Kidd gives his players a written test every game day, a trick he picked up from Rick Carlisle and Terry Stotts in Dallas, he says.2 The tests ask about strategy and basketball history — everything from diagramming a particular set to naming the first coach of the Miami Heat. The coaching staff grades each one and keeps a running tally of player scores through the season.
“I’m not gonna lie,” Antetokounmpo says. “Sometimes I cheat and ask the older guys.”
Kidd hopes the players cheat. He noticed in Dallas how the tests got young guys talking about strategy, and he wants to foster the same kind of dialogue among Milwaukee’s players. Kidd is sometimes unsure the young foreign-born players understand instructions in English, and the discussion gives them another way to absorb coaching, he says.
It’s a handy tool, since the Bucks play an aggressive defensive style in which every player must cover a ton of ground. Kidd and Sean Sweeney, his defensive coordinator, want opposing ball handlers to see extra help defenders clogging the lane from almost the moment they catch the ball. Run any two-man action, like a simple high pick-and-roll, and your point guard should see a third Milwaukee defender at the foul line early...
