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Friday, July 25, 2025

Overcoming Musical Chairs in Basketball

"Our defaults work off deeply ingrained biological tendencies—our tendencies for self-preservation, for recognizing and maintaining social hierarchies, and for defending ourselves and our territory." - "Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results" by Shane Parrish

Let's take a 'hypothetical' situation. A hypothetical is an imagined situation not necessarily true.

Presume there are three similarly skilled guards with the necessary skills - offensive, defensive, basketball IQ. Realistically, two ascend the "depth chart," and the third initially has a smaller role. 

You may have played the game "musical chairs," where the music stops and everyone scrambles for a seat. And each round, one chair gets removed. That's the lineup "numbers game." 

Similarly, the Red Sox have a group of capable outfielders - Abreu, Rafaela, Anthony, Duran, Refsnyder, Yoshida. Depth is great but teams have three outfield slots and the DH. Everyone will not be happy and ownership doesn't want to pay big money for hypothetical production.

The "numbers crunch" challenges coaches and players. Different factors play into it - ego, emotion, the "social" situation, inertia. 

  • Everyone needs to be valued (ego demands).
  • Being left out can create dissent, frustration, anger.
  • Comfort picks the status quo if possible.
  • How is the team reacting to the decision? 
Across the wide world of sport, what happens? Some players put the team first and keep working. Some players redouble their efforts, knowing that playing time is 'dynamic' and depends on performance. Some players rebel and become a distraction. Some quit. 

Coach Sonny Lane used to say, "It's not who starts that matters, it's who finishes." 
  • Earn the trust of your coach and the chance at minutes, role, and crunch time. 
  • Control what you can control - attitude, choices, effort. 
  • Be a great teammate. 
It is hard not to have what you want. If it's important to you, keep grinding. You will always get an opportunity. It's up to you to make the most of it. 

Lagniappe. Don't memorize a dozen zoom (downscreen DHO) actions. Visualize the possibilities and create. 

 Lagniappe 2. Ask players what your club's points of emphasis are. 

Lagniappe 3. What puts you ahead of the coaching game?  

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