A Deep Dive Into the Constraints-Led-Approach (Live Clinic)

This is the Transforming Basketball Podcast, and I'm your host, Alex Sarama. This is the podcast where we help coaches and practitioners change the way we think about basketball performance. Our goal is to create the ultimate resource to help make sense of how contemporary skill acquisition ideas can be applied within the basketball world.

Throughout the podcast, we'll unpack how an ecological dynamics framework alters our perspective If you're ready to join us in our quest to transform the basketball world, then this is the podcast for you. Welcome back to the podcast. I just want to say a big thank you for all the support since we announced Transforming Basketball over 1.5 months ago.

It's been amazing to connect with coaches all over the world as we try to bring the constraints-led approach to the forefront of the basketball world. As part of this quest, we want to make sure the podcast remains as engaging and unique as possible.

That's why in this episode, we've included some of the raw audio sounds from a recent Transforming Basketball event in Egham, Surrey, the United Kingdom. You'll see how I introduce a constraints-led approach to coaches who have not yet encountered this methodology. While it may seem counterintuitive, to listen rather than watch a coaching clinic, we felt that this might help show the CLA in a different light.

For instance, you may be able to focus on how I describe activities, how I change constraints, or even simply how I introduce this complex subject area for the very first time, trying to avoid some of the sciencey jargon and difficult language that acts as a barrier to understanding these ideas.

We hope you enjoy the podcast, and the full video including the two-day camp will shortly be available via transformingbball.com as we upload all our courses, workshops, and online clinics for the basketball community. Players stay where you are. Coaches rotate one basket. Now the challenge, coaches, is try and find a way to add a decision into this.

And it's not going to be easy because there's only one player, but see if you can find a way to add a decision into how they shoot. Go! Coaches, rotate! Create an activity to work on either passing or finishing. Passing or finishing? Last time, go.

All right, so I'd love for you to debrief now with a different coach. So someone you weren't working with. And players, you can do the same. You can talk about what you found challenging about that or what was easy. So 2 questions: what was challenging and what was easy?

Go. Especially when I first started a different way of coaching, I found it very difficult to move away from the stable coaching behaviors and the drills that I was used to doing. And what I found was I resorted to using the same activities a lot in my practice.

Sometimes it can be very difficult to have that intention just to do something you've never done before. So thanks for sharing that, TJ. What else? Anything else we've got? Or what was challenging? Emma, did you say anything on that? Yeah, I think that when you add something, you have to choose the— when you have a specific player, you have to choose the right thing for him.

Sure. Finding— and obviously without knowing the players, that's challenging, right? So all those— a lot of the drills I saw you guys do, I did all of that, and I was doing that for probably like 6 years when I first started coaching. And I'm not here today to tell you what's right and what's wrong.

That's not my job. My job is really just to show you another approach that you can use in your coaching, and then it's for you to decide what you like and what you don't like. So there's a good quote from Bruce Lee. Take what is useful, discard what is not.

And that's really what I want you to think about over the next few days. It's going to be a very different way that we view basketball, and then a very different way that we actually view the role of the coach. With a lot of those drills we saw, I want you to just think reflectively for about 30 seconds, and then we're going to debrief with someone else.

And I want you to reflect on 2 things. Number one, how alive were those drills? What do you think I mean by alive? Good. So what would we see that's related to the game? What type of things would we see? More dynamic. Okay, moving.

Good. What else would we see in an environment that replicates Jasper? Defenders. Okay, real decisions. Decision-making. Exactly. So that's what I mean by alive. The second thing is how representative. So it sounds like a big word, but it's easy. All I mean by that is How much does it look like the game?

I'm not just saying we're playing 5-on-5, but maybe creating small slices of the game within some type of activity. So just think about that for yourselves for 30 seconds. Aliveness, I'd say we're probably for most part living at maybe a 2 or a 3.

Would you guys agree? Build or challenge? 2, right, Kyle? Awesome. That's perfect. And whenever, wherever I do these clinics all over the world, it's exactly the same. This is what I did for years, like I said, and this is the dominant approach in basketball.

So what we're going to be looking at is an alternative and essentially a way that we can practice in more representative, more live practice scenarios. And the whole reason we're doing this is so that we can create environments which are more sticky. So all I mean by that is the things we're doing in practice will transfer greater to the game and help players improve at a greater rate.

So very challenging. What made it very difficult to make those activities alive? And I did it for a reason, but what made it very difficult to make alive conditions? You have one player. Exactly, TJ. So the first kind of thing I say to coaches is we need to try and— sometimes I think it can be useful to do an individual workout for sure, especially if you can move and you can play defense.

Gennaro and I have had some conversations about this. But ultimately, if they can make decisions with more teammates and be with 3, 4 other players, it changes everything. It's far more representative. If I ask you guys to do the same things with more players, naturally I think you would have done more alive tasks, right?

