Telling the Truth

“Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.” ― George Orwell, 1984

 

"You can't fool children, dogs, and basketball players." - Kevin Eastman

The Declaration of Independence, our national charter, established a standard for truth. What does that mean for basketball and coaching? 

Sometimes truth presents contradictions. We grow individual excellence but the good of the whole supersedes the wants of the individual (minutes, money, shots). Rhetoric discusses "student-athletes" but reality celebrates "one-and-done." Amateurism drowns in an ocean of athletic scandals capturing some of the biggest names in basketball. How often do coaches say "defense matters" and reward defenders with time on the pine? 

In the interview below, Sherri Coale "accesses player thoughts" by processing "how they feel about what happened in the game...to analyze their own involvement in the game." 


What we say and how we say it matters.

"They become very well versed at saying the truth about just what occurred."

Truth exists. It's our job to dissect the truth from amidst false hustle, good fortune over good process, and the politics of opportunity. 

Coaching young girls (this year, sixth graders), I filter the truth through parents. That includes needs for more aggressiveness, more effort, and more sharing (selflessness). It might mean position or role changes. Patience and belief count.

Truth or excuse? We're seldom getting more than nine players at practice now, because of epidemic illness (flu). We can't play everyone on the same page when all the Paiges aren't playing. So we spend even more time on fundamentals because "two better players are better than two better plays." Statistics have a role. "She's a great shooter." She shot 2 for 22 on three-point shots. Paraphrasing Billy Beane in Moneyball, "If she's such a great shooter, why doesn't she shoot better."

We don't want to hear truth about size needs, athletic deficiencies, strength training (better when peak height velocity arrives), and 'activity competition' as players have chorus, drama, or play multiple sports. 

Nobody (including us) wants criticism of their substance or style, however truthful. Confirmation bias (reading what supports our beliefs), anchoring (relying on first information available), attribution bias (blaming external factors), and irrationality often dominate. "The behavior of National Football League teams on fourth downs departs systematically from the behavior that would maximize their chances of winning."

Our response usually mimics Red Auerbach's, "so he made a study… I couldn’t care less."

Truth has degenerated to our perception. Can we improve our perception? Here are a few possibilities:

• Tracking. Last season a parent monitored playing time. Whatever I might "think" happened didn't always correspond to actual time. That allowed me to "make up" additional time for players who got shortchanged. 
• Mentoring. Atul Gawande, a well-known Boston surgeon, hired a surgeon to oversee his process, comment, and suggest improvements. 
• Questioning. What do you like about practice? What isn't good enough? "We need more water breaks" or "I need more individual work on this." 

Finding truth requires caring and openness. Acknowledging that "I can always be better" and working toward becoming our "better version" gives truth a chance.

Lagniappe:

Tom Thibodeau used to run this with the Bulls. High ball screen with a "flat" set designed to create options for stretch 4, screen-and-roll, and corner 3 off help. Simple can be powerful. 

Shiny Objects - Love and Beauty

"Technique beats tactics." - Gregg Popovich

"Shiny objects" distract us from both the big picture and the fine details in our lives. Staying focused "in the moment" separates excellence from ordinary. 

There's even a "shiny object syndrome" (SOS), a disease of distractions. 

We're all distracted; we have to be. The noise in the bushes on the savannah could kill you. But we need to distinguish the signal from the noise. In Monday Morning Leadership, David Cottrell emphasizes, "the main thing is the main thing." Shiny objects divert our eyes from the main thing. 

Are we focused on our big picture? Coaching sixth grade girls this year, I focus at least 2/3rds of practice time on fundamentals and far less on tactics. My (wishful thinking) model is Larisa Preobrazhenskaya, legendary Russian tennis coach. I tell players "form makes function." Larisa eloquently says, "The secret to coaching is love and beauty. Love and respect for the children -- because each one of them is different -- and beauty of movement. If a forehand or a backhand looks beautiful, then it is likely to be more effective." 



Beauty of movement. Spacing and movement (of players and ball). 
Getting young players to focus presents a challenge. Better attention translates to better students, better thinking, and better players.  

