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Thursday, February 5, 2026

Basketball "Imatsiya" - Practice, Motivation, Coaching

An "elevator pitch" is a summary, distillation of an idea or process into a one-minute elevator trip. Here's the pitch. 

Where does greatness arise? In tennis, it began in a rundown, ancient facility with coaching from a 77 year-old woman with a bad hip. Some from "The Little Group" of 7U with backpacks, stuffies, and racquets became champions. 


If Preobrazhenskaya's approach reduced to one word (it frequently was), that word was tekhnika - technique.

Some want to be great - exceptional students, exceptional players, exceptional leaders. Coaches don't produce that fire. We add oxygen.

Special isn't born, it's boring. Perfect your attack footwork, your pickup and shooting motion, and deliver passes on time and on target. 

Here's the Chat GPT Plus "top three summary" from "The Talent Code"

1. Deep Practice Builds Skill Faster Than Anything Else

Deep Practice means:

  • Breaking skills into small chunks

  • Operating at the edge of your ability—where mistakes occur

  • Slowing down, correcting, refining

  • Repetitive, mindful reps that strengthen myelin (the literal insulation around neural circuits)

Why it matters: Errors are not setbacks; they are the raw material of growth. The athlete who practices with attention, precision, and purpose accelerates faster than the one who simply “puts in time.”

For coaching: This is the foundation of game-speed drills, blocked-to-random progression, and high-quality feedback loops. It’s where volleyball, basketball, or any pursuit becomes craftsmanship.

2. Ignition: Motivation Is Sparked by Identity and Emotion

People do not work hard because they “should.” They work hard because something inside them is lit. Coyle calls this Ignition—an emotional spark, often triggered by:

  • A role model (“someone like me did this… so maybe I can too”)

  • A defining moment (“I want to be part of that”)

  • A vision of future identity (“this is who I am becoming”)

Why it matters: Without ignition, practice stalls. With ignition, players self-drive improvement with remarkable intensity.

For coaching: This is the heart of culture building—role models, storytelling, reinforcing identity (“We are MVB; we train like champions”), and creating an environment where effort means something.

3. Master Coaching: Great Coaches Are Talent Whisperers

  • They give clear, concise, actionable feedback

  • They create a culture of safety and high expectations

  • They model calm, patient, craftsperson energy

  • They teach athletes how to practice, not just what to do

Why it matters: Coaching quality is multiplicative. Great coaches create great learners; great learners create great outcomes.

For coaching: This is Brad Stevens’ “be a truth-teller,” Wooden’s “be quick but don’t hurry,” and your own emphasis on clarity, decisiveness, and identity-building. The coach’s job is not just instruction. They shape the environment where deep practice and ignition thrive.

The Talent Code in One Sentence

Skill is built through deep, intentional practice, fueled by emotional ignition, and guided by master coaching. 

Suggest sources for 'Coaching Lessons'. 

1. Steal something great. Learn from the best. 


2. Study coaches from a variety of sports...including Dawn Staley and Doc Rivers.

 

Lagniappe. Find an action or two that resonate for you. 
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Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Basketball and Baseball

Principles and analogies cross sports domains. A podcast by Alex Speier about the Red Sox minor league development system raised points worth considering for basketball programs. 

Strengths and Deficiencies

Baseball systems may lean into strengths or deficiencies such as hitting (scoring) or pitching (run prevention). Similarly, in basketball, teams may overemphasize offense or defense and become "unbalanced." Unless a player has extreme offensive talent, (s)he cannot compensate for a lack of skill, knowledge, or effort defensively. 

Recently, Danny Hurley and Geno Auriemma acknowledged that they recruit offensive players, expecting that they can train them to play adequate or better defense. 

Player Development

In an era where talent acquisition (free agency, trades) or retention (signing) has become expensive, there's value to be had by player development. In baseball, the Red Sox have found prototypes (e.g. size, extension) and added velocity, bad speed, and/or launch angle to raise player performance. In basketball, players have a myriad of skills to develop, ranging from shooting accuracy and range, pick-and-roll play, attacking the basket, and playing within a system. For example, on the Celtics, Neemy Queta's development has transcended most expert's expectations. 

Another analogy fits primary and secondary skills. A pitcher might have an electric fastball but lack pitch shape or command needed. Similarly, in basketball, the "Four ways to score" principle expands on the "GO TO" and "COUNTER" scoring approach. All scorers are not "shooters" and all shooters are not great scorers.

