This article was written by Steve Smiley when he was an assistant coach to Don Meyer at Northern State University. Steve is currently the head coach at Sheridan College.

1. Don’t play hard: You can have the most talented team in the world, you can have the most intelligent team in the world, but if your team doesn’t play hard, there is no chance that they will be successful over the course of time. You must, before all else, establish and demand that your players play hard. It must be your identity.

2. Don’t play smart: After establishing that your team plays hard, you must then teach your players how to play smart. They must have a high “basketball I.Q.” Your players must learn and buy into the system that you teach and they must learn technique. At Northern, we say, “You can have all the intensity of a mad dog in a meat house, but without technique, you’ll end up with a bullet between the eyes.” Your players must learn to be students of the game. We stress the importance of player notebooks and taking notes.

3. Don’t play together: Finally, after teaching your players to play hard and smart, your players must then learn how to play together. Your team will have a very difficult time if there isn’t unity among the troops.

Key Phrase = “Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together.”

4. Don’t have a delay game: If your team is fortunate enough to get a lead late in the game, you must have some type of delay game. While that doesn’t mean that you become passive and are afraid to shoot, that does mean that you may have restrictions such as; the only shot is a wide- open lay-up, minimum number of passes before shooting is 5, etc. Teams that don’t have a delay game have the tendency to lose big games.

5. Have no delay game defense: There will be times when you are losing and the opponent is running a delay game to milk the clock. If and when that is the case, you must have a secondary defense that will force the offense to speed up and hopefully take bad shots, so your team can preserve the clock. That might mean you have a press defense, or a trapping zone defense, but whatever the case, you must find ways to speed up the game and give yourself more possessions and opportunities to score.

6. No comeback game: Your team won’t always have a ten-point lead late in the game. There will undoubtedly be times when your team is going to be losing and your players have to know how to speed up the game to get more possessions and thus, more opportunities to come back. First of all, do you have “quick-hitters” in place; set plays that will result in a good look at the basket in a minimal amount of time? Also, do you have substitution patterns in place to best maximize your talent when you are losing? For example, subbing in the appropriate players on a defensive possession that will give you the best chance to stop the other team, and during dead balls, subbing in shooters on offensive possessions if you need to get 3-pointers to get back in the game. In addition, when your team is shooting a free throw, do you have players ready to check in if the player makes the second free throw, which will stop the clock and set up your defense (a timeout without using a timeout)? Being prepared for situations where your team is losing late in the game and having a plan of action ready is vital to a successful program.

7. Don’t simplify the game: There is a lot of power and truth in the saying, “Simplicity is Complicated.” You must keep the game simple for your players. If they have to think too much, they won’t be able to react. A good quote is “the more they think, the slower their feet get.” A great coach teaches his or her players a few simple principles from which the program is known by, and then, that coach lets the players play the game.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, 

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill, 

When the funds are low, and the debts are high, 

and you want to smile, but you have to sigh. 

When care is pressing you down a bit, 

Rest if you must, but don't you quit. 

Life is queer with its twist and turns 

As every one of us sometimes learns, 

And many a failure turns about, 

When he might have won had he stuck it out;

Don't give up though the pace seems slow, 

You may succeed with another blow. 

Success is failure turned inside out, 

the silver tint of the clouds of doubt, 

and you never can tell how close you are, 

It may be near when it seems so far; 

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit, 

It's when things seem worst, 

that you must not quit.  

-unknown

• Responding to how you feel vs. what they need
  
• Bad shot, bad pass, bad defensive positioning: Keep negative reactions to a minimum because they are watching you 
  
• Reaction substitutions: it is okay to be mad at a player. Just don't make a emotional substitution that can cost you the game
  

• Saying one thing then doing another, or saying different things can damage a program
  
• Develop a culture and standards, and live by them
  
• Live up to clearly defined standards or don't define them
  
• It's not bad to make mistakes just explain them
  

• Uncomfortable conversations are better than none
  
• Let others know what you want
  
• It's okay not to not always have all the answers.  Don't be afraid to say "I don't know" while you figure them out.
  
• Must find a balance so everyone is on the page
  

• Don't assume your staff knows what you want or need
  
• Some things may be bit "elementary" and players should know certain things at a certain level. Don't assume your players know things you have not taught (think back to the bad coaches/managers you've had)
• Don't assume, perform
  

• More times than not the smart, tough and SIMPLE get overlooked.  When you expect you forget to appreciate.
  
• When things are going bad the focus is usually on the bad.  Take a second everyday and look at the positives in your life and program.

• If it's not okay for a manager it shouldn't be okay for the star
  
• Does your 'best player' get the same consequences as the last guy on the bench
  
• Talent shouldn't affect the the culture
  

1. Teams rise and fall on culture, leadership, relationships, attitude and effort.

Great teams have a great culture driven by great leadership. Relationships are meaningful and teammates are connected. The collective attitude is very positive and everyone on the team works hard to accomplish their mission.

2. It’s all about teamwork. Sometimes you are the star and sometimes you help the star.

3. If want to be truly great you have to work as hard to be a great teammate as you do to be a great player.

I tell this to athletes all the time but the same is true for any profession. When we work hard to be a great team member we make everyone around us better.

4. Your team doesn’t care if you are a superstar. They care if you are a super team member.

5. Three things you control every day are your attitude, your effort and your actions to be a great teammate.

It doesn’t matter what is happening around you and who you think is being unfair. Every day you can focus on being positive, working hard and making others around you better. If you do that great things will happen.

6. One person can’t make a team but one person can break a team. Stay positive!

Make sure you don’t let energy vampires sabotage your team. Post a sign that says “No Energy Vampires” allowed and keep them off the bus. Most importantly, decide to stay positive.

7. Great team members hold each other accountable to the high standards and excellence their culture expects and demands.

8. Team beats talent when talent isn’t a team.

9. Great teams care more. They care more about their effort, their work and their team members.

10. We > me

Unity is the difference between a great team and an average team. United teams are connected and committed to each other. They are selfless instead of selfish. They put the team first and know together we accomplish more.

11. You and your team face a fork in the road each day. You can settle for average and choose the path of mediocrity or you can take the road less traveled and chase greatness.

It’s a choice you make each day. Which path will your team take?