Follow the crowd or take another path? Often we find safety in numbers.
Other times the loner escapes. Smoke jumper team leader Wagner Dodge set an "escape fire" at his feet to act as a fire break against a wildfire at Mann Gulch (1949). Most of his men who fled perished.
Where is the truth? It's complicated. The medical team on a vital mission rehearsed the mission day after day. One day the refrigerator on the rescue chopper was stocked with blood. Go time. That was their only notice.
Sometimes truth splits hairs.
One game? Should we have standards across the world? There’s no big push for international goaltending rules, court size, three-point lines, and other rules.
From FIBA.com
It's about time. Eight states mandate the high school shot clock. The shot clock speeds up the game and rewards persistent defense. It prepares the best players for shot clocks at the next level. The NFHS doesn't concur.
Zone defense in youth basketball? Nobody disagrees about the value of zone defense in helping defend the pick-and-roll, contain star players, protect players in foul trouble, and force perimeter shots. In our experience, the top girls high school programs in Massachusetts "raise their young" on man-to-man defense. They 'graduate' into mixed and hybrid defenses later.
The "best" offense? As a youth coach, I believe in exposing players to concepts of space, time, screening, cutting, and passing. Let them discover what's hard to defend when properly executed - transition, pick-and-roll, urgent cutting, direct drives with penetration-and-passing. Teach "how to play" with small-sided-games with constraints of space and time.
Popularity contest? Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success reminds us that basketball development takes faith and patience. Youths are migrating to volleyball, soccer, and lacrosse. Should we care?
Say anything. Criticizing LeBron James became an industry after "The Decision." Aside from winning four NBA titles, being the third leading scorer in NBA history, becoming a major philanthropist, an advocate for racial justice, and a successful actor (Trainwreck), he's done nothing. Bill Gates didn't graduate from college either. Don't even start with Tom Brady.
The other side of the trade. If parents don't advocate for their child, who will? Disagreements about role, minutes, and recognition happen. That doesn't make great parents bad people. Endowment bias distorts our view of our children.
Positive or negative? "Nothing great is ever accomplished without enthusiasm." Coaches have to bring positive energy. That doesn't excuse lack of commitment, poor effort or bad execution. But we can't ignore Coach Bob Knight's belief that "basketball is a game of mistakes."
On balance, I argue the positive side.
Lagniappe. Sometimes it feels as though Horns can morph into anything.
Use Horns to flow into floppy. pic.twitter.com/n9gVQfZOsO
— Chris Oliver (@BBallImmersion) January 24, 2021
