In the Lane with Licht:Coaching 101
November 17, 2006
Byron Scott has experienced an interesting wave of emotions through the first two weeks of the NBA season – for mathematicians reading this I’m talking sine curves.
A franchise-record 4-0 start brought smiles, laughs, calmness, happiness, and a general feeling of ecstasy.
The ensuing 0-3 west coast road trip brought dismay, headaches, disgust, and a general feeling of frustration.
So, Byron Scott did what any former student of the Pat Riley coaching school would do; he re-started training camp at Southern Nazarene University the day after the Hornets returned from the west coast.
He ran them. Then, he ran them some more. After which he held a three hour practice. This philosophy intends to remind players that forgetting effort in games is punishable by long, arduous practices.
Scott, in his third year as the Hornets head coach, didn’t like what he saw from his players out west.
“We didn’t have the kind of intensity and effort that I’m looking for and I saw in training camp and in the first four games of the season.”
Let’s just say Byron’s email went out, the players’ Blackberrys vibrated, and the message was received loud and clear. The two games that followed the intense practice were confirmation that the Head Hornet knows his players, understands how to motivate them, and can sleep well at night knowing he still has their respect. Wins over Charlotte at home and Detroit on the road snuffed out the first losing streak of the season and validated the team’s preseason claims that it is a different squad than last year’s.
They not only responded to their head coach, but they did so under considerable duress. Second-leading scorer and rebounder David West missed both games due to injury, and starting center Tyson Chandler missed the Pistons game after suffering a concussion in the win over the Bobcats. But Stojakovic filled in the blanks in Tuesday’s game with a career high 42 points, more than replacing West’s 17.4 ppg, and rookie Hilton Armstrong and second year man Brandon Bass gave Detroit a one-two punch that pleasantly surprised even the most ardent Hornets fan.
But I digress.
You already know the results of coach Scott’s work. What you may not know, and maybe you should pass this column along to your favorite Hornets player to let him in on this next point, is that Byron Scott’s now legendary “Monday The 13th” practice that one player said “…should be illegal…” was not his best shot. Asked to compare his post-west coast practice to the worst he ever endured as a player for Pat Riley in L.A., Scott just laughed.
“…If you go from 1 to 10 it was probably a 6 or 7 on a Pat Riley Scale back in the 80s. It was something we expected. Like I say to my players, do you want to run in practice with me on my time or do you want to do your running in the games. Running in the games is a lot more fun…”
I’ve heard of the Richter Scale for measuring Mother Nature’s earthquakes. I was unaware of the Riley Scale for measuring coaching quakes.
My guess is Byron Scott will see a more consistent effort in games from his team the rest of the season since it’s highly unlikely any of his players want to find out what a “10” is on that practice scale.
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Bob LichtA franchise-record 4-0 start brought smiles, laughs, calmness, happiness, and a general feeling of ecstasy.
The ensuing 0-3 west coast road trip brought dismay, headaches, disgust, and a general feeling of frustration.
So, Byron Scott did what any former student of the Pat Riley coaching school would do; he re-started training camp at Southern Nazarene University the day after the Hornets returned from the west coast.
He ran them. Then, he ran them some more. After which he held a three hour practice. This philosophy intends to remind players that forgetting effort in games is punishable by long, arduous practices.
Scott, in his third year as the Hornets head coach, didn’t like what he saw from his players out west.
“We didn’t have the kind of intensity and effort that I’m looking for and I saw in training camp and in the first four games of the season.”
Let’s just say Byron’s email went out, the players’ Blackberrys vibrated, and the message was received loud and clear. The two games that followed the intense practice were confirmation that the Head Hornet knows his players, understands how to motivate them, and can sleep well at night knowing he still has their respect. Wins over Charlotte at home and Detroit on the road snuffed out the first losing streak of the season and validated the team’s preseason claims that it is a different squad than last year’s.
They not only responded to their head coach, but they did so under considerable duress. Second-leading scorer and rebounder David West missed both games due to injury, and starting center Tyson Chandler missed the Pistons game after suffering a concussion in the win over the Bobcats. But Stojakovic filled in the blanks in Tuesday’s game with a career high 42 points, more than replacing West’s 17.4 ppg, and rookie Hilton Armstrong and second year man Brandon Bass gave Detroit a one-two punch that pleasantly surprised even the most ardent Hornets fan.
But I digress.
You already know the results of coach Scott’s work. What you may not know, and maybe you should pass this column along to your favorite Hornets player to let him in on this next point, is that Byron Scott’s now legendary “Monday The 13th” practice that one player said “…should be illegal…” was not his best shot. Asked to compare his post-west coast practice to the worst he ever endured as a player for Pat Riley in L.A., Scott just laughed.
“…If you go from 1 to 10 it was probably a 6 or 7 on a Pat Riley Scale back in the 80s. It was something we expected. Like I say to my players, do you want to run in practice with me on my time or do you want to do your running in the games. Running in the games is a lot more fun…”
I’ve heard of the Richter Scale for measuring Mother Nature’s earthquakes. I was unaware of the Riley Scale for measuring coaching quakes.
My guess is Byron Scott will see a more consistent effort in games from his team the rest of the season since it’s highly unlikely any of his players want to find out what a “10” is on that practice scale.