But that's the first thing. So what we're going to go through now is some alternatives to show you what this approach looks like, and it's called the constraints-led approach, and that's just abbreviated to the CLA. Before we get into the theory of it later, I want you to have a clear understanding of what this looks like on the court.

Coaches, what did you notice about how Liam set that activity up? Give any constraints, so like only maximum of 2 dribbles, you know, I would have put in a limitation with that. The defender had the constraint, right? Yes. The defender had the constraints, so it gave the offense an advantage to be more Relieve the pressure off the offense, give them an opportunity to grow.

Sure. So similar to what both you guys said, we constrained the defense more than the offense. So yes, the offense had to spin it out, but the main constraints were on the defense. So what we call that is leaving gaps. He wasn't telling the players what exactly to do and how to move within the activity.

And that's what we see a lot in traditional coaching where And again, I was just saying where we set up the activity and then we tell the players what we want them to do and how we want them to move. Instead, what we're doing here is setting up the task first, letting them play, and then we'll get more constraints in later.

So we're watching, seeing what happens, and then we manipulate the task accordingly. So all we did— and he did it in 40 seconds. So very short, straight to it. They're playing and the time on task is really high. All I mean by time on task is how much of the time are they actually playing basketball versus waiting in a line listening to the coach talking.

So the key thing is we want players active in a practice more than 90% of the time, and this is very different to what we see in most practices where the time on task is probably lower than 50%, and it's lost because they're waiting, they're running for punishments, and they're listening to coaches.

I just left that a little bit longer just so you can get the feel for a normal practice. So what we call this is burst, and I invented bursts about 3 years ago as a solution for increasing time on task in practice. So instead of players rotating after every rep like we see traditionally, they stay continuously over a certain time period— 45 seconds, 1 minute— and then we rotate, change roles after that.

So this is a burst with Smile 101. So let's talk now with the person next to you about what did you notice when Liam added that task constraint of only gold medals? What did you notice? Talk about that with the person next to you.

Physicality went up immediately. Immediately. So what we did there is their intention changed completely when we added that constraint. So this is the huge difference and the main message you're going to see today. A lot of people have confused the stuff I do for just being a games approach where we just create a small-sided game and play.

It's not a small side— it's not that, because if we just do that, it's not going to be specific enough to get them exploring different movement solutions. So if we just played with that version of 1-on-1 that Liam introduced at the start, okay, yes, it's going to be better than doing 1-on-0 for learning, but it's not that much better.

Because they can just resort to doing the same things. Now they're forced to find ways to get to the smile, and we notice them being more physical. Over there, they're being more creative. Some Eurosteps emerged. So now what we're going to speak about is I'd like you guys to go— let's go 3 coaches here, 3 coaches here, and I want you to try experimenting with different constraints on Smile 101, and every 30 seconds you can change it.

And get a new constraint in. Whatever you think is optimal, go! What was more conducive for your learning? The other drill. Okay, why? Defense. What else? Be specific. See if you can build on that, Alex. Hard to read what the defense is doing.

Hard to read, so you have a decision. Raya, what do you think? You might have moves that you know how to do without a defender, but you have to practice them like with a defender so you can use them in a game. Awesome.

A lot of the stuff I'm talking about, a lot of coaches have resistance to these ideas, and it's normal. I understand why, because this approach goes against everything we've ever learned and everything we've seen as good coaching. I watched the Phoenix Suns preseason practice 2 days ago.

It was like open, and it was awful. I had to turn it off after 10 minutes. And the problem we have is everything we see around us— NBA coaches, NCAA coaches, social media, we've basically had this form of life, this culture develop of traditional coaching, which is entrenched throughout the world.

In every country, I see the same old drills, the same traditional offenses, everything. So part of what we're doing is getting out of this entrenched system and looking at what the alternative is. And ultimately, it's for them. They just told us how much more fun and engaging this is.

It's obvious. Okay, same thing, guys. Now I want you to drive from a different place every time when you're taking your finish, and I'm going to be the MIG. What's the MIG, Raya? Use your leadership voice so everyone can hear you. Most important, like, girl, boy.

Perfect. The most important guy or the most important girl, the help defender. So I'm the MIG, you got to finish against me. You can only get a gold medal. Continuous. So Alex, as soon as you see space, drive from a different location. Go quick, quick, quick!

Let's go, Alex! Let's go, Alex! Go quick, quick, quick! Only goals, only goals! Go, go, go! Drive from different spots, drive from different spots. Stop from here. Yep. Oh, gotta go from a different spot. Hold. So it's not their fault. Why have they done this?

