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Sunday, June 11, 2023

Basketball and Learning: Whom Should You Read? Plus Double Bonus Material

Whom should you read to learn, to think better? This is a central, profound question, probably something to ask around. 

There are thinkers and there are talkers. A lot of who you hear on media are talkers. You learn nothing, it's spin transmission. Sometimes you learn LESS than nothing, false information.

Being on television a lot doesn't define a thinker. Get under the hood and learn how a domain works. 

Coaching and writing are distinct skills. I've read basketball books by famous coaches (without naming names), that taught little about life or basketball. I let my time be wasted. That's on me. 

Exceptional coaches inform exceptional leadership. Serious people do serious things. Doris Kearns Goodwin explains how four great presidents - Lincoln, the Roosevelts, and Lyndon Johnson - operated. Johnson went to Everett Dirksen the GOP Senator from Illinois and talked about legacy. He told Dirksen that he could be part of the Civil Rights legacy. He helped pass the Voting Rights Act. 

Dean Smith's writings share how basketball works, that better shot selection required practicing shot selection. 

Michael Lombardi informs unusual insight into player evaluation and team development. His "Gridiron Genius" helps any coach in any sport. 

Bob Woodward excavates the dirt to unearth 'the best obtainable version of the truth'. He doesn't claim it's the whole truth, because that's unknowable. But he writes provable, documented truths. He also explains where and how to go off the track. 

A Supreme Court clerk challenged Woodward about a passage in his book, The Brethren. Woodward invited him over and showed him the passage in the clerk's own handwriting. The clerk was dumbfounded. 

Adam Grant explains the value of unlearning and rethinking. In Think Again, he advises keeping a scorecard of what you rethought. He explains how teaching our children to think again matters. 

Neil DeGrasse Tyson distills ideas into value. If you asked him about investing in space exploration, he'd share that the US lip balm market is almost $800 million dollars. Is space exploration as important as lip balm? He'd share that his father said, "it's not enough to be right, you have to be effective." 

Newer isn't always better. Preparation and patience matter. In The Art of War, written in the fifth century B.C., Sun Tzu explains that "every battle is won before it is fought" and "if you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by." This literally happened recently in a regional conflict. 

Summary: 

  • Think about whom you read. 
  • Great coaching isn't synonymous with great writing. 
  • Serious people do serious things. Study great leaders. 
  • "Unlearn and rethink." 
  • Find "the best obtainable version of the truth."
  • Work to become effective, not just right. 
  • Newer information isn't always better.
Lagniappe. Steal and copy. 

Lagniappe 2. Player development minute. 

 

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