the same thing defensively. What do you believe in? What’s our base? How are we installing it? When are we installing it? And then as you get really good at that and you feel comfortable confident that your team, not just a player or players, when your team is comfortable and they know what you’re doing, when can we give them more? When can we really challenge them? Sometimes, you know, I think, for example, I coached in the G League for a year from two balls. And we were playing all of you guys. Remember, Josh Magette, Josh Magette was a baby, Steve Nash in the G League. He was playing for the LA defenders and Nash was there at the time. And literally we were playing them and I was like, we cannot guard this dude. We played zone. We hadn’t practice any zone. We hadn’t worked on any zone. I didn’t know anything about his own. We were down like 20. Like we came back and we ended up winning. And literally like we were like, you know, obviously so excited after the game. We play on the next night. As you guys know, the G League is the best. The next night, same thing. We can’t guard them. We go to the zone again and it’s not working. The night before, they just missed the shots. Like you just change the rhythm, the pattern of the game. And guys were like, hey, like what, who has? I was like, I’m not really sure who had, you know, like we’re just trying to, you know, mess around with being honest with you guys about it. But I also think you want to keep instilling and installing confidence in your group. But also we talked about it earlier, having those relationships, but like when you want to try something outside the box, a little different and unique, whether you worked on it or not, you know, that the group is going to be like, okay, I know what we’re doing. Let’s try to do it. And sometimes I think the ball misses where, you know, when the ball goes in, it’s like, oh, I should have been there. I should have, that should have happened, you know, sort of thing. So just tying it back to your original question, it starts with your base being those gaps. I think it was super critical is just getting players to move there as the ball moves, understanding I might be guarding a really good shooter too. It’s hard. It’s really hard. And so it’s winning at any level of basketball. So winning one game is hard. So just trying to steal that and a lot of that comes in before you get into those moments.
Pat 28:55
To follow up on the example you gave when you’re in the G league, but also at the top, you talked about having your base and then having kind of like an adjustment. And you mentioned that sometimes going to adjustment when you’re not playing hard. I know at times maybe that can sound counterintuitive. Well, like we’re not playing hard at our base. Why would you think maybe the adjustments going to work? So I just want to follow up on the thought process, your feelings behind like, okay, we’re not playing hard. Let’s try the adjustment.
Pat Delany 29:21
Yeah, I think it’s also, and I say that with, when you do that and you do it constantly, you’re probably playing with fire a lot of times, because then the players start to probably be like, oh, we don’t want to do it, we just won’t do it, we’ll adjust. I think sometimes again, knowing your team, are they not doing it because this is four and five nights or this is a back to back or we played a really high paced team last night and we’re playing a team with two or three primary matchups tonight that’s just giving us maybe a little bit of fatigue. Maybe it’s another factor, just having a pulse of where your team is at with saying that, I don’t think it’s something you want to dive into and that’d be your main stay as a coach. I think a lot of it is, let’s do what we do, let’s do it harder, let’s do it better, let’s do it at another level. And then if it’s not working because they’re taking advantage of the coverage or whether that’s your base or what you started your game playing with, then you can adjust from there. So we’re saying that early in the conversation, I don’t think it’s something that you want to live with as a coach in any way, shape or form.
Dan 30:16
Coach, great stuff. So far, we want to transition now to a segment on the show we call Start, Sub, or Sit. We’re going to give you three options around a topic, ask you to start one of them, sub one of them, and sit one of them. Coach, if you’re ready, we’ll dive into this first one.
Pat Delany 30:30
Love it.
Dan 30:31
All right. Coach, this first one has to do with, I know in your past, kind of as you came up through the NBA, was through the film room as a video coordinator, different stops. And this first question is going to have to do with hidden skills that being a video coordinator has helped you with now that you’re on the bench as a coach in the NBA. And so these are three different skills that a video coordinator can acquire as they’re coming up. So option one is you learn what’s important to the head coach or important to head coaches. Option two is you’re seeing common mistakes to correct. So for your own team, things that keep coming up over and over again that need correcting. Or option three is tendencies that win. And this isn’t necessarily for your team, but you just see tendencies across the league based off of how they play or their skill sets, tendencies that ultimately end up winning. So Start, Sub, or Sit, those three hidden skills you might get as a video coordinator.
