Defense helps morale

From ESPN.com:

More so than engaging the gang, the Lakers' defense has brought the group together at a time when team chemistry cannot be overstated in its value to winning.

"It's kind of like this bond that starts to happen," Lamar Odom said. "Intensity picks up. Communication picks up. Eye contact amongst each other kind of picks up and collective energy and synergy picks up."

"When things work [on defense], it helps morale," Kobe Bryant said. "It helps generate momentum and the right kind of energy that you need to win games -- even more so than offensively."

Poise & Great Communication

Here is an excerpt from a New York Times article on Butler coach Brad Stevens: "Sometimes we'll be in the huddle during a tight game and look up at coach Stevens and he's just so calm," senior Zach Hahn said. "You wonder 'How's he doing that?' But it definitely has an effect on everyone else. We don't get rattled easily." Butler sophomore Chase Stigall said Stevens is a master of motivation, with an ability to mold his style to fit different players. When the Bulldogs were on a three-game losing streak in February — something unheard of for many of the players on the current roster — Stigall said Stevens didn't panic or do anything desperate. He just did what he does best, communicate. "He has a different way with every player," Stigall said. "When he's tuning into a certain player, he has a different way of treating each guy. He knows that my high school coach was a yeller, and he knows that I can be yelled at and that's how I respond the best. Other people can't respond to that — and he knows it."

Chandler's Defensive Mindset Gets Mavs Back on Track

Tyson Chandler, who is a NBA veteran in his first year with the Mavericks, has brought a defensive identity to a team that has struggled on that end of the floor in the past. Dallas has one of the best records in the NBA and is coming off a big win at Miami last night.

Here is Dirk Nowitzki on how Chandler's presence is felt throughout the team:

"I don't think Ray [Allen] or Paul Pierce were great defenders before K.G. got there," Nowitzki said. "But, K.G., with his energy, his defense, his mentality and his high-octane self, he kind of changed the whole momentum on the defense. I think that's what Tyson did here."

"It's just his overall willingness to defend," Nowitzki said. "He talks out there. He's always a loud communicator, pushing everybody in the right spots. I think that's what Tyson brings to our team."

Here is Chandler after last night's victory in Miami:

"We got away from that," said Tyson Chandler, who had eight points and 10 rebounds and helped limit the Heat to 26 points in the paint. "It seemed like the longer our winning streak was going, we started to take a step back and relax on the defensive end. It took that loss [to the Milwaukee Bucks on Dec. 13] to wake everybody back up, and now we're communicating out there and we're actually following Coach's game plan again.

"This has to be our identity. If we want to have a special year, we've got to think defense first."

Duke's Talk System

Here are some portions in an article from ESPN The Magazine about the communication system that Duke has out on the floor & the importance of talking in their program:

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Eye contact -- they're big on that. Coach K does it too, from the first time he meets a recruit. Squaring up, he promises always to tell the kid the way it is, about his game, about his life, no matter what. And he demands that every one of his players at Duke do the same: Find the eyes; tell the truth.

It's disorienting and, frankly, a bit weird. But if Mike Krzyzewski says the point is to promote an open dialogue, you can't really argue, even if it can freak out a newbie. Let's be honest: If anyone outside of the team's practice facility were to address a player with such unflinching eye-to-eye contact, he'd likely be asking, "Do you know how fast you were going?"

But disconcerting or not, that's how Blue Devils interact off the court. On it, though, blinded by screens, pivots and defenders' waving hands, they can't rely on eye contact. So they resort to a mode of communication that is equally unrelenting: a steady stream of old-school chatter.

In games, practices and open gyms, the Dukies' yelping -- "Ball, ball!," "You're good there," "I got it," "Shoot it" -- is no different from what spews from your standard-issue pickup hooper. It's just way more intense. It draws attention to oncoming screens, but also affirms every pass and shot, encourages every defensive gamble. It announces their solidarity. "When you talk all the time, you will recognize a voice in a chaotic situation," Krzyzewski says. "It builds strength."

To a Devil, hostile invective, intrusive whistles and sneaker squeaks are white noise; teammates' chirps are the real sound track of the game. To opponents, that sound track is like a death knell. "The chatter empowers them," says Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg. "Combine it with their talent, and it's pretty imposing."

Krzyzewski calls this grating-to-others blah-blah-blahing the lifeblood of his program, one of its building blocks: offense, defense, talk. And of his four title teams, 2010's may have been the one most dependent on it. "Last year they talked better than anyone we played," says North Carolina's Roy Williams. "They also talked more consistently than any Duke team in the seven years I've been back in the ACC." All that verbosity was evidence of a veteran squad finally buying Krzyzewski's well-worn creed; "The beauty in our sport comes when five are playing as one, and five can't play as one unless they're talking to one another"

"You're teaching them a language," Krzyzewski says. "You just can't say, 'All you guys need to talk.' You have to teach them how."

