A Pen And A Napkin

Welcome to Episode #300 of "A Pen And A Napkin"! Last week, we discussed individual player improvement during "Improvement Season", but it is also important that we take this time to improve the team as well. Here's some thoughts on what you can do to improve your team from top to bottom throughout May, June and July!

Joe Hesse, the 3x state champion head coach at Humphery/ Lindsay-Holy Family (NE) comes on the podcast this week to chat about a variety of topics! We talk about his influences, the strength of basketball in his community, some of his favorite drills, his belief in zone defense and much more! Terrific conversation with one of Nebraska's greats!

Our latest review of HBO's "Winning Time" finally delves into the greatest rivalry of the 1980s; Celtics vs. Lakers, and Bird vs. Magic. In this episode, "The Invisible Man", we continue to break down the series, including the evolution of Paul Westhead as a coach, along with the evolution of the Lakers team. Enjoy the return of Casey Hall as we delve into one of our favorite episodes!

As we all start to dive in to the off-season, it's important that we have a system in place to tangible measure our players accomplishments and improvement in order to get the buy in we need. In this podcast, we discuss some of the strategies that we have used in order to get our players to put in the work necessary to have as good of season as possible NEXT season!

British Basketball League (BBL) pioneer and legend Vincent Macaulay comes on our podcast this week! In this great conversation, we chat about building and growing the game in a country where basketball is not a traditional sport, changes to American basketball, using the 3 point shot, influences in Coach Macaulay's career and much more. It's a great opportunity to learn about the game from a completely different perspective, so enjoy our conversation!

Our latest reviews are in . . . and they're not good for "Winning Time" Episode VI "Memento Moir". With Casey Hall out of town, Marc Kruger steps in as a guest commentator to help me break down this episode, including a question that probably needs to be asked; was Earvin "Magic" Johnson a good person?

Fundraising is one of the most important things that our programs can do to help build up your program; however, sometimes you're not sure as to what to spend those funds on or how to properly ask people for funds. In this pod, we explore topics where you can reinvest fundraising dollars, where to do it at and how to raise even more money for your program!

Welcome back to "Winning Time"!!! In this episode, which Casey and I subtitled "The Kareem Episode", we dive into, what some would now say is the under-rated career of the NBA"s all-time leading scorer, along with the other things we liked from this episode. Before our actual review, however, Casey and I took a few minutes to discuss mental health and how that has affected us in the last couple of weeks. It was important for us to talk about this subject; if you or someone you know needs help, don't hesitate to reach out to those that can help.

Rechelle Turner, the Head Women's Basketball Coach at Murray State University, comes on the podcast this week. Coach Turner chats about a variety of topics, including her jump from the high school ranks to being a Division I head coach, defending your players, inequity's that still exist in women's athletics, transition defense, running a quality summer camp and much more! Great conversation with an up and coming coach at the collegiate level!

Coaches are always emphasizing the details of the game, but how can you communicate and emphasize these intangibles that are necessary for success in a tangible way? One of the ways that you can do that is through a "Hustle Board", a way to measure your teams effectiveness and toughness, both as a team and on an individual basis. Here's some ideas on how to build this concept!