Saturday, September 12, 2015

The Art of War (and Basketball)

Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War sometime around 500 B.C.  Scholars consider him one of history's great military theorists. Leadership experts adapt his principles to many disciplines.

My goal is to apply some of his principles to basketball theory and practice. Some slides are taken from Sompong Yusoontorn. Any misconstructions are mine.

This only scratches the surface of the depth of the author. For example, we can apply his comments to varying pace and the complementary use of man-to-man (individual assignment) and zone defense. "He who relies solely on warlike measures shall be exterminated; he who relies solely on peaceful measures shall perish." - Sun Tzu

His five constant factors (below) are elaborated in The Art of War. For example, "The COMMANDER stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage, and strictness."

"Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack." All phases of the game - offense, defense, and conversion have vital and complementary roles.















Many of you may say, "all this is obvious." I only ask, is it obvious to the player, to the observer at practice, and to the fan at the games? Does the process, preparation, discipline, and sacrifice resonate through the entirety of our program? Do the same principles translate to the player's daily life and activities, the constancy of purpose, growth mindset, and relentless focus on learning, decisions, and execution?