"The coaches' thing is, if you're not talking, you're into yourself," Smith says. "Talking gets you thinking about the game." Problem is, extroversion isn't generally an instinctive response to screwing up. "Guys aren't good talkers inherently," Krzyzewski says. "By talking, you open up your inside to the team." Few All-Americas want to draw attention to an ego-shredding error, but Coach K will tell you that's when teammates need to hear you the most. "What talk does is return you to the moment," he says. "It clears your head."

Communication on the Floor

Here is a piece on Team USA and their desire to communicate more on the floor. From NBA.com:

"In the last two ball games, you knew you were going to win and you wanted to really fast forward into the medal round," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said after practice. "And what happens is you stop talking to one another on the court. And then you're not as animated. It's still a game of being connected, and you're connected primarily when you're talking to one another."

Communication on defense is always critical. But it takes on extra importance in international play, where the best teams run offenses with five players and the ball constantly in motion. A defense that does not talk will quickly be a defense that is lost.

"These teams are well-coached and they run all their sets all the way through," Kevin Durant said. "They have a lot of shooters that stretch the floor, so if you don't talk, you can get burned."

Defensive communication goes well beyond calling out screens. All five players must be talking and working together, so that the roll man is picked up quickly and the shooters aren't left alone. Rotations must be quick, and being a step slow will cost you two or three points.

Of course, the importance of communication is not limited to the defensive end of the floor. The U.S. offense has been stagnant at times, in part because they weren't talking as they brought the ball up the floor.

"We've been coming down, just dribbling the ball, and waiting to call a set instead of running some motion," Krzyzewski said, noting that early offense was another point of emphasis on Saturday.

Many of these American players aren't used to being vocal though. Along with a lack of international and big-game experience, that's one of the challenges of bringing a young team to the World Championship.

"It's different roles and situations that you're put in when you play USA Basketball," Tyson Chandler said. "So we've got to get guys out of their comfort zone."

"I know for myself, I was a little nervous when I first got here to talk it up," Durant admitted. "But as time goes on, these guys make it easier."

Krzyzewski puts a positive spin on the lack of communication, saying that it's also a result of players focused on doing the right thing individually.

"It's not meant like 'I don't want to talk,'" the coach said. "It's like 'I am talking, and I'm talking to myself. Here's what I'm supposed to be doing.' And we need to get them outside of themselves. And they will do that. They'll be a very enthusiastic, hungry group when we play Angola." (Who they beat by 56 points)

Being Open and Honest

Good article in the Lincoln Journal Star about the open communication between Offensive Coordinator Shawn Watson and his quarterbacks. While the media and public did not know who was going to be the starting quarterback for the season opener last Saturday, all three QB's were well aware of where they stood in the pecking order:

Shawn Watson isn't big into secrets.

That might draw a sarcastic chuckle from any Nebraska fan who lost sleep over the past couple of weeks, wondering who'd be starting at quarterback. Secrecy practically drove an entire state nutty.

Of course, the answer is now clear. But before pointing to redshirted freshman Taylor Martinez early last week, Watson kept all three players involved in the race well-informed.

Openness, it seems, is one way to prevent disgruntled players.

"It'd be a lot worse if everything was secretive, and then all of the sudden, ‘Bam! Here's the starter.' But it wasn't like that," said sophomore Cody Green, the No. 2 quarterback.

"We knew (Martinez) was starting and the reasons why he was starting. It wasn't like, 'Oh, well, we're just going to pick Taylor.' We knew all the way through the things he did, the things we had done, the good and the bad. It wasn't such a big surprise to us."

Green admits, though, he wouldn't want Watson's job of keeping smiles on the faces of three
quarterbacks.

How does Watson hope to do it?

Good, old-fashioned honesty.

"I don't like closed-door meetings, because I think that fosters secrecy, and that's not the deal," Watson said. "We wanted these guys to know, because we knew from the onset we needed everybody. We needed all three to win. We wanted to create an environment where there was just up-front honesty."

That's why Watson never held individual meetings. If he was talking to one quarterback, he was talking to three quarterbacks. Everybody heard the same thing at the same time.

"We knew exactly where we stood, exactly what everybody else did," Green said. "He doesn't hold anything back in the meeting rooms. He'll tell us, 'Taylor, you did this; Cody, you did this; Zac (Lee), you did this.' We all knew where everybody stood, and that's all you can ask for."

That, and equal repetitions in practice. Everybody got those, too, Green said.

"You do with those chances as you want to do, and if you mess up, then heck, you mess up," Green said. "But you got a chance. That's all you can ask for as a competitor. Give us reps, give us chances to go out there and compete. And that's what he did."

