Business, Sports & Gaming
Making Reads: Adapt to the Situation
Lesson time 08:35 min
Learn what legendary Coach Bobby Knight called the “motion offense” by making game-time decisions on and off the court.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: Planning Your Motion Offense • Strategy Versus Game-Time Decisions
Preview
[MUSIC PLAYING] - During my coaching career, I learned a lot about offense and defense. I played point guard for one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game, Bob Knight, who-- boy, you really learned how to play defense. And we ran a very structured offense when I was a point guard for him at Army. And then when Coach Knight went to Indiana, I studied what he was doing, offensively. And he was doing offense differently. And he was running what was called a motion offense. [MUSIC PLAYING] Basically, motion offense means that when you come down to court, you make reads. Even if you call a so-called play that gives you structure, a player would have the freedom to break from the play if he made a read that was advantageous. I loved it because it means you have to constantly be thinking and reading situations and reading people. It does not get more exciting than that. And so I've used motion offense in my whole life. I keep making reads. And even though we've been married 53 years-- my wife Mickey and I-- we're a good team. And she gets sick of me telling her, you should be very happy that you married a point guard who makes reads. And she'll come back and say, you should be very happy that I tolerate marrying a point guard who makes reads. [MUSIC PLAYING] In motion offense, basically, you're constantly adapting. You're adapting by listening, by asking for input, knowing the goal, and knowing, also, the time frame. Now, in order to adapt, you have to have knowledge. You have to have information. I mean, you have to know what your organization is doing, the mission, what you're doing on that day or that week or what the goal is. And how do you achieve that goal? You have to know your people. They're not little puppets that you put in place or just give orders to. And how to get the most out of those people as they are working together to achieve the goal that your organization has set forth. And that's exciting. That's what leadership is about. That's why it's the most interesting occupation on Earth. It's constantly changing. And a leader, in order to adapt, has to constantly be aware of his environment. What is the group's mission? If you're not aware of the mission completely when you're with that group, it's neat to ask. Not just neat, it's necessary to say, Mary, tell me where we're at right now. Tell me what your plan is. And then, all of a sudden, like, you can add to that. In other words, instead of coming in and giving an order, you're making a read out of the situation. Another thing when you're doing that-- you sense the mood of the team. Are they giddy? Are they pressured? You know, Coach, this has to be done by the end of the week. Oh, we better hurry, then, right? Do we need some extra time? Do you need some extra resource? Can another team help you in getting this done? Because another thing about an organization-- you don't want it to be siloed where the first floor is ...
About the Instructor
Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski is the winningest coach in men’s college basketball history. For the first time, he’s sharing the secrets to building an environment conducive to success. Learn how to read body language, deliver difficult feedback, and identify talent. Whether on the court or in the office, you’ll be confident exercising leadership strategies that influenced players like Kobe Bryant and Shane Battier.
Featured MasterClass Instructor
Coach K
12x “Coach of the Year” Mike Krzyzewski teaches how to motivate a team. Discover your innate leadership skills with drills to prepare for success.
Explore the Class