Tag: Calipari

Uses Dribble Drive

  • Calipari – a good guy or a con artist?

    I’ve heard John Calipari described as a con artist who wins through recruting only – and through shady recruiting too. Having seen the Kentucky All Access DVD’s I’m very sure that the man can coach, and can coach really well (those DVD’s come very recommended).

    On the recruitment – and on the man in general – Sports Illustrated ran a feature article a while back (which I only just saw). It’s a really good insight into what makes a big-time college coach:

    Too Slick, Too Loud, Too Successful

    Why John Calipari Can’t Catch A Break

    The NCAA hasn’t held him accountable for any major violation, and dark rumors about his recruiting methods have never stuck. Still, no matter what good the Kentucky coach does—visiting the sick, helping at-risk kids—he’s assumed to have an ulterior motive.

    Read more at SI

  • Kentucky and the Dribble Drive

    I’m sure a lot of you guys around the world are following the NCAA tournament. If not may I just remind you that all the games are available right here:

    March Madness On Demand

    With my interest in the Dribble Drive I’ve been following coach Calipari’s teams for years, but mostly in the post season, as very few NCAA games are shown in Europe during the regular season.

    One thing which surprised me watching this season’s Kentucky matches is that they have pretty much gone away from the Dribble Drive as an offense, and I think they look stagnant because of it. There is a lot of pass, stand around. Pass, stand around waiting for a pick-n-roll. Pick-n-roll, hesitate.

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  • Allowing players ownership of their team

    This weekend I watched the World Cup Handball final. For anyone who doesn’t know the sport – which you probably wouldn’t unless you live in Europe or South Korea – it’s a bit like a mix of soccer and basketball, played indoors at two goals, but with the hands. Have a look at some highlights here:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cml4z8qI8Tc&feature=related&w=640&rel0]

    Well, this weekend Denmark played France in the World Cup final, in Sweden in front of 16.000 spectators. Denmark had the ball but were down by one goal with 29 seconds left when they called a timeout. In handball 21 seconds is basically time enough for one offense.

    We all know what most basketball coaches would do; take control, draw up a play, let the players know exactly what to do.

    The Danish coach did something very different. As soon as the players came in he goes:

    “What do you want to run?”

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  • On making changes to drills

    I think one of the most important things we can do as coaches is to review our drills quite often. Not just find new drills, but to actually look at the drills we run and ask; Is this drill capable of giving more to the players than it already is?

    A few months ago I asked that of the Walberg DDM Attack Layup drill of the Daily 45. The drill is great for teaching attacking layups and different moves, it focuses the act of training layups, and it only takes a few minutes each training session.

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  • Video reviews

    One thing I hear a lot of questions about is the various DVD sets about the Dribble Drive Motion. Are they any good? Are they good enough? Who are they for? Below I’ll review the DDM DVD’s I’ve seen.

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  • The 3-on-3 Transition Drill

    Transition is a continuous 3 on 3 drill that’s fun and challenging, with two teams competing against each other, while focusing on the Dribble Drive Break/Sideline Break and defensive transition.

    The drill continues the work started in the Scramble 11 man break drill, using the same tactics, but now requiring the wings to beat their man to force the outnumbered situation.

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  • Slow Break Automatic

    The Dribble Drive Motion basically has the sideline break built into it, with the goal being to get the ball up the sideline as quick as possible (for more info check out the book on the right side of the site). For years I’ve run a sideline break that fits perfectly into the Dribble Drive, has lots of reads and will give you four scoring opportunities in about three seconds.

    We have nicknamed it the “Slow Break”, because although it works great as a fast break, it is equally good after a made basket, or when your big has secured a rebound, and the other team have numbers back on defense. We have run it as an automatic after made baskets or when the big has rebounded the ball.

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  • The Drop Zone Extended

    Drop zone back door2I don’t claim that the way we’re running the dribble drive is much different than what other people runs – in fact most of it is just taking the best of Walberg’s and Calipari’s options and combining them. We do try to look out for new options, though, and a few of them end up being part of the way we run the offense.

    During preseason we’ve experimented with new options and one option is really standing out. As a part of the way we teach the offense we don’t teach the drop zone kick-up until we’ve put everything else in and can run it really well, as that option very easily becomes the primary option, and we feel the offense has much better options.

    Because of this we’ve had a chance to really look at the drop zone back door options, and we’ve added a wrinkle inspired by Calipary, but which fits in really well with Walbergs original offense.

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