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Monday, April 8, 2024

Basketball: Make Listening a Superpower

Charles Barkley asks, "what is your NBA skill?" There's an essential that everyone can improve - listening. Listening skills translate into every facet of life - relationships, school, work, extracurricular activities. 

"The first price achievers pay is to pay attention." 

Post by @blake_bookclub
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Listening is trainable. Interviewers ask for more information:
  • "Tell me more."
  • "...and then what?"
  • "Can you clarify that for me?" 
You might say, "that won't make me a better shooter or a better athlete." Here's an analogy, 'attention deficit disorder'. The patient with ADD often struggles to stay focused in school, work, and on the court. Inability to listen, follow directions, and learn hinders progress. 

Listening is necessary but not sufficient. When listening, consider if the information seems credible, specific, provable. 

Make it important. 
Make it intentional. Good listeners make listening a priority. 
When possible, take notes. 
When completed, mentally summarize what you learned.
Work to remember a few enduring points. 

Consider the following: 
In the era of threes, shots at the rim, and free throws, this NBA shot distribution chart seems expected. The absence of midrange shots and "long twos" meshes with what we see. 

But should this be generalized? At lower levels (e.g. high school and youth), shot range and accuracy plummets. One observer three years ago told me of a game where 50 percent of one team's missed shots didn't even hit iron. I see high school girls' games where three point shots fall at under a twenty percent rate and airballs are more common than makes. 
Great shots are not universal across levels. 

Better listening, better basketball. 

Lagniappe. Build strength with kettlebells. 

Lagniappe 2. Opening space for drivers creates opportunities inside and outside. 
Lagniappe 3. Simplicity often rules. 


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