It's no secret...basketball coaches HATE turnovers. And for good reason. It is tough to win games when your team turns the ball over more than your opponent.

But don't treat all turnovers the same. Deadball turnovers hurt your team, but live ball turnovers will KILL your team!

Just to make sure we're all on the same page, let's briefly describe each turnover.

Live v. Dead

Live Ball Turnover = A turnover with no stoppage of play. There is no whistle and play continues live with these turnovers. So a steal by your opponent is a live turnover.

Dead Ball Turnover = A turnover with a stoppage of play. So traveling would be a dead ball turnover, as well as a 5 second closely guarded violation.

Why does this really matter at all?

Well, if you have a good half court defense, you are likely holding teams around 40% or less for a field goal %. This means if you have a dead ball turnover, yes you lost possession, but you have a great chance of getting a defensive stop.

On the other hand, a live ball turnover often leads to a layup or free throws for your opponent.

This also correlates with why Rob Brost emphasizes his uptempo transition offense so heavily. His teams shoot 70% when in transition versus 40% when in half court.

So you want to put the opposition in as many 40% situations as possible.

5 Outcomes of Live Turnovers

On the other hand, if you give up a live turnover, all bets are off. Live turnovers often lead to:

1. Layups and Free Throws for Opponents - If there is one thing that leads to easy layups for your opponents it is live turnovers.

Steals, bad passes, bad offensive decision making, all of these things will lead to live turnovers and layups or free throws for our opponent. It doesn't matter if your opponent is the one of the worst shooting teams you'll face this year, they can likely make layups at a very high %!

Oftentimes teams who don't shoot the ball great, run pressure defense because it creates easy shots for their offense.

2. Defensive Chaos - Look, defense isn't always going to be pretty, nor does it have to be pretty, but live turnovers put your team in a huge disadvantage defensively.

It is not the same as normal transition defense. Live turnovers are so random and unexpected, transitioning back on defense becomes that much more difficult. Not to mention that some players may not even realize there was a turnover and be slower yet to transition back.

3. Momentum Swings - Live turnovers that lead to layups can swing the momentum of a game literally in seconds.

Maybe your opponent is struggling to score or you have an opponent down 10 and feel like they are on the ropes. A couple live turnovers make it a 6 point game and your opponent is back in the game.

4. Confidence for Opponents - You may have been playing great defense, and your opponents are struggling to hit shots and they are losing confidence...and then you give them a couple easy buckets because of live turnovers.

That's all they need to get their confidence back, and worse yet, sometimes those easy buckets shake the confidence of your own team.

5. Increased Defensive Intensity from Opponents - We've all seen it. A team runs a full court press and as soon as they get a live turnover and score, their pressure RATCHETS UP in intensity!

Now they are flying all over the place on D, working harder than they ever had, because they smell blood in the water. I like to call this little phenomena:

You Gave Them A Layup, What On Earth Did You Think Would Happen?!?

Ok, I'll work on a catchier name.

But seriously, if you turn the ball over against full court defense and they get a layup. Watch out.

This is how 6-8 point swings are made in a minute or less. The intensity of the defense will go up significantly, and it is that much more important that you don't have more live turnovers.

Player Awareness & Decision Making

As a coach, you need to make sure your players understand the 5 outcomes above. Most players understand that turnovers are bad. But usually the big takeaway from turnovers is the lost possession their team had.

But there is a HUGE difference between

• A player traveling or getting a 5 second call, and
• A player throwing a bad pass at 1/2 court that is stolen for a layup

This should be a part of your decision making training with your team during practices.

For instance when practicing against pressure I want my players to understand that a 10 second 1/2 court violation is not the worst thing in the world. I'd much rather have this dead ball turnover rather than a wild pass that's made because players know they are getting close to a violation.

The exact same thing can be said when players are trapped. If this happens and they have nowhere to pass, a 5 second violation is better than just throwing a bad pass that will likely be stolen.

And as a coach you need to make sure your players understand this.

Of course you don't want the turnovers and you will coach the mistakes they are making, but let players know that live turnovers are much worse than dead ball turnovers!

Do you want to create more live ball turnovers for your team? Take a look at a versatile pressure system. It is a great way to create easy points for your offense.

Comments Most Likes First   Oldest First   Newest First Coach Bill says: 1/24/2023 at 11:16:52 AM This is a great analytic that most coaches don't track. Awesome insight. I'm using Hoopsalytics to track turnovers by type (and other custom offensive and defensive events). For my varsity high school girls team, 50% of our turnovers are bad passes. And most of the time they lead to live ball transitions. Lost dribbles are usually the next highest. Like   1 person liked this.   login   register

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