Tools versus Performance

Size and athleticism may not immediately (or ever) transfer to effectiveness, depending on a player's commitment, aptitude, and improvement arc. A player like Derrick White was lightly recruited, and started on a room-and-board stipend at D2 Colorado-Colorado Springs. He matured into a D1 player at Colorado, was a late first round choice by the Spurs, and emerged as an NBA and Olympic Champion. He leads NBA players in plus-minus since December. 

White was not the "toolsiest" player in the Association, but has become a leading contributor if not recognized as an All-Star. 

Measurables

Some classify potential by having a minimum two out of three of size, athleticism, and skill. In "The Undoing Project" by Michael Lewis, he shares that the predictables for NBA draft success are 1) performance in college, 2) elite program, and 3) age at time of the draft (younger is better). Cooper Flagg, recently turned 19 emerging Mavericks superstar, represents an obvious example. 

Floors and Ceilings

Player potential can fall under a variety of "rubrics" including "floors and ceilings." Ideally a player has both a high floor and high ceiling. Assessing youth players, I used an analogy of lottery pick, first rounder, second rounder, and 'street free agent'. 

It's irrational to expect to win big without occasional lottery picks and lots of first rounders. Many parents think their child is in the former categories. I contend that players can rise one category but seldom two. 

Player development plus exceptional player commitment are essential for the players who achieve "escape velocity" to rise even one category. 

These are 'crude' and 'qualitative' categories but may help coaches fashion clarity in player evaluation. 

Lagniappe. Another great video from Isaiah Tavares. 

Lagniappe 2. Good offenses have more 'hard-to-defend actions' including off-ball screening such as Zoom, Flex, backscreens, and complex screens like Spain, screen-the-screener, and Iverson.

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Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Your Personal Marshall Plan*

*Adapted from “Soldier, Statesman, Peacemaker: Leadership Lessons from George C. Marshall" by Jack Uldrich from "The Leader's Bookshelf," curated by ADM James Stavridis. 

Personal development never stops. Grab key lessons that help us as people, educators, and mentors. 

General George C. Marshall had a distinguished military career, followed by a career as a statesman, and international leader. 

Functionally, he served as what would equate to chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during WW II. He was a master of logistics and Roosevelt wanted him in Washington, which allowed Eisenhower to be Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

Following WWII, he served as Secretary of State and later Secretary of Defense. Following that he was President of the International Red Cross.

Marshall was the only Military officer ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Marshall's Nine Leadership Principles offer core value for consideration for inclusion in your portfolio. 

1. Do the right thing – the principle of integrity.

Basketball - You are the figurehead of the program. You own modeling excellence and sportsmanship.

2. Master the situation – the principle of action.

Basketball - Serve the best interest of the program.

3. Serve the greater good – the principle of selflessness.

Basketball - Do what is best for the success of the team. That will necessarily conflict with what is best for others at times. 

4. Speak your mind – the principle of candor.

Basketball - Navigating hard conversations is an expectation. Always have hard player conversation with at least two adults present. 

5. Lay the groundwork – the principle of preparation.

Basketball - Preparation leads performance. 

6. Share knowledge – the principle of learning and teaching.

Basketball - Work to become a better teacher. Our job in Pete Newell's words were help players to "see the game." Teaching reflects both substance and style. 

7. Choosing to reward the right people – the principle of fairness.

Basketball - Everyone wants to be recognized. Reserves get value when recognized as "frontline" players get plenty of publicity. 

8. Focus on the big picture – the principle of vision.

Basketball - Decide and focus on your "Main Thing." You are the steward of the program. 

9. Support the troops – Caring always matters. In Anton Myrer's classic novel, "Once an Eagle," what distinguished Sam Damon was his total commitment to men and mission. Courtney Massengale committed to career advancement over soldiers. 

Basketball - It's a cliche and true that "they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." 

Lagniappe. Is each practice activity simulating the game? 


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Monday, February 2, 2026

Basketball - Be Memorable

"That's going to leave a mark." Many experiences in sport leave marks, some cherished and others condemned to our "resume of scars."

Science tells us that we remember best "peak" and "end" experience. 

