Building a Championship Culture with Cameron Mitchell

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Transforming Basketball Podcast. On today's episode, we have Coach Cameron Mitchell. Coach is a 2-time NWAC South Coach of the Year and head coach of the Panther basketball program at Fort Portland Community College. He's led PCC to back-to-back region championships and the most successful 2-year stretch in program history.

This has led to Coach Mitchell having a spot with the Portland Trail Blazers G League team, the Rip City Remix, this past season. And today he's going to be sharing how he's built a winning culture and how he's had the success that he's had.

So welcome, Coach Cameron.

Thank you so much for having me. You know, I'm really, really honored to be on and You know, Transforming Basketball has really helped me in my coaching journey. So looking forward to talking more about it.

Amazing. So first question I have is, what's the secret? You've had tremendous success since taking over PCC. I just want to know, how did you do it? What's working for you?

Yeah. You know, I don't, I don't know if there is a secret. Coming into my first year, I wasn't really sure. It was my first year as a college head coach and You know, I was just trying to kind of stay afloat and, you know, we've been lucky enough to have 2 really good years where we won the region and we were one of the top teams in the, in the whole NWAC.

And, you know, obviously starts with recruiting. You know, I think I've been able to recruit the right players. At our level, we don't have a ton of scholarship money, so we don't really have a ton of— a lot of coaches talk about, oh, we need to recruit the player that has XYZ.

Sometimes we don't have That luxury. So I think just, you know, we kind of have to just get the best players we can get. And I think the biggest thing on the court is just being unscoutable. And that goes back to using the CLA and going more to a, from a conventional offense to one where we're just running triggers.

And, you know, I don't even know what we're going to do half the time. So, you know, I always think about like, how would other teams scout us? Because Using the conceptual offense just allows us to get advantages and be unscoutable.

Yeah. I mean, you look at the Finals this season and it's like the Pacers didn't have a superstar, you know, quote unquote, but they were just, they forced every team they played against to just be super disciplined on defense. Whereas it's not really a scout that you're going to be doing.

It's just, you have to be super disciplined and, and, you know, they're still going to get a good shot, but you just hope to get a contest up on there. Is that how your offense, or how do you use the CLA to kind of build that unscoutable process into your practices and then that transfer into the game?

Yeah. So I used to run a very, when I started coaching at a high school, we were very traditional and right. And we just ran a bunch of set plays and like teams can scout us. Teams know how to guard the flex offense.

Teams know how to guard this offense and then, you know, moving towards, first of all, playing with really good pace. One of the best things that I've learned and I've implemented with my team is very simple. In practice, if at any time there's an early pass ahead, and I, and I learned this from watching, his name's Coach Mike DeGeorge.

He's now at Cal Poly and they had a rule in practice. If there's an early pass ahead, EPA, and you don't make it, It's an automatic turnover. So that's like the biggest way that the constraints-led approach has helped guide us. It was really being able to work in the G League.

I was able to see all these advanced analytics, right? And the analytics teams that crashed the most and the teams that shot the fewest midranges, not necessarily made them or missed them, were the teams that won 70% of our games. So, you know, we use that to guide, you know, when we play, we call it, and I got this from Sergio Olivia, who's the assistant GM of the Blazers and was the Rip City Remix head coach, is we call it Panther Rules.

Anytime we score off an offensive rebound in scrimmage, you keep the ball. And anytime we score in transition, you get the ball on the side. So that's 2 really good things here. It guides how we want to play, but then it gets us Practice in our baseline out of bounds and our side out of bounds.

And it forces the defense to get better, right? Because they're going to have these clear consequences that are— they don't want to happen again and again. So they're going to be forced to get better as well.

Yeah. You know, I used to run so many different transition defense drills and trying to figure out, go here, you go here. And I've kind of realized actually just us playing so fast, as you mentioned, has improved our transition defense and we crash everyone to the glass.

And yet we still do well in transition defense and that hasn't kind of affected our stats in that end.

Are you guys tagging up?

Yeah. So we started tagging up this past year and, you know, this was the first year we decided to send everyone to the glass, right? Because talking with Sergi and talking with The guys at the Remix is like, realistically, if you send everyone, you're probably only going to get 3, 3.5 guys every time.

Right. Whereas if you're saying, okay, let's send 3 to the glass, you're probably only going to get 1 or 2. So yeah, we tap up and yeah, we're sending everyone.

How do you, how do you coach that at practice, whether that's, you know, with the Rip City Remix or with PCC? How do you, like, if you're like, oh, 5 guys have to go to the offensive glass. And if, you know, 3 or 3.5, 4 go, is there a consequence?

