Before The Ball Hits The Floor
This season, Valencia has been the talk of the town in European basketball.
With a relatively modest budget, they reached the Final Four, eliminated Panathinaikos in the playoffs and saw Pedro Martínez named EuroLeague Coach of the Year. This weekend they also secured their place in the ACB semifinals.
Naturally, coaches across Europe are pulling up their film. Looking for the secret. The complex actions. The clever counters. The elaborate playbook that explains everything.
Most of them won’t find it.
Because Valencia’s edge isn’t hidden in complexity. It lives in simplicity, repeated with obsessive precision.
Everybody knows Valencia wants to play fast. Not only after a steal or a defensive rebound.
They are particularly good at it after conceding a basket.
Volver la canasta. Give it back.
Whoever is closest to the basket grabs the ball out of the net. Before it touches the floor. And jumps behind the baseline with one foot, to inbound the ball. To the pointguard who receives it with already momentum down the floor. In order to race the ball to the pick-and-roll area on the other side.
Often with still 22 seconds on the shotclock and before the defense is ready to cover this first action.
Last week I had the opportunity to watch their playoff game against Bilbao from a seat at the baseline level.
And this very detail stood out more than ever. It happened again and again.
What impresses me, is not the idea itself. Every coach understands that a quick inbound is necessary to play fast and to create early advantages.
What impresses, is the commitment.
Because details like this do not survive on gameday unless they are reinforced every day in practice.
And perhaps even more importantly, unless everybody buys into them.
That is where coaching becomes more than X’s and O’s.
Getting a team to execute a tactical concept is one thing. Getting players to care about a small detail hundreds of times throughout a season is something else entirely. For sure among superstars at the highest level.
Everybody that witnessed practices of Pedro Martínez, knows this is 100% his signature. This is his main strength. This is building a culture and habits on a daily base.
X’s and O’s matter. But this is something else. This is people management. This is getting an entire roster, night after night, to care about a detail that never shows up in a box score.
Sometimes culture reveals itself in the smallest details. In Valencia’s case, before the ball even hits the floor.
Interested in Spanish basketball?
Earlier this season I published a free report on the latest trends in the Spanish ACB League and how data can support coaching decisions at the highest level:
