Sunday, September 8, 2024

Basketball: Borrowed and Bought

Passing down knowledge and experience is part of the obligation of veteran status. Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers (via Mike Reiss) says there are two kinds of knowledge, "borrowed and bought."

Borrowed knowledge comes transmitted from coaches, players, and film study. 

Bought knowledge is the 'hard knocks' learned by making mistakes. Part of this is the Reaganesque "trust but verify" type.

Investigative journalist Bob Woodward learned that the Mayflower Coffee Shop had an overwhelming number of health inspection violations. He wrote up an article and submitted it to his editor. The editor asked, "have you been there?" He hadn't. He went to the Mayflower Hotel and asked to speak to the coffee shop manager. He was told the Mayflower Coffee Shop was unaffiliated with the hotel and blocks away. 

Woodward checked it out and returned to the editor and asked to have his article back for revision. He noted that if the original were published, it likely would have ended his career. 

Learn from our mistakes but learn to prevent mistakes, too. Think about opportunities for errors:

  • You check in. Who is your assignment?
  • What defense are you playing? 
  • What's your role in transition defense? 
  • How are we defending the high ball screen? 
Learn by doing it the right way instead of fooling around and finding out. 

Lagniappe. Everyone needs a mentor. "No man is an island." 
Lagniappe 2. Add value to players' lives. 


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