Like you said, you know, if 5 are going and 3 go, you're, you know, it's almost like, yeah, that's how we want it. How do you, how do you constrain that? Yeah.

So I think saying we're all crafts in the glass is more of a mindset, right? I think that's the biggest thing I want out of the constraints in, in our full court is I want us to have the mentality to go crash. Now they know.

If my guy does, you know, if he does leak out, then, you know, as a tag-up, you stay with him. But, you know, a lot of what we do in practice is just playing 5-on-5. And it's not really that, you know, I used to think it was just so intricate with the different drills.

And really now it's, hey, we're going to start in the half court. You know, we're going to move the ball around and a coach shoots it. And then we're going to play 3 trips from there. And I think the biggest thing though, and the hardest thing is having the discipline as a coach to say, hey, if not everyone tags up, blow the whistle, it's a turnover.

And that's what we do with all of our constraints. Early on, it's really challenging because sometimes as a coach, you want a better flow in practice. You know, in the first couple of weeks, the guys get annoyed with, you know, our constraints and getting turnovers that changes their behavior.

You seem really comfortable being in this environment, this environment that you've described. The, you know, stopping practices because it's turnover, you know, choppy. There's not a flow to practice at the beginning. Obviously it's super chaotic. You seem very comfortable with that. How's that challenge been adopting, using the CLA, the challenges you've had with it, manipulating constraints on the fly?

How's that whole process been for you?

Yeah, it was really difficult in the beginning, and I think part of it is As a coach, we've been kind of trained or subconsciously or consciously that we need to have all this control, right? Goal of practice, control the game. You see these coaches that are up yelling constantly throughout the entire game, like as if they are manipulating the entire game.

And I learned quickly, I said, this isn't football. Like we don't stop. We don't have a play every time. This is more like You know, soccer, it's a free-flowing game. And so when I was able to kind of embrace that, you know, I went to some clinics and I really just started realizing that, hey, maybe the reason I'm trying to call a play out every single time is I just want to control the whole game.

I want my practices to look clean and I want someone to walk in and say, oh my gosh, look at that. They're all like, it looks so clean and nice. And now I think if you come into my practice, At the beginning, you might say, what the hell is going on?

And you got guys using all 6 hoops. You got guys doing sometimes some kind of sillier maybe things. We start with a warmup game and just learn to trust your players and let go of that control. And I think if you talk to my players that they'd say, yeah, we have a lot of freedom, but it's not obviously just free-for-all.

And that's been great because then when I go in the games, it's like, I can trust my guys that they're going to make the right reads. And I know, I think of when I was a player, I didn't listen to my coach in the heat of a game.

I can't always hear my coach, you know, yelling out orders. Right. So yeah, just giving up some of that control, it was tough, but it's, to me, it's been freeing as a coach because I really feel like I'm doing the right thing and helping these kids grow.

Yeah. And improve their leadership skills.

Yeah. At the beginning, there's a, it's a whole mess. I remember for me when I, when I started it, I was like, this is terrible. Like I'm getting nothing out of practice. That's what it felt like. And now sometimes I see the clean practices.

And to your point, like you said, your players get in the games and they know exactly how to deal with the adversity, deal with what's happening in the game because they are experiencing that, the game in practice. And you're putting them in those situations in practice so that once they see it in the game, they've been there before.

And they know exactly how to act, how to behave, and how to solve those problems. Player ownership. You're a former player yourself. Does that help in terms of how you talk to players, coaching in general? How have you put your players in positions to be autonomous?

Yeah. So, I mean, I think it really does help because I have a story that they can connect to. I was kind of a late bloomer and was able to have a really successful career and then, you know, play professionally. And I think the autonomy comes from, and we're very clear on it in the beginning of the season, like shots we want to take, we want to get gold medal shots.

The type of play we want, we want offensive rebounding, right? We want driving kick 3s. We want layups. So them feeling like, you know, they know what it is that I want from them and how we can be successful. Now it's been a couple of years of success.

So I've built up a little Bit of that currency. But then I think as a teacher, I've learned, obviously you can't give the guys the answer. If you just give the kids the answer, then how are we getting smarter? How are we getting better?

So, you know, a lot of times I'll say, okay, we're going to run 3-on-3, run any trigger you want or something. They'll be like, what are we— they're asking so many questions. I'm like, just figure it out. You know, it's not always going to be perfect, but here are 1 or 2 constraints.