Specifics: 


1. Lion Mind - cultivate the Lion Mind not the Dog Mind. (Mindfulness enhances attention.)
2. Preach "Play in the moment". Be here now. Master this drill. Earn your skill. Win this possession. 
3. The "Time Out" drill. Pause practice for two minutes. Use thirty seconds to diagram a new play. Then hand out index cards and pens and ask every player to reproduce it. I hate the results. To master the game you must master yourself. 

Lagniappe: 

Train Station (BOB)... "There will always be another train." 

Building Confidence in Young Players

"Confidence comes from proven success." - Bill Parcells

Balance matters. Confidence finds middle ground between doubt and arrogance. Coaching empowers us to build or to destroy confidence. Constantly tearing down or belittling players doesn't inspire and sometimes ruins them. 

Finding ways to support players can empower them and us. 

Understand the power of stories. Abraham Lincoln had a series of personal tragedies, severe depression (Lincoln's melancholy), business failures, and election losses but became an American icon. Lincoln spoke in 1854, "“If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

Find the power of physiology. Amy Cuddy discusses power positions, stress hormones, and confidence. Power positions raise testosterone and lower the stress hormone cortisol within a few minutes. "Adopting expansive postures causes people to feel more powerful." Cuddy adds, "fake it until you become it." 

See positives. "Catch people in the act of doing something right." - Pat Riley  People often respond to authentic praise. In The Vision of a Champion, Anson Dorrance opines that female athletes frequently internalize positive feedback. I like to say, "water the flowers." Self-belief can be instilled. "You can never be any better than you think you are."

Get acquainted. People share when we make it comfortable to share. Be willing to ask, "what are you afraid of?" I had a patient who was unhappy with his career and wanted to become an actor. He had nothing tying him to the area. "What's stopping you?" He answered, "my friends say that I'm not good enough." I replied, "I think you need new friends." Better to love a life of dinner theater than to hate being a banker. 

See the possibilities. Punctuation determines Impossible versus I'm possible. Risk taking is hard and exposes us to failure. But "you've got to get off the porch to run with the big dogs." 

Create activities where people can succeed. While "iron sharpens iron", so "a knife slices through butter." Even Usain Bolt once took baby steps. 

Word gets around. We don't always have to praise a player directly to get the message across. When we shine light to a player's confidant or parent, the word may have more credibility and volume than by giving direct feedback. When we praise publicly, in the print media or television, the praise universe burgeons. Dean Smith worked to praise players in the supporting cast who ordinarily received less attention. 

Share the four most powerful words: "I believe in you." 

Lagniappe:

Use similar sets to key different actions. 

"Fence" works best against man-to-man defenses. 

"Fence" with a head tap can expose the middle of a zone. 

Fast Five: Bill Bradley Still Sharing

Younger readers may have never heard of Bill Bradley - Princeton star, Rhodes Scholar, NCAA legend, NBA champion, United States Senator, good man. That's a shame. 

Bradley leveraged a fierce work ethic into a magnificent resume'. He could have been President. 

Some of what I know of him came from John McPhee's A Sense of Where You Are. "For one thing, he has overcome the disadvantage of wealth." Bradley grew up the affluent son of a rich banker, a three-car garage kid, an atypical story where many players arise on 'the wrong side of the tracks.' 




1. He had game. "...single game NCAA tournament scoring record." 

2. Successful free throw shooting includes focused 'targeting'. Bradley was told to aim (old school rims) at the center of the four bolts fixing the goal to the backboard. I sometimes encourage struggling young players to do the same, but now it's the writing on the 'plate' on the underside of the attachment mechanism. 

3. Beat the Pro (a.k.a. Bill Bradley). "It's a make or miss game." In a shooting game to 11, you have to make 11 (by one) versus Bill Bradley (the Pro) who gets three points for each miss. To win, you must make at least 11 of 14 (to win 11 to 9). There's a harder version where you must make 15 before you miss 3 (15 of 17). 

4. Bradleys. 




Go to 3:58 of the video for "Bradleys." I think this drill encourages better release through balance, high release, and consistency. "The closer to the basket, the higher you jump." 