Pat Delany 31:34
First of all, great question, man. Again, I told you guys earlier, man. I love the creativity.
Dan 31:37
Thank you.
Pat Delany 31:37
I’ll start common mistakes, sit, learning what’s important. And then, sorry, sub, be important to head coach. Got it.
Dan 31:44
I love to start with your sub, which is you learn what’s important to the head coach, for years with Spoelstra. What was that daily process like sitting with the head coach and what you learned about what someone wanted that was ultimately thinking that it was gonna help them win from the video side?
Pat Delany 32:02
I’ve told this story, Beau and Coach Clipper, two huge mentors of mine that helped me tremendously, give me an opportunity. And really, Beau was hiring me as an intern. And then really, even as I became a video coordinator there with him, he used to say to me like, Hey, you got 10 clips tonight. I’m not showing the team, but that was his thing. And I would put a little 10 clip together. And then he’d come sit next to me and he would say, Okay, like, why are you showing that clip? And at that time, honestly, I was like, Oh, I don’t know, because it’s one of 10. I just want to get 10 clips. I’m not really sure why, you know, to be honest, but it really made me think about what was important to him, what was important to our team. And also him having done the job of just of a different way to think about the job itself, the game of basketball, learning the league, and just that small little 15 minute, we would spend together, you know, focusing on team. So I think having an opportunity just to knowing what’s important to them, I think it helps them in so many ways. When you’re doing a project, you’re doing an edit, you’re doing something they’re not even asking for, you’re able to think about things in a similar wavelength, not on the same wavelength, you know, just a similar wavelength of like, Hey, you know, you know, this was always an important thing that he mentioned throughout the year, listening to them when they talk to the team, listening to them when they show film. This is a great clip. This is a great example. You know, and I think as a video coordinator, having done it, you get to the summer and you got all your coaching staff is like, let’s get our best close outs. Let’s get this project. This is a good part of 95% of the work you did during the season. It’s just how much can you manage it during the year? Because it’s so much on the front end. But it saves you so much time on the back end. If that makes sense. I learned so many things. I would probably say that as a mainstay of just learning and paying attention to what he’s saying, why he’s saying it and why it’s important to them at the end of the day.
Pat 33:57
Coach, I’d like to follow on your start, which was the common mistakes. What were, I guess, common mistakes that stood out to you as you daily breaking down the film and maybe now too, as you continue to break down the film, of course.
Pat Delany 34:08
Yeah, at that time, thinking as because I watched a lot of NBA basketball growing up thinking I knew a lot when I really had no idea wasn’t even close to playing the NBA, just really thinking you know a little more than you actually do. And then also understanding in that role. And I think the role has really evolved over the years since I had done it is your priority as the head coach and the players obviously, but there’s probably so many people in the organization from Assistant Coaches, Player Development Coaches, Front Offices that ask the video guy for it, ask them to do it, ask them to get this and just kind of tracking all that stuff because you can quickly with that job, there’s so many moving pieces to it from traveling to making sure you have everything for the season. So I would say those are probably the most common mistakes that I experienced. I didn’t even travel when we first started. And then just being like, Oh yeah, I love to travel. And then we were like, okay, you’re going to travel. I was like, cool. I was like, wait, we need a TV? Oh, wait, we got like, how do we hook this up? And all the things that kind of go along with that, that maybe I just thought happened on their own, to be honest with you. I think more and more now the video rooms have gotten bigger. So managing people, I think now could probably be a big thing. So while a lot of that stuff falls on the head coach of managing the staff is like, how can you help that? How can you help that part of it? Prioritize those things in communication. We talked about relationships with players, but I think staff dynamic is a critical piece in any type of team that has success. And the Video Coordinator, the video departments across the league, like how much they’re pouring into day in and day out. I think just knowing how much the job actually, when I started as an intern in Boston to going to Miami, I didn’t even realize that was a real job. I didn’t even know people were doing that sort of thing. So it was probably a little bit naive in terms of the workload, how much the hours, and just understanding that your job is to help the head coach and the players, whether you’re the Video Coordinator you’re an Assistant Coach, Player Development. If you do have a collective group that’s doing that daily, I think you can kind of limit some of those common mistakes that occur more and more.