Figure it out. And then they start to build up that confidence that they can figure it out.

Man, I find it crazy when I do camps and I'm working with obviously kids that I, you know, haven't seen before, even at the start of the season. To your point, you give them a game, 3-on-3, run any trigger you want. And there's always the kids that ask another question, another and another.

And it's like, go figure it out. Like no more questions, just go and do it. But it just baffles me like that. that some players and some kids will continue to ask for the answers and ask for the answers. I'm like, just figure it out.

Like, just go play. There's no wrong answer. Just go play.

I think a lot of that comes from, you know, the coaches maybe being a little too controlling and telling them exactly, okay, this is how I want you to finish, right? Where I'd rather do something like, all right, we're going to go hip to hip, one-on-one.

You get 2 dribbles, you know, finish however you need to, because everyone's different. A big guy can go throw it down with their right hand. You don't have to shoot with the left. And, you know, a little guy might have to do, you know, opposite hand, opposite foot, but, you know, giving you the kind of guidelines, but you figuring out the answer.

So yeah, I couldn't agree more. I want to pivot now a little bit. What are some of your favorite games that you've used either with the Remix or with PCC? What are some of the favorite games? I don't know if you want to maybe For transition offense and then maybe half-court offense, or just some of your favorite games in general?

I kind of think almost some of my favorite constraints. I love the floor is mid-range is lava. So we do a 4-on-3, and I learned this also from the Cal Poly head coaches. We do a 4-on-3 to start every day. We have 3 constraints.

Okay. And that's, you know, 1 can't guard 2. You can't catch it and hold it and then follow the help. If your guy helps, you cut, right? And, you know, we'll be really strict on it. If it's even close to, you know, the guy didn't stampede, it's a turnover.

So we'll do that and we'll do it in bursts, which I really like. So you'll have the same 4 on offense and then you'll have groups of 3 coming in and out on defense and you'll go for 90 seconds. You don't stop the clock and we see how many You know, we might add constraints like the floor mid-range is lava.

You can't catch the ball in the mid-range or only gold medal shots. And we'll see how many, you know, how many points you can get in that 90 seconds. But it's really great because it's how we start practice. It's, you know, it's 4-on-3.

So we're always going to have those dominoes. And it's all about, you know, help getting them to have good spacing, you know, focusing on stampeding the catch. And the great thing is like, We want every, even our 7-foot big guy, he's also going to be practicing his stampeding and practicing his guard skills.

That kind of was how we developed our, you know, half-court offense.

No, I love it. And I guess the key as well, because a lot of, I mean, I asked for small-sided games and the first thing you said was constraints, right? And I guess it's like, how can we manipulate the constraints to the point that not only fits our principles of play, But gets the players to behave in a way where they're performing the principles of play.

So you mentioned you're doing 4-on-3 and you want them to stampede the catch. If they don't stampede the catch, then you can instantly call a turnover and you're educating the intention for them to stampede the catch when they have that, you know, available to them.

So it's, I almost feel like it's less about the games because, you know, you can go on any website online now and there's loads of games available and you can literally take those games. And add constraints to them that fit into your principles of play.

So I want to actually kind of push the games to the side and like, what are some constraints that you've used that have been extremely effective for you, especially this past season?

Yeah. So one of the biggest things that I talk about that we don't want to do is we don't want to have random one-on-ones. You know, like you said, a lot of our stuff is really just 3-on-3, 5-on-5. So a lot of times we'll go 3-on-3, one side of the court, and same thing.

They can run any trigger. Generally it will be a get action, pistols, or a ball screen. And the constraint is, you know, if we yell neutral, or sometimes we just say, if it gets to neutral, we have no dominoes, we have no advantage, you have to immediately flow into another trigger.

Because it's, you know, guys tend to Try to run an action. We don't have anything. Okay, let's back up and then try to go on. And a lot of times that first action isn't going to give us dominoes. Okay. But I want us to kind of get in the habit.

It's hard to guard things, 2 things in a row. Right. So I think that for us is a really big thing and it just promotes team play. You know, obviously you want to be a team that passes a lot. I think that is my favorite.

And I think it's just, that's what we use a lot of the time.

No, likewise. I think another one, and it was actually mentioned in a previous episode by Liam Jefferson, it was the one opportunity constraint. So it's like, it's a bit more, um, how can I say? There's definitely like bigger consequences. Like for example, if you create, if you do the trigger and let's say it's a pick and roll, side pick and roll, and you trigger and you don't create an advantage, you know, you can quickly flow into another trigger or the turnover.