That doesn't make everything easy, though. Especially not telling last year's starter of 12 games that he's now No. 3 on the depth chart.

How has Lee responded?

"I think he's answered like a champion. He's been awesome," Watson said. "Zac, he's been helpful, he's been a resource to the two younger guys. He's been a real champion with those guys. He's been great."

Bill Self is One of the Best

Great article from Joe Posnanski of the Kansas City Star and cnnsi.com about Kansas Head Coach Bill Self. The article has some great stories on how Self got into coaching first as a graduate assistant under Larry Brown and then as an assistant coach at Oklahoma St. Terrific stories to read about:

Bill Self Article

Here are some good excerpts from the article that are good for players and coaches:

Self on Making Plays:

"To me, to be successful you need to respond to whatever the situation calls for. I tell our players that all the time. You win games by making plays. I know that's a cliche, but it's true. You don't win games with the best offense, because sometimes your shots don't fall. You don't win games with the best defense, because sometimes the other team just keeps making shots. You win games by making plays in that moment, responding to that exact challenge."

Here is a little on how Self communicates:

That's Bill Self too. He has an almost pathological need for there to be no misunderstandings. He cherishes confrontation. He demands clarity. He does not mind if his players dislike him -- that's part of the deal -- but he will be sure, damn sure, that they know exactly where they stand at him at all times. They WILL know. Self will gather them together in the locker room, and he will go around the room, and he will say to his players, plainly, directly: "You are too selfish with the ball ... And you don't trust your teammates enough ... And you try to take too much of the credit ... And you will slack off when you start feeling too good about yourself."

"That, to me, is a bit part of what coaching is about," he says. "I mean everybody does it differently. But for me, there shouldn't be any secrets. They have to know exactly what where they stand, what I think about them, what they have to do to become better players, what their strengths and weaknesses are. We have to be clear. If I hear a player say that they don't know where they stand with me, with our coaching staff, that would really bother me. Because I know how hard we work to make sure they know exactly what we think."

Chandler gives Bobcats a strong voice in the middle

Good article today on newly acquired Bobcat center Tyson Chandler. Chandler has already made his mark on the team by the way he communicates with this teammates:

It's my nature - I'm vocal, I'm going to speak out. I feel like (by being vocal and candid), it's going to make everybody gel. I think with me, it's always constructive criticism, but I have a passion for the game and wanting to win."

Says veteran guard Raja Bell:

"It definitely helps if you have someone who can quarterback (the defense from the center position) because he's the only one who can see the whole floor from under the basket. For him to give us an audio of what's going on, when you can't see it (coming), helps tremendously."

Chandler considers himself somewhat expert at low-post defense. He expects to share that knowledge.

"I wouldn't be doing Raymond (Felton) any favors if I wasn't telling him about something he's doing wrong defensively," Chandler described. "And Raymond wouldn't be doing me any favors (by not speaking up when) I'm letting Amare (Stoudemire) or Dwight (Howard) go for 30 on me and I'm playing lazy.

"It's about holding each other accountable to win. That's the ultimate goal and that's what I'm trying to bring here."

Championship Communication

Good stuff from Coach Eastman's website:

We all want our teams to talk on defense, but do we really get them to understand how important it is and what it does for us and to the opponent? Defensive communication is so important because it:

• Intimidates: especially when the opponent knows that you know everything they're running -- because your players are calling out the plays and coverages as soon as they hear the call!

• Gives your defense a head start: alerting a teammate of the action before it happens is critical to successful defense.

• Gives the man on the ball more confidence: if he knows he has help and protection behind him, he'll be much more confident and aggressive.

• Wakes up a disengaged defender: talking to a player who's not paying attention on defense can alert him to get back and re-engaged.

• Catches a mistake before it happens: so many times we have alerted a player to an offensive action before it caught him and that kept us from dealing with a mistake

• Energizes your teammates: talking teams always seem to play with more energy – it’s a fact of basketball!

Game 3: Orlando 108 Los Angeles 104

Good game last night as the Magic take Game 3 108-104. Orlando point guard Rafer Alston had a solid contribution, finishing with 20 points after struggling the first two games of the series. Here is a good story on how his coach and teammates lifted his spirits:

That was quite the story Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy told afterward about how he motivated Rafer Alston.

A short story, and a tall tale, too.

"I thought for two days about what to say to him, and I said, 'Play your game.' You can write that down. That's a quote. It took me two days to come up with that."

If you want to believe that was the only motivational thing Van Gundy said to his point guard, go ahead. But you'd be fooling yourself just as much as Van Gundy was trying to fool everyone who was watching and listening to his postgame news conference.