5. "Row plus Throw" make "x in a row, plus a free throw." (From Basketball Skills and Drills, Krause et al.)

Lagniappe:

1-4 low BOB via Zak Boisvert against man-to-man defense. 

Fast Five: "Basketball is Sharing."

1. "Basketball is sharing." - Phil Jackson

The collective experience of basketball shares the pursuit of excellence. 

2. Define yourself through your impact on others. Celtics coach Brad Stevens described Ronald Nored as a great 'sharer' and Nored continues that profile as a coach. “I was put on this earth to help people get better,” says Nored at one point, adding later, “What players want is someone who works hard, but mostly who cares about them. If you have those things, players will respect you and want to play for you.”



3. Toughen up. Programs develop a culture, philosophy, and identity. We're young. We have no identity. We need an identity of sharing and toughness. Find a way to "bring the thunder." Win the one-on-one battles, the 50-50 balls, the sprint into transition, the "shoulders game," the "A to B, 4 to 6." 

4. Communicate better. "Silent teams lose." Talking unifies. Talking intimidates. Talking energizes. 

5. Share more. How are you sharing on the court, helping your teammates? Move the ball; move yourself. Set up your cuts; set great screens. Read your defender; read the play. Impact the game; impact your friends. Be great in your role; be great as a teammate. 

Take away ONE THING: 

"If you will spend one extra hour each day, studying your chosen field, you will be a national expert in that field in five years or less." - Earl Nightingale 

Lagniappe: 

Separation (Without the Ball)

"Get more and better shots than your opponent." - Pete Newell

Easier said than done...

We need to live basketball truths. What truths? 

Basketball symmetry instructs separation for ourselves and teammates and limits separation for opponents. Players underestimate the importance of playing WITHOUT THE BALL. "Movement kills defense." 

Creating individual separation without the ball
- Read defenders. Are they high or low? Are they head turners? Do they hustle? 
- "The ball is a camera." It has to see you to find you. 
- The ball is the smartest thing on the court. It finds the best players. 
- Set up your cut. (Via Jay Bilas, Toughness, "Set up your cut: The toughest players make hard cuts, and set up their cuts. Basketball is about deception. Take your defender one way, and then plant the foot opposite of the direction you want to go and cut hard. A hard cut may get you a basket, but it may also get a teammate a basket. If you do not make a hard cut, you will not get anyone open. Setting up your cut, making the proper read of the defense, and making a hard cut require alertness, good conditioning and good concentration. Davidson's Stephen Curry is hardly a physical muscle-man, but he is a tough player because he is in constant motion, he changes speeds, he sets up his cuts, and he cuts hard. Curry is hard to guard, and he is a tough player."
- Apply both change of direction and change of pace.
- Sometimes cutting AT a defender favors creating space. 
- Spacing facilitates cutting and passing (below) and restricts double teams.
- Cut intelligently. Cutting when the ball handler can't (or doesn't) see you won't allow for proper 'space and time.' 

- "Shorten the pass." Come to the ball.
- You will usually be most open at receipt of the ball. 
- Relocating can make you less visible (below). 

- As 3 slides lower, she becomes harder see as x3 must "see both." 

Creating multiplayer separation without the ball
- Reading off ball screens (below)

- Screened player must know when to curl, back cut, or 'bump' 

- Screener is the second cutter (and usually open). 

- Take advantage of defensive 'teaching' (e.g. jump to the ball, below)

- x1 'jumps to the ball' and gets trapped by the screen
- Play design can open cutters

- Against the 2-3 zone, the cutter (4) moves the low defender (x3) and the screener (5) opens the passing lane for a layup (3).

- You can run your defender into a screen, a defender, or even an official...
- Screening zone defenses offers frequent opportunities

Skill and art make for effective cutting and screening. Separation informs the opportunities that translate into high volume scoring. 

Rhetoric, Motivation, and Change

"Rhetoric is what makes anything you say memorable." 

Good ideas come from anywhere and everywhere. Education changes behavior. We want sticky ideas. Emblazon ideas upon player consciousness. 

Phraseology formulas create memories. "The ball is gold." Coach Lane imprinted that upon us. 

