"Every part of a campaign has to serve the main message." - David Axelrod
Stay on message. "Teamwork, improvement, accountability." "Play hard, play smart, play together." Own your message.
It won't be easy because sport breeds agendas. Someone tells a player, "you have to get yours." It doesn't matter if it's a friend, a parent, a club coach. Their message becomes, "I have to get mine."
You say, "it's an urban legend." It's not. I've overheard the message to put the player interests ahead of the team. Because nobody says it aloud. It's real, ugly, and not the nearly extinct ivory-billed woodpecker (above).
1. TEAM. "It's about the team." The 2008 Celtics used Ubuntu.
2. TEAMMATES. "Don't play for me, the school, or the community. Play for the girl next to you." Be there for her. Make trust and loyalty to your teammates the priority. Our attitude, behaviors, and effort reflect upon us and our families.
3. POSSESSION and POSSESSIONS. Play possession by possession. This narrative takes other names, "be here now, next play, or play present." Get more quality possessions through avoiding turnovers, by rebounding, steals, and forced turnovers.
4. ONE BAD SHOT. Work to allow opponents at the maximum, one bad shot, preferably a 'hard 2'...contested without fouling.
5. QUALITY OFFENSE IS NO ACCIDENT. High octane offense includes design, skill development, valuing the ball, and attention to detail. That includes 'hard-to-defend' actions:
- Drive and drive-and-kick (see Lagniappe)
- Ball screens from differing locations
- Cut and pass (give-and-go, backdoor cuts)
- Complex screens (screen-the-screener, Spain PnR)
- Transition