How To Use The CLA in a Professional Basketball Team with Ghady Abou Jaoude

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 Of the game, 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 Transforming Basketball Podcast, and we're taking this episode over to Lebanon, reconnecting with my friend Gadi Abu Jarod.

Gadi and I we met back in April. When I went to Beirut for a coaching clinic, and Gadi and I had some great conversations about the CLA and its application. And we just wanted to jump on an episode today and talk through some of those ideas.

In addition to, uh, the work that he does as an assistant coach in the top professional league in Lebanon, he's also working one of the top youth academies there. A very interesting example because basketball is one of the most popular sports in the country.

So It's a really interesting form of life. So Gadi, thanks so much for joining us.

Thank you. Thank you, Alex, for having me, and congratulations on your new project. I hope it's gonna be good. Thank you for having me again.

My pleasure. So I've got a question for you, Gadi, just to start with, in terms of has anything changed just since we spoke in those few days I was there and we did the coaching clinic? You know, were there any big takeaways for you as a coach from what we spoke about in those few days?

Yes, of course. I changed a lot of things in my approach, especially coaching youth programs. I changed a lot of drills. I changed a lot of like the way I used to train. It was not so far from what we've talked, some small tips, small adjustments.

I think it gave me an edge using the CLA. So that's it. Going to the senior level, it was like a little bit more tough. That's what we want to discuss today, I think. With the youth program, it was great for me. Honestly, it was great.

I'm using it and all is good, but a little bit tougher with the senior. So that's it.

I completely agree on that. And I think that's why we're doing a whole— we're going to do a whole podcast on this. And I think something I've said in the past, if you're a youth coach, I think it's so— yes, of course, you know, you've got to understand the CLA and spend time learning about it, but there's no barriers in doing it.

Whereas at the pro level, there are, and that's basically, you know, what players have become used to, what they become accustomed to. Before we get to that, Gaddy, can you give an example? Because we were— you were using small-sided games before, and then we spoke about, you know, manipulating constraints more and, you know, shifting to the CLA.

Have you got any examples of some small things you did practically that you've been doing in practices, you know, at the youth level, that's maybe a little bit different since we spoke?

Yes, of course. I can give you a quick example. For— I used to do a lot of one-on-ones, but the way I used to do it, I changed Small things to adjust. So for example, using a limited number of dribbles, for example, using a guided defense, a scoring concept.

Like if you score inside the paint, inside the smile, it's 2 points. If you score like in the mid-range, long 2s, it's 1 point. If you score— I changed the scoring system. For example, speaking about 1-on-1 handicap situations, like the defense cannot see the offense unless he's passing by him.

Especially with the youth, it was great using this. And teach weak hand, for example, especially left-hand finishes, putting the defense in a certain position just to try and help the offense use his weak hand and not be scared to use it. So these techniques in 1-on-1 helped me a lot.

Like going back to 3-on-3, 4-on-4, or situations like this, I used to do a lot, but we used to play like 3-on-3, for example, we want to put a certain situation, but 1s and 2s, like we count 1s and 2s only.

Yeah.

Now I changed the approach to implement what I want in offense, like You have certain amount of dribble, you have 0 seconds to act, like you need to attack inside the paint, don't take tough shots, no long 2s. I start to put rules.

So just like an example, I started using this. So that's it.

Those are great, especially in that one-on-one, just so relevant for all coaches at all levels, just constraining the defense. Start your one-on-one where the defender is on the right side of the offensive player and that offense is forced to now use that weak hand.

So that's, that's a super simple but great example. So what would you say, Gadi, then, are the biggest barriers, the biggest challenges using some of these ideas with your professional team?

The barriers were mainly regarding the shooting concept. Like, you have some players that have their routine before the game that like to shoot only spots. For example, 50 shots on one basket, 50 shots on the other, only spots like this, and someone is getting the rebounds.

So I was thinking, like, can you change this routine for a player who's like 30, 33 years old? He's at the end of his career. How can I do it? This was the main barrier for me. Mainly, mainly this topic, like everything else covering the offense, the defense was easy, but the routines of the players, it was difficult to change it.

And I was thinking like, if I change this, maybe his performance will affect his performance like in the game. So I was in a place where I couldn't do this a lot in shooting mainly, but everything else was okay. So that was the main barrier.

