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Saturday, June 6, 2026

Basketball - Einstein and Not Einstein

Albert Einstein is often celebrated for his genius and creativity in an Age of Creativity. His knowledge can inform basketball. 

Learning the truth about Einstein ("Make friends with the dead") may help us to understand our thought process and limitations better...or not. It was said by an attendee in amphitheater, "I sat in the balcony but he was speaking way over my head." 

A study of Albert Einstein reveals contradictions. He was dismissed multiple times during his career in unimaginable ways.


Born in 1879, he entered an “Age of Enlightenment” in the early 20th century that spawned Picasso, Matisse, Stravinsky, James Joyce and other creatives. Basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith in 1891.


He often thought in pictures, which helped him construct his Theory of Relativity through thought experiments. Thinking in pictures adds value for both players and coaches.


He finally received the Nobel Prize in 1922, actually receiving the 1921 Prize that had not been awarded. The prize was for Photoelectric discovery, not relativity. Consider Dean Smith who is sometimes remembered as "the only man who held Michael Jordan under 20 points a game (17.7 ppg for three years)."


Ironically, he won the 1921 Nobel Prize in 1922 and gave his acceptance speech half a year later in 1923. He literally used the funds from the Nobel, ten times that of his Professorial salary, to buy divorce from his first wife. 


Experiments in 1919, examining the position of stars during an eclipse, confirmed the Theory of Relativity, as images confirmed that gravity bent light, showing that a star’s position was ‘relative’. Great players have "gravity" as defenses 'account' for them, opening opportunities elsewhere. For all the controversy surrounding Caitlin Clark, few would dispute her gravitational impact.


Einstein sought a unified theory of relativity, electromagnetism, and gravity. Basketball can't even get a unified set of rules between American and FIBA.


He was said to be a brilliant lecturer, but often lectured in a way that few understood him. "What has not been learned has not been taught."


He had a conflict with Thomas Edison, who believed that teaching facts should take priority. Einstein argued that learning how to think was more important than facts, which could always be looked up. In basketball, "automating" actions can create separation and opportunity.


Thus, one quote attributed to him, “Imagination is more important than information” is contested. Here are legitimate ones and coaching applications:


1. "I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious."


Coaching application: Great learners often outperform "talented" learners because curiosity drives improvement.


"It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible..." (He championed simplicity.)


Coaching application: Simplify offense, simplify communication, simplify teaching - but not to the point that important details disappear.


"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."


Coaching application: If a team struggles with resilience, communication, or discipline, more of the same thinking may not solve the problem. (We can’t keep doing the same failing process.)


Three quotes that probably don’t originate with him:

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

"Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world."

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

Coaching quote? "It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer."


Persistence has power as long as we don’t persist at doing the wrong things. My version to athletes is “Hard work is a skill.”


Lagniappe. "We're going to push you."  
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