By Coach Walter Carvalho (originally appeared on coachwaltercarvalho.wordpress.com)
If you want to defeat teams with superior talent you need to execute strategies and a game plan that are audacious and aggressive.
Strategy is useless without audacity of execution and for that you need to think outside the box.
My constant inspiration to think outside the box came from the need to win games and keep my job.
Coaching abroad is a rewarding experience until you lose an unexpected game. Then there is only chaos and most often these bad results end up with the firing of the coach.
In this process, I was forced to quickly realize that I could not defeat our opponents by playing and using the same strategies they did. My game had to be different. We could not play them the same way they practiced using the same zone or man-to-man defense and or run predictable offensive systems and or standard defensive rotations.
I had to take them out of their comfort zone and force them to adjust their strategies during the game. My defensive and offensive game plans could not be predictable.
I had to design a game plan that would minimize their shooting production and percentage per possession as well as reduce their total possession time for the game.
Based on these objectives, I developed a set of defensive and offensive strategies that became an integral part of my game plan and philosophy.
As a result of this audacity, my players observed in my body language and tone of voice that I really believed we could beat any team as long as we played together and executed our game plan with each player fulfilling and understanding their role.
As a result of our teams achievements and performances I was able to lead teams with inferior talent to national championship titles and I was invited to Coach the national team of 3 different countries including the Brazilian men’s Olympic team.
In summary, during my career, I developed a philodophy for the game that was developed by thinking outside the box understanding that I could not play teams with superior talent the same way other teams played them and the same way they practiced.
In part 2, I will describe what I do defensively and offensively in order to minimize the opponent’s shot production and shooting percentage while minimizing their possession time per game.
Walter Carvalho is a basketball consultant and the founder of WA Sports Consulting based in Birmingham, Alabama.
