Paul Cortes

@Mike_Jagacki Great post!

Most scouting reports don’t fail because of what’s missing. They fail because there’s too much. I used to overprepare. Now we filter hard and scout only for impact. Here’s my process of condensing 300+ clips into a 7-point edge: 🔗 open.substack.com/pub/lockdownde…

@ArtErrickson He’s an incoming freshman 😂 That’s my assistant Dario. The guy with the headband is our other assistant

@pcortes64 Hey Coach. There’s a player on your team whose birth certificate you might want to check. White shirt, brown hair, and a lot more facial hair than you’d expect for a teen.

Today’s shooting workout. Repetition without repetition, building coordination and opening up the degrees of freedom in their own unique shots

Every player should be studying Dyson Daniels this off-season

@brianmccormick That book was the first that got the gears turning for me, of questioning traditional methods and not doing them “just because”. Led me down the path I’m on today, 15+ years later!

This was the genesis of Cross Over: The New Model of Youth Basketball Development Forums (pre-social media) were filled with complaints about fundamentals, AAU, skill development, etc. but no answers/alternatives. Cross Over was a solution. amazon.com/Cross-Over-Mod…

PART 1 A thread 🧵 of some conceptual offense triggers I used while coaching Jalen Green Elite 16U this spring/summer. With limited practice time, I valued having our guys learning and playing through concepts vs. just running sets. Here are some examples of triggers we used 🧵 ⬇️

@JBArnoldesq @JohnCarrier42 That’s a big misconception that players need to be at a certain baseline level. I’ve done this with 2nd/3rd graders starting out. This approach works just as well for beginners as it does for intermediate/advanced. In fact it works even better because they can contextualize it

@pcortes64 @JohnCarrier42 If you have players capable of that. Yes that would work!

Would love to hear coaches thoughts on this....

@scribeteach What we used to do: - 5 Spot Shooting (5 makes each spot) - Drift Shooting (5 makes each corner) - Lift Shooting (5 makes each wing) What we now do: - Spot Up, then drift/lift to right. Randomly choose another spot, spot up, then drift/lift to left. Go for 1-2min then switch

A massive "agree" with this

@CoachLeslieMN @JohnCarrier42 From a CLA coach who got rid of on air (except dl shooting) I don’t despise drills at all. It was painful for me to get rid of some of my favorites lol. But I saw a lot of success with doing so. They are not as necessary as many think, although yes they can still be effective

@JohnCarrier42 There’s a time and place for on air. It’s a base level progression in my mind. Also matters where your team is at. I like to start on air, then progress from there. While some despise drills, I have seen great progress from drills in my teams. Time and place for everything.

@chris_abaray @JohnCarrier42 Volume shooting can still be done, but it is more effective to vary the reps (different distances, spots, etc) rather than shooting the same predetermined shot over and over for an allotted time

@RaidersGBB @JohnCarrier42 Our high-rep shooting is still implemented with differential shooting. 1 minute alternating short, medium, long, 1 minute shooting from different stances, 1 minute varying the release etc. We try to do repetition without repetition but still getting in a lot of reps

@RaidersGBB @JohnCarrier42 Actually skill acquisition research shows that playing does actually develop skills. The key is are you as a coach constraining the individual, task, and environment in your small sided games to develop specific skills

@DougBrewington @JohnCarrier42 We struggled to rebound in summer league and I’m pinpointing it as a weakness to attack. In what ways do you emphasize rebounding in everything you do?

@JohnCarrier42 Haven't done a "reb drill" in 6-7 years. Just empathize it in everything we do. That's our fluff, I guess. But if we struggled at it, we'd do it. Every team is at a different level, or point in their progression. We do stuff vs air every single practice, yet we're successful.

@JBArnoldesq @JohnCarrier42 If you run a conceptual offense, you can work on your triggers in 2v2 and 3v3 settings. - Since triggers are used to create advantages, I would also work on halfcourt 2v1, 3v2, and 4v3 advantage situations - for 4v3 advantage with 7 players, 1 team on offense for 1 minute burst

@JohnCarrier42 If you only have 6 or 7 players, how else you can install your offense and defense without running it on air?

@CoachNannen @JohnCarrier42 @JaredMartyMN Same here!

@JohnCarrier42 @JaredMartyMN Need a copy of those notes! 📝

Thank you to everyone that turned out for our Round Table today! Great content by Doug Novak and @JaredMartyMN! So much good stuff - wrote pages of notes and some great things to drill down on this summer. Can't wait for the next one.

@coachplan_ai Let me know how it goes!

@pcortes64 Bookmarking this one — perfect for tomorrow’s session

One of my favorites is the Superman Drill. 3 teams, 1 player from each team battling each other, shots can only come from the lower half of the paint, play to a score. Kids love it and develops ability to pursue rebounds and finish inside

Congrats Conor Maguire (International, S.F.). State D5 Player of Year. NCS strikes again in this division after top honors for last yr & 2022. Conor had 32 pts in state final, 63 for season high. @RonMFlores @ConorMaguire739 @KasselMedia calhisports.com/2025/04/11/boy…

@JohnCarrier42 Athletic and less athletic are subjective, like I’m hesitant to call our team less athletic but we didn’t have a bunch of dudes dunking, and we often pressed and turned over teams you might consider more athletic, including during our state run. Happy to share ideas

Coaches - any coaches out there (or coaches you know in your area) that press, pressure, trap with less athletic teams? Just curious if there is anyone. DM me if you do it, or know someone who does.

@CalHiSports @coachrandal33 @RonMFlores Thank for this, extremely proud of how far our program has come together. All thanks to an incredible group of boys who have bought in and love each ither

Congrats Paul Cortes (International, S.F.) State D5 Boys BB Coach of Year. Only 3 yrs after SF Stuart Hall's Charles Johnson gained same honor. D5 state champs. Key member of Bay City Warriors youth program. @coachrandal33 @RonMFlores @pcortes64 calhisports.com/2025/03/28/boy…

Thank you! Incredibly grateful 🙏