End experiences could include:

  • Havlicek stole the ball (1965)
  • Nelson's clinching miracle bounce jumper (1969)
  • Princeton upsets UCLA (1991)
  • Webber's ill-fated timeout (1993)
  • LeBron's iconic "chase down" Finals block (2016)
Peak experience could include:
  • Hank Gathers' sudden death (1990); Erik Spoelstra was on the court.
  • Bob Knight's chair toss (1985) amidst a brilliant career
  • Jordan's "flu game" performance (1997)
Both peak and end experience imprint memories with high emotional input.

Few articles will be memorable. Remember the Heath Brothers "Made to Stick" acronym for sticky stories - SUCCESS. 

S - Simple (needing no explanation)
U - Unexpected
C - Concrete (specific)
C - Credible 
E - Emotional 
S - Stories 

I had a colleague whose wife scored the winning basket in the Michigan State Championship Basketball Tournament finals.

One high school teammate (Roger Lapham) had a son Rich who won two State High School basketball titles in Maine and was the starting left tackle for Boston College and an NFL draft choice. Roger had been drafted by the NFL and the NBA out of Maine. I had called Roger about something and Rich answered. I asked how old he was and he said, "15." I said, "So you're probably 6'3" or 6'4". He answered, "No, I'm 6' 8." DNA. 

Roger's older brother (Dave) played for the Cincinnati Bengals. His opening appearance was against Steeler legend Mean Joe Greene. Before the snap, Greene said, "Hi, Dave. Welcome to the League." As the ball was snapped, Green delivered a forearm shiver under the chin. Welcome to the League. He said that never happened again. 

Doug Collins was on the US Olympic Team that lost to the Russians in 1972. Collins made a pair of free throws to give the US the lead late before the fiasco. Collins said that the last song he heard coming out of the locker room was Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted?" The US never accepted the Silver Medals and some players had it in their wills that no family member should ever accept them. Collins went into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024 as a Contributor as a player, coach, and broadcaster. I met him circa 1974 driving him from Logan Airport to Sam Jones's basketball camp in Easton, MA where I was briefly a counselor. 

One day I had gone to the local YMCA to shoot some and the only people in the Gym were a guy and his daughter who looked about 12. I said to myself, "That looks like JoJo White." He picked up a ball and shot it. "That is JoJo White." I left. He deserved to have peace to shoot with his kid and he knew who he was. 

Years later my twins would play his daughter and Masconomet High in the Tsongas arena for the Sectional Title, a pair of 22-0 clubs. Melrose took the win, 68-54. A memorable day for the family...

Lagniappe. Sweet 16 conditioner. 
Lagniappe 2. For once, guys tell it like it is. 

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Sunday, February 1, 2026

Character, Coaching, and Ulysses Grant

"There are impressively good leaders who have intrinsic persuasive and inspirational charisma, who don’t read much, but they limit their potential substantially, and as a result, they never become truly great leaders. Others which with average charisma, but who read and think while they read, learn how to inspire individuals and smaller large groups through their reading, as well as as to comprehend what to do better than anyone, and they become great leaders." - about Ulysses  Grant in  "The Leader’s Bookshelf"

Commit to learning, study, and use of analogy. Often great achievements in history can fly under the radar.

Hiram Ulysses Grant was plucked from selling firewood on a St. Louis street corner into the Civil War. An average student at West Point, he was out of the Army in 1854 with a drinking problem. He entered the Civil War as a colonel.

Grant rose to Lieutenant General and Commander of Union forces. He received Lee's surrender at Appomattox. With his Civil War prominence, he became President in 1868. How?

In addition to his effective command leading to decisive and important victory at Vicksburg, he had three vital leadership qualities.

1) Grant possessed remarkable determination and believed strongly in the cause of the Union.

Coaching - Within basketball, it's unfair to single out one coach for being unusually resolute. Indiana football Coach Curt Cignetti would fit that label. 

2) He was a skilled communicator and excelled at delegating. He issued notoriously clear orders. Delegation and clarity earned him trust and loyalty from subordinates.

Coaching - There's no "best communicator" in coaching. I admire Dean Smith for his unselfishness in encouraging Michael Jordan to leave, for his work in the community, and his bequest to former players upon his death. 

3) Grant was humble. He shared both responsibility and credit. His humility earned him many followers unlike some other Union generals such as "Fighting Joe Hooker." 

