Assemble a Championship-Caliber Basketball Rotation

• By Brandon Ogle

No coach, at least in recent memory, has exemplified the set-up of rotations better than the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich. The legendary coach once said, “It’s not about any one person. You’ve got to get over yourself and realize that it takes a group to get this thing done.” Having a star player definitely helps a lot in the campaign towards winning basketball games, but it doesn’t ensure victories. With this said, every player on the roster can provide positive dividends, whether that be at practice pushing the starters or contributing in the games!

Starting Five

Simply put, the starting five are the players that get the lion’s share of the attention. These five players need to constantly be on the same page. Likewise, it is urgent to possess the ability to be quick starters. When you can get ahead early, the rest of the players become more comfortable and you play better. However, I urge all players to not hold the starting five recognition to the utmost importance. Yes, it’s easy to see why all players want to be starters, but the starting five is not always the five most talented players on the roster. Normally, it is just the five players that complement each other the best. So, the best advice I can give is to not get discouraged if you don’t start. Rather, keep your mental fortitude up and play at maximum effort.

Sixth Man

The title “Sixth Man” is typically given to the player that is first off the bench. He or she’s game can fall under a number of different categories, but the key is that the sixth man understands his or her role on the team. As I just mentioned, not all players serving as the sixth man have the same styles of play. Many teams opt to go with dynamite scorers as the sixth man. These players can come in right away and aren’t afraid to take action and put some shots up. Meanwhile, other teams use a three-point marksmen. Here, you’re looking for a player that is deadly from deep and not hesitant to come in with the purpose of cleaning up an early deficit. Conversely, there are coaches that look for a defensive stopper or rebounding specialist. All of these different types of players are above-average in at least one skillset. If you’re working to be a sixth man, take this philosophy to heart. I recommend checking out this video from CoachTube ttp://coachtube.com/course/basketball/dribble-pass-shooting-practice">CoachTube by high school coach, Bob Schurtz, as he breaks down the critical aspects of ball-handling, passing and shooting. Each of these are attributes capable of being perfected by sixth man players. While all of these are different skillsets, the core idea is personality. The sixth man needs a mindset where he understands his job and doesn’t need a couple minutes on the court to start making plays.

Second Unit

Just as every team has a starting five, they also have a second unit. This back-up group of players likely won’t be as talented as the starting five. However, they will have experience practicing as a unit, thus preparing them to play together. While the starting five will usually have specified roles, this will be exactly the case with the second unit. Any players on the second unit need to understand they have limited time to make an impact on the coach. If you’re not getting the job done, then an early hook is a definite possibility.

Stamina

When coaches are evaluating their rotations, they always take into mind the stamina of their team. This concept sort of goes hand-in-hand with the next section, but the key is to not ignore conditioning. Like any sport, you need to be in great shape to play basketball. Even though the coach is largely in charge of ensuring proper conditioning during the season, I urge you to not ignore offseason work. The offseason is where you start seeing the differences between players. Whether it be putting in work in the weight room, getting up shots in the gym or doing cardio, you need to prepare yourself for the season. This will help ensure stamina is an after-thought come regular season time.

8, 9 or 10 Players?

Depending on the roster size, you can see anywhere from 7-10 man rotations. Since 7 is not very wise, I’ll take a deeper look at 8, 9 and 10 player lineups. First off, a 10 player rotation is essentially a coach’s dream. It allows them to give everyone adequate rest and basically, implement a platoon system like the University of Kentucky did during the 2014-15 season. Stamina shouldn’t be a question here, thanks to the large number of quality players. Meanwhile, 9 still ensures stamina shouldn’t be a question. However, it also means there is probably going to be a player or two in the starting lineup that is capable of playing more minutes than the rest. Finally, an 8 player rotation is utilized when you’re a little thin on the bench. This doesn’t mean the team isn’t talented. Instead, it just proves that either the starting five is significantly better and can play longer stretches or there are one or two elite players on the roster.

Garbage Time

No matter what level you’re at, there are going to be games where either your team is up by a lot or you’re getting run out of the gym. In these cases, coaches need players capable of playing the late minutes. If you’re still at the youth level, chances are starters could still be in there late in blowouts. With this said, these situations provide the opportunity to showcase our skills to the coach and develop chemistry with your teammates to ensure you’re successful next time out. In the end, it is important to take advantage of every minute you get on the hardwood and never consider a moment meaningless!

Back-to-Backs

When I hear the term “back-to-backs,” I always think of the San Antonio Spurs and Gregg Popovich. While coaching aging veterans like Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan, Coach Pop elected to rest these guys as often as possible to ensure they were ready for the postseason. Though this situation largely is in effect for older leagues, it is important to understand how to handle back-to-backs, which are when you have games on consecutive games. While some of this depends on maturity level, you need to develop an understanding of how you can pace yourself in these scenarios. Even if you might be in great shape, it is vital to have complete knowledge of your body and how to prepare yourself to handle these strenuous situations.

Examples of Solid Rotations

It isn’t difficult to find quality rotations. However, it is also important to remember that complete rotations don’t form overnight, as coaches are consistently tinkering with them. For an example, I’ll give the 2013-14 NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs:

-       PG: Tony Parker, Patty Mills – At the point guard spot, the Spurs had a quality veteran in Parker, who had loads of playoff experience. As a backup, Mills possessed the ability to come in and have an instant impact, even if that was only 10-15 minutes a game.

-       SG: Danny Green, Manu Ginobili, Cory Joseph – Shooting guard was similar to the point guard position, but switched. The veteran, Ginobili, came off the bench, but provided a calming influence on the second unit and even mixed in with the starting five later on in the games. Meanwhile, Danny Green was a deadly outside shooter that was a perfect fit in the starting unit.

-       SF: Kawhi Leonard, Marco Belinelli – At small forward, we see a rising star in Leonard and an immediate scoring threat in Belinelli. Leonard also served as the defensive stopper in the starting five. This is important as he was able to face up with the opponent’s top scorer and attempt to shut them down.

-       PF: Boris Diaw, Jeff Ayres, Matt Bonner – The starting power forward, Boris Diaw, is a unique player in his ability to space the floor. His versatility opens up the paint for penetration. For backups, Popovich had two options with a rebounding force in Ayres and scoring option in Bonner.

-       C: Tim Duncan, Tiago Splitter – Depth is once again witnessed at the center position. Although an aging superstar, Duncan was still able to be effective in his minutes. However, the presence of Splitter allowed Duncan to rest in garbage time and occasional back-to-backs.

Depth!

Every coach loves to have depth on their team. While I’ve mentioned the various aspects of a quality rotation, if you don’t have capable back-ups, it’s going to be hard to put together a great rotation. As witnessed with the Spurs’ championship team, you need quality back-ups that can give the starters a rest. However, these are not guys just in there to give players a breather, but rather players understanding the opportunity at hand of being on the court!