Brian McCormick
@brianmccormick
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PhD. Coach. Writer. Books in link:
Boston
Joined October 2008
Slowly saying good bye…Find me elsewhere: .Videos: Newsletter: Shooting: Biz: Social:
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Iverson Loop. Game-winner. First saw EOS run this in Basket Ettan in 2013.
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Y’al think I’m crazy when I say children need to shoot with smaller balls, maybe you’ll listen to Ray Allen talk about his 12-year-old son’s shooting….Via @OldManAndThree
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Defensive agility game that I saw posted somewhere by a Japanese coach. 3 defenders guarding the 4 cones.
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Another simple drill that I’ve started to incorporate to start practices instead of a dynamic warmup.
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4v3 no dribble shooting (ht @safalika).D-1 coach asked, “Do your guys always go this hard?”.Yes. C: “Our guys hate this drill and never play this hard on defense.”
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In the USA, we’re adamant that 9 year olds can play on a 10’ basket with a men’s ball, but we’re not sure varsity players (15-18) can handle a 30 or 35 second shot clock, while in Europe I’m watching 13 year olds play with a size 6 ball with a 24-second shot clock.
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Here is an NBA player, maybe the best NBA player, warming up. If a HS or NCAA player had this much fun in warmups, his/her coach would get mad. Can he have fun because he is great or is he great because he has fun?.
We should’ve known Steph Curry was gonna go off when he made this during warmups 😩😩
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Adding simple decisions to passing/shooting drills.
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He just turned 20 & is destroying NBA players, but people are like Kentucky’s too young & inexperienced to beat a team led by a former D2 player.
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Basketball is expensive because parents choose the expensive path. Nobody plays "rec ball" at the local rec center or YMCA. They pay an ex-player to rebound for their kid so they're "training". Parents travel to every game. Teams play in big, new facilities. These are choices.
Basketball has unofficially become an upper middle class & rich persons sport. It cost anywhere between $30-100 per hour to get a kid basketball training & to play on AAU teams can cost anywhere from $300-600 and that’s without travel, hotels, food, gas, new shoes, etc. Today.
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If I shoot 34% from 3 & 50% from midrange, over 10 shots or 100, I will score more by shooting 3s. This is not controversial; it’s math. If I need to make one shot (I.e. a game-winner), I am more likely to make the midrange shot. It’s math, not rocket science.
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S&C coach asked what I wanted for conditioning. I said nothing. "Get them stronger and faster. If I run practices correctly, conditioning won't be an issue.". First game, one guy plays all 40 minutes in a game with 110 possessions, then plays 38 minutes the next day. #Nomilesrun.
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Coaches complain about players playing too games, then view this as “skill development” & believe players should invest more time & 💵 in these camps. Parents PSA: 10 players watching 1 dribble thru cones is not skill development that transfers to games.
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“3v3 isn’t real basketball,” they said.🫤.
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It’s crazy to think NCAA D1 & NBA shooting coaches still will disagree with the points made here by JJ and Cam. Video by @silvahoops .
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Straight-line warmups (replaced dynamic warmup). Drive/shot decision on short closeout.
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Funny story. D1 coach watches practice. Entire practice is basically a warmup, situational games, SSGs, and full-court 5v5. After practice, coach asks: "Do you every do any skill development work?" 🙄.Me: "Every day.".
Situational Games. No better way to transfer skills to live segments + work on decision making. This is player development. More content dropping throughout today!
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This perception causes many misevaluations of players.
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Does anyone complain more than millionaire college coaches? .You recruited the players. You coach them every day. Your offense. Your defense. You determine playing time. You picked those lineups. Nobody has more control of their own environment than a high major college coach.
Mick Cronin after tonight’s loss. “In our era, doesn’t matter if you win, lose, or draw.”.
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Coaches want perfection in their neat drills and set plays in practice, and stop the action when it’s not perfect (mistakes), then don’t understand why players make poor decisions in games when they play against live defenders.
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Ended practice early. "Why'd you end early?".We got through everything I wanted to do. The goal of practice is to improve/prepare, not to fill 2 hours of time.
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Chaser shooting drill. 3 groups, 6 spots. Make 5 from each spot. Try to catch group in front of you & not get caught by group behind you. 2nd time through shot behind the cones (+3 ft). Next day hit 12 3s, equaling season high, & 18/21 FTs (probably season best in FTM & FT%).