Because of the layup line. And for me, that's the worst drill in basketball. I don't even do it pregame. This is what we do pregame. We have them always coming from a different spot, including corners. And the reason they never go corners is because they never play one-on-one from there, because everything they're doing is from the top.

So guys, I want you to always go from a random spot, including corners. You can go anywhere, and you can only finish using the net, no backboard. You can go at any time. You can even have 2 players go at the same time.

Go! Beautiful, Alex! Great solution. Here we go, quicker, Alex. As soon as you see space, go. Don't have to wait. You don't have to wait. Yes. Okay, hold. So straight away, what we're seeing in here is the time on task is very high, and we get repetition without repetition.

And that's a key term you're going to hear me say a lot today. Yes, the reps are important, but if it's monotonous repetition where we're doing the same every time, the research shows us it's not conducive for learning. It doesn't replicate the demands of actually how we play the game of basketball itself.

So I want to go back to the Smile 101 now. I thought how you guys manipulated constraints within that was amazing. It was really creative seeing both ends, and that's the whole message I want to leave you with today. So everything I share with you Think about how you can add your own constraints and take one activity and change it 20 different ways.

Because that base version of SMAR 101 that Liam showed us, we take one activity but 20 different constraints create something very different. So it's not about having 20 different drills, and that's kind of what I thought coaching was about when I started. I just tried to collect drills.

That's the message I get the most on social media now. It's like, hey coach, have you got some good drills? It's not about that. I want to give you guys the way that you can cook for yourselves as opposed to just following recipes.

And that's the whole idea with what we're doing this week. So let's go back to small 1-on-1. Constraint ideas were really good. You've got left hand. Some of you said left hand only. Some of you changed the defense. You allowed them to start in a different place.

You You said they could leave the smile. I'm gonna show you a couple of new ones now. So let's go. Alex, come out, buddy. So now you're not clearing it, you're just playing continuously in here. So on a basket rebound, if it's a miss, keep going.

And I'm just gonna play defense continuously. Go play. Great solution. Keep going. That's it. Keep going. Keep going. Only the smile. Very good. Okay, awesome job. What is that an alternative to, coaches? The Mike Hand drill. The Mike Hand drill. The 2nd most useless drill of all time.

I used to do it. I used to think it was a really effective way for developing bigs, but then we realized what's the success of a Mike Hand drill? 90-95% as soon as players get familiar with it. It doesn't appear in the game.

This is representative. This is actually what they have to do in the game. I watched a player for the London Lions play against Paris Basketball last night. I'm not going to say his name. Anytime he had contact under the rim, he couldn't finish.

He had no clue what to do. And he's a veteran player earning probably like £300,000 a year and he can't finish. And that's not his fault. He's a product of his environment. We have some constraint ideas, but the real magic to this is if you can design your own.

And critically, do it in response to what the players need. So for instance, maybe one player struggles finishing with their left hand. So for them, using more left-handed finishes, well, maybe could be conducive. Another one could be a player maybe isn't deceptive using fakes, so they get their shot blocked frequently.

So you could say if they get the defender to jump before they shoot the layup in small 1-on-1, they get 2 bonus points. So we're changing the scoring system to encourage creative behaviors. We're not telling them this is a Rondo move. Fakes will just emerge within the environment at the same time.

So Smile 1-on-1, if you can have like 20 different constraints, it's an amazing activity, and that's our go-to. Carl, can you ask your question? Because it was a really good question, it's beneficial for everyone. Yeah, so good drill, obviously a 1-on-1 drill, but when you've got like 20 to 30, it's I don't know, 14, 15, 16 years old who all just want to get going.

How do you get the time on task 90+ per second to have 10 basketball hoops? Fantastic question. Okay, so this is the main challenge we have as youth coaches, right? We got a lot of players, we want to keep the time on task high.

How do we do it? I want to give you some ideas now. Everything I'm going to show you now could be done with 10 or 12 players on a hoop. And we actually had— Liam, how many players do we have at the tryouts?

120. The Lions. You were there, G. It was like 120. I think one day was maybe even more, 140. On— we had 4 hoops really, and we made it work. So let me show some examples now. So we've got— guys, you're always going to be offense.

Me, G, and Liam are defense. So we have 3 defenders who are always defense for 1 minute, 45 seconds bursts, whatever you want. You guys must always drive from a different location outside the 3, and you can only score gold medal. You can go anytime.

The first player to score 4 layups wins. You must say your score each time— 1, 2, 3, 4— otherwise it doesn't count. I can only play defense outside of the paint. You guys can only play defense in the paint, but Liam, you're the only defender who can be in the smile.

So G is not allowed to be in the smile. So we've constrained space. You can drive at any time. First to 4 wins. Go! So that I call jungle finishing. I have a version of this called jungle shooting, which I'll show you later.

