Basketball: To Build Maximum Value Take the Long View

"This could be a great life." - Sam Hinkie on taking the long view In his podcast, Hinkie notes, "defense is poorly measured" and "three is more than two." He also finds, "so much of the value is about finding amazing people who can be additive in a kind of combinatorial system." Find "stunning colleagues." 

Building value for the long term  takes patience and courage. That can mean ignoring the short-term and taking heat. Others will disagree. Preparation, process, and consistency define us. 

Will and Ariel Durant say competition, selection, and reproduction link biology to history in The Lessons of History. Sport agrees. We pick our teams, compete, and grow. For that, we suffer the critics. The Durants share wisdom dating from ancient Rome, "A shallow sophistication prided itself upon its pessimism and cynicism." Did Rome have sports journalism? 

Constantly prepare because we never know when what comes next.

What backstops our search for truth? What makes peak performance? What choices and risks impact our returns? What keeps us awake at night? Selecting young players, we have small sample size (tryouts) to identify 'mispriced assets'. For me, potential is truth. Awakening that potential tests us. 

Culture nurtures growth. We can't predict the twenty-year success of twelve year-olds. But we can raise the level of every child as a person and player. Brett Ledbetter adopted philosophies from Don Meyer:

• Not real big on goals
• Have the best practice we could everyday
• Become the best team we can be
• No need to put goals that add pressure

Think about the team as a 'franchise'. Build long-term value. Constantly refine our learning and teaching. Chess champion Garry Kasparov notes, "a good tactical combination includes a few components." We must develop multiple threats that opponents will find hard to defend. 

Lagniappe:

Hat tip: Scott Peterman

Baseline out of bounds

Timing is everything. 

Double Lagniappe: Shell advantage-disadvantage drill for communication (Celtics assistant Micah Shrewsberry and others)