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Simple drill to replace form shooting by adding defense and decisions to open, close-range, catch-and-shoot shots.
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I have an idea for practice today. Let’s see if we can make our defenders slower because we did this drill when I was a player and I hated it, and today’s players should suffer through it too because toughness. #FakeFundamentals.
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I’m watching college teams run their offenses so well, but not create open shots. Defense knows the plays too, and nobody reads the cheating/overplaying/switching defenders. Just keep running the play. Fans see the sets/organization & call them well-coached.
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AAU is problematic, but not for the usual reasons.
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AAU catches almost all of the blame on here for everything bad in basketball, but most problems people complain about (over dribbling, not passing, entitlement, not taking instruction, etc) are symptoms of individual training and trainer culture as much or more so than AAU.
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Drills solve problems. Start with problem. Design drill. Otherwise, play.
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An example of how we incorporate closeouts & decision making into a shooting drill.
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I coach basketball, not track & field or cross country. The grind, just work, more more more mindset undermines basketball skill development more than anything else. Also, conditioning does not improve immediately.
It’s VERY simple…. Do YOU want to immediately improve your game & TEAM??. 🥵Conditioning is the most impactful skill in basketball. 💯This is the REAL workout. 💯This is the workout that 99% of players are avoiding. 💯This is the TOP drill that separates YOU from the pack…👇🏽
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We vastly overrate a coach’s strategic importance (drawing up plays, etc.), and greatly underappreciate the effects of coach’s behaviors on players, and how these effects impact individual and team performance (not to mention general well-being/health).
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@rodger Do people not realize NCAA MBB and NFHS are only organizations worldwide who do not allow a team to advance the ball after a timeout? Rest of the world plays like this from U13/U14.
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Do you know what's better than an ACL surgery that goes well? Not tearing your ACL (btw, tired of athletic trainers saying players are better and stronger post-ACL reconstruction than pre-injury). Let's focus more on preventing the injury.
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2-Ball Small Group Tag. Warmup dribbling drill. Groups of 3-4. One ball = it; two balls = not it. Only tag within your group.
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Coaches:. Don't complain that your players don't see the court/open players if you have them touching cones on the ground when performing dribbling drills.
Players:. Don’t complain about your playing time this season if you weren’t working on your game in the off-season.
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Texting w current college player. After nearly a month of quarantine, 1st practice back lasted 4 hours. 2.5 weeks later, barely enough players to practice with several ankle & knee injuries. Coincidence? . Coaches need to understand the effects of quarantine on training capacity.
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Everyone’s concerned about transfers, but few suggest that college coaching clinics should incorporate more psychology, cultural studies, child development, etc. instead of more zone offenses. Easier to blame the younger generation than force adults outside their comfort zone.
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@wifeoftoast America is a third-world country with a billionaire class. America excels at freeways, police, military spending, professional sports, & billionaires. It lags behind most first world or industrialized nations in public transportation, education, health care, housing, etc.
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College coaches: "High school players play too many games and don't practice enough.".Also college coaches: "Did I mention that we host a team camp where you can play 8 games in 2 days?".
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Americans want magic drills for perceived better shooting by Europeans. They play longer with a smaller ball & lower basket, developing fewer strength/sized-based bad habits. But, nope, we can't do that. There must be a drill we can do.
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Why do we insist coaches aren't coaching if they aren't yelling & screaming? . We end up with bad coaches because popular discourse associates coaching behaviors as something between cheerleading and military drill sergeants rather than a combination of teacher, mentor, guide. .
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Simple lateral agility drill. Player in middle has to touch open cone to get out. 3 defenders attempt to defend 4 cones.
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I'm not anti-AAU, but AAU events starting while some states have not completed their state championships seems very problematic if we desire a system where everyone attempts to work together for the betterment of the players.
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I swear this is only an issue in the States. U16s last year lost by 60 one game and won multiple games by 30+. Nobody gave up or quit or pouted or complained about the other coach or pressing or anything else.
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Working out at 5 AM does not make you better than someone who works out at 10 AM; just crankier. There is an argument that sleeping in and working out later is better, especially for teens (see research by @Cheri_Mah). There is more to life than the grind. Quality > Quantity.
