{"id":161231,"date":"2022-01-20T16:47:49","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T15:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isportcoach.com\/?p=161231"},"modified":"2025-08-18T09:53:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T08:53:33","slug":"the-pocket-in-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isportcoach.com\/en\/the-pocket-in-basketball\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pocket in Basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

There is much more than X\u2019s and O\u2019s. I am watching a game, trying to steal the latest and greatest set play from the likes of Kokoskov, Messina, Schiller when I catch myself marveling at a one-handed pass, a behind-the-back dribble followed by a “hesi<\/em>” move.
That\u2019s the essence of basketball, a decision taken by a player. I forget the set play, I draw the move on a piece of paper, it\u2019s a drill for the next U16 practice.
Using the words of a friend and great basketball mind, Roberto Fois<\/a>: \u201cMost importantly the long-term goal of scouting is understanding what I can use to make my pocket (of knowledge) bigger and help improve my players<\/strong><\/em>\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

IMPROVEMENT THROUGH SCOUTING<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Mike De Kraker pointed out in a recent article<\/strong> <\/a>that \u201cas coaches, we keep expanding our knowledge, we want to improve every day<\/em>\u201d.
In my personal view scouting is not only related to the next opponents. During the season and the off-season, I tend to watch hundreds of games. I watch games for pace, I cut clips, I watch the clips for possessions or concepts. Then I watch the same clips to analyze the defense. Did they switch? Did they hard-hedge? Did they drop? Was it just a defensive mistake? I want to build my knowledge.
And let\u2019s admit it: I watch games because I am a basketball junkie
This selfishness I have, this need to improve is for the players’ benefit, our guys. Keeping an eye on our team while watching the clips. What can we learn? What can we apply? What can we absorb? Do we have physical skills?
Do we have the necessary technical skills?
Watch the clip again, forget the X\u2019s and O\u2019s, focus on the details of the player<\/strong><\/a>. How did they dribble, what was the screening angle, what type of pass, what hand?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

THE QUEST FOR IMPROVEMENT<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When it comes to scouting <\/strong><\/a>your opponents, I go through the traditional process of gathering info. Typically, offense comes first: sets, transition, zone offense ATO\u2019s, SLOB\u2019s, BLOB\u2019s.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Who is their greatest scoring threat?
Who is the best screener?
Who is the actual leader?
Who is the actual playmaker?
Defense next: man to man, zone defense, press, pick and roll coverage.

A specific area of interest is how teams handle the advantage created:
Do they use cuts with the ball in the low post?
Do they kick and drive to find the extra pass?
Do they use flare screens?
Can they score on broken plays? How do they reorganize on broken plays?
What do they do in the last 10 seconds of a quarter?
Anything helps out.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"\"\r\n
Coach Max Frontini explaining some in-game concepts<\/sub><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With the side-effect that I am creating a database of players I\u2019d like to steal for the next season, honestly speaking.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n


My U16 team <\/strong>has never seen an opponent\u2019s tape and rarely do I at youth level. I might provide raw info based on the previous season games and my knowledge of the opponent\u2019s coach. Discover, react, learn, think, this is much more important than age.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n


The \u201csenior<\/em>\u201d team <\/strong><\/a>is a whole different story. Same old stuff: play against the other team\u2019s sets, share clips with the players, define a strategy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n


Anyway, I don\u2019t like to focus too much on the \u201cenemy<\/em>\u201d in practice. I sometimes perceive a lack of confidence from my players when I emphasize the good (and the bad) of the opponent. Does it depend on the level you are coaching at? The higher the level, the more they will absorb?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What I do love is the added value provided by this process.
Have I filled my players\u2019 pockets?
Have I filled my pocket?
Are we in a better position now as a team?
Are we better than last week?
Are we better than yesterday?
Have we created a bond with the players, that feeling of mutual respect that comes from the quest for improvement?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

ME, MYSELF AND I<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I can\u2019t help but think about the title of this De La Soul\u2019s song: in a discussion with a group of (great) coaches I am honored to be part of, not considering myself as good as they are, my Irish counterpart Paul Kelleher<\/strong> <\/a>came up with \u201cwhat about scouting yourself?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I am under the impression that too many times scouting is a versus-the-opposition concept unless you are lucky enough to work with a big organization. How many times do we ask ourselves: Who are we?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"\"\r\n
Coach Max Frontini<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

There are hundreds of stats<\/strong><\/a> that we can investigate to numerically understand how our offense and defense are doing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Team stats
Point Per Possession
Opponents\u2019 PPP
What lineup combination had the best PPP? The worst?
What players had the best PPP? The worst?
Shot chart
Etc etc
Individual Stats
Player\u2019s PPP
Player Efficiency Rating
TO\u2019s
Steals
Rebounds
Etc etc<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And stats generate more questions (from the article \u201cSelf Scout \u2013 Asking Tough Questions\u201d by Randy Sherman<\/strong>):<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are we willing to let numbers influence playing time decisions?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are biases influencing our decisions?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How do we use stats to help better inform and teach our players skills, systems, and tactics?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Lastly, when scouting yourself, are you living in a comfort zone?
How long have you been utilizing the same sets?
What about that press defense you have been riding over the last 5 years?
How easy has it become to scout your team over the last couple of years?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

THE BLENDER<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Writing this blog was introspective. I ended up posing questions, many questions.
My thoughts were put into a blender. And that is perfectly ok. What is a basketball game?
A powerful mix of emotions, rationality, and irrationality. That\u2019s the beauty of it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I would like to thank i<\/b>SportCoach <\/strong>for this opportunity. I would like to thank all the great basketball minds who have been sharing their knowledge over this difficult time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Twitter: @MaxFrontini<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Thank you Max Frontini, and we hope to see you soon!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Max Frontini, Head Coach Sportlandia Tradate, Italy. He writes in this post about what The Pocket in Basketball means to him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":157029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[870],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball-coaching"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/isportcoach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/isportcoach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/isportcoach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isportcoach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isportcoach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/isportcoach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isportcoach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/isportcoach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isportcoach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isportcoach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}