Coaching:

Dean Smith said, "A lion never roars after a kill." Jay Wright shared, "If you're not humble, it's hard to be coached." Coach Gregg Popovich and his staff were described as "really humble" by fellow coach Dave Joerger. 

  • Praise is specific; criticism is private.
  • Credit flows outward; accountability flows inward.
  • Standards are non-negotiable; ego is optional.

The key messages are: communicate, stay hungry and humble.

Lagniappe. It's hard to coach without 'enjoying' good actions. 

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Saturday, January 31, 2026

Basketball - The Seven Habits Applied

Many here have read Steven Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Let's start with a simple list, apply a basketball principle to each, and focus on one today. The list comes from Brave AI. Of the seven habits, “Sharpen the Saw” may matter most in a long season - and a long career.

Be Proactive
Focus on what you can control, take responsibility for your actions, and choose your responses rather than reacting to circumstances. 

Basketball - This is core Stoicism. "Control what we can control." Become both more efficient with time management and more effective. Coach Saban says, "Are you investing time or spending it?"

Begin with the End in Mind
Define your vision, values, and long-term goals to guide your decisions and actions. 

Basketball - In 1970 my coach, Ellis Lane, in his first varsity job, had a broken program without much talent. He first organized updating an outdoor court, including a sign "Tech Tourney 1973." He knew that you can't turn an ocean liner around rapidly. Three years later our team won a sectional championship amidst a series of upsets. 

Put First Things First

Prioritize tasks based on importance, not urgency, and organize your time around your highest priorities. 

Basketball - Brad Stevens asks, "What does our team need NOW?" Successful individuals, families, businesses, and communications have an operational "North Star." Identity is key - "This is who we are. That is what we do. We know our WHY." 

Think Win-Win

Seek mutually beneficial solutions in relationships, emphasizing fairness, respect, and collaboration.

Basketball - Coaches depend on getting "buy-in." Communication, adding value, and positivity matter. You've heard coaches tell teams that they're worthless, lazy, or selfish. But you've heard few good coaches berate their players. 

Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

Practice empathetic listening to fully grasp others’ perspectives before expressing your own. 

Basketball - There is always an "inside view" that operates "within the building" and an "outside view" of community, fans, and critics. Belief always starts within while skepticism arises outside.

Synergize

Leverage diverse strengths and perspectives to create innovative, collaborative solutions greater than the sum of individual efforts. 

"I can go faster alone, but we can go farther together." - African Proverb  Find ways to become a "force multiplier." Teaching, conditioning, and teamwork are all force multipliers. 

Sharpen the Saw

Continuously renew yourself in four key areas - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual for sustainable competitive advantage.  

"If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first four sharpening the axe." - Abraham Lincoln

The remainder of the piece focuses on 'sharpening the saw'. 

The human body and mind have a remarkable capacity to upgrade both the hardware (strength, conditioning, neuroplasticity) and the software (learning capacity and resilience).

There are only a relatively few core notes that produce the greatest musical compositions. Three primary colors produce all magnificent paintings. Five primary senses allow us to experience the world. 

As Kevin Eastman says, "you own your paycheck." Our will and access to training and experience allow us to expand our portfolio of skills. 

1. Work-life balance. 

Few areas challenge coaches and players more than work-life balance. More work encroaches on family and relationships. The biggest tips are first, awareness, and second, where my wife excels, "How can I help?"

2. Reading. 

You're here with a "growth mindset" seeking to acquire and modify information. If your house were on fire and you could save one basketball book, what would it be? I'd grab Dean Smith's "Basketball: Multiple Offense and Defense." 

3. Personal care. 

Machines need fuel and maintenance. Players need quality fuel, hydration, conditioning, sleep, recovery. Coaches need self-care, too. Habits, such as morning routine, study, and mindfulness fall within. 

4. Learning. 

The breadth of available resources for players and coaches is breathtaking. 

  • Books 
  • Online video on every imaginable subject
  • Artificial intelligence  
  • Study of individual (e.g. cellphone) video and team video
  • Online clinics
  • Mentoring - "Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence." 
  • Blogs 
"There are none so blind as those who will not see." Having the will to be open to coaching is vital. "Everyone benefits from coaching," says Sean McVay, including himself. 

