Coaching is a stressful job. There is a lot of areas of information that coaches need to balance inside their head, analyze them, and make the right decision. They need to be on top of recruiting, groom the talents that they already have, and demonstrate their view of playing basketball to their players. It can all get confusing as the season pressure piles on, so it is important for them to have the right coaching tools to help them along the way. With the use of these tools, coaches can streamline the information, and make it easier for them to make adjustments. There are multiple ways they can save time in order to focus more on actual coaching of the game.
One of the factors that is making the coaching job much easier is the development of technology when it comes to basketball statistics. Coaches have the information at their fingertips at all times. Not only can they examine the game story that is usually video recorded in order to see what the team is doing wrong, but they can use these videos in scouting their opponents and therefore, know how to prepare for the match. Technology introducing itself to the basketball court allows coaches to use tablets on their benches to keep live stats. The use of these tool saves a lot of time from keeping stats as it is much more convenient, and keeps all the data in one place that coaches can easily access. The advanced analytics that are usually included in these platforms also help the coaching staff, as it gives them a clear picture of the team’s efficiency.
Both the advancement of technology and basketball analytics help a lot in one of the key areas of coaching: recruiting. There is an unlimited pool of players that can be scouted through highlights videos and full-game recordings. This saves a lot of time for coaches who don’t necessarily need to be physically present in scouting a player. The advanced analytics give a lot of information about the efficiency of the player, so a coach doesn’t need to worry about inflated stats or bad shot selection from his/her potential recruit. However, with these advantages comes a price. It is hard to determine a player’s psychological profile from a highlight video, even though there are interviews conducted on a regular basis through a webcam. The attitude of a player is what is the most important in making coaching a lot less stressful, as those players are usually very coachable and important for the success of the team.
You’ve got to be able to laugh. You’ve got to be able to take a dig, give a dig — that sort of thing. And [you have to] feel comfortable in your own skin that you don’t have all the answers. [We want] people who are participatory- Greg Popovich
A coach often needs to be in a role of teacher who can share the knowledge about the game. If the team is full of players who don’t want to listen and are closeminded about working on their weaknesses, it will be very hard for coaches to get through to them and it will take away the energy that could be used for making the team better on the court. Ultimately, basketball is a team game and a single player can’t win a game alone. Players who understand that are a dream for every coach. Coaches also need to be able to demonstrate the mistakes that the players are making, and development of technology and basketball analytics can certainly help there. This three factors are what saves time the most for coaches all around the globe.