In reality, Van Gundy was all over Alston on the team bus after Game 2, and all over him again at practice Tuesday morning, repeatedly imploring Alston to be aggressive all over the court -- a litany of motivational talks that ESPN colleague Rachel Nichols first reported during her pregame "SportsCenter" report.

The microphone Van Gundy was wearing during Game 3 even picked him up telling Alston during the third quarter: "Solid and simple. Settle down, play your game."

That's exactly what Alston did, making his first five shots (including a 4-for-4 first quarter) and going 8-of-12 overall (1-of-1 from the 3-point line). Alston finished with 20 points to help lead the Magic past the Lakers 108-104, cutting Orlando's deficit in the NBA Finals to 2-1.

Van Gundy, who at Tuesday's shootaround had ruled out using Jameer Nelson as a starter during this series, wasn't the only one in Alston's ear.

Friends back home in New York were texting him the same thoughts: to play smart, to knock off the knack for knuckleheadedness he had displayed so consistently over the better part of all four rounds of the NBA playoffs.

Alston even told himself to stop jacking up 3-point shots as though he were Ray Allen, and his

Magic teammates -- even one guy who didn't play a minute Tuesday night and another who hasn't played in months -- got in on the motivational act.

"My teammates, everybody was telling me to be the guy that they brought in," Alston said. "I took that very seriously, and that's what I wanted to do.

"Rashard [Lewis], Dwight [Howard], Adonal [Foyle], and then tonight, it was surprising, even J.J. [Redick] pulled me aside and said, 'Come on now, play your game, get back to being Rafer.' And some of them wanted some Skip tonight," Alston added, referencing his New York playground nickname, Skip To My Lou. "I gave them a little of that. But these guys are the best. They encourage me, and they keep looking for me with the confidence that I can stick the shots."

What had been killing the Magic in this series was the play of their guards, both their inability to make shots and the difficulties they were having defending Kobe Bryant.

Alston's mojo had been thrown off-kilter in Game 1 when Van Gundy used Jameer Nelson for the entire second quarter in Nelson's first game in four months, and his confidence got beaten down further in Game 2 when Van Gundy went the final nine minutes of the fourth quarter with Hedo Turkoglu playing point forward and Redick and Courtney Lee getting the clutch-time minutes in the backcourt.

Alston was clearly frustrated and unhappy, and not only with himself.

"Stan and I have a great relationship," Alston said. "He's just trying to coach to win games, and I'm trying to play to help this team win games, help this team. Number one is don't take it personal. I think the first game, I just said it was a rhythm thing because I had never done that before, never played like that. Second game, I was able to find a flow but not hit shots. Tonight, I was able to make shots."

He rolled up his sleeves and went to work

Trainer Alan Stein on Villanova forward Dwayne Anderson:

“He worked brutally hard every off season and exercised great communication with the Nova coaching staff on not only his desire to earn playing time, but exactly what he needed to do to earn it. He basically worked as hard as he could to fix the areas he (and the Nova staff) found weak in his yearly evaluation. In other words, he didn’t make excuses or point the finger and he didn’t feel entitled to more playing time… he rolled up his sleeves each and every off season and put in serious work. He was focused and determined.”

Changing the Culture

A look into the turnaround of the Nuggets. I blogged last month on this issue with the Nuggets but have come across another good article which is similar from the Denver Post:

This is the peek behind the curtain, the fly on the wall moment.

Nuggets coach George Karl is leaning back on a stool a few feet away from the court in the team’s Pepsi Center practice facility. He is spilling the beans on how an offseason of purging took the Nuggets from run-down to a team now three wins away from the Western Conference Finals. All of the essential moves and conversations that happened before the regular season arrival of guard Chauncey Billups took a decent Nuggets team and pushed it to among the NBA’s best.

Karl starts with an admission that the run-at-all-costs offensive philosophy he preached two years prior to this season – though it resulted in a combined 95 wins (50 last season) – was the wrong way to go.

“I may have taken too much of a risk,” Karl says.

And that’s just an appetizer.

We’ll start last spring, after the Nuggets were swept out of the playoffs by the L.A. Lakers. Assistant coach Tim Grgurich, Karl’s longtime right hand man, wanted the coach to wipe his hands of emphasizing offensive basketball. Grgurich wanted to turn back the clock to the defense-first system that was a success when the two were winning games by the boatload in Seattle.

“We can’t do this anymore,” Grgurich said to Karl. “We can’t coach like this anymore. It just doesn’t work.”

Karl paused.

“He was saying it for himself, but he was also saying it for me,” Karl recalled. “And I just looked at him and said ‘Grg, you know something, you’re right.’”

But Karl also said he had some early opposition from another assistant, Adrian Dantley, who wondered why he would scrap the system that had the Nuggets ranked among the NBA’s best on the offensive end.