Dan 36:13
A quick question for me, following up on the start with the common mistakes and what you’ve learned from being a video coordinator, but now as a coach and you also were a head coach, how you present that to the players. So if you’re seeing that they’re consistently making mistakes through the film on whatever closeout or whatever rotation and how then most effectively that comes across in either team or personal meetings with players.
Pat Delany 36:41
So much of it starts before those moments even happen, be honest with you, especially in the NBA. Obviously, you know, everybody has that opening meeting and you’re non-negotiables or the things you stand for, whatever organizationally and your team, these are the team rules, but I think so much of it starts before the end. I think knowing the players and what resonates with them and how to communicate with them. And then I think the last part of it, I think is being true to yourself. Whether you’re an assistant coach like myself, or you’re the head coach is, and being truthful on telling them in those moments, don’t tell them three or four days later, oh, three days ago, you didn’t make the right cut or you didn’t go with the right speed and then be like, wait, what? Like, why didn’t you in those moments and being who you are is telling them. And sometimes it’s in front of the team, but also I think that ties into knowing the players, how they’re going to respond, where are they at? Where the team at, you know, is the assistant coach grabbing them. But I think a lot of it is just the true part of it, I think, comes into play. And I just think in the face to face direct communication, not in a text message, not four or five days after the fact. And those moments, I think if you have it and it’s across the board, you know, a lot of it gets resonated or delegated to the head coach. But I think it’s a universal thing. It’s an organizational thing from not just from the basketball side of it or what your organization is about, what your team is about, how you guys carry yourself. I think a lot of that comes into play. And then the last piece I think is a huge piece is why, why is it important? You know, I think so much now for coaches of all levels. I mentioned my son earlier, coaches will yell at him or his teammate, do this, do that, which is fine. You can yell all you want, but I explained to them why that’s important. Why is that such a critical piece of it playing that way or acting the right way or doing this and why it helps them and why it’s good for them and why it’s good for your team and there’ll be moments you guys have probably experienced them as coaches do, they might not like it, which is totally fine. They’re not going to like it all the time, but I think down the road at some point, they’ll respect a lot more and look back on those moments. So in-person, face-to-face and right in those moments, I think are super critical to have those types of situations handled.
Dan 38:51
And then just on this thread of showing players film and correcting, when you’re trying to say, correct the behavior through film or at least teach through film, the balance of positive film versus negative film, and showing them doing it correctly. Hopefully there are clips of them doing it correctly, versus negative clips where they’re not and how you balance those two in order to teach or correct whatever you’re trying to correct.
Pat Delany 39:16
There’s two things that I like to do personally for those situations. One, sometimes you just put an edit together, maybe it’s from the last game and give the player the computer. Whether you’re watching it before the game, you’re watching it before whenever your workflow is with that player, and allow them just to watch and allow them to talk. A lot of times when we’re showing film, it’s them just listening, us being like, this was good, this was bad, you need to be here, you need to be there. Sometimes they might even skip over a clip that maybe it was a body language or poor execution. Sometimes you can say, hey, by the way, next clip. Sometimes you just let it, knowing there’ll be another opportunity for you to maybe show it to them before the next game or if it was a super critical one, obviously you can get it. But also, I think, again, we talked about the empowerment of the players, giving them a voice, letting them do those types of things. I think it’s a huge piece. Then I think from the balance side of it, there is no blueprint for it. That comes from the relationship, the time you spend with them, knowing them. What makes them tick? What gets them to help get them ready? Are you watching film right before the game? What’s going to help them get ready to play well? Sometimes I like to go back and, hey, 30 games ago, lets go find the 10 best defensive possessions. Might not even be in the most recent games, and I’m just going to show these to them. You’ve been struggling recently, maybe it’s a matchup. I’m just going to show them this personnel, how they’ve guarded him in the past. Or, hey, when they guard him when they’re on another team, I think all those things come into play. Again, I don’t think there’s a blueprint for, like, this is the only way to do it. I think they’re just having that relationship, that feel. Sometimes you guys probably have done it, I’ve done it. And you’re like, I missed the mark. I didn’t go with the way I hoped it had gone. But also, again, if you’re not up there ready to swing the bat, then sometimes you’ve got to try different things and do a little reflection after. That was good, that was bad. You had to get back from them, did they like it? But I do think players, especially players nowadays, like to have a little bit of, they’re just sitting there and listening. What do you see? Control it. You pause it. You rewind it, you know, type of thing. Talk about yourself, talk about the team, talk about where so-and-so might need to be in the clip. I think all those things come into play.
