Hard Work
Big picture
Small picture - Details
Horse sense
Persist
Big picture. Professionalism applies at the highest and the lowest levels of basketball (or other domains)
- Be on time ("Dean Smith Time" meant ten minutes early)
- Know your job (responsibilities)...if you don't know, ask!
- Set priorities (absolutes) that need to be done... it might mean anything from practicing a skill, watching video, or getting treatment.
- Do your job. It's "know that" over "know how."
- Academics. "There is no ability without eligibility."
Small picture. Operate at a granular (detailed) level.
- What are the coaches' expectations?
- "Don't cheat the drill." Effort is a choice.
- Break down key parts of the game.
- Half-court defense
- Half-court offense
- Transition offense
- Transition defense
- Defending the pick-and-roll (get on the same page)
As coaches, clarify roles and expectations. Sacrifice quantity of tactics for quality of both tactics and technique. "We can't run it if we can't run it (execute)."
Analyze how we are scoring (or not scoring). Are points in transition, sets, threes, in the paint, free throws?
Horse sense. "Do you want information from the horse's mouth or the other end?"
- "It's the work." A new U.S. Senator was advised to meet with senior senators. Staff set up a meeting with Senator Robert Byrd who asked, "are you a work horse or a show horse?" It's the same in basketball. Some players come into The Association and "live the life." They don't stick around. The competition is just too good to rest on your laurels.
- Often it's the work horse who gets noticed and advances.
- Learn how things connect. You've heard the expression, "pee like a racehorse." Diuretics aren't intended to make the horse pee, but to reduce nosebleeds. How fast can you run with a nosebleed?
Persist. You know the Aesop fable about the Tortoise and the Hare.
- Nothing replaces will.
- What are you prepared to sacrifice?
- "Just keep going."
- Bill Belichick preaches, "it's about ability and durability."
Summary:
- Be professional.
- Operate at a granular (detailed) level.
- Break down key parts of the game.
- Analyze how we are (or are not) scoring.
- Sacrifice quantity of tactics for quality of both tactics and technique.
- It's the work horse that gets noticed.
- It's about ability and durability.
Lagniappe. Shooting drill (3 shots)
Catch and shoot 3, transition dribble 3, off the screen jumper.
*Some elements adapted from MasterClass (The White House) on Resilience