"Range" Our Learning to Become More Efficient at Problem Solving, Plus Offensive Rebounding

Summary:

• Consciously extend our learning and thinking range. 
• Grades don't predict problem solving.
• Expose young players to a range of experiences.
• Diagnose first, then treat. 
• Anticipate what can go wrong.
• Network with 'comps'.
• Invest time to study decision making.
• Build range to solve problems more efficiently.

In a world driven by specialists, generalists have edges. In Kurosawa's eponymous masterpiece Dersu Uzala, a woodsman thrives on the Siberian tundra. He overcomes every challenge, until Russian surveyors 'rescue' and relocate him. "Solving" problems that don't exist creates new problems. 

In Range, David Epstein explains how generalists and specialists matter. The book is worth study. Here are a few excerpts: 

Vast distances separate know that and know how. In many circumstances, "street smarts" beat "book smarts." Coaching and playing both require problem solving at the individual and team level. Free throw shooting is a specialty problem within the breadth of basketball. Defense demands application of multiple skills and effort. 

Exposing young players to more situations prepares them for higher level play. To excel, teach pick and roll offense and defense, transition offense and defense, and half court options on both sides of the ball. Apply and defeat pressure. Supplement installation with video study preceded by showing them how to watch video. 

"I wonder, what if, let's try." 

Problem solving requires "diagnosis" before treatment. Postmortem analysis studies why plans failed. Premortem analysis looks at why plans might fail. In basketball, we can't control injuries or illness. Academics, personal or family problems, and other issues can arise and we can't always predict who, what, or when. Does anyone remember when Dave Cowens walked away from the NBA to drive cab?

Network with 'next level' coaches presenting realistic appraisal of a player's abilities, areas for growth, and provide a 'comp' of whom they resemble. We have blindspots and biases to overcome. So do next level coaches. An introduction might get our player a look when otherwise they wouldn't. 

Consider a spectrum of possibilities, varying the results with various inputs. Unforeseen circumstances shift outcomes negatively or positively and unpredictably. My high school coach was under attack from a disgruntled administrator almost fifty years ago. An unexpected thirteen game winning streak saved his job and launched a New England Basketball Hall of Fame career. Focus is a superpower.

My wife admires part of Coach Lane's study on our fortieth anniversary.

We control our attitude, choices, and effort. "Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgment." I've known physicians who catalogued every consultation (e.g. index cards) to supplement their "memory bank" of complex decision making. Find ways to build our database. Extract and apply key lessons as often as possible.

Learn every day. But not just about basketball. The more tools we add to our toolbox - communication, physiology, psychology, skill training, writing skills, and so forth, the better questions asked and answered. 

Lagniappe. Pascal Meurs on Offensive Rebounding with emphasis on positioning, hands, and own shot.