My secrets to NBA head coaching success by Dr. Jack Ramsay

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My secrets to NBA head coaching success
By Dr. Jack Ramsay
Special to ESPN.com

    
Editor's note: If anyone should know how to excel as a head coach in the NBA, 
it's Dr. Jack Ramsay, who won a world championship with Portland in 1977. 
Below are Dr. Jack's five factors for success in today's NBA.

1. Know the NBA game.
This characteristic sounds as if it should be a given, but the NBA game is 
different from that played anywhere else. Its rules, number of games (and 
travel involved), limited practice time, officiating and the ability level of 
its players all combine to offer a unique perspective to coaching. The 
successful NBA coach understands those differences thoroughly and uses them 
to his advantage.

Let's start with the basic NBA rules. The court dimensions (94 by 50 feet 
with 16-foot-wide lane), the length of the game (48 minutes), the game's 
division into four 12-minute periods, the 24-second shot clock (and the 
conditions for resetting it), personal-foul penalty situations, number of 
personal and technical fouls necessary for ejection from the game, the 
3-second lane restrictions on offense and defense, double-teaming tactics 
permitted on players with and without the ball and rules governing timeouts 
-- regular, 20-second and mandatory -- are all different rules and require 
keen awareness by the coach. They also make for a difficult adjustment for 
those coming from outside the NBA. College coaches and former players who 
jump immediately into head coaching positions are often dazed by the demands 
of the job. 

Last season, the NBA did away with its confusing illegal defense restrictions 
and gave teams increased latitude to play any kind of defense. For the first 
time since 1947, teams could play zone defenses. The only restriction on that 
tactic was to limit the time in the lane to less than three seconds for 
players not actively guarding an opponent.It will be interesting to see what 
coaches do to adapt to those rules this season. They've had a year to get 
acclimated to the new freedoms, determine how they can benefit defensively 
and discover how they can maximize their own offensive opportunities.

The NBA game is tough and physical, and the travel, even in these days of 
charter flights, can be exhausting. The coach must work out an effective 
rotation of players into and out of the game. He must get meaningful 
practices in short segments of time, while being aware of the fatigue factor 
with players who are playing big minutes every game. He must adjust to 
officiating that is generally consistent but renders bad decisions on 
occasion.The coaches who know the NBA game thoroughly and have their teams 
playing their best possible game within the rules will have the best team 
results. It comes from knowing the game.    

2. Develop an effective game plan.
A successful coach must have a game plan that gives his team its best chance 
to win. A sound game on both offense and defense is mandatory. This requires 
careful analysis of team personnel to ascertain the best ways for that team 
to score enough points to win while limiting opponents to low-percentage 
scoring opportunities and denying them second-chance points.Although defense 
is the strongest factor in team success, most coaches think of their 
offensive capabilities first. 

If you ask NBA coaches what they want to do on offense, they invariably say 
that the fast break is their first priority. That's understandable because 
fast-break opportunities are high percentage, and it's generally conceded 
that a team needs those kinds of "easy scores" to win consistently. But the 
fact is that most team offense is played in half court.

I coached two excellent running teams in the NBA -- one at Buffalo and the 
other at Portland. I found that those teams seldom got more than 30 to 35 
fast-break chances per game, but if we got that many opportunities we usually 
won easily. In those days, running teams got about 100 possessions a game. 
So, even when we ran at optimum level and got 35 fast breaks, we were in the 
half-court game for about twice as many possessions.

So, while fast-break basketball is fun to play, exciting to watch and helpful 
in the overall game plan, effective half-court offense is more essential to 
winning. Every coach has his own style of half-court basketball.

