Basketball: From Synecdoche to Star, Michelangelo to Keller to Wooden

Basketball Friday shares process, practice, and performance. Find something to steal and make your own.  

Screen capture from MasterClass, James Cameron

Create characters. James Cameron says a classic synecdoche is a suit, a generic business person. Cameron introduces Colonel Quaritch in 

Avatar, polished boots striding on a steel floor. They're a 'reveal' about the man. 

Refer to a 'pass first point guard" or a "three and D" guy and reduce them to an archetype, a representation of their play. Of course, call them a possible future Durant, Kawhi, or Taurasi and we paint a different picture. 

Conflicting forces work on the developing player - mindset, family, friends, social media, coaching. For coaching to matter, players need trust and the buy-in to see value added. James Cameron says "the key is to get the actor to a safe place where they can explore and they can feel empowered to go as far as they feel like going." 

Like directors, coaches cast characters. Michelangelo said it was his job to find a sculpture inside a block of marble. When someone called it miraculous that he could create a masterpiece like the Pieta at age 24, he supposedly said that it's not if you've worked your craft eight hours a day since you were a child. 

To avoid injecting our perception and biases is impossible. When the special player emerges, who gives more and has more, they get more. I won't apologize for that. That doesn't mean we ignored everyone else. 

Thomas Keller says time and temperature inform great cooking. Faith and patience (time) flank the top of John Wooden's "Pyramid of Success." From Michelangelo to Keller to Wooden, time illuminates the common thread to greatness.

Drill. Defense turns the player and then effects a give-and-go into a one-on-one basket attack in the forecourt. Work from both ends of the court. 

Work on ball containment and denial. 

Set play. Catch defenders in traffic with scissor cuts and variations. 

1 and 2 finish cuts (left) to leave a skilled 5 with an iso option. 

Lagniappe. Build great habits of pace and pass. 

Lagniappe 2. Villanova finishing, 12 second clip.

"Multiple actions." 

• Reverse pivot. 
• Big clears to open the middle.
• Attack the front foot/hand
• Downhill drive and strong finish (foul) off two feet for power/stability

Lagniappe 3. Educators change behavior. Help players succeed in the classroom. Samuel Thomas Davies shares book summaries like this one on 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing.