The following are observations from games, podcasts, and interviews from last week. 
Offensive Rebounds- Watching NBA and college games, it is obvious there has been a shift by many coaches to emphasizing offensive rebounds. It used to be when you watched games, as soon as a shot was taken, the offense would usually have 3-4 players headed back to half court.
This year the Houston Rockets are getting offensive rebounds on 38% of their missed shots. And if you watched the Fever- Lexie Hull made a living as an offensive rebounder.
From my observation of college teams, on three attempts many are using the method of having the 4 and 5 crash the board, two guards just get to lane area around the elbows, and the shooter rotating back.
It is easy to say- well that is the pros and high level college. Remember, everything in basketball trickles down. What is in vogue in the NBA, WNBA, and college is going to likely be in vogue in high school within 2-3 years.
Wall Up- If you want to evaluate how different programs on the college level teach fundamentals, a great area to look at is how well their players “wall up” on a driving player. Some teams are so disciplined on this.
Has to be a Penalty- When a shooter flops indicating they were fouled or when a defender flops indicating the offense charged them- there MUST be a penalty for the offending player. In high school maybe it is to call delay of game on the shooter. On the fake of charge, it has to be a blocking foul on them. If there is going to be no call, then why not fake more?
Shot Selection isn’t Just About Distance- When you talk to high school players about shot selection, they tend to think it is just about distance shot. In other words- how far out can I shoot?
One of the worst shots a player can take is a bad layup. Statistically, the easiest play to fastbreak off is a missed layup. It is amazing watching college and high school games how many players take bad shots in the lane and at the basket. Just because you are close doesn’t make it a good shot.
Refs- What Are You Teaching? For decades, some coaches have found it productive to bring in refs to officiate scrimmages in practice in the preseason. The purpose was to help players understand that they were fouling or they were traveling.
This past week, I got to watch 4 high school games. In two of the games, the refs did a great job “educating” the players about what a foul was or was not. In the other two games, the refs by “letting them play” failed the players horribly. You could see in those two games that as the game went on, the players became less and less disciplined defensively, moved their feet less, and reached more. In effect, by choosing to not call the game, the refs taught the kids how to play bad basketball. Very disappointing!!
Steph Curry- This past week Steph had 40 points in back to back games. He now has 44 games of over 40 points after the age of 30! In one of the games, he had 9 three’s. That is his 47th game with more than 9 threes. The person with next highest total of 9 or more threes is Damien Lillard with 14.
NBA Adjustment? By this week, 13 of last year’s 24 NBA All-Stars have had to sit out with injuries. Steve Kerr proposed the NBA begin conversations to shorten their season.
No Outlet- Teams that play switching man to man defense always talk about what players will switch. Can you switch 1 thru 4? Can you switch 1 thru 5?
Another thought in this vein, who on your team gets the ball and goes with a rebound. It is obvious that more and more college teams have at least 1 thru 4 take off with the ball when they rebound.
Change in Three Point Strategy? Right now Houston is statistically the #1 offense in the NBA. Houston ranks #30 in three point attempts.
Arizona maybe ranked #1 in Men’s College Basketball this week. They defeated UConn at UConn and made only 2 three point shots.
Worst Call- The worst call of the week was a play had the ball in the backcourt, she pivoted and put one foot into the front court, and then pivoted with that foot back into the backcourt. So she touched the front court with one foot and then stepped back.
The opposing fans near the ball screamed in total ignorance of the rules, “Over and Back.” The ref obliged.
While it was the best reffed game that I have seen this year, neither of the other two officials jumped into over rule the call.
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