It's really interesting on that. I think shooting is the biggest one where Especially for, like you said, a player who's maybe in the second half of their career to suddenly come in and change it. And even pregame to be like, all right, we're going to do contested shooting.

It's not going to go down well. And I just, I wouldn't recommend it. So I can just give a few practical examples, man, because this is a good example. When I was working with Paris last year in the Eurocup, something that I did with some of the players that I worked with when I went for, when I was over there, when I was pregame was just some basic variability.

So It was still on air, I'd say, but all I was doing was every time I passed to them, I didn't pass them under the basket. I was always coming from a different location with the pass. And then sometimes I would contest them and sometimes I just leave them wide open.

But what they also did was the guys just started changing location with one step. Now, at the start of the season, they were doing spot shooting, the same players. And what happened, Gaddy, was in our In our player development, in our Vitamin sessions, we were obviously doing everything variable and with the CLA.

So they liked the variable shooting so much because they felt like— 2 players in particular I was working with, they actually said to me that this is more realistic from the game. Because I watched them the first day I got there in preseason, I watched them doing spot shooting and they both got something like 43 and 47 out of 50.

And then immediately what we did was we did a one-on-one shooting task where they could only shoot 3s. In a, like, a short closeout situation, and they had to score short, medium, long from 5 spots around the 3 with that defender. And they got something ridiculous like 30%.

And obviously it was very challenging, but they loved it. And they actually said they asked to do it again. And we just kept repeating that for the rest of the workout. I had all these other ideas planned, but they wanted to do it because they loved it so much.

And I thought that was great because we got buy-in in the first practice. So What that led to was obviously they were really like smart players. From that concept, they really bought in. And then what happened, Gaddy, was I introduced the brads, back rim and down, and they loved it.

So when we were shooting, it wasn't just, even when we did on-air like pregame shooting, which they had the focus to try and score brad where it was back at the rim and down. So, you know, I've got, for those watching on YouTube, I've got my ring light here.

Imagine this is the hoop. So, you know, the ball's coming from the basket. It hits the dead center back of the rim and bounces in. You know, if it's coming side on, if the shooter's coming from here, boom, this would be the Brad spot.

So it's like a clean Brad. And Seth L. Bernard, he did a great section on that in my book. That's basically what we did, Gaddy. So we would just make it really variable. And even if they can just take one step every shot pregame and change location and we pass a little bit differently, I think that's a huge win.

What do you think about that?

It's awesome. I will try to implement it, to be honest, and try to see the reaction of the players. Of course, it's not going to be easy, especially in Lebanon.

I feel you, man. And that's the thing, like, I think it's knowing the players too, because some players will be happy to do it. But if you feel, you know, there's like a player who really would be uncomfortable with that, we just got to do what they want to do, especially pregame.

And that's just knowing the players.

Yeah. Like sometimes I try to play some music in the gym or a crowd to change the environment. So it was easy because I can handle this, but To change the workout, it was difficult.

How have the players responded to Gaddy in the team practice? Like when you were doing small-sided games instead of drills, do they like it? How do they—

Yes, it was great. I know, and I realized that players, they like to play. If you put everything in game situation, like game related, I started to use the scoreboard in practice, put the shot clock also. Yeah, and the score. So everything became competitive also.

I found this idea awesome. And using always small-sided games was great. So like, we start the practice, same teams, we count the games they win, we have the scoreboard, we change the rules. Of course, every drill has its own rule, its own setup.

We try to do things like this. So it was awesome, I think, on the senior level. Of course, with the youth, it was perfect also.

Yeah, it's really funny. I think that's such a good point. Like, I was speaking with Charles Clask, he's, uh, an assistant coach of the Denver Nuggets, last week. Yes, we were talking about the CLA and he said If a player has an option to do on-air or to play against coaches versus playing against each other, they're always going to play against each other.

Yes, of course.

It's just especially pros, it's that competitive nature. And I think, yes, of course, we've got to be careful of load management and we can't be going crazy and we can't be going, especially for the pro teams that maybe have 2 games a week.