5. Analogy. 

Few areas offer more area for growth than learning across domains. Everything is up for exploration. 
  • Leadership - business and military study are personal favorites. "The Leader's Bookshelf" is a magnificent, inspiring work. 
  • Science and Technology - innovation in one field might trigger possibilities in another. 
  • Failure - studying failure, often through case studies, reinforces that understanding failure can help prevent or limit it. 
Expose ourselves to the firehose of information and work to learn how to regulate it. 

Lagniappe. Sets are "lines on the page" that can trigger a myriad of actions. 

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Friday, January 30, 2026

Basketball : My Way


In Michael Lewis's The Undoing Project Amos Tversky listens to Nobel Laureate Murray Gell-Mann (quarks). At a dinner party, Gell-Mann was pontificating about everything under the sun. Tversky told him, "Murray, there is nobody in the world as smart as you think you are."

As an Assistant Professor of Medicine, I told younger doctors and students that the two best answers in Medicine are, "I don't know" and "That's a good idea, we should think about that."

Coaches, even the stubbornest, evolve with time and experience. That's inevitable as we possess creative imagination and critical imagination. Just as great authors explain that "writing is rewriting," coaching is rethinking.

It's not unique to sport. Polaroid developed a digital product but shelved it and faded away. Blackberry locked in to its product and got washed away by superior smart devices. Inexpensive digital watches (Casio) took down the expensive timepiece industry. 

Games, Plans, and Coaches That Changed Their Domains

Bill Belichick - Take away their strength

In Ron Jaworski's brilliant "The Games That Changed the Game," he includes Bill Belichick's game plan to defeat the Rams' "The Greatest Show on Turf." Belichick believed in adjusting plans each week, not "We do what we do."

Lesson - Refusal to change can mean being left behind.   

Steve Kerr: Finals adjustment - go small, start Iguodala

In the 2015 Finals, Kerr changed the Warriors lineup with recommendations from Nick U'Ren (video tech). Iguodala started over Andrew Bogut, leaning into small-ball, flipping matchups and momentum.

Lesson: “My way” dies in June. Change when needed.

Nick Saban: “Defense and pro-style” evolved

Saban openly acknowledged Alabama needed to “change directions.” He hired Lane Kiffin (2014) pivoting toward a more explosive, tempo and space approach.

Lesson: Great leaders don’t abandon identity - they update.

Think like a scientist (not a preacher/prosecutor/politician)

In "Think Again," Professor Adam Grant informs: leaders get stuck when defending identity instead of testing ideas. He contrasts preacher, prosecutor, or politician modes with the scientist - humble, curious, eager to be corrected.

Lesson: Don’t defend history - validate it. What’s the evidence? Coach K was a naysayer and vocal critic of Coach Calipari's "one-and-done." Then he adopted it. Dabo Swinney didn't think players should get paid. He'd be gone if he didn't change with NIL. 

Build a “challenge network”

Professor Grant argues you need people you trust to call you out, not yes-men, not enemies: those who speak truth to power. 

Lesson: confidants and peers share: “Your pet concept is hurting you.” Coach Cal has his PBOD - personal board of directors with whom he meets periodically. 

Change when needed isn't weakness. It's adaptation and flexibility leading to Darwinian survival. “Stubbornness is just pride wearing a whistle.”

Lagniappe. Give your time and focus. 




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Thursday, January 29, 2026

What Drives Losing Basketball?

Books and conferences inform “What Drives Winning?” If we invert, then we excavate “What drives losing?”

Bad Basketball

What is bad basketball? "You know it when you see it." Pete Newell's mantra was to "get more and better shots than your opponents." Bad basketball results in getting fewer (turnovers, poor rebounding) and worse (poor passing, poor penetration, contested) shots and allowing easy chances for opponents. 

Key solution: recognition and change

Flawed Decision Making

Poor decisions contribute to both inefficient offense and ineffective defense. Pressure often magnifies the impact and results in the inability to beat better teams, to win on the road, and to close out winnable games. 

Key solution: play more offseason, study video

Poor Shot Selection

"Shot selection is the quickest path to offensive improvement." As Pete Carril noted, "the quality of the pass leads to the quality of the shot." Better shots are "ROB shots" - in range, open, on balance. High percentage shots ("get 7s") give offenses better chances. 

Statistics define "excellent shooters" not parents' opinions. 

