athlete, position, plays, competition, portfolio, coach
Basketball coaching book and workshop
The FUNdamentals
A story-driven guide for coaches who want to turn raw gym energy into player development, smarter practices, and clearer game-time decisions.
layups, short shots, 12 feet, 15 feet, 3-point range
court pressure, zones, man concepts, traps and screens
The promise
A book about building basketball IQ before chasing highlight plays.
Coach Nicole Bradley steps into a new gym with a team that has heart but needs structure. The book turns that season into a practical coaching path: evaluate the athlete, build the drills, teach the floor, and adjust with purpose.
6-5-4 system
The framework gives coaches a way to see the whole team.
The book connects player assessment, offensive scoring zones, defensive principles, and the coach's own learning capacity into one teachable operating system.
Six tiers of development
Skill level, position, plays, competition, portfolio, and coach. The tiers help coaches decide what to teach, who needs it, and how practice should change.
- Assess what each athlete can do today.
- Match positions and plays to the roster.
- Build a coach-led plan instead of hoping talent sorts itself.
5
Five scoring levels
Layups, short shots, 12-foot areas, free-throw line work, and the 3-point line become a practical map for drilling where the team can actually score.
4
Four defensive levels
Defense starts with spacing and stance, then grows into zones, man-to-man principles, traps, screens, and scouting decisions.
Inside the book
A season story that keeps returning to teachable action.
The manuscript moves from tryouts to practice design, then into film, game planning, coaching philosophy, and the final question every staff has to answer: what makes the system work?
Introduction to the team
Selecting the team
Describing the Six Tiers
Analyze the Team
Drills for the Five Levels of Offense
Make it make Sense
Drills for the Four Levels of Defense
How far will we go
Take it to the rim
Pull it all together
What do you see Coach
What makes it work
Workshop layout
Present the book as a coach-ready working session.
The companion workshop is built for a staff room, clinic, or player development session. It uses the book's story to help coaches leave with a practical plan, not just inspiration.
Open the gym
Set the coaching problem: a new team, uneven skills, and a need for a system that can be taught.
Assess the athlete
Use the six tiers to map skills, positions, play fit, competition, portfolio, and coach readiness.
Design the practice
Translate the five scoring levels and four defensive levels into drills that develop the actual team.
Adjust on game night
Use SWOT, film, stats, assistants, and quarter-by-quarter decisions to move from plan to action.
Leave with
Tools coaches can put on the court this week.
- A player assessment lens coaches can reuse after tryouts, practice, and film.
- A two-week practice planning rhythm built from offense and defense fundamentals.
- A shared vocabulary for assistants, players, and parents to understand development.
- A game adjustment model that ties scouting, drills, and basketball IQ together.
For coaches, staff, and clinics
Bring the fundamentals back to the center of development.
The FUNdamentals makes the case that better basketball starts with clearer teaching: know the athlete, teach the floor, build the practice, and keep adjusting.
Back to the book