Functional Perception Action Coupling with Adam Omiecinski

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Welcome to the Transforming Basketball Podcast. On today's episode, we have a very special guest. We have Adam back, who used to be the host and obviously was in countless episodes with Alex when the podcast first started. So Adam, welcome back.

Thanks for having me, George. It'll be nice catching up with all the listeners and Giving them updates on my evolved state of mind.

Yeah, absolutely. So today we're going to talk about functional perception-action coupling and this idea that when we're creating practice environments, I think this is a common trap that maybe as coaches we tend to do this a lot, which is creating environments that the players already know what the defense is going to do.

And so it becomes less about them figuring out You know, how to solve the problem and more about them figuring out different ways they can attack that problem that they're going to be constantly having. So Adam, do you want to talk about, you know, the trap of making defensive intentions predictable?

Really, when we're analyzing, whether it be game film or what we're observing in practice itself, we have to think about like more or less like what problem is actually trying to be solved right now. So the example I brought up with a conversation preceding this podcast with George was Players were struggling to maintain possession of the basketball after their gather around the hoop to finish.

So they were getting stripped from time to time. So an activity was designed to have one offensive player go against 2 or 3 defenders, say, and they were tasked with picking up and finishing. However, as I, as I watched the activity more or less emerge, what stood out to me, it just, it didn't look right to me.

Something didn't feel right. And what I came to the conclusion was that either the coach explicitly told the player, hey, maintain possession, they're going to try and steal it from you, or there was no variability in how the defense was behaving. Thus, it honestly to me became more of a capacity activity as opposed to a skilled activity.

And what I mean by that is since they know they're going to be being swiped at the basketball. It's really about, can they actually just simply hold onto it as they're being stripped? Whereas in the game, I'm assuming that's not really a problem.

This was a little bit higher level of basketball. So we're not dealing with youth who are, who are lacking strength perhaps, but more or less the skill is identifying the defense's intention and their capability of potentially stealing the basketball. So can they read the kinematic information from their defenders to say, oh, I need to adapt where I pick up the basketball and how I place it in relation to my body.

And in relation to the defender, that would be the skill they were actually going after. But if you make the intentions that flat, it changes the activity.

Yeah. So it's like, let's add some more context. So let's say players at the 45 and there's a shrink or gap defender on either side of them for their drive. And the activity that you're describing is the shrink gap defenders are in those shrink gap spots, just shrinking the kind of driving space for the, for the offensive player.

So now This activity becomes less about, you know, reading where the defense is trying to get to the basket and more about going through the defense's arms, the branches, which is, you know, they're going to stunt at the ball and try and steal it and getting through it to finish at the basket.

Whereas in the game, that may not be very representative of what you want your players to do anyway, because if you have heavy gap help, then it may be a thing where you, you know, swing it to the corner 3-point shooter. Or rotate the ball around.

So it's, I guess the next question is, what do we do as environment designers to change this game so it becomes less about the capacity of, you know, being strong through the branches and getting to the basket and more about reading where the defense are and can, you know, should I drive this gap?

Is there enough space for me to make this crack?

Well, for me, George, the conclusion I came to was you simply need to have some variability with the defense's intentions and their actions. Therefore, there becomes that process of, do I continue to drive or do I not? How do I continue to drive if I do select to drive?

And if you want to emphasize that stripping aspect of it, then maybe you, you simply modify the number of repetitions, the emphasis the defense is actually placing. Say, hey, okay, more often than not, I want you to go for the strip, but I want you also to back away, wall up, attempt to cut them off, all these different things that one can encounter in the game, even when, and this is a conversation I like to have with head coaches all the time, is like, there are going to be imperfect conditions.

Like, so say a defense, they have their principles of play and what they want to do and what they want to shade the offense to do. But there are going to be times within the contest where they're not in a position to actually do so.

So you're going to have to adapt to those situations as well. So you can't make a bland statement like, oh, they're always going to do X, Y, and Z in a pick and roll. It's just not going to happen that way. So We need that variability in and of itself to be able to solve that kind of problem.

And this can be achieved through, I guess, guided defense and just telling the defense, like, you know, give them a different look every time. Sometimes you can be in the shrink position, other times, you know, be closer to your player or to the spot where the player is, right?

Absolutely.

It reminds me of a small-sided game activity that Alex did last year, which was 2-on-2. It was a train start 2-on-2. And the players spin the ball out and the offensive players have to go a single gap away from each other. The off-ball defender, on-ball is pressuring the basketball.

Off-ball defender has to make a decision whether it's they're in the gap or they're, you know, a little bit further along. And now this cues the on-ball player. Now they have 4 dribbles to create an advantage. And now whether they dribble into that space and the gap defender collapses even more.

Yeah.

Then their decision might be to, you know, pass it to the off-ball player and play from there versus if that defender is not in the heavy gap position, then maybe they can break through all the way to the layup. So I think that's a good example of how you could, you know, actually train that skill, but maybe not necessarily the action capacity.

So I guess my question to you is, what if you, you know, is this then a great activity if you really want to train that action capacity for players to get through those branches? Absolutely.

Yeah. To me, they're like, we can be like harsh with activity and say, oh, this isn't a good activity. I'm not necessarily doing that because for me, we're always doing something and that's all, whatever tasks we're doing, it's serving some sort of purpose and it's helping us get better at something.

Now, it may not be what we're intending to get better at. However, it is still serving a purpose. So that activity that I observed where there were, the defense was constantly swiping at the ball. That's helpful. It's building up the capacity to maintain possession.

However, I don't necessarily think that's what they were actually trying to achieve with the activity. So therefore, that's why you revisit it and make some adaptations.

Great point, Adam. I think that's the key message. It's like, if the player knows that the strip is coming, then they don't necessarily read the environment. They don't read where the help defender is, you know, where the arm length, the speed that they move.

They're just executing this pre-planned movement and they know exactly what they're going to do. Whereas in a real game, they might not be able to adapt to, you know, that shrink defenders because they haven't practiced with them, whether they're coming towards the ball or getting away.

And I think that's the key point of this discussion.

Yeah, it simplifies the environment. Now, again, if the player is not skilled enough to actually deal with that complexity of multiple options from the help defense, that may be a perfectly suitable activity. But we want to scale it to the ability of the offensive players.

And when I was observing that activity, sure, there was the occasional strip, but it was very infrequent. And again, I could see they were attuning not to what the defender was doing, but simply maintaining possession of the basketball. They were barely locked. They weren't scanning the environment.

They weren't adapting their actions. They were simply just trying to maintain possession of the basketball.

So last question for you, Adam. If a coach is watching their own practice film this week, What's the number one red flag that tells them that they've accidentally turned the skill drill into a capacity drill?

I'm going to say that there's simply a lack of variability.

So add that repetition without repetition.

I will. Yeah, that's right. That's, that's my default right now. Now somebody may hit me up later and I may have a different answer, but that's where I'm leaning right now.

Adam, thank you so much.

Of course, George. Thank you.

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