Pat 41:17
When you felt you’ve missed the mark, what were kind of the things that you’ve learned that you felt like you missed the mark with film?
Pat Delany 41:23
I’d probably say the number one thing is the timing. Maybe I was like, ah, maybe it will pick me up. This will be helped. And sometimes when they watch it, they just hand the computer back. I’m not really sure what that was. But I was just kind of like, oh, OK. I was kind of hoping that would kind of lift them up a little bit. Maybe they’ve been struggling, or just a reminder they’re in a great rhythm. Just, hey, this is all your makes in the last five games, everything. I would probably say the timing is the number one thing. And I would say the second thing is just maybe instead of, I’ll show it before the game. I’ll show it and try to change the pattern and rhythm and the player. You can just kind of feel like, I like my routine. Let’s not do it at a different time. And again, I think that’s honest and raw and transparent communication, which I think is critical in any relationship, especially in the coach-player relationship. So those situations come about. But you’re hoping that, again, more often than not, you’re like, OK, I’m getting through to them. That works. That helps. And that doesn’t mean they go out that night and necessarily hit five threes or play great defense. I’m a big believer in just trying to, while you’re being honest with them and holding them accountable, also bringing confidence to the players, I think, can go a long way as well.
Pat 43:39
All right, coach, we’ll move along here to our last start, sub, sit. This one is a practice question for you. What is the most controllable practice element that we have coaches can have or can impact the most controllable practice element option one, player focus option two intensity of the practice or option three time efficiency.
Pat Delany 44:04
I’m going to start with timing, sub the intensity, and I’m going to sit focus.
Pat 44:11
Okay, Coach, I’d like to start with your sit with player focus. What can we do to impact that or affect that as a coach?
Pat Delany 44:20
Yeah, I think just the probably the nuances of what’s going on around you, if you can, at our level, there’s nobody else in the gym, there’s not anybody else shooting a lot of times when you’re teaching those types of things. What are the things that you play some light music that maybe if you’re walking through something can players, I think those type of nuances that go on maybe the background that not everybody has control over. But if you can control those types of things, and I spent a lot of time with our health coach, just talking about all those things, and how critical they are sometimes right you’re going to practice for two and a half hours and you walk out of the gym, you’re like, And also just those acoustics that are going around the outside of it of like, what can help us stay here and trying to get to the point. This is why it’s important. This is what we’re doing. This is when we’re doing it, giving the players an opportunity to question that have any questions about what we’re doing, or when we’re doing it. Then from there, I think you have to move forward.
Pat 45:34
Tying it to like the time efficiency. If there is something where you need the focus high, we’re going to introduce something, how you think about time efficient, maybe length of practice versus like you said, it’s conditioning, we got to get them in shape. So introducing less and just kind of going longer, I guess that relationship with the focus and how you can use your time depending on what you’re trying to accomplish in a practice.
Pat Delany 45:57
Yeah, I think the time piece where we all do it, we lay out a practice plan and the time frame and we’re going to be on the court for 75 minutes, 90 minutes, whatever it is. Sometimes you go shorter. Sometimes you go longer. Sometimes you hit your target, but I think that’s also being an expert on the pulse of your team. Hey, this was going to be, you know, it’s supposed to be a 10 minute section, but this is going to be 20 minutes just because they’re not understanding what we’re doing. You can skip to the next thing and check the box and say we got it done, but at some point you’re going to need to go back and hit it. So again, I think it’s just kind of knowing your team. I think having that timeframe management, where’s your team at? What’s the schedule like for your group? Did we fly in? Did we know how much they’re going to be retained? Did we sit and watch film for 45 minutes and then come on the court and walk through and teach for another 20? Now we’re trying to get their bodies going type of things. And I do think that’s one of the hardest things in the league is when you want to play, you want to start practice with a lot of energy, maybe play a little live. If how do you get their bodies going? How are you going to get them moving in that kind of intricacy of practice from, you know, that you need to get with your strength coach and, you know, kind of warming up type of thing. One of the types of drills, skill development that you want to work on as a group that maybe they’re passing, finishing, dribbling, shooting, defensive movements, those types of things. But I think again, you don’t want to skip A, I think it’s a super critical piece. So while you have your plan of what you’d like to accomplish, maybe some days it’s easier just to say, you know what, let’s be great at these things and maximizing today. We can cover this tomorrow. And then there might be days you’re like the schedule doesn’t allow, you have to cover this today. And you might need to, you know, hit it again and shoot around, just to make sure everybody’s on the same page.
