Friday, January 30, 2026

Basketball : My Way


In Michael Lewis's The Undoing Project Amos Tversky listens to Nobel Laureate Murray Gell-Mann (quarks). At a dinner party, Gell-Mann was pontificating about everything under the sun. Tversky told him, "Murray, there is nobody in the world as smart as you think you are."

As an Assistant Professor of Medicine, I told younger doctors and students that the two best answers in Medicine are, "I don't know" and "That's a good idea, we should think about that."

Coaches, even the stubbornest, evolve with time and experience. That's inevitable as we possess creative imagination and critical imagination. Just as great authors explain that "writing is rewriting," coaching is rethinking.

It's not unique to sport. Polaroid developed a digital product but shelved it and faded away. Blackberry locked in to its product and got washed away by superior smart devices. Inexpensive digital watches (Casio) took down the expensive timepiece industry. 

Games, Plans, and Coaches That Changed Their Domains

Bill Belichick - Take away their strength

In Ron Jaworski's brilliant "The Games That Changed the Game," he includes Bill Belichick's game plan to defeat the Rams' "The Greatest Show on Turf." Belichick believed in adjusting plans each week, not "We do what we do."

Lesson - Refusal to change can mean being left behind.   

Steve Kerr: Finals adjustment - go small, start Iguodala

In the 2015 Finals, Kerr changed the Warriors lineup with recommendations from Nick U'Ren (video tech). Iguodala started over Andrew Bogut, leaning into small-ball, flipping matchups and momentum.

Lesson: “My way” dies in June. Change when needed.

Nick Saban: “Defense and pro-style” evolved

Saban openly acknowledged Alabama needed to “change directions.” He hired Lane Kiffin (2014) pivoting toward a more explosive, tempo and space approach.

Lesson: Great leaders don’t abandon identity - they update.

Think like a scientist (not a preacher/prosecutor/politician)

In "Think Again," Professor Adam Grant informs: leaders get stuck when defending identity instead of testing ideas. He contrasts preacher, prosecutor, or politician modes with the scientist - humble, curious, eager to be corrected.

Lesson: Don’t defend history - validate it. What’s the evidence? Coach K was a naysayer and vocal critic of Coach Calipari's "one-and-done." Then he adopted it. Dabo Swinney didn't think players should get paid. He'd be gone if he didn't change with NIL. 

Build a “challenge network”

Professor Grant argues you need people you trust to call you out, not yes-men, not enemies: those who speak truth to power. 

Lesson: confidants and peers share: “Your pet concept is hurting you.” Coach Cal has his PBOD - personal board of directors with whom he meets periodically. 

Change when needed isn't weakness. It's adaptation and flexibility leading to Darwinian survival. “Stubbornness is just pride wearing a whistle.”

Lagniappe. Give your time and focus. 




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