Heal, Pinoy coaches trade notes

SYDNEY – What was supposed to be a lecture on coaching philosophy by Australian basketball legend Shane (The Hammer) Heal wound up a lively exchange of ideas with visiting La Salle head coach Juno Sauler and assistant coaches Allan Caidic and Jun Limpot at the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) in the Olympic Park here the other day.

Heal, 43, played for the Boomers in four Olympics and was an assistant coach with the national team for two years before focusing on calling the shots for the Sydney Kings in the National Basketball League (NBL), Australia’s version of the PBA. He is considered one of the greatest Australian cagers ever along with Andrew Gaze, Luc Longley, Eddie Palubinskas, Mark Bradtke, Phil Smythe and Andrew Bogut.

Heal and Kings assistant coach Damian Cotter discussed strategies and tactics in the course of the one-week seminar that Basketball New South Wales (BNSW) and NSWIS arranged for the La Salle staff. They zeroed in on the Kings’ containment philosophy, how to defend the middle, sideline and late-clock pick-and-roll, what to look for in scouting opponents, the drive-and-kick offense and specific game objectives. The La Salle coaches shared their insights on defending ball screens, playing the percentages, attacking the post and staying home on a player in isolation from the top.

“We’re big on tendencies,” said Heal. “We know what each player likes and doesn’t like to do. We cover the best scorers with our best defenders and don’t rotate. We challenge other players to step up with the best scorers defended. We take the middle away but don’t push to the baseline. We like to use the San Antonio Spurs’ centerfield defense or funnel to disrupt the middle pick-and-roll.”

Heal said there are three traits that he looks for in a player – desire, toughness and smarts. “We look for mental and physical toughness,” he said. “We want players to understand what’s going on in a game, good shot or bad shot, momentum, who’s got three fouls so we know whom to attack, how much time is left. When we’re recruiting players, we tick off which traits he has. How will he fit in if he has one of the three traits or two or all? For every game, we set three basic objectives. First, hold our opponent to under 40 percent field goal shooting. That means emphasizing pick-and-roll and transition defense. Second, limit our turnovers to 12 at the most. And third, don’t give up more than 10 offensive rebounds. If we do those three things, we win the game 99 percent of the time. It’s a game of possessions. Those three objectives show us a clear pathway to win. After a game, we look at our stats and check whether we got the numbers we wanted.”

Heal said he was never a big NBA fan. “I never expected to play in the NBA,” he went on. “My big thing was to play for Australia, that’s all that mattered to me. Since I was a kid, it was my dream to play for the national team. I was lucky to get into the NBA with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Spurs. Coach (Gregg) Popovich treated everyone the same way. He would scold Timmy (Duncan) if he deserved it and we all thought if Timmy could get scolded, surely we, down to the 12th man, shouldn’t feel bad if we get scolded. San Antonio is a top-class professional organization.”

Heal said he has a soft spot in his heart for the Spurs because some of his former San Antonio teammates are still playing under Popovich. “Will they win the championship this season?” he wondered. “It’ll be tough. I think Miami will win it again. LeBron (James) is the best player in the world today. He has haters but nobody can deny his greatness. I’m a big fan.”

Heal said at least every other day, he is asked about the Charles Barkley incident in 1996. A few days ago, the Australian newspaper Guardian ran a story about what happened 17 years ago. “It was a pre-Olympic game and we played the US Dream Team,” recalled Heal. “When I went up for my fourth triple, Barkley came racing towards me and undercut me. I fell flat on my back. I got up and we exchanged words. I couldn’t repeat what he or I said. It was big news all over the world. For me, what was significant about it was someone from a small country like ours stood up to the mighty USA. More than anything, that’s what I wanted to show – that we wouldn’t back down from a major power.” Heal chest-bumped Barkley before cooler heads prevented an escalation of the tension.

Heal scored 28 points on 8-of-13 triples but Australia lost, 118-77, in Salt Lake City. When the Olympics got underway in Atlanta, fans awaited a USA-Australia “grudge” match. As it turned out, they faced off in the semifinals with the USA eventually claiming the gold via a 101-73 decision despite Heal’s 19 points. Australia settled for fourth after losing to Lithuania, 80-74, in the battle for third. Heal ended up averaging 17.8 points and 5.1 assists. He shot 31-of-77 triples.

“I idolized Barkley,” said Heal. “He was awesome (and) turned out to be a good bloke. They were pretty arrogant, though, and didn’t have a lot of respect for us. We were looking forward to playing against them but at the same time, we weren’t going to take a backward step. The Dream Team disrespected us and tried to bully us a bit but we stood up for ourselves.”