The Lakers use the same triangle offense with <A HREF="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=847";>Shaquille O'Neal</A> and <A HREF="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3118";>Kobe 
Bryant</A> that was successful at Chicago with <A HREF="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=175";>Michael Jordan</A> and <A HREF="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=268";>Scottie Pippen</A>. 
Phil Jackson has won six championships with it, but no one else can make it 
work. Utah makes maximum use of high-post and sideline screens to get the 
best from <A HREF="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=326";>John Stockton</A> and <A HREF="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=213";>Karl Malone</A>. It is simple and fundamental ... and 
very efficient. Boston's Jim O'Brien focused on his only viable scorers at 
Boston, <A HREF="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3253";>Paul Pierce</A> and <A HREF="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3112";>Antoine Walker</A>, and managed to win a lot of games. 
The kind of offense a coach uses may vary, but every scheme will work if the 
concept is sound and executed with a high level of efficiency.

Strong team defense must be of the highest priority with the successful 
coach. It is the difference between success and failure. Because of the high 
level of offensive skills of NBA players, effective defense must be organized 
on a team, man-to-man basis. There must be an interdependence among the 
players. Pat Riley calls it "helping the helper." The implication here is 
that there is always an off-the-ball defender ready to help the player 
defending the ball and another helper ready to help the first helper. When 
that kind of teamwork is in place, the basis of a sound team defense is 
there.

The winning coach must also have his team prepared to employ trapping 
defenses and double-team schemes for special situations, but the basis of his 
defensive game must be a sound, integrated man-to-man with excellent 
principles for providing weak-side help.In essence, the winning coach needs 
to have a sound game plan at both  ends of the floor.   

3. Teach your game.
Another vital area for coaching success is one's ability to teach his game 
plan to his staff and players. Assistants must be as well-versed and 
confident in the plan as the head coach. It's also extremely important for 
the coach to have his best player(s) buy into that game plan. When I first 
took over the Trail Blazers, I met with Bill Walton to explain the game I 
wanted to play and his role in it. He seemed pleased with the theory and yet 
I remember his comment as we finished our meeting. 

"Coach, one last thing ... don't assume we know anything." 

What he was telling me was that the Blazers -- including himself -- needed a 
lot of fundamental teaching. I knew we were going to have a great team after 
I heard him say that.I found the best teaching was done on a whole-part-whole 
method -- that is, give the players an overall view of what the end product 
looks like, break it down into its essential parts, then put all the parts 
together. This requires the use of visual perceptions, verbal descriptions 
and physically experiencing the whole game; then breaking that game into its 
most fundamental segments and drilling them repeatedly on the practice floor. 
Gradually, the parts are united into the whole game, and then the rough edges 
are smoothed off.

Yes, pro players -- even the best of them -- need teaching and are receptive 
to it. I found that if players feel that you can help them improve their 
skills and help the team win, they'll do whatever work you ask of them. 
Coordinated team play doesn't just happen. It is the result of endless hours 
of teaching the individual aspects of the game, then combining those into 
smooth-functioning team play.

There's an old coaching adage that says, "Don't expect something to happen in 
the game if it hasn't taken place already on the practice floor." Good 
coaches use all the tools at their disposal to teach their game -- hands on, 
one-on-one teaching on the court; chalk and magnetic boards, video tapes, 
computer printouts, team meetings, written tests, one-on-one sessions with 
players, motivational techniques in the meeting rooms; practice 
walk-throughs, half-court and full-court scrimmages, simulated end-of-game 
situations ... whatever it takes to teach the game.

Good teaching requires open communication between the coach and his players. 
Players must know what the coach wants from them and the roles each plays in 
the team game. The smart coach knows how his players are responding to the 
game plan and invites responses from them.A successful coach also learns from 
his players.

4. Coach the game.
Some coaches are described as good "bench" coaches. That kind of coach has 
gone over the game plan with his players and has simulated at practice the 
game he expects them to play. The coach has also anticipated and practiced 
his players on adjustments they may need to make in the game plan. So, if the 
actual game takes a different turn from what was anticipated, his players are 
ready. The good bench coach appears confident in himself and in his team. He 
instills the feeling among his players that, if they follow his lead, they 
will win.

Then, at the opening toss, these coaches focus on all the important aspects 
of the game being played. They're aware of the game clock, shot clock, foul 
situations, timeouts available and the flow of the game. They make player 
substitutions, alter strategy, note how officials are calling the game, 
notice how the game plan is working and check out opponents' strengths, 
weaknesses and tendencies. They seem poised and in control of the game 
regardless of the score and time remaining.