Key solution: "Winners are trackers." Darren Hardy in "The Compound Effect." Shot charts and video review

Turnovers

Turnovers, another part of the Four Factors, originate with combinations of poor decisions and flawed execution. 

  • Turnovers are zero percent possessions. 
  • Live-ball turnovers lead to high opponent points per possession. 
  • "Turnovers kill dreams" 

Key solution: tracking and adjusting minutes (the harsh reality of the bench) for worst offenders

Failed Ball Containment 

Defense starts with ball pressure and ball containment. Too many teams play "dead man's defense" (six feet under the ball handler) and cannot contain the ball leading to layups via drive or dish and penetrate and pitch to set up open threes. Bad containment also generates fouls and gets defenses into rotation/scramble situations...

Key solutions: one-on-one containment drills, communication, and "cover 1.5 help" from teammates...worst case scenarios are personnel or defense changes

Indiscriminate Fouling

Foul for profit. Fouls bail out bad shots, bad shooters, and late shot-clock possessions. Fouls negate hustle. Fouls, like turnovers, arise from poor decision-making or poor technique. 

Key solutions: tracking and video...where are the fouls (reaching in, hacking down, slow or lazy feet, "chesting" players instead of getting legal guarding position

Just as winning teams make winning plays, losing teams play too much bad basketball. 

Lagniappe. Excellent players want coaching. 

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Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Basketball: "Hope Is Not a Method"

Leadership drives performance. In The Leader's Bookshelf ADM James Stavridis curates essential books for aspiring leaders.

One is Hope Is Not a Method: What Business Leaders Can Learn from America's Army (1996) - GEN Gordon Sullivan

"A high-performing organization is one that does routine things in an outstanding manner." This reflects the teaching to "do well what you do a lot." 

"The challenge for the leader...is to become 'good enough': good enough to seize and exploit developing opportunities...good enough to get it 'about right' in execution." A critical part of success in basketball is to "stamp out bad basketball."

The book favors use of 'case studies' to teach. 

Leadership techniques transfer from the military to business (and sports) 

  • Highly competitive domains
  • Changing environment
  • Emerging technologies

The Army's six imperatives:

  • Quality People
  • Leader Development
  • Modern Equipment
  • Doctrine
  • Force Mix
  • Training
Teams don't rise to the level of the challenge, they sink to the level of their training. 

Whether an Army of 600,000 employees or a team with 15 coaches and players, it's a matter of scale. 

Success requires a strong information flow, leaders to analyze and plan courses of action, and a worthy organization to train and execute strategy.

Ask big questions.
  • What is happening?
  • What is not happening?
  • How can I influence the future?
As in medicine, solutions require information gathering, diagnosis, and treatment. 

Rules (Where rubber meets road)
  1. Change is hard.
  2. Leadership flows from values
  3. Intellectual leads physical. Think it before we do it.
  4. Real change means real change.
  5. Leadership is a team sport.
  6. Expect surprises.
  7. Balance the present and the future.
  8. Better is better (edges).
  9. Focus on the Future.
  10. Learn from Doing. 
  11. Grow People 
Case Study. 

- Change in leadership - Coach Ellis Lane assumes responsibilities at Wakefield High School in 1970...his first varsity job in a broken program. 
- He emphasizes sacrifice, teamwork, and 'technology' - grainy black and white film, shot charts, and detailed stats kept by managers. He still believes that rebounds and assists are vital. 
- The plan builds around aggressive defense, changing defenses, and pressure built around the 2-2-1 three-quarter court or full court "run-and-jump" (trap and switch). 
- At the time. the core young players have played together since 7th grade. 
- In 1971 the team wins three games and in 1972 they win eight, including the final three in a league whose top two players (Ron Lee and Bob Bigelow) are future NBA first round choices. Bench players are developing into future starters. 
- Player development structure is 'embryonic'. There's no off-season coaching permitted in MA. Players play in a couple of summer leagues and attend Sam Jones's camp together for two weeks. 
- The team starts the 1972-3 season erratically, standing at 8-3 before a thirteen game win streak including three postseason upsets propels them into the Division 1 State Semifinals, where they lose by 3. The 21-4 team has lost four games by a total of seven points. 
- Coach Lane wins a State Title in 1983 and ultimately earns enshrinement into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame. 1975 grad Roger Lapham earns a D1 Scholarship to Maine. 1983 grad Mark Plansky plays for the National Champion Villanova Wildcats who beat Georgetown. 1977 grad Scott Brown becomes a United State Senator from Massachusetts. Two players from the 1973 team become physicians. 