Alliteration is omnipresent and omnipotent. "Winners want the ball."

Forsyth shares the technique progressio, saying something and its opposite. Ecclesiastes 3: "There is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to weep and a time to rejoice, a time to kill and a time to heal..." Well, "there is a time to shoot and a time to hold the ball, a time to play fast and a time to stall, a time to press and a time to lay back..." 


Forsyth celebrates Katy Perry as a master of rhetorical progression. 

We can use other techniques, too. Americans have an attachment to chiasmus, turning a phrase. "We put an end to turnovers or turnovers put an end to us."

We use antithesis. "Fight like champions or lie down like dogs," or "the hardest criticism in basketball is being called soft." Billy Ocean knew chiasmus. 



Colin Firth used antithesis in Kingsman. 

We've all used hyperbole (exaggeration). In a following season, a player told me, "you told us, you play basketball as you live your life. You can't let other people push you around. That really stuck." 

Keanu Reeves used tricolon in The Replacements, phrase comprised of three equal parts. 


"Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever." 

"Rhetoric is what makes anything you say memorable. Rhetoric is what makes what you say stick...rhetoric is what persuades people of your position...rhetoric is what provokes emotion." 

Learn and teach how to change the world, possession by possession. 

Lagniappe: Spurs SLOB - Scissors, Zipper, Stagger

Fast Five: Top Questions to Ask Ourselves Today

Tom Brady explains his success as "having the answers to the test." What questions belong on our daily self-examination?

1. How do I improve today? Be specific. 

2. What does my team need now? We're young. Mike Krzyzewski's advice, "it's about making plays, not running plays." We're playing a lot of 'small-sided games' (3 on 3) in confined spaces. 

3. How can I simplify the game? Everything offensively starts with spacing. We're starting to understand how "ball gravity" is negative for offensive flow.

4. Is this drill/activity translating directly to game play? 



I repeat this drill. The girls really "got it" as far as attacking with this last night. 

5. And from Michael Useem in The Leadership Moment, the after-action review:
   What went well?
   What went poorly?
   How can I improve what went poorly?
   What is the enduring lesson? 

Fast Five: The Psychology of Performance

We have great tools available.

We know that you need emotion to make decisions. We cannot trash emotion and make decisions. The opponents come out and score the first six points. Do we take a timeout by emotion (to stop the run), by rule, or do nothing? 

But emotion gets layered upon other "business" analysis, such as perceived quality, value, and growth prospects. How good is my "team" (family, work, sports team), where is the value, and how can we improve? 

A few lessons extracted from Market Mind Games: 

FUNDAMENTALS

Key Concepts

The task in trading is to predict the future perception of other market players. (What can the other team do to give us trouble? Experienced teams understand context. Younger players can't color within the lines because they don't see the lines or connect the dots. We have to provide a lot of structure while teaching context.)

Beliefs are pre-existing conditions that create implicit context. (We know that good teams need to create and defeat pressure.)

The Spectrum of Fear

On the left: Fear of Losing (Teams need to play to win, not to avoid loss.)

Middle: Anxiety due to Ambiguity / Uncertainty (paralysis by analysis)

On the right: Fear of Missing Out ("If only")

HANDLING YOUR EMOTIONS

Hold On to Winners by Improving Self Awareness.

Do more of what works and less of what isn't. We can improve - WRITE down what is working and what isn't. 

“Emotions as Data” — Monitor Your Emotions for Analysis

"Reams of research indicate that putting feelings into words does indeed provide a great benefit, it not only reduces anxiety but verbalization can actually allow us to work more effectively on a thinking level."

Unconscious Motivations Are Dangerous

"What am I doing and why?" Are my actions consistent with my stated (written) intent? 

Accept Your Emotions as Natural and Stop Blaming Yourself

But-I-Know-Better (BIKB) trades set up feeling and emotional contexts of self-recriminations. Just catching yourself in those — and the feelings surrounding them — will impact your bottom line in a positive way. 

Get used to admitting to yourself (and if possible to someone you can trust) what you are feeling. 

