Toughness Defined by Jay Bilas

If you have not yet read Toughness: Developing True Strength On and Off the Court by Jay Bilas, I highly recommend you do. It is one of the best books I have ever read. So good in fact that it gave me the idea to share all of my favorites quotes and moments from the book. Below you will find that each Chapter and Section is marked to give you a reference of the topic the “quote” came from. Anything not in quotations is a direct remark from Jay Bilas himself.

I hope you enjoy what I have shared. It is only about 1% of what the book brings to life, but hopefully it is enough to convince you to read it in entirely.

Toughness is Defined

Toughness isn’t physical. It has nothing to do with size, physical strength or athleticism. It’s an intangible, an attitude, a philosophy…I believe that true toughness is a skill that can be developed and improved in everyone.

Toughness is a descriptor of how much energy a material can absorb before breaking. Being tough is being Unbreakable!

Coaching Mental Toughness

“Toughness is doing what it takes to make a difference.” – Tom Izzo

Film Breakdown Part 1: Post-Game Analysis

Upon several requests, I have put together a three-part series of posts discussing how to watch film as after the game, with your team, and with individual players. Today I am going to discuss the process of watching and breaking down the game film individually as a coach to provide feedback for yourself and your coaching staff.

This post is going to about the process of how I break down film after a game every each night. The analysis below takes place after every game we play and it takes approximately 2 hours once I get home. 

Post-Game Meeting

After each game our coaching staff meets in the head coaches office and we discuss the game for 15-20 minutes; What went well, what didn’t go well, and other thoughts about the game. As a staff, we try to reserve judgement with performance until watching the game film. During this time, I will reference some notes that I wrote down during the game about some aspects that I think would be good to look for when breaking down the film (i.e.- Transition defense, defensive rebounding, rotational breakdowns, etc.) and also gather thoughts from my head coach on things he would like for me to focus on while watching the film.

Post-Game Report

After gathering our post-game perspective, I head home and start uploading the film for breakdown onto our editing tool. During the upload time (usually takes about 25 minutes), I analyze and input the data I have on my Offensive and Defensive Efficiency Chart and look for any positive and negative trends from the game. This chart will also factor into indicators while watching film. Once all the numbers totaled, I will start typing up my Post[Game Report for my head coach. I got this tremendous idea from the LA Clippers’ Kevin Eastman. Eastman took it upon himself each night after their games to write-up a post-game report and slide it under head coach Doc Rivers’ door for reading the next morning. I am not sure what Kevin’s looked like, but in my report I include the following:

1. Quarter by Quarter Scoring with +/-
2. Rebound Comparisons each half and game total (Out rebounding the opponent is a huge component of our program)
3. Offensive and Defensive notes referencing the Efficiency Chart I mentioned above
   1. As well as any notes I gather from the film in regards to our performance (Good and Bad)
4. Any ideas or recommendations for upcoming practices that I think will help our team

If you are interested in a sample of what mine looks like just drop me a note and I would be glad to email you.

LA Clippers Side Quick Twist ATO

Last night I tweeted that Doc Rivers is one of the greatest ATO coaches of all time; this play is a big reason why. He drew up this play during a timeout late in the 4th quarter versus the Miami Heat. This play is so effective, yet very simple to run and provides multiple scoring opportunities. As 1 (CP3) received the dribble hand-off from 4 (Griffin), he has 3 main options:

1. Pull-up jumper or attack the rim
2. Drive and force X3 to help and kick out to 3 for a catch & shoot
3. Drive and look to kick out to 2 in the corner if X2 rotates to the lane.

Boston Celtics Zipper Flare – Need Play

This play from the Boston Celtics is one you can run sideline out of bounds with a short clock in need of a 2 or 3 situation.

LA Clippers Side Twist

Watching another segment of the 2013 Real Training Camp with the LA Clippers, Doc Rivers drew up this set. This segment of practice was a coaches dream, a scrimmage of sideline out of bounds plays with a short clock to work on end of game/quarter situations. On the play below, 3 did a marvelous job setting up the play like he was going to screen for 2 before quickly rubbing off the back of 2 to the rim.