It's tough work, right? Then we would change— the defenders would obviously be players. They get 1 point per stop, which they can add, so they're keeping score the whole time. On offense and defense. So you can see the time on task, it's sky high, and we get dribbling, finishing at the same time.

This is the whole thing. Traditionally in basketball, we've been taught to think in separate categories: dribbling, finishing, shooting, passing, team offense. Instead, we believe everything's together. So we don't really do passing drills, finishing drills. Instead, we do a lot where everything happens at the same time.

I'm going to introduce you to something new called co-design. So this is a key thing in skill acquisition, which we're going to look at on the theory later. And all this means is giving the players a chance to be involved in the practice, even at this age.

So even mini basket, we've been doing this a lot on the 12s group at Lions. It's been really fun. So what we let them do is identify their own constraints during practice, and we say, all right, you've got 20 seconds, identify a way we can change this game.

So as opposed to us always telling them what to do, we're giving them a chance to be involved in the practice. So you can think of all the benefits that that kind of derives— communication, leadership skills, autonomy. Even just one dribble, imagine now what's going to emerge.

They're going to start doing push-out dribbles naturally without having to teach it one-on-zero, just through that constraint. Awesome job. We're not going to do it But that's a great example, really good solution. What ideas did you guys have? That's where you could limit the defender's movements.

Yeah, right, exactly. Could either stand still and smile. Great example. So this is a key question I get asked a lot: how do we use the CLA with beginners? Question we get a lot— under-12s, under-10s, players of that nature. So for me, the answer is we want to simplify the task Instead of decomposing it.

So all I mean by decompose is decompose means remove the defenders. So what we're doing with that is we're removing all the critical information from the environment which impacts how they're actually moving and interacting within this jungle shooting activity. So instead we can simplify it.

So that's an awesome example, Jess, but let's look at this now. And what we call it is Octopus. So all we mean by octopus is a defender who cannot move. That's all it is. So let's look at what this is now. In fact, let's say this: Liam, you can't move.

G, you have 1 step, and I have 2 steps. So obviously beginners, you could just be all stationary. Players, same thing, you've got 2 dribbles to get a gold medal. Guys, we can reposition ourselves every 5, 10 seconds or so. Okay. Go! First player to three layups wins.

Go! Find space. You gotta beat me playing one on one, but in a narrow rectangle, so you can't do like a looping banana. And you have three dribbles to get from there to the rim. Liam's the mig. I'm right here. Go! One. 2.

Now Alex is a good player, so that obviously is not what you're going to see with a beginner. But that same thing you can do with a beginner player. Naturally they're going to be wobbling more, it's going to look bad, it's going to look messy, but you're going to see some really nice solutions start to emerge.

What else we could do is we can start to constrain the defense. So maybe even without moving, it's too difficult. One hand. So now I cannot use my right hand on defense. I can only use my left hand to play defense. It's the same thing.

So lots of different ways we can simplify, limit movement, limit space. What we can also do is play with an advantage. So what that means at the younger levels is more 2 against 1, 3 against 2, even 4 against 2, so that they can figure out ways to use the advantage.

Let's go back to jungle finishing. Any other constraint ideas, guys? Any ways we could change it? No backboard. No backboard. Absolutely. We could say no backboard, or you must use the backboard. One I like is you have to finish above the square, so the ball's got to bounce above the square.

Any other ideas, players, too, for jungle finishing? TJ? I'm not sure if it's so much a constraint or an adaptation. No, but, um, maybe switching out. So if you— if the defense gets a steal, they get to keep that. That is a great one.

Awesome example. So what that could do is promote the defense. So we could say you only— now instead of doing burst, it's going to be a natural flow because maybe you've got a big gym and you've got loads of players at the same time, and it's logistically— it doesn't make sense to stop, say change.

So you say you swap when you get a stop or a steal or a rebound. That's a great example. What that does is it incentivizes Defense. That's a really good one, TJ. Really good. What other ideas have we got? Using only the lateral parts of the backboard.

Yes, different part of the backboard. Absolutely. I'm going to show you another one now, show how we can get passing into this. So Frank, can you be a defender please, buddy, with me? So we can only play defense outside the paint, so you don't need your ball.

Rye, could you just give your ball a safe place? And Kobe, same thing. So guys, it's the same thing, but you can pass to another player anytime you want, or drive. If you get an assist and you pass to a player and they score within 3 seconds, gold medal, you get the point as well.

So you get a point for a score and a point for an assist. Frank and I are going to be playing defense the whole time. G is going to be a passive defender anywhere Liam's chilling. All right, ready, go play. It's not about doing chest passes over and over again.

And again, I used to do that. That situation emerged as a need to solve the problem. So every movement that happens in basketball, it's done to solve a problem of some magnitude. So if we reconsider what movement is, movement is a problem-solving activity.