Walk Away When Your Emotions Get Intense 

Stay grounded. Be the adult in the room. When the feelings and emotions you are experiencing become the most intense, you can be assured that it is not really about the markets or the money.

LEVERAGING ON YOUR AWARENESS

Use Your Emotional Awareness for Risk Management and for Reading the Market

The more conscious you are of your emotions, the more you can use this knowledge first as risk management and eventually as a tool for reading others. 

Maintain your Physical-Psychological Edge

Trading (Coaching) is actually a physical game. Playing the “sport” of trading should be handled as if you are the quarterback of an American football team.

Rest: Being well-rested is an edge.

Diet: When one really concentrates, the body and brain use an inordinate amount of energy. Eating properly keeps your energy up and adds to that physical-psychological edge.

Exercise: Exercise gives us a physical boost that makes us feel more optimistic, and that counts as psychological capital.

The body counts essentially as much as your intellect. If the body is feeling the static of tired or drained, the feelings and emotions of risk-management and people reading can’t properly communicate their data.

Why Pros Trade the Close, and Amateurs Trade the Open

Use available data to make better choices. "Literally, your mind has more contextual details to make a judgment call about what the next play will be." (Simple is better. It's always tempting to teach to a higher level.)

Why People Fight Trends

Trends are facts. Why do we choose to deny facts? Sometimes it takes time to identify the facts. "I have yet to find someone who habitually fights trends that doesn’t ultimately reveal a very clear and specific reason that arises out of their personal and family history." (Our emotions can betray us.)

Lagniappe: a HORNS SLOB

That Which Is Seen and That Which Is not Seen

In 1850, Frederic Bastiat wrote a lengthy essay, "That Which is Seen and That Which Is not Seen." He reminds us that easy actions often have unintended consequences. "The sweeter the first fruit of a habit is, the more bitter are the consequences. Take, for example, debauchery, idleness, prodigality."

We are all economists, weighing finite resources such as practice time, playing time, roles, and our personal time. 

Practice time. Amidst practice time, we determine time spent offensively and defensively, and allocation within those domains.  Applying and defeating pressure owns time, the half-court game, specialty situations like inbounds plays, end-of-clock and end-of-game management. Conditioning within drills does double duty. Within our choices, is every activity transferrable to game play? 

Playing time. Chuck Daly noted, "every player wants 48 - 48 minutes, 48 shots, 48 million dollars." More time for Peter means less for Paul. Competition for those limited resources motivates positive and negative behavior. Situations impact lineups and the goal is to succeed with the players who play the best together not the best players. Nobody pleases everyone.

Roles. Players earn minutes. Define your role and excel within. Dominate defensively or rebound, and offensively become facilitators, scorers, screeners or combinations. When insight and work ethic match aspiration and skills, the possibilities are limitless. If unhappy with your role, ask the coach how you can contribute more. "Do more to become more; become more to do more." 

Personal time. Coaching and playing can consume us. Attend to our family, personal growth, exercise, sleep, and proper diet. Bastiat counsels us, "Let us accustom ourselves, then, to avoid judging of things by what is seen only, but to judge of them by that which is not seen."

Lagniappe: layup under pressure drill. 

What's Your "Wow" Factor?

Tony Hsieh at Zappos discusses "wowing" his customers. Zappos uses 'wow' as a verb. What can we do as coaches (or players) to wow our program? 

To wow prioritizes relationships and exceeds expectations. 

Communication. Relationships come first. Build relationships, trust, and loyalty. Greet every player by name within the first minutes of practice. Catch people in the act of doing something right. Find successes to praise, "I believe in you." 

Investment. We invest in our teams in many ways. They don't have to be expensive. Notebooks and handouts are simple and inexpensive.

Add value. Teach. Encourage a growth mindset. Share something great. 

Last night I distributed this inspirational quote poster to each player and to my assistant (to hang in his high school classroom). Almost all of the girls knew of Mia Hamm. "How did you know she was my favorite?" 