Dan 47:37
You’ve also been a head coach as well and put together your own practice plans. And when it comes to just putting together the actual practice, did you tend to start with the end in mind, write out how you want to end, whether it’s competition or whatever it is you want to end with and work your way back, or do you start with the start, how you want to warm up and then just kind of flow that way, any thoughts on just actually putting it together so you do get the efficiency, intensity, and focus that we’re all hoping for.
Pat Delany 48:04
I always like to kind of start with the beginning of practice, like what are those things that we need to prioritize, that we need to hit every day. We’re going to play a live segment. How do we get their bodies going? What are we working on? What is the intentionality of it? What is the prayer? Are we just doing it just to get their bodies going? How does it work for our team game? As much as we can try to tie that in there, and then just kind of hitting those things early on in practice. If it’s a lighter day, maybe just be, hey, we got to clean up a couple of base coverages, and walk through some script offense, you know, sort of thing, and then we’re just going to shoot, again, depending on where you’re at in your season and your schedule. But I didn’t always think about who is valuable, who are the question marks, and then, hey, what do we want to cover in the first 20 minutes of practice after the bodies are going, after we figure out how we’re going to do that? What is that first drill going to be like, and what is it tying into in terms of our overall team?
Pat 48:57
And with the prioritization, have you found, is it usually three things? It can’t be more than four because we don’t have the time. I guess like the number of how much you can prioritize in a practice setting.
Pat Delany 49:10
My personal opinion, I think there’s two. Sometimes it’s, hey, one offense, one defense, maybe it’s two defensive, maybe it’s two offensive things. If you have the right team, maybe your team has been together for a little while, we can get that third thing in there. But I think it doesn’t matter how long you go. It’s like, what are they actually going to retain from night to night? I think you guys have maybe had this topic a little bit on your podcast. Everybody does shoot arounds in the morning. Do you walk through your plays in the beginning of walkthrough? Do you walk through the opponent plays at the end of the walkthrough knowing that they’re going to leave the gym and there’s going to be about seven, six, seven, eight hours before they play the game? How much of the film do you want to hit them with? All those things, they are constantly evolving. We talk about them as a staff throughout the season, ton in the off season, obviously, where can we improve around those types of margins? Not just saying, oh, we told them versus like, actually, what are they actually resonating? What are they learning from? What are they picking up? And I think that the more and more we do that, it’s only going to help the players, help the team and give you the best chance to win, hopefully night in, night out.
Pat 50:08
With the game plan, let’s say you have a shoot around the morning, you hit on the game plan, and like I said, 78 hours are back in the arena. How do you guys like to touch on the game plan again prior to the game?
Pat Delany 50:18
Yeah, usually process just kind of a quick hit reminder, right? So they get the game. They all have their shooting times and activation and lifting all that stuff. It’s just more of a quick hit before they go on to the court.
You know, here are our coverages. Hopefully here’s some good clips of us doing it against the support if we played them already or what we want it to look like. Confirming that we’re all on the same page. We have our matchup. So Lisa start the game, you know, sort of thing. And then I usually give the head coach time to message them with any final thoughts, you know, sort of thing. But I don’t think it’d be super long winded. Just kind of more of a reminder. Some of our coaches, we all kind of do it. Like maybe when you’re watching an individual film, you might just remind them individually, Hey, you’re good with this coverage. You’re good with your matchup. Here’s two clips of a tendency they like to do. Instead of hitting them all at that one moment, right before the game of, you know, hear those clips. Again, that ties into the relationship, individual piece, knowing your players and then knowing your team as a whole, like what works for them.
Dan 51:16
Coach, you’re off the start, sub, sit, hot seat. Thanks for coming through that game with us.
Pat Delany 51:21
Woo that was a good one man! I appreciate it. I’ve been fortunate to listen to you guys do that a couple of times. But definitely when you’re in the moment, it’s different for sure.
Dan 51:27
You pass with flying colors,
Pat Delany 51:28
I appreciate it.
Dan 51:30
Coach, our last question that we ask all the guests is what’s the best investment that you’ve made in your career as a coach?