So the idea is, how can we create these problems Through practice tasks. We've got a lot of ideas. With the traditional approach, what we're doing is we're basically wrapping the players in bubble wrap, and they get to the game and it's being shattered.

Why? Because they haven't prepared for the reality of the game. That is what happens in the game. If they're not used to doing that and encountering it in a regular situation, they're not going to adapt. They're actually going to be more likely to be injured and get ankle sprains because they haven't had chaotic situations like this to deal with in practice.

And if they collide like that, what's that going to tell you guys to do differently on the next rep? Avoid them. Avoid them. It's as simple as that. I believe traditional coaching, it's not just about the skill acquisition part, it's about how we are developing them as future leaders in life, being a transformational coach.

And I think this approach goes hand in hand with that because, like, what he just showed us is incredible, but he hasn't had a chance to show that before in traditional environments. I love your constraint idea. So Frank, be the coach, explain that to everyone, then we're gonna do it.

Now we want to amplify this option, make this option more enticing for them to be deceptive stopping and trying to change direction so they hit their defender. So basically what I'm going to do is— exactly, Frank did an amazing job setting that up— I'm gonna make it even more obvious, like a bright pink letter This option collide with their defender.

So Alex, let's just say we start at the top and I'm going this way. Now you're my defender. If you're on offense, you can actually change direction. If he touches me, it's a point. So every time I touch you, it's a point, and you can move, stop, change direction, and you get 1 bonus every time they touch you.

2 points for your gold medal. Also, you need to be changing your partner every time now. Same thing, 2-on-2. So guys, your offense there, Raya weak side dunker. In fact, Frank, can you be the MIG just because you know what it is? Alex, you're behind Alex.

Live 2-on-2 the moment Alex enters the arc. You can only score gold medal. Go! Beautiful pass, Alex! Awesome pass, Alex! Now same thing starting here. Now we're weak side corner and MIG. Weak side corner and MIG. Go! Oh, you come, you come, you come.

Good. Alex, you're right there, buddy. Yep, you're the MIG. Ryan, nice ghost cut. Hold. So what Ryan just did there is a ghost cut where you disappear and you appear somewhere really scary for the defense. That is a key part of dominoes. So what we just created now was dominoes, a domino situation.

All that means is an advantage. So the moment dominoes appears is the moment we get an advantage. So the idea is, what can we do to end the dominoes so we get a high-value shot? So not a mid-range, we want a gold medal or a 3.

And a ghost cut is a great way we can do that. Raya, Kobe, you guys form a 2-side. So Raya, help Kobe out, show Kobe a 2-side. Right there, Alex, you're the mid. So a two side is just forty five and corner. So this is a spacing template for keeping good spacing.

Two side. Same thing, three against two. Go. Okay, hold, reset. Same thing, but you must play in zero seconds. So what I mean, you must shoot, pass, or drive in zero seconds. If you catch the ball and hold, turnover. One. This is rep one.

Keep playing. Keep playing. Keep playing. Done. Rep two. Same places. Same places. Same roles. Rep two. Go. Rep 3, Alex, start somewhere new. As coaches, we've always been seen as the ones to tell them exactly what to do, how to do it, and what needs to be done.

No, it's not about that. So just being silent, they have to self-organize and figure it out. So now let's move it on. 3-on-2 still, but guys, you must always be in a different spacing. So you stay 3 reps, 3 in a row, but always you must be in a different spacing.

So let's say you're on a 2 side for the first rep. How could we change the spacing for the second one? What could you guys do to change the spacing? Alex, you could come to the weak side dunker. Come to the dunker spot.

Alex, you're still the big buddy. Alex, yes, right there. So now we change the spacing. So let's say you do that for rep 2. Now how could you change the spacing for rep 3? What could you do? Yeah, you could start here. Where could you guys go?

To change the spacing. Perfect. Show us, Alex. Kobe, where could you go to change? Good. And you just go somewhere new. So 3 reps, 3 different spacings. This is rep number 1. Ready? Go. Nice outer space. Open affordance is just an opportunity. It's a— we're going to look at it in the theory.

It's a more specific way we can understand decision-making in basketball, and I'll tell you why I don't use the phrase decision-making. So what opportunities for action within that made it difficult for them to convert dominoes every time? That's basically the question. Have a talk with the person next to you.

0 seconds. So making— acting on affordances to pass, shoot, drive in 0. So if we add another defender to this and it was 3-on-3, if they catch the ball and they hold when an advantage is created, the dominoes are lost because it gets back to 3-on-3.

So that's a great example of a rate limiter not acting on affordances in zero. Felix? The other thing was, I don't know what's his name, that's with the green shoes. Alex. Once he passed the ball, he stayed inside the paint. Fantastic. What you said.