Lagniappe. Lagniappe means 'something extra.' Find ways to help them do more and become more. Last night I had them play "Ultimate." Ultimate 1 is full court, no dribble pass and cut with the goal of getting a "touchdown" in the end zone (two feet catch over the end line). If the ball touches the floor it's a turnover and the other team plays the ball from the spot. Ultimate 2 changes to the goal to scoring and allows bounce passes. Ultimate helps 'cure' the disease of excess dribbling. In our world, we make the rules.

Authenticity. "You can't fool children, dogs, and basketball players." Don't let the short-term (a bad loss on Sunday) corrupt the big picture. We change lives but it doesn't happen overnight. 

Purpose beyond passion. Can I help create better people, who care about their teammates and their community as well as themselves? I hope I live long enough to find out. 

Last Night's New Drill: "Bradleys". 

Each group has a shooter and a rebounder. The shooter holds the ball (at the block) at least at shoulder level. She "bounces" three times, maintains balance and shoots. I tell them to say "bounce, bounce, bounce, shot." The goal: get more elevation, balance, and better releases in close. 

Defense 101a: Position and Rotation

"Technique beats tactics." - Gregg Popovich

Size and athleticism help but don't replace technique. Proper defensive positioning emerged as an issue for us today. It won't happen automatically or overnight. But it's on me to help our team understand and execute. 

Alertness and awareness inform defensive reaction and execution. Players have to "see both" the ball and defensive assignment. As a middle schooler, we faced a grim reminder of losing vision...a volleyball would come flying out of nowhere at us. We learned... although this would never be acceptable today. 

"The ball scores." x4 helps but other help defenders, like x3 must "help the helper" to protect the basket. Communication with help and recover actions are at the core of team defense. 

Even if a young team spaces well, 4 and 2 won't hurt you consistently with perimeter scoring. Get into position to help and then recover to your assignment. 

Fast Five: Finding Mentors

Our knowledge, wisdom, experience, and perception are both imperfect and limited. Mentors can help us work within our limitations. We can acquire mentors in different domains - our job, hobbies, interests. 

Overconfidence in our beliefs and process informs hubris. Overconfidence exposes us to errors. Mentors provide feedback, ask relevant questions, and modify our perspective. 



Tim Ferriss suggests that we are the average of the five people with whom we associate most. We define our truth. 

Kentucky Coach John Calipari has a personal "board of directors" with whom he meets several times yearly. Could we do the same? If so, whom would we impanel? 

Consider seeking mentors in literature and communications (e.g. books and podcasts). Aristotle, Lincoln, or Marcus Aurelius sustain thought leadership through time. Our mentors sharpen our process. 

Atul Gawande, author of The Checklist Manifesto, Better, and Being Mortal enlisted an experienced surgeon to oversee some of his cases to suggest improvements on technique and process. As a young Navy doctor, I often lunched with senior physicians. My colleagues asked, "why are you eating with those old guys?" I answered, "they know stuff and willingly share." 

Want to improve. Mentors add value to us that we can redistribute. Their legacy literally informs ours. Sideline our ego not by asking "am I right" but by seeking "how can I improve?"

Ask better questions. What's specifically wrong? Can we do this better, simpler, smarter? I use Michael Useem's "question set" from The Leadership Moment. 

• What went well?
• What went poorly?
• How can we do better next time?
• What are the enduring lessons? 

Understand meta-attention, attention to attention. Improve the contrast and the vividness of the picture before us. When you got out of bed this morning, which foot hit the floor first (my left)? We train our attention and memory just as athletes train their muscles. 

Explore ways to enhance your strengths. Mindfulness exercises encourage focus. 





10 Best Ideas: What do the world's best do?

1. What would this look if it were easy?
2. Macro versus micro. "Decisions determine destiny." Focus on now.
3. What failure helped you succeed? 
4. "Crush one platform." Manage your energy. "The main thing is the main thing."
5. Self-esteem is how you see your reputation. Improve your personal reputation.
6. Extreme ownership...via the Navy SEALs. 
7. Make your life what you want. 
8. "Discipline equals freedom." Our process defines us. 
9. Ask better questions. 
10.Honor the struggle. It's the grind. 

We take life's raw materials, refine them into intermediate goods and finished product. We can always do it better with a little help.