In 1850, Frederic Bastiat wrote a lengthy essay, "That Which is Seen and That Which Is not Seen." He reminds us that easy actions often have unintended consequences. "The sweeter the first fruit of a habit is, the more bitter are the consequences. Take, for example, debauchery, idleness, prodigality."
We are all economists, weighing finite resources such as practice time, playing time, roles, and our personal time.
Practice time. Amidst practice time, we determine time spent offensively and defensively, and allocation within those domains. Applying and defeating pressure owns time, the half-court game, specialty situations like inbounds plays, end-of-clock and end-of-game management. Conditioning within drills does double duty. Within our choices, is every activity transferrable to game play?
Playing time. Chuck Daly noted, "every player wants 48 - 48 minutes, 48 shots, 48 million dollars." More time for Peter means less for Paul. Competition for those limited resources motivates positive and negative behavior. Situations impact lineups and the goal is to succeed with the players who play the best together not the best players. Nobody pleases everyone.
Roles. Players earn minutes. Define your role and excel within. Dominate defensively or rebound, and offensively become facilitators, scorers, screeners or combinations. When insight and work ethic match aspiration and skills, the possibilities are limitless. If unhappy with your role, ask the coach how you can contribute more. "Do more to become more; become more to do more."
Personal time. Coaching and playing can consume us. Attend to our family, personal growth, exercise, sleep, and proper diet. Bastiat counsels us, "Let us accustom ourselves, then, to avoid judging of things by what is seen only, but to judge of them by that which is not seen."
Lagniappe: layup under pressure drill.