“Dantley said, ‘Why in the (heck) are you changing? You score in the top five, why are you changing your philosophy?’” Karl recalled.

But his mind was made up. Karl rose through the ranks as a defensive-minded coach with offensive flair. In Seattle, his teams got after the opposition with relentless effort, turning Gary Payton pressure-induced stops into Shawn Kemp show time dunks.

More importantly, there was a hands-on approach to how the coaching staff handled the players. In the summers coaches stayed close to the athletes. There were talks and visits and one-on-one practice sessions. That extra personal attention was non-existent in Denver.

Grgurich wanted to get back to that. Karl agreed. They divided up the roster. They were the point men, but all of the assistants were responsible for keeping track of two or more players.

“He had Kenyon, I had Nene,” Karl said. “A.I. (Allen Iverson) is impossible to touch in the summer time, but we at least got in some phone conversations with him. Melo was in China (for the Olympics), so we were ok there. All the other guys were fairly easy.”

Karl, who had past run-ins with Martin, thought he’d be the toughest to get on board with the changing philosophy he wanted to implement – more discipline, improved professionalism, better leadership, and a focus on defense on the court.

He was wrong.

“The guy that jumped in really quick, was Kenyon,” Karl said. “We thought Nene and Kenyon were the hardest guys. Kenyon basically said this is the only way we can survive. And as soon as he got back (for training camp) we met and he said ‘You’re not going to have any problem with me. I’m going to be your leader.’ He jumped in and basically called himself out.

“We had our first (team) meeting of the season and he said ‘I’ve been a problem for coach, but it’s not going to happen anymore, and I’m going to be the policeman.’ Our off the court activity was part of it, too.”

Martin admitted he had a bad attitude much of his time with Karl, and that a lot of it was due to frustration with having to deal with two microfracture knee surgeries that limited his ability to play at the level he was accustomed. His knees hurt. His pride hurt. He took it out on Karl and others in the organization on a near daily basis.

Martin knew he had to change.

“I had to get out of my own way,” he said.

As for Nene, who had been branded as a player who was not living up to his six-year, $60 million contract, he and Karl vented over dinner at the ritzy Capital Grille restaurant downtown.

“We yelled and screamed a little bit,” Karl said. “He didn’t say all nice things. I didn’t say all nice things. My line to him at that time was ‘Nene, you’ve gone from an overpaid bench player to an underpaid starter, in one trade (the Marcus Camby trade). If you’re as good as I think you’re going to be, at the end of this year, they are going to call you an underpaid star. Right now, they are calling you an overpaid bench guy.’ I said, ‘What a great opportunity. What a great challenge to show people that they don’t know what the (heck) they are talking about.’”

Karl demanded harder work from Nene, who took it easy during the summers only to report to camp out of shape and thus, more susceptible to injury.

“I said ‘You’re not going to be able to do it with your habits,’” Karl said. “He would be complaining about this guy and (that guy’s) professionalism. I said ‘If you want that to change, you’ve got to help me. The first way you help me is get in the gym.’ And on August 15, he was in the gym probably four or five days every week from that point. He had never done that before.”

That all set the stage for the Billups trade, sending Iverson to Detroit, which occurred on Nov. 3.

“The culture was changing before Chauncey came,” Karl said. “And then Chauncey comes and here’s the spokesperson for everything I was basically saying. So I’m not fighting and ego managing and molding.”

He's the head coach alot

Another good article on the leadership qualities of Chauncey Billups, who has led Denver to a 2-0 lead over Dallas in the Western Conference quarterfinals. This is from the Denver Post:

Chauncey Billups sauntered to the scorer's table with about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter and shouted instructions — and no doubt encouragement — to the players who were on the court.

It just another small detail in Mr. Big Shot's leadership drive. There is almost never a stone left unturned.

But for Billups so far in this series, the small things have been his biggest contribution. Scoring has eluded the all-star guard, but he has made up for it in assists, steals, and keeping the Nuggets' offense on schedule.

"Chauncey didn't have a good offensive game from the standpoint of scoring points, but you don't understand how good he is running the team; you don't understand how good he is cerebrally making sure things are going the right way," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "Our interaction during the game . . . He's the head coach a lot."

In the locker room, Billups' leadership has been a key to the Nuggets' success. He and Karl collaborate on what they think will work for the Nuggets going into each game. Billups has helped Karl get their game plans executed while still challenging the coach to put the players in the best positions possible.

"He overrides me a lot," Karl said. "But in the same sense, we whisper to each other a great deal during the game, during timeouts."

Said Billups: "George trusts me out there. I think it's important for the point guard and the head coach to have that kind of relationship."