Pat Delany 51:37
Oh, man, I’ve heard, you know, a variety of people have answered this question on your guys’ show. I probably got a laundry list. If I had to say one, it would probably be my senior year of college. I went to a small division two school in New Hampshire. I had taken enough academic courses in the summer. Without my senior year, I had a little bit of freedom and flexibility, and I knew I wasn’t good enough to go like Patrick and play in Germany. I knew I wasn’t going to make it to the league, so I reached out to an old family friend, Bob Hurley Sr., you know, kind of was like, hey, I’d love to get into basketball, but go to school in New Hampshire, I love to get into this coaching thing. And he had introduced me to Frank Vogel, who was an assistant at the time in Boston under Jim O’Brien, and they were so welcoming. And they were just like, yeah, cool, you can come down, you’re an intern, you get academic credit, come whatever you want. And just my investment of just like the time, the gas money of just paying to park at the arena, because they were just like, it was a position that he just allowed me to do. You know, I think, I don’t know, I think like $40 to park it whenever I could get to a Celtics game. And I remember I used to just sit in the locker room, and my whole job, like during the games, the late great coach, Dick Carter, just want to watch the defense, and used to watch it on a high eight machine, which I’m sure a lot of the younger coaches are like, wait, oh, what? And I would literally just hit record when they were on defense, and I hit pause when they were on offense. And I would literally sit there and watch the game and just be like, this is amazing. This is the highest level basketball, and I’m around it, and I get to see it. And at that time, I didn’t have any real aspirations of being the NBA more than just like, I want to learn, I got so much to learn. I didn’t even know these types of positions of a video position was available. And that kind of jump started me, and they gave me an opportunity to go interview in Miami. That opportunity is that time I could be using like, oh, like, Austin’s an hour away, like, you know, I got to drive down there. But they made it so accommodating for me just to come and help and do it. And then coach Spo and coach Riley giving me the opportunity in Miami to be an intern, not making a lot of money, but just, I was, yes, anybody and everybody there. It didn’t matter who you were in the organization. Yes, I’ll do it. Yes, I’ll be there. We talk a lot about with players, you know, some of their biggest strengths is being available. I think too, as coaches, video guys, interns, availability, there’s a huge power as well. And I tried to maximize. I’ve been really pushing. I got a lot of people that have helped me along the way and have continued to help me. And if I could do that for one other person along my path, I’d be lucky to do so.
Dan 54:05
Alright Pat, fun time with Coach Delaney, really fun coach to talk to you before and afterward, obviously a great coach but a great guy as well and it was a pleasure having him on the show today.
Pat 54:16
Yeah, appreciate him sharing. Appreciate his energy. For me, it’s a late night one. So it was nice when we hopped on.
Dan 54:22
with us having a nine hour time difference. One of us is either waking up or going to bed most of the time when we do these. So the energy is always appreciated from one of us. Yeah.
Pat 54:32
Yeah, absolutely. Well, Dan, kick it off because I think it’s your turn this time to start with the takeaways. What was your first takeaway from our conversation?
Dan 54:41
Yeah. So we were circling around these teams that play with great pace in half-court and move the ball, move their bodies, and how you build that out defensively and kind of from the half-court standpoint. And my first takeaway is the balance between adjustments and your base. And there were some good follow-up questions by you later on in the conversation, but then he went back and mentioned how you build your base out. And he talked about the importance of knowing your players, first of all, personally, and then starting to build from there. And I think it was just good to talk about how do you build your base out when it comes to who are the players on my team? How do they defend? What’s going to be best for us? And then when we got into some of the more nuanced stuff about their stance and their physicality and their communication, I think what he mentioned and what I pulled from it is those things are easier to coach and teach and build upon if you have a solid foundation, a solid base as far as coach, player, communication, relationships.
