Chapter One

Fun sometimes, but too many unforced errors tonight. Before I go further, here's the scenario:

If we win our 9:45 a.m. game, we finish at least second in our pool. Then we can go into the championship semifinals and compete for the tourney title.

If we lose our 9:45 a.m. game, we'll finish (probably) third in our pool and move down to the consolation championship bracket. We'll still have two more games after that, which is great. We need more games, more practices. More everything.

Back to tonight's game. Much to learn from tonight's loss to the Aiea Blazers. Much, much, much. I saw the first half on video after the game and I'm loading all of it to my computer now. It won't be up for some time; YouTube needs 2 1/2 hours to load 15 minutes of footage, and we have 44 minutes of it. I might burn a DVD (slightly faster) and bring it tomorrow morning before our next game. Often, it's more effective to show rather than tell.

On the whole, we did some things well and a lot of little things not well. That's how a first game or scrimmage goes, especially with a limited number of practices and a team almost entirely filled with new players.

The good?

• Everybody looked to push the transition offense. I expect us to do a better job of going from Point A to Point B (no jogging, standing, etc.) eventually, but generally, we ran fairly well for a first game.

• Everybody was basically unselfish, which will lead to good passing later. For now, we're still unfamiliar with each other, so we cause a lot of our own turnovers by overpassing.

• Aggressiveness is a two-sided coin. It works well for us when we trap properly out of the halfcourt or fullcourt defenses. I like that about us. The opposite would be to have a team of passive players. Then it would be almost impossible to press.

• When we squared up on the perimeter and post, we got good results.

The not-so-good?

• Too much standing after baskets by the other team, after misses by the other team. When we should've been sprinting to our spots (within 7 seconds), we sometimes were jogging. Or waiting. Not good.

• Our 5 rarely took the ball out on the other team's made baskets. He is supposed to step out quickly and get it in instantly. It would've been easy; the Blazers didn't press us fullcourt at all. What our 1 needs to do is let the ball go and force the 5 to make the inbounds pass. I'll be watching for this closely. A 5 who can't do the job will find himself next to me on the bench.

• Our 2 and 3 often got downcourt quickly, but did not spot up on the wings (3-point arc). Instead, they sometimes spotted up inside the 3-point line, about 15-18 feet away. This is pointless and creates bad spacing between himself (wing) and the post. So sprint down and spot up if you're a 2 or 3 on the wing and nowhere else. Then, if you have the lane open, drive strong.

• Our zone offense needs work, and it's not just us. All teams are slowest to develop zone offense. It takes real unity and a single mind as a team to flow against a zone. We have the tools — good 3-point shooters, decent passers, a couple of tough posts — but we rushed far too much. It'll take time and patience to become a good zone offense team.

• About patience ... Zone offense means moving the ball by the pass. Square up, fake, swing the ball. We hardly had any ball reversals from one wing to the other or one corner to the other. We need more of this against zones rather than trying to dribble through two defenders. That was a bad move by a lot of us tonight, and the turnover count was horrendous just because we forced with the dribble against zone rather than pass.

• More on zone offense. Watching the tape, I realize now that our first team didn't have a high post for several possessions. Guys, it's not about being locked into the high post if you're asked to be the 5 for a few minutes. it's about FLOOR BALANCE, and the Blazers gave us the high post as a wide-open option many, many times. Once, Keanu actually sealed off the defender right in front of the basket, but we dribbled into a traveling call instead of passing. We'll work on this and get better.

Now, I have my mistakes that need correcting.

• No matter how long I've coached, it seems my teams never do well with zone offense early in the season. So that's going to change. We'll invest far more time on it at practice. A no-brainer.

• I wish we could've had some outside competition sooner, but my work schedule put a lid on that somewhat. Now I know we can be very aggressive, which is great defensively. I plan to use more fullcourt pressure instead of focusing mostly on our halfcourt press.

• Our man-to-man was good at times, but our weakside help faltered and allowed the Blazers to make a couple of huge 3-pointers, if I remember right. That's a result of coaching, and I need to work deeper into our man defense. We've done almost nothing with man defense so far, and that is my fault.

• Cody should've been in the game early. They gave us the corner 3-pointer, and that's Cody's shot. So from now on, Cody and anybody else who notices that the other team is zoning us, remind me that Cody will bust that zone if he gets a chance. Why didn't I play him? Because I was overly focused on defense and trapping. I should've been more balanced in my thinking and giving our 3-point shooters more opportunities. Another two or three treys would've turned the game around.

There are things that are beyond my control that hopefully will change. If all of us are at every practice, it changes what we can do on offense and defense. Until then, I can't rely on the guys who are lost on the floor because they don't know what's going on — because they missed too many practices. We've got time as the NJB All-Net League begins (next week) to get better and better. Until then, be patient about your playing time and please, please go to the park or gym and work on your ballhanding and shooting.

Play in as many pickup games with adults, with older players, as you can. That will change your mentality and force you to make better decisions. Take the 300 shots daily, including at least 100 makes at the foul line and 100 makes from the 3-point arc. You owe it to yourself to get better every day, and you owe it to your teammates to pump up your skill level on those days when we don't practice.

I see us as a fast, flowing machine on offense. I see us as a iron-vice, lockdown defense, forcing lots of turnovers without silly reaching fouls. I see us dictating the tempo and pace. Am I asking for too much? I don't think so. I see a dozen players at 15U who have the capability of becoming very good players and a very good team. But I can't control your work ethic or your heart. How far you go and we go is mainly up to you.

I'm looking for gradual improvement, game by game, week by week. It'll take time to become a good team, and when that happens, wins will come. Until then, press on, press hard. Play fast, play smart. Easier said than done, but it will be done.

See you guys at Aiea Rec Gym, 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Coach Paul