Game Design Principles for Better Basketball Practices

How do the principles of video game design compare to that of game design on the basketball court?

In this blog, we will look at the 5 basic principles of game design. We will take each principle and convert it into into tangible examples for the basketball practice court.

1. Study and Play Other Games and Build Around a Core Game Mechanic

Research and learn about the games and drills that are popular in the sport and simply find a way to add a decision for the players. This can be done through successful constraint manipulation. This episode of the Transforming Basketball podcast gives some practical examples of how to do this.

The concept of a “core game mechanic” is having clear principles that you can use in every one of these games. For example, if you are doing an advantage 1-on-1 game, such as a 1-on-1+1 close-outs with a passer, and one of your principles of play is 0 second decisions, then you must ensure this principle is embedded in the game. We will talk more about this in principle 5 later on…

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2. Design Games That Are Easy to Learn but Hard to Master

Ideally, you should be able to explain your game in 30 seconds or less. This is one of Mike MacKay’s concepts; “the rule of 30.” And as you will see in a CLA environment, there will be plenty of mistakes as the players learn and adapt on the fly.

3. Reward Players with Innovative Incentives

A few incentives include:

• Golden snitch (instant-win): if a team or player executes a specific coverage solution that you are encouraging during a “2-on-2 Wall Pick and Roll” small-sided game, they immediately win the game, regardless of the score.
• Double points: Similar to the above, but with a goal that is not as difficult. For example, if playing Advantage Dunker Spacing 2-on-2, you may reward double points for a score after performing a Nash dribble if this is a behaviour that needs to be encouraged.
• Score reset: particularly effective defensively. If the team does not perform the coverage according to the expected standards (e.g. communicating in a leadership voice, aggressive switching, etc.) their team's score resets to 0 points.

4. Set Concrete Goals and Objectives

It is important to keep things simple, especially with the objectives of the game. If the intention of the game is to work on an active MIG (most important guy or girl), then we should not ‘worry’ or emphasize the angle of the pick. Many coaches fall into the trip of providing way too much feedback. Alex Sarama calls this the “shotgun” approach. By trying to catch every rabbit, you will end up catching none!

5. Set Clear Success Criteria:

Being clear with your players about how to ‘win’ the small-sided game will ensure players are attuned to the rules of the game. One way to be clear about what you are emphasizing is by calling a turnover for the undesired behaviour. For example, if playing 2-on-2 Wall Pick and Roll, the intention may be creating a collision on the switch whereby the screener’s defender pushes the picker up so that their switching teammate can get underneath the pick, thereby neutralizing the advantage. In this game, the defense earns a point for each successful stop. However, if the defense does not even attempt to create a collision by controlling the screener, the coach may yell “turnover”. This immediate feedback will help players learn what behaviors they must have in this game to be successful. This is one of many examples of effective CLA coaching: the coach needs to be heavily involved in the practice as opposed to standing with their arms folded and letting anything happen!