Game coaching is the defining moment for a coach. He must make appropriate 
preparations for the game. He may know the game inside out, have a great game 
plan, and teach it well, but if he can't coach the game effectively, he'll 
never have great success. And in the NBA, there are a lot of games ... as 
many as eight preseason, 82 regular season and a possible 26 more in the 
playoffs!

Before beginning a new season with a good team, I remember thinking that we'd 
probably win about 15 games somewhat easily, that we might end up losing 10 
badly, and the rest -- all 57 of them -- would go down to the wire. Those 
were the ones I felt we had to win. Setting 50 wins as something of a 
regular-season standard meant that we'd have to win about 35 of the close 
games to have the kind of team record that I wanted. That put a premium on 
getting my players to be mentally tough, so that they'd respond with poise 
and efficiency in the closing minutes of games. Once the team game was in 
place, I spent a lot of practice time working on end-of-the-game situations. 
I had to discover who my best clutch players were on both offense and defense 
and to make necessary plans to have them involved in the critical plays that 
win games.

When things are going well, success feeds upon itself and engenders more of 
the same. Players who make big plays grow more confident in themselves with 
each success. Winning a close game is a moment of exaltation for players and 
coach. It has a great bonding effect on the team with its coach.

Repeated failure in close games requires changes in plans, adjustments of 
personnel or strategy and the practice of the revised plan until success is 
achieved. Successful coaches get that part of the job done, too.

5. Obtain quality personnel.
The saying that "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" applies well 
to coaching in the NBA. A good coach makes maximum use of the talent that he 
has, but if he has less than standard quality players, he can't win in the 
NBA. In today's era of the salary cap and luxury tax, it's becoming 
increasingly difficult for a coach to acquire the kind of personnel he needs 
to become a winner. Many teams in the league will simply not spend money for 
players if it puts them over the salary cap. And, in some cases, the coach 
may not have the authority to make changes that he feels necessary. In those 
situations, the coach is destined to have only mediocre-level teams.

Three of the four teams that I coached in the NBA -- Buffalo, Portland and 
Indiana -- had records well below .500 the year before I joined them. Buffalo 
was an expansion team beginning its third year of existence. The team's 
general manager, Eddie Donovan, thought some of the young players might 
develop into quality NBA talent and wanted to stay with the previous year's 
roster. I agreed to try it, but our record didn't improve. 

Before my second season began, we kept only three players -- Bob McAdoo, 
Randy Smith and Bob Kauffman -- brought in nine new players, and the team 
record improved from 21 wins to 42 and a playoff berth. 
        
At Portland, the Blazers were entering their seventh season without ever 
reaching .500. We acquired seven new players, went from 37 wins the previous 
year to 49 and, with a team built around Walton and Maurice Lucas and an 
excellent group of team-first players, won the NBA championship. We added 
four new players to the team at Indiana and went from 26 to 41 wins and a 
spot in the playoffs.I was the same coach at each location. I simply had 
better players to work with when those teams improved like they did. Talent 
is the coach's lifeblood. Sometimes a team needs a transfusion of new blood 
so that it can live a productive life. It's incumbent upon the coach to have 
as strong an influence as possible in the acquisition of talent. If he can't 
have that kind of authority, it's better not to take a job where the future 
is bleak or uncertain.

Not that good talent is all that is needed. Good talent has to be 
well-coached, too. And there is such a thing as having too much talent -- 
wherein every player thinks the game should be played through him and the 
result is chaos. But that's all part of the job of coaching. It's better to 
have quality talent that can be molded into a contending team than mediocre 
talent that can't be developed into winners.

In summary, it takes all five of those characteristics to be a successful 
coach in the NBA. Even having four out of the five won't get you there. 

Dr. Jack Ramsay, a Hall of Fame coach who won an NBA title with Portland in 
1977, is an NBA analyst for ESPN.