A great basketball team should flow like a murmuration — a giant flock of birds swooping in unison. Their movements seem staged but they’re actually improvised. Yet a bird has the ability to predict the movements of the group and avoid mid-air collisions. And from a distance, this dance is mesmerizing.

Such a dance was largely the intention of the game designer of basketball: James Naismith. He thought the game should teach itself — five players would learn to work as one with no coach needed. And there’s still truth to this: look back to the first year Lebron James joined the Miami Heat along with several other new players. Their core would go on to win multiple NBA titles, but not in their first year of playing together when the Heat struggled to find cohension on the court. Having talented players on the court is certainly a factor in playing winning basketball, but it takes more than talent alone.

While there’s no easy way to teach anticipation among players, there are plenty of team skills that a coach can rapidly improve through focus, preparation and practice.

Here’s the playbook:

1. Passing: this is literally what the game is built on. Passing requires technique from the individual and anticipation from the whole team. On offense, make sure the players know how to pass-to-space instead of to-the-player, akin to soccer. This will accelerate the team’s ability to anticipate one another. On defense, defend the passing lanes instead of hacking at the ballhandler.
2. Rebounding: ever play a board game where you get rewarded with back-to-back turns or penalized by having your turned skipped? Rebounding is the basketball equivalent. Imagine if your team got two shots every possession and the other team only got one. On offense, learn the timing of the ball coming off the rim through rebounding drills. On defense, block out — block out — block out!
3. Shooting: you can’t win if you can’t score. Great teams keep at least 4 players on the court who can consistently make 20-foot shots. On offense, make sure players are shooting the ball at a 45° arc with their feet set and aiming an inch below the back of the rim. On defense, get hands in the face of shooters (blocked shots are overrated). Focus on footwork, weak-side help and making shooters uncomfortable.
4. Speed: nothing compliments all of the above quite like speed. While it’s near impossible to teach speed, you can certainly teach technique and awareness. And believe it or not, your players will arrive to the right spots before the speedsters. On offense, teach your point guard to penetrate the defense. This is critical to setting up a fluid offense that works the ball inside and out. And the entire offense should be moving except when setting screens or setting for an open look. On defense, be more concerned about speed AFTER the shot. Whether there’s a rebound or made shot to inbound, have your team ready to transition back to offense quicker than the other team can set up their defense. It all starts with getting the ball and delivering an outlet pass to a known location where your team’s point guard expects to receive it and is ready to run.
5. Fouls: as a game designer, I can assure you that basketball is an extremely well-balanced game. The two mechanics that enable a David-team to compete with a Goliath-team are the the three pointer and the foul. And the foul is largely underused from a strategy perspective and mistreated as a random act of the referee. On offense, target the best offensive player on the other team and use the first half to relentlessly drive at this player. Wait for this player’s foul. It only takes a few until the player’s coach has this player on the bench. And don’t forget to make your free throws. These literally are free points. On defense, guard with your feet and not your hands. Focus on defending the passing lanes and getting a hand in front of the eyes of the shooter.
6. Mind Set: as Vince Lombardi would tell you, preparation is everything in winning. Good preparation techniques breed team focus. And focus in necessary for execution. And successful, repetitive execution leads to team-wide confidence. It’s this shared confidence, with full trust and anticipation, that you will see your players stop thinking as individuals and start flowing as one murmuration. And that’s winning basketball.