Exactly. Like the floor is lava, he has to go out because then he shrinks the affordances for the other offensive players to see where there is actually space to, to make. Awesome. Frank, can you explain in your leadership voice floor is lava? Uh, so floor is lava is when you catch it within the 3, like outside the key with no, like, almost like no advantage.

It's catching and standing still, kind of. It allows the To kind of get back into rotation. Great example, Frank. So a player is shrinking the space. This is the lava, the mid-range, and all the players know floor is lava. It's a catchy thing that they've seen on social media and everything.

So a lot of what I do is use analogies to make them aware of the affordances they can act upon. Floor is lava is basically our whole offense under 12s with the Lions Academy. So if you catch the ball, guys, in the lava, it's a turnover.

If you catch it here, if you pass in the lava and you don't get outside the lava within 3 seconds, it's a turnover. What's the one exemption, Raya and Tia? When can you go in? On a cut. On a what type of cut, Raya?

What do we call it? What type of cut? Slip. No, no, no. What type of off-ball cut? Ghost. Ghost car. So a ghost car is the one exemption to floor is lava. Again, difference between a games approach and a CLA. The constraints are what— where learning occurs.

Because if we just do this, you're gonna see the spacings are gonna be awful. They're gonna be standing inside the lava. It's not their fault, it's just what they get away with. So this is basically our whole offense at under-12s and under-14s. It's just spacing, floor is lava, and creating and keeping advantages through one-on-one.

It's as simple as that. So let's play floor is lava and 0 seconds, so you must make decisions in 0 seconds. Go! Turnover! Turnover! Tia, floor is lava. Rep 2. Alex, drive somewhere different from a different rep. Rep 2. 5, 4, let's go.

Rep 3, rep 3. Tia, great shot. Good decision. Very nice dunker, Tia. Hold. Floor is lava. Hold. So we can play out of the weak side dunker. That is something we're doing at Lions. That is also an exemption to the floor is lava.

I want to make it simpler for now just so we can see it. Guys, you cannot use the weak side dunker. It's only floor is lava outside the 3-point line. Coaches, how uncomfortable do you think this can be? I'm great with it now.

I'm super confident with this. This is what's necessary. But at the beginning I wasn't, and it's normal because we feel like we're being judged. Maybe we've got a general manager up there. A more senior coach in our program. This is what we've been told looks bad, looks messy.

But the key thing is, this is what learning looks like. This is what's going to transfer to the game. If I remove all these defenders immediately, it's going to look awesome. I'm going to look like a great coach, but I'm having no impact on their learning.

I'm actually doing them a disservice. This is the beginning of dominoes. And for me, this is the aim of offense. The aim of offense, it's not to run a pattern. It's not to run a set. That is the lens which I used to view the game through, and 99.9% of coaches still do.

It's not the aim of offense, it's to start dominoes. The moment we have dominoes, whatever we're doing, it's off. Now my philosophy now is obviously conceptual offense. So instead of running sets and all that, it's just one trigger to dominoes and read, make, act on an affordance during the trigger, get to dominoes.

So like one pick and roll, one off-ball screen, etc. So we're going to add one constraint now, and it's called Neutral is a turnover. What's neutral, Frank? You don't have like any advantage. Perfect, easy. No advantage. So it's 3-on-3, we're matched up, no advantage.

If you lose dominoes from the start and the defense get back to neutral before you shoot, it's a turnover immediately. So you have to find a way to keep the dominoes. So what I'm doing now, coaches, is we're focusing their intention on the need to keep dominoes.

Their attention now is going to be focused on dribbling with purpose, spacing, finding windows as a byproduct of the constraint. I'm not telling them where to move, not telling them how to do it. That's all emerging within the context of these constraints. When players don't shoot a mid-range at young age groups, it's just a bailout option.

They just get away with it. What it takes them away from doing is being really aggressive and becoming really skilled finishers and getting all the way to the rim, and also spacing, learning how to perceive teammates and actually find space outside the perimeter.

So we're basically removing the affordance to shoot mid-ranges, and what that's leading to is affording possibilities to become way more skilled in more important areas of the game, which for us, finishing, shooting 3s, spacing, all of that. So what we could do is we could just say only gold, And silver medals.

Kobe, what's your age group, buddy? 13 and 12. Right, so that's not gonna be relevant for him. So you can keep shooting whatever shot you want, buddy. Everyone else, you can only shoot gold and silvers. One way we could do it. Now coaches, I'm honestly— the pace I'm moving at, I know it's fast, but it's probably not an exaggeration, right, Liam?

This is actually what our practice looks like in all seriousness. We do more things in one practice than most programs in 8 months. That's not a knock. Well, it's just evolving the whole time. So now you can only score after you get a paint touch.