We've got to do, you know, short dosages of what I call represent— like representative learning environments, short dosages. But it doesn't mean we don't play. And this is something I've said a lot, like, I would rather we practice 30 minutes and we get in and we get out, and maybe then they do 30 minutes of variable shooting and our whole pro practice is done in an hour versus what most European pro teams are doing with 2-hour-and-a-half practices, which to me makes no sense.

Yes. What I like the most, honestly, and I changed it a lot, I used to teach the spacing on court. 3-on-0, for example, when you start like basic, if there's a drive from the 45 baseline drive, like I want a corner drift or a backdoor cut, these things I used to do with 3-on-0 because like repetition, repetition, and to memorize.

For example, I used to use this technique, but what I changed now, even if I'm doing it in the warmup, I do it with defense, of course. And I don't ask the defense to go live, like to go 100%. Just, I ask the defense to give the baseline for the guard.

So he drives. I asked the opposite, the weak side guy to go for the help and the third guy.

Yeah.

He can go down the basket or stay up and the defense and the offense should read, like, if I want a backdoor cut or I want a corner drift. So I started to put situations for the offense. Like, I want to teach this, but I don't give the answer, like, from the start.

So I asked my players, what do you think we should do in this situation? If there's a drive from the 45, how we should move? So players started to realize, started to think, oh, okay, coach, we need to go to the corner to fill the spot.

I can do a backdoor cut from here. So they start to realize more and more to understand how they should move and act. So read and react with defense, of course. So that was the main change. I saw it with my team and it was great for me.

I used to do it without a defense and I changed it a lot. So that's it. Yes.

We spoke about that. I think that's like 3 on— I call it 3-on-2 dominoes bursts. Yes. And that's just, it's such a difference when you see a 3-on-0, which a lot of pro teams do, you know, penetration reaction versus you just put 2 defenders in there, even if they're not like completely live, like you said, guided, it changes everything.

And that's why I really strongly believe when we're doing things on air. I know some coaches will do short doses of that in practice, some will do a lot. I don't see a need to having to do any type of on-air kind of pattern-based thing, because even if we're trying to introduce a concept or a coverage solution, I think the moment we go on air, players stop attuning to the most important information.

I think they start looking for things, and even if it's a coverage solution that a coach really emphasizes that's very important, like, I don't know, maybe a short roll and a cut and slide, we are missing the key information when we're not doing it on end.

And I think play, it's very dangerous because if there's one team who is adaptive and knows that a team is very robotic, I think you can really plan against that and cause some problems.

Yes, of course. Yes, I start with 3-on-2, 3-on-3.

Yeah.

And I go back, I go with 4-on-3, then 5-on-4 maybe. So yeah, we change the, the number of players, of course, according to this.

So I love I love that on the 5-on-4, Gali, because so many players, coaches just do penetration reaction 3-on-0 or 3-on-3, right? And you need 5 players.

You know, I used to do it before, a long time ago. And when you gave me the ideas, I started to change like the rules, of course. So the constraints, of course. So like to do a lot of things. Another thing I want to talk about.

Yeah.

How do you build the offensive system? I know that you like to go in transition first of all. We run, there's no outlet, push the ball, and we try to score in transition. Sometimes you have the bigs, for example, who cannot go in, who cannot dribble the ball.

Okay, first of all, other things like we try to get into triggers. Yeah, our early offense, if I can call it like this.

Absolutely.

Sometimes if you have a dead ball, of course you cannot do this. You need to have, like, as you said to us before, you need to have like small set offense who can create these triggers through the set. So my question is, Sometimes you don't have quality players who can do this.

Like you have a player who likes to post up a lot, for example, or you have a slow guard who cannot run in fast breaks. For example, you have a guard who's like a catch-and-shoot player, likes to go from staggers and shoot, who cannot drive to the basket a lot.

So my question is, how do you build the system? Is it depending on the strength of the players, or like you try to teach them even if they don't have these qualities, you try to implement your, your style, or is it a mix of both?

Like this is the topic I would like to talk about. Yeah.

Gaddy, that's a great point. That's a great question. I think one of the greatest strengths of principles of play is we can adapt it completely based on personnel. So in an ideal world, obviously, if we have players who can do everything, great. And we try and do that in player development, but it's never going to work like that.

So for instance, we have a big who can't bring the ball up, then maybe he outlets while everyone else looks to go if they get the rebound. If we have a player who is a great catch and shoot threat and we're in transition, maybe our principle of play is we try and get them open with like pin-in screens or whatever.

