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Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Basketball: Know, Teach, and Practice Accountability

Being the 'star' player on a team means accountability. Most never enjoy or suffer that privilege.  

What is accountability? I favor this definition, "holding yourself to the highest standard of performance."

Accountability manifests in many ways. Here are a few. 

  • Always be on time. Better yet be on "Dean Smith Time" (early).
  • Do the skill, strategy, physicality, and psychology work. 
  • Be coachable. 
  • Know your program/team philosophy.
  • Know your team execution plan.
  • Limit turnovers, fouls, and poor quality shots.  
  • Excel in your role. 
  • Study the game.
  • Be a great teammate.
  • Be positive.
  • Bring energy to ourself and to teammates.
  • Tell the truth.
  • "Always do your best," the Fourth Agreement.
  • Learn from mistakes; avoid repeating them.
  • Apply mental models (think better) and understand cognitive bias (overt and implicit pre-judgments).
  • Focus on the well-being of the team first (sacrifice).
  • Don't be needy or a prima donna.
  • Lead. Don't 'bigfoot' younger teammates. 
  • Never make excuses.  
Examine our position on the accountability spectrum. 

Lagniappe. Reading the responses also has value. 

Lagniappe 2. With more teams and players spaced and emphasis on threes, attacking off the catch will likely increase in value.  

Lagniappe 3. What's our brand? Align our attitudes, behaviors, and habits.  

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