Communication, discipline, leadership helping the Nuggets

Very good inside look at the George Karl and the Denver Nuggets this week by Ian Thomsen at cnnsi.com. Nugget teams of the past few years were known to put up lots of points and give up tons as well. This year, the coaching staff is focusing more on the defensive side of the floor. Come playoff time, George Karl felt that they didn't have an identity defensively to go deep into the playoffs. Here is a look at the turnaround, which hasn't always been a smooth ride:

1.Going back to basics: Over the previous two seasons in Denver, Karl had focused on developing a passing-game offense aimed at creating gaps to attack the basket. He won't try making that a priority again. "I learned a lot, it was a good experiment, I'm glad I survived it," Karl said. "But there's no question I'm better when I coach the game from the defensive end of the court. My staff is more comfortable when I coach from the defensive end of the court, and deep down inside most players have a trust in that end of the court."

When his Nuggets lost in the first round last season for the fourth successive year -- having won three playoff games in that span -- Karl and his longtime assistant Tim Grgurich agreed on a new way forward: Return to the old system, based on the aggressive trapping defense that dates back to his long run of success with Gary Payton in Seattle.

"I remember the next two or three days [after the playoffs]. We said, 'We've got to go back to the old way,' '' Karl said. "There's too much freedom and openness to coaching offense. The discipline and the toughness and the soul of the game come from the defensive end of the court most of the time."

Karl understands why people say he didn't appear to be plugged in over the last couple of years: He was thinking his way through the game instead of reacting to it.

"So much of coaching is the trust and passion that the team feels from you, and if you're faking that over a 100 games a year, they find that out," Karl said. "I'm not sure I was faking it, but the last couple of years I was confused. When a problem came up, I didn't know how to address it based on my experiences. Now I think I'm back to feeling much more comfortable on how to attack a weakness that we've developed or a situation that has arisen."

2.Embrace discipline: "We were at Grg's camp [in Las Vegas] the first week in August and he said, 'Not only do we have to go back to the defense, but we've got to go back to touching our players and telling these guys that we can still win,' " Karl said. "Because the cloud in Denver was, We're done. No one thought we could win. Everybody predicted the doom."

Each of the assistant coaches reached out to players over the summer.

"I went to Nenê the second week in August, I had dinner with him and his fiancee," Karl said.

"He said some hard things to me, I said some hard things to him. Nenê has never been a guy who went to the gym until he had to. I would say within a week [of that dinner], he was in the gym five days a week from August on.

"Grg went to Dallas -- I think twice in that time -- to talk with Kenyon [Martin], and he talked about how we can't have the nonsense that we've had. And Kenyon bought into that. In our first team meeting, Kenyon stood up and said, 'I have been a problem, but I'm not going to be a problem anymore.' "

Both Nenê and Martin have had resurgent seasons. Nenê is averaging career highs of 14.6 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting 60.3 percent, and Martin is playing his most minutes since the 2004-05 season.

3.Call it like you see it. "In the NBA we do not coach enough," Karl said. "We manage. We attitude-adjust, we call the league office, we talk to agents.

"I tell Pop [Spurs coach Gregg Popovich] all the time, 'Pop, you coach different than we coach. You have a no-nonsense, low-maintenance superstar.' How many of them exist? When you have a disciplinary problem with Melo Carmelo Anthony and you have an injury here and you have a dysfunctional personality on your team, that's not coaching; that's managing. The more that we have to manage what I call the de-energizers of basketball -- selfishness, non-commitment, not playing hard, attitudes in the locker room -- you're not coaching."

"Melo and I are now at the stage where I can talk to him about everything," Karl said. "Sometimes I do it with [the help of] Chauncey [Billups], and there are still the sensitive areas of shot selection and selfishness and commitment to defense, where sometimes it's easier to be with an assistant or do it through a video. But I would say Melo and I are at the stage now that whatever the headache is, even when he's [angry] he can bring it to me, and when I'm [angry] I can bring it to him. Before we always kind of walked around, holding back."

"I went to Chauncey and Melo in a couple of instances [this season] and said, 'You've got to take this off my plate. You've got to police this team. You've got to take responsibility.

4.Import leadership: The Nuggets were already committed to a new (or old) approach when they dealt Allen Iverson to Detroit in November for Billups, a blockbuster trade that enabled them to eventually limbo underneath the tax threshold even as their team improved -- a most improbable dream in this recession-based league.

"I'm blessed, for the first time in a long time, of having [leadership from a player like Billups]," Karl said. "Sam Cassell was my leader in Milwaukee. Now, come on, Sam's kind of crazy. Sam believes the right stuff, but he doesn't present it on a daily basis. Chauncey presents it on a daily basis. He reminds me a lot of Nate [McMillan] when I had Nate in Seattle, and I didn't know how valuable Nate was because I was still a young coach. People ask me at the clinics, 'Who was your most favorite player you ever coached?' And I say Nate McMillan, because on a daily basis he brought winning and leadership to [our] locker room and to [our] court.

