Humans succeed in part because of our ability to use analogies. Analogies bathe us in the light of possibility. I shared this piece recently on analogies that impact winning. This summarized:
- Playing hard is a skill
- Basketball uses military tactics.
- Every organization has its DNA.
- "There is always a pecking order."
- "The ball is a camera."
- "The ball has energy."
The great inventor Thomas Edison relied on analogies for his creations. "The bridge that allows us to come up with new ideas is usually an analogy: a way of looking at two things in your memory or in the world and seeing the similarity in their underlying structures."
Daily life immerses us in basketball analogies. Find a few that work for you.
"Work in progress" or "Rome wasn't built in a day..." It takes years to assemble the pieces in a puzzle.
Cornerstone Everyone searches for foundational pieces. Industriousness and Enthusiasm are the cornerstones of Wooden's Pyramid of Success.
Dribble tag is a children's game that serves as an outstanding warmup drill for evasive dribbling under control.
Touchdown passes. Fall in love with easy by looking down the floor for uncontested layups.
Lightning rods Coaches attract criticism for personnel moves, player development, assignment of roles, and strategy.
Lunchpail guys/putting on the hardhat. We celebrate not only the stars but players doing the grunt work.
Hardware/software upgrade. We upgrade the hardware (athleticism) by training and the software (decision-making) with instruction and film review. Mindfulness upgrades BOTH hardware (brain density in memory and learning centers) and the software (focus and decision-making).
Elevator or sandwich screens. In 'a game of movement" combine movement with screening for separation.
Magicians. Magic wasn't the only ballhandler who performed his magic act.
Snipers. Everyone digs the long ball.
Hoover or Windex. Rebounds equal possessions by vacuuming or 'cleaning the glass.'
Glue guy or straw that stirs the drink the former helps the team connect and the latter energizes.
Cancer. Being disruptive can be a good thing unless you're disrupting your own team.
Energizer bunny. Some guys keep 'going and going'
Hair on fire. We hear about 'high octane' players or a guy who plays so hard he seems like he's on fire.
Black hole Matter disappears in a black hole... pass the ball in to some guys and it never come out.
Craftsman, butcher, bricklayer? Players can play with unusual finesse or something less.
"Lightbulbs" Pete Carril guys who light up the court as lightbulbs.
Renaissance Man. Some players (e.g. Bill Bradley, Jaylen Brown) or coaches (Popovich) have a myriad of interests.
Hears a different drummer. Unconventional thinker? Kyrie Irving hears a different drummer.
Force of nature. LeBron, Giannis, Luka, KD. At times these guys are otherworldly.
Harder to fool than sneaking the sun past a rooster. This applies to the wily veterans like Chris Paul.
Does everything in the gym except sell popcorn. The All-Everything guy...
"Coach killers." Bo Schembechler talked about not getting certain guys, who might beat you once a year instead of every day because of their character.
Play chess while others play checkers. Second-order thinking shows unusual clarity of thinking or anticipation.
Cliches...such as "going toe to toe." Announcers analogize from other sports.
Dead man's defense... I use the defensive slander to mean playing six feet under the ball handler. That is also "area code defense."
Ripple effects (e.g. of injury) have extensive and long-lasting impact.
Scylla and Charybdis create difficult decisions (whirlpool or monster) deciding what to take away, how to play closeouts, go big or go small.
Lagniappe. "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." That applies to basketball via older stars or salary caps and so forth. In player development, find multiple ways to get your three-point shot.
What would he know?
Kerr had a career three-point percentage of .454.
