Slappin’ Glass kicks off 2022 with a fun and insightful episode with Australian Men’s National Team and Illawarra Head Coach, Brian Goorjian. The all-time winningest coach in Australian’s NBL dives into the areas of building culture, gaining trust and buy-in, transition defense, aggressive PNR coverages, and during the always fun “Start, Sub, or Sit?” discuss “Pistol Action”, “Drag Screens”, and cracking a couple beers.
Inside the Episode
We were excited to kick of the Slappin’ Glass Podcast in 2022 with the Head Coach of the Bronze Medal Winning Australian Men’s National Team, as well as the NBL’s Illawarra Hawks, Brian Goorjian. The all-time winningest coach in NBL history joined us to dive into a variety of fun topics including:
- Building the Boomers’ Culture: A great peek behind the curtains of what made the Australia Men’s National Team such a close-knit group, including their ability to be direct and open with each other in all phases.
- Aggressive PNR Defensive Coverages: One of the major changes Coach Goorjian brought to the Australia NT before the Olympics was in their PNR Coverages. We dive into the philosophy and details of why and how these changes were made.
- Sprinting to a 1-1-3 Zone in Transition Defense: Coach Goorjian discusses transition defensive concepts, including how he’s taught sprinting back into a 1-1-3 Zone in transition. A unique and interesting view on this subject.
- In Game Counters: Coach Goorjian shares a key counter he made during their pre-Olympic matchup win over Team USA. Moving away from the ballscreen and into a cutting game by doing the same actions but passing to the screener instead of receiving the ballscreen.
- And during “Start, Sub, or Sit?!” we talk Pistol Action, Drag Screens, and much more.