"Chauncey does that. He makes your words be listened to. And when you're coaching five or six years with a team, that's important. Because they get tired of hearing my stories and my repeats and my desires and my demands. But Chauncey has kind of lifted that up."

"There is going to be a surprise team. And what I don't want [my team] to do is throw away the opportunity because of not knowing what it takes. Because we don't have the mature toughness that a Utah might have. We do have a lot of talent that we can throw away five possessions or 10 possessions and make it up, but that's not how you win big. And too many times I say, 'OK, we won, and yeah, you didn't play those first five minutes -- but this is not how you beat L.A. This is not how you beat Houston in Houston. You don't do it this way.' "

Izzo thinks Spartans are 'starting to get it'

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is happy about the way his team is playing:

"I've been seeing little things over the past week that's telling me that maybe they're starting to get it."

As this article in the Detroit Free Press states, nothing pleases a coach more than the players "taking ownership" of their tournament destiny:

"I've always maintained that you must have players coach themselves," Izzo said. "That was what stood out about the great teams we had here in the past. They didn't have to worry about me yelling at them, because it got to a point where Mateen (Cleaves) or Antonio (Smith) would do it. They have to police themselves, keep themselves in check."

During practice last Tuesday, Izzo was unusually quiet. The players knew he was upset with their poor performance days earlier in the Big Ten tournament. They expected the customary chorus from the four-letter aria. But Izzo merely observed. And that made the players angry.

Had he given up on them?

Had he figure what's the use?

But that was Izzo's plan: to see how the players would respond.

He got the reaction he sought. The players were the vocal ones, calling out one another for a blown defensive assignment. The normally soft-spoken Kalin Lucas upbraided senior captain

Travis Walton for not being in the right spot in an offensive set.

The players were more vocal in the huddle during time-outs against the Trojans. They didn't wait to be asked for input. Lucas told teammates that he would get them the ball where they needed it -- and they had better stick the shot!

"It was fun to see Kalin," Izzo said. "He really went at some people. He kept saying, 'Let me have the ball, and I'll get people a basket.' That was the first real time he's kind of talked like that. He wanted it. That was a big plus."

Walton gave Chris Allen a verbal lashing following a lazy pass that resulted in an easy USC lay-up in the second half that seemingly shifted the momentum in the Trojans' favor.

"This was one of our best communicating games," Walton said. "We were constantly talking about where we needed to be. And what needed to be done. Coach would still get on us, but there were times when he didn't have to because we were getting on each other about not making mistakes."

After his poor pass, Allen returned to the bench and wrapped his arm around Izzo, assuring him that he got the message.

"We're starting to gain more confidence in each other," Allen said. "We can say what needs to be said to each other because we're all committed to winning."

Patience pays off for Notre Dame bench players

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In the search for motivational gambits, no copyrighted material is safe from a coach's grasp.

This includes vaguely co-opting deodorant slogans to manage angst over playing time, which is why Notre Dame implores its bench players never, ever to let them see you fret.

This, of course, is easier said than done.

"That's only natural — all the players want to play," Irish guard Jon Peoples said. "There's always some sort of frustration. At the same time you have to be happy for the guys out there and support them."

Still, despite the bench players' sporadic playing time, the Irish believe they have something in reserve. Peoples, Tyrone Nash and Luke Zeller have provided boosts recently as the team continues an NCAA tournament push Wednesday night against Rutgers.

The current contributions are the byproduct of staying engaged despite infrequent court time. But the role players endured. Why? Everyone said so.

"Kyle [McAlarney] pulls me aside sometimes and says, 'Ty, stay ready, because we're going to need you,' " Nash said. "That's one of your best players telling you that. If he's telling me to be ready, I'm going to make sure I'm ready.

"Luke Harangody, Zach Hillesland, Ryan Ayers, they stay in my ear: 'Be ready, Ty, because you never know when your name is going to be called.' "

Granted, career games like Peoples' 14-point, nine-assist effort Saturday at Providence are not the expectation. The bar is admittedly lower for a group that has scored 296 points combined — barely more than half of Harangody's total.

They, however, can caulk some holes. And as they do so, Irish coach Mike Brey cedes the credit to his regulars for making the reserves recognize their value.

"It's on the rest of the team to stay in their ear and keep them positive," Mc-Alarney said. "You need the team to convey that message: We need you."

Hard Work Paying Off

EAST LANSING, Mich. --

Kalin Lucas has practically lived in a gym at Michigan State recently, and he's found a home as a sensational scorer.

The lighting-quick guard continued his offensive surge, scoring 22 points to lead the Spartans (No. 12 ESPN/USA Today, No. 8 AP) to a 75-62 win over the defending national champion Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday.