So what I try and do is I make it as flexible as I can and I adapt it based on every team. A lot of coaches have the same playbook, which they kind of copy regardless based on whoever their team is. Instead, what I do with these principles is it's basically, it's so adaptive.

So that whatever the context of our players, the strengths, maybe the tendencies of the league, if there's something I feel could be really effective in one style of play in one part of the world, then we might emphasize something that's advantageous for that situation.

So what I try and do, Gaddy, is basically really, I have some things which are universal. Dominoes is an example, shot selection.

Yes.

But then critically, you know, maybe what we look to do in dominoes will be different. Like maybe if we're a team of non-shooters, We got to ramp up the ghost cuts versus if we have a great shooter, more exit screens and pin-ins. So I, and then same thing like we spoke about, there's definitely, I think set plays are really important and especially on dead balls.

I think the key difference is it's more their strategic sets. So it's not like random sets always out of different spacings, but they're like a family of sets which are logical. So for instance, maybe they all end, we got our 3 pick and roll spacings.

Yeah.

Maybe the sets all start in the same spacing and they all end with a rub or a side pick and roll. But obviously there's going to be different things in the buildup to that. And obviously if we create an advantage early on, the set's over and we're just in dominoes.

You try to have the sets, for example, I put like series, for example, horns, horns, side, horns, like whatever, but they have the same setup. But you try to put like every call is for a player, for example.

Like, I would just have more of a general call. And actually, Gaddy, I got that from Moncho Fernandez at Obradoiro, and I loved how he said when a set is made for a player, I think what the players often focus on, they get so focused on that player getting the shot.

And the problem then is maybe there's a greater advantage somewhere else in the set or another player is open.

Yes, yes.

What Moncho says is the set is for, you know, wherever the advantage is created, Boom, that's, you know, what we're going to look to exploit within the set. But we've got to be careful because obviously, if we cannot— if we do not feel we have an advantage and we can't get a good shot early on, then we can't break away from the set.

So it's a delicate balance where we gotta— players have to attune to, you know, do I have an advantage? Should I end the set? Or do I not have it? Shall we run the next part of the set and get to the next part of it?

And obviously, it's complex. And I think the only way we can do that is obviously practicing with the CLA, because otherwise, how's that going to happen in a traditional 5-on-0?

Yes, of course. If you have like a team who's set-based, you can deny the entry or whatever and they will get lost, of course.

So exactly it. And that's what I would do, like if I was coaching against these traditional teams, I'd find their weakest point, find the sets where we can disrupt them the most, and boom, that's it.

Of course. And why I implemented also, I implemented the— I tried to attack the mismatches directly from the beginning of the, of the play. Like if I see a weak defender, I try to attack him with a good spacing. Of course, I teach everything like spacing and all the details, but especially with youth, I stopped the long offense.

What's the purpose of it? If I want to attack X player, let's attack it from the beginning.

Why? Exactly. And I'm seeing that all the time now where, you know, all these European teams with these crazy long sets and they get 6 seconds left on the shot clock.

Yes.

They get to a trigger and they have no time to create an advantage or they don't create an advantage and they take a terrible shot. Why not just get to that trigger with 20 seconds?

That's it.

I think too you raised a great point about attacking the weakest player, and that, that's a key part of my philosophy too. Like, we're not just running triggers randomly. Can we get their worst player in the matchup and just be relentless attacking them through that?

And I think that's a really nice, nice point.

That's what I, I built my system around, and I teach the players They don't need to rely on me to call. So you know who's the weakest one, let's attack him. And that's it.

That's all it is. So, Gadi, I just want to say, I think that was a really— it was a short but really interesting discussion. And that's obviously what I'm trying to do with the podcast, short episodes where we can just boom, go and discuss some interesting things.

So I just want to say a big thanks for coming on the podcast. And obviously, um, coaches, I recommend coaches reach out to you on social media. We will have your Instagram handle in the show notes so coaches can send a message. message or any questions.

Yes, thank you, Alex, for having me. Oh, of course. And good luck in your journey, and hopefully we'll meet, uh, soon again in Lebanon here. I want to come back anywhere else in the world.

I, I'm doing another visit. Absolutely.

Thank you.

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