Lagniappe. Practice situational basketball. 
Lagniappe 2. Two-person shooting game. 




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Tuesday, January 27, 2026

What Is Your Superpower?

"Success is a choice." What qualities belong to those you admire? Can we teach them? Can we apply them?

Build Self-Esteem and Collaboration

A teacher had an unruly, undisciplined and disrespectful class. She had an idea to improve their self-esteem. She gave each student (teammate) a paper with the name of all the class and asked each to write two things that they admired about a classmate. 

She cut and pasted the comments onto a sheet for each student, so they had a portfolio of positives about themselves. 

She witnessed a remarkable transformation as the students' self-esteem and self-control rose. 

Many years later she passed away and many of the students came to her funeral. Many brought a wrinkled, faded paper from that class with the positive observations of classmates. 

Lift Student-athletes Up with Leadership Stories and Training

We choose to lift people up or do something else - "success or less." Embrace leadership training and sportsmanship as core tasks.

Become a storyteller. Develop a portfolio of stories to lead others up, especially when an individual or group needs it most. 

Tryouts were taking place at a school and $20 went missing from a player's locker. Another spoke up, "I don't care who took it. That is not who we are. Whoever took it, don't come back here tomorrow." Lead, follow, or go away.

Your Work Speaks Volumes

I attended a number of tryouts and practices. One player was a senior who played little. She won every sprint, competed in every drill. She cheered loudly from the bench. Someone told me she worked out after practice. That's the teammate I want or the employee I want in my business.

Be valued and appreciated for who you are and what you bring to the organization every day.

Tell your stories. Make them great. 

Lagniappe. Your standard is your standard. 



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Monday, January 26, 2026

Basketball - Advice

In an ideal world, we accumulate wisdom and dispense good advice. Grateful to those who shared theirs.

First, a few relevant quotes:

"There is nothing cheaper than free advice." 

"Never take criticism from someone from whom you wouldn't take advice."

"Your friends stab you in the front." - Oscar Wilde

Advice is not monolithic. It's not one-size fits all; each tidbit won’t resonate. Good advice is rare yet often crosses domains. Good advice is timeless. Choose some and think how it can relate to sports:

1) Develop a clear and relevant philosophy. 

For example, the Fourth Agreement, “Always do your best.” Your philosophy informs your ideals, values, and standards. 

Basketball - Our best efforts leave less room for regret. 

2) Learn every day. 

Learning pays you every day.

Basketball - Watch video every day. 

3) Read. Read. Read. 

Reading takes us to meet people and see places we wouldn’t otherwise know. The differences between who you are today and whom you become in five years are the people you read and the books you read. 

Basketball - Many coaches and executives are readers - Popovich, Steve Kerr, Mike Neighbors, Brad Stevens

4) Make friends with the dead. 

Get to know Eleanor Roosevelt, Lincoln, and Franklin. 93 percent of people ever born are dead.

Basketball - Study great coaches from the past - Dean Smith, Wooden, Pete Newell, Knight, John McLendon

5) Place your character above your reputation. 

Reputation is what people think about someone. Character is who they are. 

Basketball - "Character is job one." - Etorre Messina

6) Establish priorities. 

Coach Ellis Lane taught timeless priorities - family, school, sports.

Basketball - Make everything impact winning. 

7) “Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence.” 

Find a mentor. Mr. Rogers shared good advice, “Look for the helpers.”

Basketball - Be so worthy that people want to mentor you.

8) Many key words end with _bility:

  • Ability
  • Durability 
  • Reliability
  • Responsibility 
  • Accountability 
Basketball - Study other words, such as in Kevin Eastman's Why the Best Are the Best

9) Have a “NO” button. 

A NO button keeps you out of trouble. “Never follow a lit fuse.” - Dr. Tom Walsh

Basketball - Read Coach Knight's The Power of Negative Thinking

10) Surround yourself with good people. 

Good people avoid the killer S’s - softness, selfishness, sloth (laziness). Some say we become the average of the five people we are around the most. Choose well.