You can only shoot after you touch the paint with the ball. So the driver must get one foot inside the paint before you're allowed to shoot. Tia can't use a dunker, got to be outside the lava. So now again, the intentions have changed.

They're not just settling for the first shot, but they're trying to get the gold medal Instead of the silver medal. So now let's mix this up, guys. It's continuous, so we're not doing the ball on back. Whoever gets the ball after the shot passes to me wherever I'm standing, or Liam.

We're going to be spaced in different places. You must come get it back, and we're going to put it on a platter for you. So you come get the ball. One defender must high-five us before you're allowed to play defense. Ready? Why is no one passing up?

Go play! Come get me, Alex! Let's start with an advantage. So you're gonna pass to me, Alex, and now I'm gonna give it to you on a platter. Kobe, you're keeping great spacing. Who's on big? Who's on big? Perfect. Let's go! Oh! So all I do, keep it variable, so I'm keeping them guessing so they don't know what's coming.

Great dominoes! Keep going! We don't want one-on-one unless it's a mismatch or as an advantage. That's the only time we want one-on-one. But at under-10s, under-12s, it's a different story. That's when it's good to go one-on-one, develop ball manipulation, all of that. Then when they get to 14s, we play more on triggers, and the one-on-one moves to something where it's turtle or mouse.

Turtle is a really poor defender who we relentlessly attack. So our under-14s now are yelling turtle, turtle when there's a really bad defender. They just relentlessly attack them every time. A mouse would be like Matt Morgan for the London Lions yesterday. Paris relentlessly attacked him in the post.

London had no answer. It was like, what, 12 points in one quarter through posting Matt Morgan, and they had no response to it. So that's when the solos change. Nonlinear practice. The goal of practice is not to go 1-on-0, 1-on-1, 2-on-0, 2-on-2 until we build up to 5-on-5.

That's again what I used to think Barça was. Instead, it's very nonlinear. Sometimes we might start 5-on-5, the first thing in practice, and then we go to small-sided games based on what problems emerge within the 5-on-5. So we've just been playing 3-on-3. Players, you want to get a water break?

Okay, then we are going to go back down to a 1-on-1, and then we're gonna go back to a 2-on-1, 2-on-2. This is nonlinear. Now, lots of different things we can do here. I want to try— you just gave me the inspiration for one.

Guys, you only get a point now on defense. First person to 3 stops plays someone different every time. You also have to do different dribble combinations as you're going around the arc, so you've got to invent your own. You can never do the same thing twice, always got to be different.

Go! I could talk about wall-ups because fouling a lot. So all we could say is, guys, when you're playing defense Now you've got to try and wall up and be straight like a skyscraper. So what that is called, coaches, is an external cue.

So again, what we see a lot in the basketball world is internal feedback, which is related to specifically how players should be controlling their body, where their hands should be, where their feet should be. And all the research shows us that that disrupts skillful performance, because the moment players start thinking internally about their body, It starts impacting how they're moving in an unnatural way.

And then we'll look at the research when we get to the theory. But an external cue, using analogy, straight like a skyscraper, it's completely different. So guys, same thing, be straight like a skyscraper on your wall-ups. Imagine there's a sheet of glass in front of you and you're playing defense without breaking the glass.

It's not just focusing on the offense. The whole benefit is this is a 2-way coaching. So we get the offense and the defense. And obviously that start that G showed us, we can change. There's still so much we could do differently within that.

Any question? Anything you wanted to conclude on, G, with this one? For an activity to have an impact on learning, the optimal challenge has to be just right. So you can see the problem with traditional drills is there's no optimal challenge. It's way too easy.

So within all these activities, we're trying to make sure it's not too difficult but it's also not too easy. Now sometimes I will verge on the spectrum. I prefer to go to the spectrum of too difficult. The reason why is because it forces adaptation.

We call that something called metastability. It's very complex, but if you're interested, you can look at the research behind it. And I find that more complex is good for fostering more metastability and forcing them to adapt in different ways. So I want to show you 2 last things on this.

Changing the advantage like G spoke about. So now, defender, instead of having 2 feet outside the arc, you can have 1 foot in and 1 foot out. So we've changed the advantage. If we wanted to reduce it even more, we could say you're here, 2 feet in.

But now, same thing, 1 foot in, 1 foot out, and you can only score a bronze medal. Go! 1, 2, 3. How can you get a silver medal? What's a silver medal, Stan? Yes. Okay, so you have a +1. Now, ball right there.

Frank, you're passer. You can only score a silver medal. Ball starts there. No, ball starts there. Same thing. Stan, your offense. Alex, your defense. Same start. Only a silver medal. Go play. Same start, same start. Yes. He oh you're the passer. Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Okay, so hold. So all we've done is we've added a plus one. So this is one on one plus one. Okay, now they have to find a way to get a silver medal. The bronze medal is the mid-range pull or the off dribble three.

