Basketball: What Keeps You Awake at Night? Art (Film) Imitates Life

"As the area of our knowledge grows, so does the perimeter of our ignorance." - Neil DeGrasse Tyson

A theory is the highest level of understanding about something. Amidst pandemic uncertainty, what keeps us awake at night? 

1. Teamwork. Do we have one heartbeat? It starts with attitude. Excellent teams care about each other and for each other. Coaches foster teamwork but it takes players who want to play for each other. Mike Lombardi's quote about football character stands out. 

Steven M.R. Covey restated it visually as character and competence in The Speed of Trust. Will my next team have heart? 


2. Communication. Do we communicate? Asking for ELO - early, loud, and often - is a long shot going from ground zero. It starts in practice, calling assignments, help, pick-and-roll coverage. But we don't have practice now... 




3. Playing smart. Excellent teams make good decisions. Their basketball IQ outshines their opponents'. They recognize situations with Colonel John Boyd's OODA loop - observe, orient, decide, and act. They called him "Forty Second Boyd" because he could win a dogfight in forty seconds. 

"In the popularized interpretation, the OODA loop suggests that success in war depends on the ability to out-pace and out-think the opponent, or put differently, on the ability to go through the OODA cycle more rapidly than the opponent."

But, it's not that simple. A hasty decision can cause irreversible setbacks. 




Or not. 

4. Charity. We can't give the ball (or points) away. Turnovers, missed assignments, lack of help ("the ball scores"), uncontested shots, bad fouls, and failed block outs give games away. We can't "go back" to fundamentals. Never leave them. 




"You'd be killing yourself." 

5. Execute the game plan. 

What has to be our focus? Coach Dave Smart says, "we don't run a lot." 

• Stop transition points. 
• Contain the ball.
• Defend the pick-and-roll.
• Win the shot selection battle. 

Summary: Sleeping concerns 

Teamwork
Communication
Basketball IQ
Mistakes
Execution

Lagniappe: Popovich designs a SLOB winner. 




Simple actions, first to get the ball in, then to get separation for an open shot first with a fake handoff, then a dribble handoff.