Basketball - The basketball community is remarkably willing to share and enthusiastic to learn. Thank you to the more than a thousand readers each day. I work to add value with each piece. 

Lagniappe. Anne Lamott is a favorite writer. She says her six year-old grandson often wakes and says, "Today could be the best day ever." Make that happen.

Lagniappe 2. Own the standard. 




 

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Sunday, January 25, 2026

Basketball Crescendo

"Anyway, the point is it’s a long piece, maybe fifteen minutes or so, and it starts off slow with just a few quiet instruments and then it gathers momentum and builds and builds into a crescendo, a big finish with all the instruments in the orchestra coming in together. And at the same time, the emotions of the listeners build and come together at the same moment." - Michael Connelly in The Fifth Witness (Lincoln Lawyer, Book 4)

How do you bring along a team to peak headed into the postseason?

Timing matters. 

Apply that across domains - art, philosophy, math and science, music, sports. Van Gogh sold one painting during his life. Only after his death was the extent of his craft excavated. 

'The Lincoln Lawyer', Michael Haller discusses the prosecution's plan to build a symphony of evidence against his client, unleashing into a crescendo of proof.  

Readers know that in "The Bear," Carmen Berzatto learned from his mentors that "Every Second Counts." That's true. But they don't count equally. Exceptional teams improve, gather momentum and become "tough outs" down the stretch. 

Continual improvement

"Love our losses." Learning from mistakes means not repeating the same ones. The plan is to improve every day. 

Team ownership drives results

Excellent teams have team leadership that drives the work ethic and accountability. Russell, Magic, Jordan, Bird, Kobe, Duncan and others had outsized influence in their team narrative. "Follow me" works with both talent and mental toughness. 

Build to a crescendo (input from AI)

Boléro is the perfect postseason metaphor: one rhythm, one theme, relentless patience—then an overwhelming finish. Here are three ways great teams build that same crescendo on the way to tournament time.

1) Relentless repetition → mastery under pressure

Boléro never changes its rhythmic spine. The magic is repetition without boredom.

Team version:
Elite teams resist the urge to “install more” late in the season. Instead, they:

  • Re-run core actions (or defensive rules) daily

  • Add constraints, not concepts (shot clock, disadvantage starts, no-dribble segments)

  • Demand cleaner execution each week, not new ideas

Why it crescendos:
Repetition lowers cognitive load. Under playoff stress, players don’t think—they recognize. Like the snare drum in Boléro, the pulse never wavers.

Postseason edge = fewer decisions, better decisions.

Been there, done that:

Deeper into the post-season, more advantage-disadvantage (5 vs 7 pressure) and more free throw practice.  

2) Incremental load → rising intensity

Ravel doesn’t jump from piano to fortissimo. He adds one instrument at a time.

Team version:
Coaches layer stress progressively:

  • Early: technical precision at moderate pace

  • Mid: game speed + physical contact

  • Late: emotional pressure (crowd noise, consequences, score scenarios)

The work feels manageable daily—but accumulates.

Why it crescendos:
Players adapt without panic. By the time postseason arrives, the intensity feels familiar, not threatening.

You don’t “turn it on” in March. You arrive there already acclimated.

Been there, done that:

You don't play the early rounds of the tournament in 'high visibility' venues. But when the stakes are higher and you're playing in Boston Garden, focus is automatic.  

3) Role clarity → collective power

In Boléro, each instrument enters knowing exactly when and how to contribute. No freelancing.

Team version:
Late-season teams sharpen role definition:

  • Who closes?

  • Who stabilizes?

  • Who brings chaos?

  • Who communicates?

Stars get freedom within structure. Role players get permission to be great at one thing.

Why it crescendos:
Clarity eliminates friction. Energy goes outward, not inward. The group sounds louder than the sum of its parts—like the full orchestra hitting at once.

Been there, done that:

Under the bright lights, "dance with the one that brung you." Asking players who have not done it to do it is a big ask, regardless of their parents' hopes and dreams. 

The shared principle

Boléro teaches restraint. Teams that peak don’t chase novelty or hype. They trust:

  • Process over variety

  • Load over shock

  • Roles over ego

Listen to the start of Ravel’s Bolero, then jump ahead to around 11:30. That’s a crescendo - exactly what Haller meant. Bring your basketball season to a crescendo the same way: through steady, deliberate, daily improvement.

 

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