Maximizing the Use of Synergy/Video Coordinating by Bobby Howard

Written by Coach Peterman

I have coached at the NCAA Division 2 (Southwestern Oklahoma State University), NAIA (USAO), and JUCO Levels (Blinn College and Carl Albert State College) as well as high school. I just felt that fellow coaches especially young coaches need to constantly work on their “game”. Just like the basketball players that we coach. We as coaches need to improve ourselves. That is my story and why I do this blog.

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September 22, 2013

Maximizing the Use of Synergy Video Coordinating

This is my second year of coaching college basketball and most of my duties have been in the arena of synergy video coordinating. I have been fortunate enough to have been at schools that use Synergy Sports. Synergy is a video breakdown company used by the NBA and most Men’s and Women’s Programs throughout the country. It’s been an incredible tool that I have only scratched the surface with. I want to share what I have done with it and in what areas it has helped our program.

Game Plan/Scouting:

This is the most obvious use of Synergy. It saves time. You can go to the site and click whatever clips you want. For example, if you want to see 40 clips of Syracuse’s 2-3 zone it is a click away. We have built our scouting reports in the past off of this formula. You can also select each player individually without having to go through an entire game film.

How we set up our Scout film and report was in this order:

Personnel-

– Starters (from Point to Center and around 5 clips each)

– Main Bench players (6^th man, 7, 8, 9…)

With our Personnel clips we are showing our guys the certain player’s strengths. The better and more versatile player, you might have to have more clips than 5, but no more than 10. This is a great opportunity to show our guys exactly what we wrote in our Scouting Report. For example, Kenneth Faried is relentless on the offensive glass. We would show clips of him crashing the glass and outworking people.

Offense-

– Main Offense (Motion, Flex, Triangle)

– Favorite Sets (Horns Up, High On-Ball, etc.)

– Main OB’s (Side and Under)

In this section, we try to get them to see exactly what the other team is trying to do offensively. We used about 5 clips of their main offense. Then we chose 2-3 clips of each of their favorite sets.

Defense-

– Man/Zone

– Press

– On-Ball Coverage

– Post Coverage (Double, Front, etc.)

This section varies depending on what the other team does. If they are strictly a Man team, then we might want to show if they pressure the wings, or if they are a “Pack” team.

Other Scouting Options:

– On Synergy’s Site they have a Post/Iso chart of every player. On this chart it shows what exactly a certain player does from each scoring spot on the floor.

o Ex) John Doe from the right wing will go left 45% of the time and he is 6/9 doing so.

– Before we play a certain team we clip up Made Possessions against them. We look for what the other team ran, and we incorporate that play or two into our game plan.

Player Improvement:

While at Minot State, I was using Synergy daily. And while brainstorming I thought of creating learning videos for our guys. I created a simple 30-35 clip Proper Post Play edit that I used with our post guys. The categories included Sprinting the Middle, Offensive Rebounding, Seal/Duck-ins, Building a Wall Post D. It was 4-6 clips of each category, and I used extreme examples of each category.

Rim Runs- Cody Zeller Indiana

Offensive Rebounding- Kenneth Faried

Post Positioning- Kevin Love

Brick Wall Defense- Georges Niang Iowa St.

This is a tool to help our players improve on the main points of post play. As I continue with it, I can add more categories and build off of it. I did the same thing with guard play.

Another way to help players improve through Synergy is to send weekly clips of themselves. Edits that we created were 15 makes vs. 15 misses. Defensive clips, close-outs. What we did was we were able to email them these clips. You could also email them clips of the best shooter in the nation if you have a guy who struggles with his shot.

Team Improvement:

Every team has some players who cannot figure out your sets. Throughout the course of last year I created a video playbook using Synergy. It is something that we can send to our guys during the summer and fall in hopes that they we will not have to waste as much practice time when we start. It is also great to send out to your new guys so they will not be so overwhelmed when you start.

Other Uses of Synergy:

I started using clips from synergy to make highlight tapes. We did a weekly highlight cut last year. It is something that I will continue to do. With the way social media is today our guys will love to share it via twitter, Facebook, YouTube. It is a great way to increase awareness of your program. It also helps with recruiting.

Another use of Synergy can be to set up a weekly Chalk Talk with your boosters. Boosters and Alumni love to feel a part of your program and in today’s world it’s getting harder and harder to include them. Setting up a weekly “Chalk Talk” where you can show these highlights is something they would really enjoy.

These are only a few examples of how to maximize this incredible tool. I feel that using these techniques will greatly enhance your own program. I am always looking for other options so if you know any, please add them. Also, if you guys need any video examples of what we have done, please feel free to contact me. I hope this was beneficial and have a great day!

We are happy to have Coach Bobby Howard as a basketball coaching contributor. He is an Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach UM-Western. You will love his work.