Basketball Coaching: The Importance of Setting Season Team Goals

Setting team goals is one of the most important thing basketball coaches can do at the beginning of the season. These goals will set the tone for what the team's early expectations are and also give players something to strive towards throughout the season.

The best thing that coaches can do is set long term or season goals, but also include many small goals that are achievable throughout the season as well. Completing these small goals will help lead to more confidence and help maintain a successful attitude especially if the season's win total isn't where you'd like it to be. 

Coaches: Make sure to communicate your goals clearly and often!

The ultimate goal is to make sure players are learning and getting the most out of their experience playing team basketball! 

Short Term Goals

Short term goals are an important for coaches and players alike. The season has so many ups and downs and it is always mentally and physically taxing for both sides, too.

Coaches: Make sure to do your best to figure out ways to keep the season up beat and positive.

One example of a great short term goal could be practice related like players getting extra shots made at the end of practice through specific drills. Set a timed goal (ex: 10 minutes) on your Dr. Dish shooting machine and see how many shots players can make dependent on the locations and shooting drills you want them to do.

This is a great way to encourage your players to get better with a measurable and accountable goal and reward them for putting in extra work.

These goals should be challenging but attainable. At the end of the week, give the players a reward for hitting their shooting goals. This may be bringing in Gatorade and snacks after practice or doing a team activity outside and unrelated to basketball.

If your team's season is going great, this is a good way to keep all the players involved and enagaged. If your season isn't going as planned, this is a great way to create a change of pace for your players and focus on improvement and winning through skill development.

Long Term Goals

Long term goals help players see the big picture and these goals truly help players understand the time and effort that is needed to make this happen.

A few great long term season goals include winning a certain amount of games or winning a conference or state championship. Another great long term goal is shooting percentage as a team - both offensively and defensively. Set a team goal for 3pt, 2pt, and free throw percentages as a team and see how those numbers pan out at the end of the year.

With Dr. Dish machines, you can even create long term practice shooting goals as well much like the short term shooting goals above. This helps player's strive for improvement even if they're consistently hitting short term goals.

These goals are a great way to statistically show improvement over time and also set a standard for which coaches can go off of. Long term goals are the hardest because for many programs they will not be achieved. There can only be one conference or state champion at your level so remember how important the short term goals can be.

The balance between the two will help not only make the season interesting but it will also make it beneficial for everyone.

How Dr. Dish Can Help

Dr. Dish Basketball understands the significance of goal setting for coaches, players, and also teams. Our shooting machines are the first and only machines in the world that allow for coaches to set "drill ending" goals for players and teams on the Dish. For example, if you want to make 50 shots in a specific drill, the Dr. Dish will stop as soon as the 50th shot is made and display comprehensive analytics from each location.

Also, our latest technology, Skill Builder, gives coaches the ability to create shooting, ball-handling, and strength and conditioning drills to form a complete workout. The Dish will transition from drill to drill after the drill goal is met. These goals include time, total made shots, makes per location, attempts, and streak mode.

This is game changing innovation! Imagine the improvement potential if you had a Dr. Dish in your program.

Coaches: Make sure to check out more great content from Dr. Dish including our post on how your practices should evolve over the course of the season. Also be sure to check out this page for incredible basketball drills and workouts!