Pat 55:43
Yeah, I like the part two when within the base building out your base defense, we asked about, you know, looking at through the lens of teams that run multiple actions, like you have the connecting actions, whether it’s most likely a handoff, or, you know, you can use the screen away. But being mindful as a coach, yes, we’d like to blow up, okay, if it’s a guard to guard handoff, we do this if it’s a guard forward guard center, or, you know, trying to have these multiple coverages. But understanding again, going back to knowing your team, but within that base, not over complicating it and not confusing them to understand you have multiple schemes based on who is in the handoff for us, of course, we’d love to do that, you know, but being mindful, I mean, of course, with some teams, you can, but taking into consideration, if they’re confused, they’re not going to be able to run anything correctly or with the physicality require. I liked hearing his thoughts on that, framing it through that lens to just kind of the be aware of your team, and all of this and what you can take away what you can be aggressive on. I think that was another thing we’re in our prep. We talked through where do we want to take the conversation? Okay, are there areas, actions that you can be more aggressive on? But it all roots back in again, knowing your team and their capabilities. Yeah, this is what we’re talking about.
Dan 56:59
A really good quote. I think it’s a business quote and a team quote about, you can’t scale complexity.You can only scale simplicity. Things have to be simple at the base. Otherwise, you can’t go anywhere.
Pat 57:11
I think we talked about that with our conversation with coach Noah LaRoche. He quoted us that quote from wherever it was I don’t think it’s a coach LaRoche original, but it’s true good conversation with coach LaRoche and it applies today And what we were talking about.
Dan 57:25
Yeah. There’s another good quote from coach Delaney but when we talking about what kills you but we’ll live with that just made me laugh because it’s like the worst thing as A player when you’re rising up for your jumper and teams yelling.
Well, there’s a
Pat 57:37
we’ll live. In unison. Yeah.
Dan 57:40
Or the opposing system is yelling, we’ll live. That’s what we wanted. Yeah.
Pat 57:45
Crush it into it, your ego.
Dan 57:47
So I’ll give you a quick miss of mine though in this first bucket, not from coach Delaney, of course, but I just thought if we had more time and conversation kind of steered away from it, but another interesting part of it was the stunt work, stunts and gaps and gap integrity. You brought that up and I just think there’s a lot in there, high early stunts. You actually stunt and come with the ball or you just kind of like a ghost or in and out of it. Different areas of the court, you talked about great players got to see bodies. If they see space, they’re going to kill you. So that was one thing I could have probably spent more time is just talking about at that level, especially with the way that defenses are constructed where you have the three second rule. Like, how do you take away space? How do you stunt, recover, all that kind of stuff would have been interesting for me.
Pat 58:34
Yeah I’m right there with you. I wrote down, he mentioned full body help, you know, based on if you’re not regarding a threatening perimeter player. I wish I’d followed up to just think it sounds self-explanatory, but just hearing the nuance, the technique behind a full body help in the lane. Another miss that he hit on is he talked about the wearing mentality when we were talking about physicality, off-ball physicality and how that can help with your defense and how you can move the margins on creating a physical team. I wish I had more ways you can have that within the wearing mentality, where are areas that you can be physical, wear down a team. Like he said, is it in transition, just getting to a guy early, hitting him or off-ball stuff. So just all the kind of nuances, the ways to have a wearing mentality for sure.
Dan 59:22
Pat, I’ll kick it to you on takeaway number two.
Pat 59:26
Yeah, my take away was going to your start sub sit question is biggest benefits from working in the film room, shared a number of good thoughts on kind of common mistakes, learning what’s important in coaches, but I liked when the conversation turned to using the film, presenting film to the team and the players and really framing it through, why are you showing these clips? You gave a great example when you had sat down with Spoelstra, but just as a coach preparing, why are you showing these clips, thinking through it, what you’re going to present, show your teams, and how maybe the environment’s changed when it’s a team versus preparing an individual and I thought he raised some really good points on the importance of the player-coach relationship when using individual film, learning the players. And he shared some good examples too on when he missed the mark with film that I really liked and the role that timing, maybe the routine plays and knowing when to or not hit a player with individual film. So something I’ve been thinking a lot about too. So I’m glad the conversation went in this direction, especially with the individual film aspect.
Dan 01:00:25
Yeah. I think why his experience and thoughts are so great is because he has experience coming up through the film room, but then of course now transferring to the bench, being a head coach, working with the players on the court And you have that experience of, okay, there’s so much film you could watch. You could present what actually is important. What does your head coach want? We asked him that, but then also how do you relay mistakes or correct things that need correcting from the coach on the court standpoint, not just breaking it down and presenting it in some way. And I think that’s a big thing for all of us is that balance and he’s correct. And what’s your relationship with each player and some players like Pat, you know, I know there’s some players on both our teams that love the film. They want it. You can sit down and go through the good and the bad with them. There’s some that just aren’t as up on it or don’t really want it or a little more sensitive to critique. And knowing that balance per player, I think is huge and how you present these things. And like he spoke well to that. And I think that’s really important, especially when it comes to like mistakes and correcting mistakes.