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Defensive possession to show switching fluidly to maintain pressure and cover for mistakes. Almost nothing about this possession fits with how I was taught to defend. #coaching
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Why do coaches brag about early AM practices, thus cutting into teenagers' sleep and predisposing players to injuries?.
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What if we thought about the purpose of youth sports as health, physical activity, and/or fun, and not preparation for the harsh realities of adulthood?.
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I realize there are schedule difficulties at high schools, but promoting one's 6 AM weight lifting as a means for athletes to prevent injuries ignores the importance of sleep, and the role of lack of or poor sleep in injuries.
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This is a proper closeout. GPII sprints & stops. He’s in between a jump stop & a stride stop/hockey stop. He doesn’t jump bc he’s close enough to contest as he stops & Brown doesn’t shoot. He takes away middle drive with positioning. No stutter step, butt down, high hands, etc.
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Next progression of 2v2 shooting drills with more emphasis on the initial pass.
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Analyst said Kevin De Bruyne makes passes nobody else sees. Do they not see the pass because of visual/perceptual skills or because they lack the skill/technique to get the ball there? . You can’t make a pass you don’t see, but maybe you don’t see a pass you can’t make.
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“We should develop players like in Europe.”.Okay. 24-second shot clock starting at U13. “No. Not like that.”.
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I see her land in the splits, then watch a college basketball player tear her ACL while stopping to shoot an uncontested layup in practice, and realize we have far more questions than answers.
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Coaches/parents/fans want players to develop. They just lack the time and patience for the mistakes that are part of the skill development process.
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2v2 Paint Drill for posts to work together on passing, finishing, spacing and rebounding.
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It's like we spend all of our time inventing ways (cones, flashing lights) to replace defenders instead of just playing 1v1, 2v2, etc.
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NCAA coaches seemingly use timeouts to take out frustrations on players, not tactics/strategy (and hoard TOs just to stop clock late). Not to set up 2 for 1, sub for end of quarter possession, change D, run a counter, etc. Just yelling about missed assignment last play.
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Whenever a player/team has a bad game, the criticism is that they need more: more practice, more conditioning, more strength, more shots, etc. What if they practiced too much and were mentally, emotionally or physically fatigued? . Why is it NEVER that?.
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Nobody stops to ask: .What if that very successful coach who yells a lot yelled less? Would the team perform worse? Might players perform better? . Instead, we read:.See, successful coach X yells a lot so that’s a good coaching behavior that causes success.
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Why are people offended by teenagers who may not be future college players wanting to play more basketball? . Shouldn’t our first goal be to promote physical activity and other life lessons through the game, not see how quickly we can get rid of everyone not deemed to be elite?.
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One of the drills that I’ll use in talk about “finishing and decision making drills” at a coaching clinic today.
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Just some Dodgeball Layups to start practice and work on scanning with the dribble.
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USA: We need to change basketball development to be more like international development. Let’s start by adopting FIBA rules for HS, AAU & NCAA. USA: No, not that.
Some interesting comments from Adam Silver on the state of basketball, youth development and the NBA's role in that. Is he foreshadowing some type of NBA Academy type program in the US? Clearly, he's not thrilled with the way some Americans are entering the NBA.
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When you start from the drill, not the problem, you’re not focused on skill development. I want to do X, Y and Z drill today. Why? . Instead, start with what do we want/need to improve? Be as specific as possible. Find/create a drill around the answer. Otherwise, play.
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Basic shooting drill (with some dribbling practice) to practice shots off the flare from this set:
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I recently passed 23,000 books sold as a self-published author with $0 spent on advertising. Thank you to all the coaches who have purchased a book, and especially those who have bought more than one. Also, special thank you to everyone who has left an amazon or lulu review.
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Mistakes happen in a game. Coaches meet & decide to “fix” mistakes at practice. At practice coaches strip away constraints (speed, defense, decisionmaking, pressure) that caused mistakes. Mistakes happen in next game. Coaches meet & blame players for not working hard enough.
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Text I received from a former player about crossing her feet on defense. Coaches prefer “the right way” (way I was taught) instead of the way that works. #FakeFundamentals.The information is out there; your players know. Fail to evolve at your own risk.