With this one, single opportunity. If they don't create an advantage, then it's an immediate turnover. So then it's just teaching them to be a little bit more intentional about finding the correct coverage solution. So that's one constraint that I really like.

Yeah, no, we use that as well. And, you know, I think about coaches constantly saying, you know, you can't just run things like robotic. You got to do it this way and this way. But if you do just say, hey, you got one chance and it's, or it's a turnover.

They're going to find a way, right? Especially those competitive guys. They're going to find a way to get the advantage. And that's been really helpful for us.

Because they want to play. Players want to play at the end of the day. And if you put them in situations where you're not allowing them to play because they're breaking the rules of the game, then they're going to find ways to not break the rules and keep playing.

You know, we play so much live, you know, 1-on-1, 3-on-3, 5-on-5. But I feel comfortable stopping it because I know we're going to get a solid, you know, 30, 40 minutes per practice of playing live basketball. So, you know, and we don't do like, you know, water breaks.

They kind of just get water, you know, if they're out of the drill. And, and so, yeah, that's how we kind of keep, keep practice flowing. And, and that's how they get their quick breaks.

That's a great way to keep the time on task high. Instead of stopping for water breaks, just do it when they're not in the, in the game.

Because there's always times where they have 10, 20 seconds, run, get it.

Exactly. Yeah. And again, it's player autonomy, right? They can choose when to get water as well. So it's a small thing, but I, you know, I just think all those add up and, you know, it's no, I don't think it's coincidence that you're having the success that you're having by doing all these things that you're saying here today.

Right now, I want to ask you, before I ask you about, you know, how you structure your practices A little bit. I actually want to ask you how your experience with the Rip City Remix has been like. What have you learned? What are some of the findings that has really helped you as a head coach?

What's that been like for you?

Yeah, I mean, it's been an amazing experience. The opportunity to do both at once and take a lot of times where I've learned from the Remix and, you know, and the kids know the PCC, my players know that I'm also working there. So Say, hey, this is what the pros are doing and this is some actions that they're running.

Hey, let's try them out. You know, and I would be vulnerable and say, hey, let's try this out. You know, maybe it doesn't work for us, but let's try these triggers. And, you know, I think the biggest thing is just they do so well is, is really manipulating matchups.

Right. And one of our, the constraints I really like that I learned with the Remix, you know, we call find the elephant. Right. And, and, you know, the elephant has slow feet. So, and at our level, every team has at least one elephant, right?

And the point where, you know, we're putting that guy in just action after action and we're making him guard outside the 3-point line. Sometimes I have to tell the guys, hey, chill. They'll be like in the game, like elephant, elephant, you know, when they got, when they have the guy on them.

But yeah, but really manipulating matchups. And then just like kind of just the little intricacies of what we're going to do based on their defense. You know, they run a lot, obviously a lot more different types of defense at the professional level, but you know, it makes me prepared to take that and, and use it with PCC.

Can you share some ways either with Rip City or, you know, PCC that you create double gaps or even triple gaps for your ball handlers to attack the elephant?

Yeah. So, I mean, a big thing, you know, we never want to— our idea is like, rather than 5 out, we kind of have 4 out because one guy's always hopefully going to be cutting or in the dunker spot. And so we do a lot of blast cuts.

If, you know, we call squeezing, if there's 3 on one side, that guy in the middle is squeezed and goes through, and then we'll have that double gap. We'll also, you know, at times based on if it's the end of a game, We might just have the guy who's setting the screen and getting the switch just completely spaced out and having a guy at the dunker, but having the middle third just wide open.

Okay.

Yeah.

It's always just keep the 4 out, 1 in the dunker, because then you're kind of going to have that space anyway. Right. The court gets so much bigger like that.

Yeah. And we've never had a really big traditional post. So we've always really been able to play that 4 out with the 5th guy on the move. So we've really been able to keep good spacing. And then all of our guys can kind of shoot drill packs and that, that helps.

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, I'm sure that, you know, you had a little bit to do with that to help them get to that level too. I want to ask now, practice structure. How do you, for our coaches listening that maybe is newer to the CLA or just wants to see a different, how, you know, different coaches structure their practice.

How do you, you talked about the warmups, having a fun warmup game to mentally engage the players. How do you structure your practice in terms of, you know, start to finish warmups? Are you going 1-on-1? You said you start 4-on-3 all the time.

Do you always go 5-on-5? Do you do it at the end? Like, how do you, generally speaking, how does that structure look like?