Pat 01:01:31
I’m glad you brought up the on-court element. Coach Delaney spoke well to it, but then we recently had Coach Weems at our coaching clinic and he talked about that too, how players learn differently and maybe you’ll show them the film, but then going out on the court and especially with like positional work defensively, just having them feel it and what you mean with whether it’s gaps or on-ball, how you want to force a player. And depending on if he’s on this side of the court, maybe where your stance should be or a pick and roll coverage, I think that’s a really important element to aid in the film work with the players is like, all right, let’s just quickly get out there. And then also as, you know, with new players or rookies, whatever it may be another way to foster the relationship and help, of course, build trust with the player as well. For sure. All right, Dan. So keeping it moving here, bringing it home. I’ll throw it to you for our last takeaway from our conversation with Coach Delaney.
Dan 01:02:24
Yeah. Well, I’ll go to your start sub sit with the controllable practice elements as a coach, real mouthful as a title there. You and I had a fun conversation before the podcast discussing these things. And with both of our practices, how are we thinking about structuring them so that they’re intense, the players are focused, and it’s efficient, kind of the holy grail, all three of them.
Pat 01:02:45
Yeah.
Dan 01:02:45
We thought it’d be interesting what’s most important, or honestly, what’s most controllable as a coach. And my takeaway was his start, the time efficiency, and that having things placed in the right order, having teaching segments, like when I asked him, I think the follow up at the very end, do you start with the end in mind and work up or do you work down from the start? And he kind of answered about how he wanted to have things in the front of practice that he made sure he got to, that he taught when he had their full attention and kind of get into the time efficiency part of it of let’s get these things in an efficient amount of time so we save their legs or whatnot so we can get to the competition later. And so I just thought the whole thing was interesting when it comes to what, as a coach, can you actually have the most control over every day and how you structure your practice, you do have control over how long things run or don’t run.
Pat 01:03:38
I enjoyed the practice planning conversation and your follow-up and where he starts. And when he talked about what to prioritize in practice and just, you know, in a pure kind of general, how many things can you prioritize in practice? We always hear like the power of three, what is too many, what is maybe we could have done more here in different coaches’ perspectives. The part I also liked when he hit on, when he’s talking about that and practice planning in general is the importance that he put on preparing the guys to move and understanding maybe what he wanted to get to. And of course then preparing to the move and like that first drill that would help get them into it and start to build the ultimate goal. To me, it just always boils down to the warmup. I think we as coaches are like, what are we going to accomplish? What are we going to get done? But then like the last thing you’d think of like is the warmup and the anxiety of what warmup drill do we do today? How do we get them going? The importance it always plays in practice and you just can’t escape it.
Dan 01:04:34
Two other podcasts that we’ve talked about that I think are interesting to add into this conversation. One is Dylan Murphy, G-League head coach for Orlando Osceola Magic. He talked about practice planning and moving the big rocks every day, having the big rocks being the staples of every practice plan and building those into each thing, whatever it is those big rocks are in your program, are you pushing those forward? I thought Coach Murphy spoke really well on it and when it comes to the efficiency, intensity, focus. So those three elements were in it. And then I also thought Chicago Bulls assistant coach, Damian Cotter had really great thoughts on messy practices, not chaotic practices, but it’s okay if a practice is messy because as Coach Delaney also mentioned today that we go back, shell drill is great, it looks good, but then he even mentioned, well, then we get to the game film and it’s almost never how that looks. So how do you make things as game-like, as messy as possible so that they actually get the learning and they get the true game-like reps, sometimes as pretty and clean as we want the practices to be at the end of the day, can we get them as game-like as possible and a little bit of messiness within our stuff is okay. I think those are two other things that just popped in my mind when we were talking about this conversation that also add to the practice element of this whole thing. Well, Pat, there’s nothing else. We’ll start wrapping this up. Let’s do it again. We thank coach Delaney for coming on the show and sharing all of his thoughts. We wish him and the Raptors luck this season. Thank you everybody for listening and we’ll see you next time.