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One of the best parts of coaching in Europe is watching the 15s, coaching the 16s, watching the 13s, then finishing the day watching the pro team w/young players in front row. Most sports in USA miss that sense of community and the social aspect, not to mention the modeling.
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As long as he doesn't have to go anywhere with the dribble (or see anything), he's set!
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Friend: At HS practice & team runs for a defensive mistake. There has to be a better punishment. Me: Why does there have to be a punishment? . How does punishment further learning? Doesn’t a mistake identify an area that needs more practice? Why is punishment our answer?.
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Adding the third defender into a shooting drill that incorporates closeouts and decisions.
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Freedom is not owning or carrying a gun. Freedom is walking around a city at midnight w/no concern for safety (or need for protection). Freedom is not worrying about going bankrupt bc you got sick. Freedom is not having student loans bc uni is free. American freedom is a lie.
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One of our common drills. 3v3 Hockey Rules. Stay on until you get scored against.
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From the comments, I learned:.Student-athlete spinning ball after great play = bad. Highly-paid coach storming on the field, throwing a temper tantrum, & screaming in player's face = "great coaching". Player criticized for positive emotion; coach praised for negative emotions.
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Coach K (and others) frequently said he preferred 2-star recruits who played hard to 5-star recruits who didn't, but he always signed the 4- and 5-star recruits. Spoelstra, Riley, and the Heat actually back it up: They find players who fit regardless of pedigree, rankings, etc.
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As these pre-draft shooting exhibitions circulate, a reminder that every NBA player is a shooter when the shots are self-paced, pre-decided and without defense.
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This isn't a coaching style.
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@BucketsBBALL1 There’s a difference between things that are “not wrong” and things that are “correct” or “beneficial”.
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This 👇💯.
Stephen Curry told Under Armour to ditch any All-Star Weekend party plans, and throw the brand’s entire budget into renovating his childhood Charlotte rec center. Inside the “7-figure commitment” to remaking the Carole Hoefener Center:.
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It amazes me how many people on Twitter (and irl) complain about basketball developmental and fundamentals in the USA, but refuse to make structural changes (SSGs, basket height, ball size, shot clock), instead blaming (volunteer) coaches, drills, AAU, the NBA & this generation.
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This might just be the most DIFFICULT ball handling workout on the internet🏀🌎 Don’t believe me? Try it yourself! Here is the complete listed workout. Should take around 30 minutes! Good work w/ @ChaseBran3 . Let me know how it goes!🤣. #basketballtraining #ballhandlingdrills
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Many coaches seem to think players don’t like them because they “tell the truth”, and not the other dozens of questionable behaviors, like subbing immediately after mistakes, contradicting oneself, playing favorites, not following through, not abiding by own rules, etc.
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Everyone blames the passer. (1) nobody (including coach) appears to call a timeout. (2) First player to receive pass is open; pivot & advance w left-hand dribble. (3) Player in middle stands still. (4) Weak side player does not create a passing lane.
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It’s okay to have fun at practice. Can we warm up on the 8’ baskets? .Sure. 1 point for baskets on side hoops; 2/3 on main basket (10’). I can’t imagine going back to coaching without adjustable baskets. #Funino
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I’ll never understand this coachism. If practice is at 3, but coach expects players there at 2:45, practice starts at 2:45. Just say what you mean. For me, if practice starts at 3, you’re on the line with shoes tied at 3. It’s not a trick. 3 means 3. 15 mins early means 2:45.
As a coach, showing up late is one of my biggest pet peeves. be on time & when I say “on time” I mean EARLY . Showing up right on time or late shows you value your time more than you value mine. it’s not hard to be early. 15-20 minutes early is the time I preach to players.
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Tell older, experienced coaches that you don’t really run anything and you want players to play freely and they’ll lose their minds.
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Player dribbles into contested shot. “I know you probably got fouled, but that’s a bad shot.”.“But I got fouled.”.“I know. That’s why.”.“But I was open.”.“How’d you get fouled if you were open?”.😐.That’s a player struggling with processing as he moves to a higher, faster level.
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It’s mind boggling how many rule modifications we accept in youth basketball - running clock, mandatory PT, no zone, no press, no shot clock, shorter games, taking turns shooting, standing on dots, etc. - but we draw the line at 3v3 and appropriately-sized balls and hoops.
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