Okay, so plus one you can only shoot. A silver medal, but you start off the dribble. Go! Start in a different place every time. All right, ready? You can pass immediately after dribble. Go play! Okay, go again. Frank, you're offense. Nice shot. Start here, Frank.

Start here. Alex, you're defense. Go! Must pass, must pass. That's it, Frank. Okay, hold. Now you can only score silver medal, Frank. Same rules, only a silver medal. Yep, only a silver. Go! Oh, what's a silver, buddy? Oh, it's silver. Yep, go again, go again.

This is called— this is a new one I just came up with 10 minutes ago. Let's see if it works. This is called— we need a catchy name, Liam. We will call these the Olympic Games. The first winner is the player to score 1 gold medal, 1 silver medal, 1 bronze medal.

That's the winner. So you've got to get the full collection to win. It's the Olympic Games. Go play! How else could we change this? Defense, no hands, or— Fantastic. Defense, one hand or no hands, and they can only rebound. Now we could say they can only get a paint touch before they score.

Then we get into push and pull, our dribble penetration. Roll the ball too. Good. Change the pass or come from a different place. We could say 2-on-1, you must run a trigger, must run a get. So 2-on-1, must run a get. If you don't know what a get is, help your teammates, show them what it is.

This is our pregame warm-up at London Lions. So we have all players, we have 3 groups of 2-on-1, one there, one in the middle, one there. So even in our pregame warm-ups, we're doing all small-sided games. We don't even do layup lines. When they do the layup lines, they have a passive make.

Obviously we're not going crazy intense, but we have small-sided games in everything we're doing. Anything you want to add on that, Liam? I just think, just to build on that, the reason we do that in warm-ups is it's then representative of what they see in the game.

And even from the 4— so we've only had 4 games with my group of the under-16s, and correlation between how they started games because of the mayhem that they've seen in warm-ups, we started every game strong and went on, what, 6 to 8 point runs because of it.

And it's something that we want to look at more with all of our age groups to see whether that correlates across all of the age groups. I'm gonna dribble out when I say go, tag any one of the players, dribble straight back, high-five Kobe.

Kobe, you're gonna tag someone, dribble back, high-five Alex. Alex, you're gonna tag someone. We will go continuously for 30 seconds. If you're tagged, you stay in, you're not out, you stay in. You've got to get as many tags as you can in 30 seconds, and then you get a chance to beat their time.

No questions, go play. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. That's 2. That's 3. Hold. I'll time it for 30 seconds, and then they change roles and they get a chance to beat their time. So naturally, what do you see?

Creative movements. This is how we're working on dribbling with perception-action coupled, and they're losing the ball Balls, but it's good. Now I've seen a lot of supposedly amazing ball handlers doing their straight line drills, but then they come to this and they can't do it, right?

And it's why? Because it's a more unpredictable environment. Guys, jog 10 laps. I'm only joking. You can sense the difference. They're not going to be giggling, they're not going to be creatively moving, whereas something like this is in a warm-up. So even with— With Paris last year, pros, this would be the warm-up.

We wouldn't even stretch. We'd literally just go straight to this. Sometimes we play football, but we'd say you can't tackle is the constraint. So they had 3 seconds on the ball, so we had to shoot or pass or dribble or 3, but they had to get rid of it and they couldn't tackle.

So loads of different things we can do. So that's basically how we approach the warm-up. So it's opening up degrees of freedom and keeping perception Action coupled within the warm-up too. So the idea behind DL is maximum variability and players gaining information about their solution space.

So all that is, is the ways they can coordinate their body to move. So in shooting, how can they shoot lots of different ways? Because then within the game environment, if they need to adapt based on the constraints they're facing at one moment in time, they're more successful adapting because they've used different degrees of freedom values versus shooting the same way over and over again.

So it's very weird, DL. It looks very unconventional, and the goal is not to move like they will move in the game. It's actually the opposite. It's to get them moving in unrealistic ways so that they can actually become better movers, and thus they can become more skillful in a CLA environment.

So we use differential learning primarily in shooting. As coaches, we've started acting upon the same affordances that we're observing in practices after, what, like a month and a half? Yeah. So we see something happen, we're saying things like hold at the same time.

It's the same language. So hold, it's the same language every coach we're using at Lions. So it's like hold, recreate. So we're using the same terminology. And then even like the constraints we're seeing, like it was the 16s practice the other day and I can't remember what it was, but we're like thinking and saying the same things.

And that's what happens when you have the theory. That's why the theory is important because it allows you to coach in a different way when you're informed by what all this stuff is. How weird does this stuff look? Thanks for tuning into this episode of the Transforming Basketball Podcast.

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