"Morning, noon and night, I've been coming in to get a lot of shots up," Lucas said. "I've just been shooting, shooting and shooting even before and after practice."

Spartans coach Tom Izzo is pleased the hard work has paid off.

"It's always fun when guys put something into it and get something out of it," Izzo said. "If he continues to grow, he's going to put himself in a good position and us, too."

Blazers listen up, sound off with win over Raptors

Article here from the local Portland, OR paper on Coach Nate McMillan stressing talk and communication on defense. Here is a piece from the article:

This Trail Blazers team is a very tight-knit group off the court, but as it turns out, the guys have had problems communicating on the court, particularly on defense. Screens by the opponents were going unannounced. Team rules on pick and rolls -- going under or through a screen -- were not being voiced. And assuring voices of help defense were muted.

As a result, the Blazers defense has suffered, so much so that McMillan termed the team's latest defensive outing against Dallas as "bad. Really bad."

So before Saturday's game in front of 20,588 at the Rose Garden, McMillan had a plan. As he addressed the team at the front of the room, he walked to the back, where a glass refrigerator sits with Gatorade and bottled water. From there, he asked Oden and starting small forward Nicolas Batum to give their scouting reports on the Toronto players they would guard.

Two of the quietest players on the team, Oden and Batum each gave their report. Still standing by the refrigerator, McMillan made his play.

"He told us 'Look, there are going to be 20,000 people out there, you need to talk louder,'" Oden said. "He said, 'I'm standing right here next to a little refrigerator motor and I can't even hear you. Speak up.'"

By the end of the night, the Blazers defense had spoken loud and clear, holding Toronto to 32 second-half points, including 10 in the pivotal third quarter.

"The Bostons, the Lakers, their defenses are always talking loud," LaMarcus Aldridge said. "And coach made sure to make a point that everybody needs to hear us talk on defense. I think it helped."

LeBron's Commitment to Defense

There is a reason that the Cavs are off to a tremendous start this year. It starts and ends with their defense. Good article here on LeBron's new found commitment on the defensive end. Here is what LeBron says:

"Everybody says they want to play defense. They say they want to make a defensive stand,'' James told me Wednesday. "But are you really going to go out there and take pride in your defense and guard your man one-on-one? It took me a few years to realize I wanted to be a really good defensive player, and I've kind of turned that corner to where I am today. ''

"Communication is the biggest thing on defense,'' he said. "If you don't have that, you can easily break down. Me spearheading the defense with Ben and Delonte, we do a good job of trying to make sure guys are in the right spots. We try to help each other. It's not always going to be right, but you have to be able to cover for each other. When you make mistakes, by talking and communicating, you can get through it.''

Says coach Mike Brown:

"He just doesn't do it one time. He does it quite a bit,'' Brown said. "You hear him from the back side of our defense. We may have two people involved in a pick-and-roll, and he's yelling to our guys what they should do, what type of coverage we're in. That's very exciting to hear and see.

"Then one thing I talk to him about is his weakside defense. I thought [in Wednesday's victory] we didn't come up with all of them, but he got his hands on a ton of balls coming from the weak side because he was in the correct position defensively. And he was aware. When you've got your leader doing that type of stuff on that end of the floor, it's very contagious.''

More from Coach Brown:

Talking your way through defense is a big step forward from just talking about it. To demonstrate how thoroughly indoctrinated his club has become to the task, Brown -- in the middle of a pregame chat with reporters -- interrupted his comments to stop Williams as the point guard walked by.

"Hey, Mo! Mo!'' Brown said. "What's the one thing we have to do tonight? Yeah, one thing ...''

Poor Williams. Suddenly, a dozen people were looking at him, the silence lengthening. He might have been thinking about his Christmas list, pondering world peace or solving quadratic equations on his way out to shoot some warm-up shots, but now he was on the spot.

"We ... have to defend,'' Williams finally said.

Brown beamed.

"Now look at his face,'' the coach said. "That's a sincere young man there. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. That's just how my guys are. And you've got to love it. It just comes from within them. We've talked about it, and they believe it. I can ask any one of my guys that and they'll give you the same answer.''

Leadership at the Point Guard

From Sports Illusrated:

If there is one point coach Tom Izzo wants to get across to Kalin Lucas, his sophomore guard, it's that the 6-foot dynamo-who Izzo says is the quickest player he has ever coached- has to become a better leader if the Spartans are to reach their potential this season. "I harp on it no more than 50 times a day," says Izzo, who wants to see him become more vocal on and off the court.

Lucas is getting the message. When he wasn't working on his outside shot or getting to know his teammates better this summer, Lucas was studying game film "so when I talk to guys, I know what I'm talking about."