Yeah. So, you know, it changes as the season progresses, but generally how we start with a fun tag game. I like the one where there's 3 guys and they have 1 ball, they can't dribble, and they're passing the ball around and they have to tag the rest of the guys that are dribbling.

I mean, just fun game, gets the guys moving in different ways. And then as kind of our pre-practice, all of our skill development pre-practice is 1-on-1 with guided defense. And we have so many different games, you know, mirror shooting. We do, we work on the skate dribble 1-on-1.

And different, like hip-to-hip 1-on-1, different circumstances where the offense has an advantage and we're focusing on finishing or shooting with that advantage. And so all of our— we don't do anything kind of 1-on-0 block practices. To me, I'm like, that's something you do before practice or that's something you do after.

And then, yeah, then we'll flow into the 4-on-3. And early on we teach triggers, you know, with constraints, usually in the 3-on-3 setting. But once the season gets on, we'll get going. We'll really get into 5-on-5 quick. I mean, there'll be times that we'll play 5-on-5 for 60 to 70% of the practice.

And same thing, you know, I think having those Panther rules where you get the ball out, that makes it so they can play that long. It's not just up and down. And as well as blowing the whistle for turnovers and things like that.

But yeah, I just find that's the best way. I've tried to figure out a million ways to teach different things. And a lot of times I'm like, you know what? It's just better if it's just 5-on-5. Sometimes start with like a 3-trip situation.

I like to get the guys on top of me, for example, would be, hey, you guys go to the middle, figure out what trigger you want to run. And then we're going transition, transition on the next 2 trips, but really make it competitive.

And yeah, it's simple, but it's effective.

And simple works. Do you always add scoring systems to each game you play?

Yeah. You know, I need, I need to do a better job of having a more consistent scoring system, I think. But yeah, a lot of times, you know, we'll constrain that. For example, another way is when we play 5-on-5, a mid-range is worth 1 point because, you know, an on-metal shot.

So a mid-range is worth 1. And, and that's kind of, but what I love about that is, you know, during games, a lot of times if they make a mid-range, guys on the bench will say, oh, it's a 1-pointer. You know, they know what we want to give up and what we don't.

So it promotes that offensive to not shoot as many of those. And then also defense to try to force those.

Yeah. I love those constraints, those specific constraints for scoring, because like you said, it promotes your shot selection. that you want to teach the guys, right? Because a lot of the time you could maybe bring them a piece of paper and like, oh, here's the shots that we want.

But I think it's also really easy to just say, okay, mid-ranges are worth 1. Why? Because they're, you know, lower on our shot spectrum. We don't want to be taking too much of those. And then instantly, like to your point, guys are going to be like, oh, it's a 1-pointer.

And they get it that, you know, it's not a high-value shot. Everyone on the team knows that. So they're looking for the better value shots as a result.

Yeah. And I'll show them the points per possession of each shot before we start in our preseason meeting. And I say, guys, it's very simple. We don't want to shoot these because we're not scoring as much off them. Okay. So, you know, we, they know from day one what we're looking to get.

Yeah, absolutely. So before I ask you our transformative tip, just for coaches that want to connect, where can they get in touch with you?

Yeah. So you can get in touch with me via email, cameron.mitchell1@pcc.edu. Also on Twitter, cam_mitchell1. I don't actually remember my Twitter handle.

We'll put it on the show notes.

Okay. Yeah. So you can connect with me via email or Twitter. I love talking to coaches, going out and just learning new things, but also sharing our ideas because I think Not only does it work, and that's been obviously great having a championship-level program, but it really makes it so much more fun as a coach because you really see, yeah, your players transform, you know, and for me has made me enjoy coaching so much more.

So transformative tip, what is one piece of advice you would give coaches to instantly transform their environment?

Yeah, I would say to every, you know, 3-on-0, 1-on-0, 4-on-0 drill you have, find a way just to add at least a decision-making component. You know, I tell when new coaches and I are talking and, you know, they're asking me a bunch of questions.

I said, the number one thing about this whole thing is, is just everything you do, add a decision-making component. It can be as simple as one of your assistant coaches playing 50% defense.

Yeah.

But everything they need to have to make a read because as soon as they don't have that, they're just not getting better because it's never in a game. You know, decision-making is the most important skill. It's not that it doesn't need to be some crazy intricate drill, just add a defender or add a coach and add some sort of, you know, decision-making component.

Well said, Cameron. Thank you so much for your time sharing your knowledge. It's been really nice to speak to you.

Yes. Thank you so much, George. I appreciate it.

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