This should make you laugh. So it is Friday night and the Denver Nuggets are preparing for a pre-season match-up with the Portland Trail Blazers. Fifteen minutes before tip-off, Nuggets Head Coach George Karl realizes he has two right shoes. Poor guy. It is his first game back from going through throat cancer treatment and literally, starts off on the wrong foot. His team ends up taking this one from Portland 109-99, so the shoes really didn't matter. It's what he said about being back that stuck out for me, "...but there's a peacefulness to being back there and listening to the chatter and interacting with players and coaches and some fans". Sometimes this is better than the chemo or any other treatment the oncologist will throw at you. A friend of mine just told me his lung cancer has spread to his back and he will be in the hospital soon for more treatments. He thinks the same way Coach Karl does. Feeling the love and affection from those around you and choosing to be real (CHOOSE being the operative word) and living life in a positive way helps you fight this disease. For REAL. So if anyone out there is battling cancer or knows someone who is, realize it can be scary but it doesn't have to be. Sometimes you might feel like you have two right feet like Coach Karl but you are not alone. And hey, if basketball is your distraction, you are in good company, my friend. Let's talk Turkey, Raptors and something that disturbs me about the Denver Nuggets marketing strategy.
A Sad Turkey in Philly
It's a real shame when you take time away from your job and come back to realize you don't have one anymore. There has to more to it than to be "seemingly unwanted" by the NBA when it comes to Allen Iverson. Maybe rosters are full, clubs committed to other players or the dreaded and overused "going in a different direction". At the end of the day, Allen Iverson is still a great basketball player no matter what his problems were off the court. (As long as they don't become a distraction on the court). His heart is with the NBA but in the interest of playing the game he loves, is seriously considering a move to Turkey. I know we've talked about a move overseas for Iverson before but it just feels awkward for someone like him not to being playing in the NBA. Iverson had been negotiating a deal with China and those talks aren't dead yet but Turkey is looking like his best option since their season is starting soon. Remember, he's 35 years old and after he was drafted number one in 1996, spent 10 years in a Philadelphia uniform, is a 4-time scoring champion and it wasn't until a stint with Memphis and a return to Philly did Iverson really deal with on and off the court issues. Why wouldn't the Toronto Raptors be willing to take a one-year contract with him and roll the dice? They have nothing to loose. It's just pains me to see someone with his talent possibly leaving the NBA.
History Makes a Pattern
So the Toronto Raptors are in Chicago tonight ready to take on the Bulls. Barring a look at Carlos Boozer, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah or Kyle Korver, the history of these two teams playing each other seems to land in the Raptors' favour. Think back to their last two games. On December 5, 2009, Toronto came out strong in the first quarter with over double the amounts of points Chicago had (37-16) and managed to hang onto an edge in quarters 3 and 4 to win the contest 110-78. This was done with Chris Bosh in the line-up and managing 25 points and 12 rebounds on the night - with 13 of those points coming in the first quarter alone. Now switch to April 11th, 2009 in Toronto. Now it's Derrick Rose with a game-high 26 points, leading his team to a 104-88 victory over the Raptors. Chicago was only up by five points in the first quarter (28-23) but took two of the three following quarters. What does this tell you? When these two clubs meet, the team who comes out strong and plays strong for 3 of 4 quarters will win the contest. Especially true for the Raptors who are trying to gain every bit of an edge they can. I don't know that Jarret Jack or Leandro Barbosa will put up the points they did against Boston Sunday night because that would mean the Raptors are becoming consistent and free of living under Bosh's shadow. Give them time. Before the play was "get it to Bosh". Now they seem to be playing the floor more and working together as a team. Let's be serious for a second. No one thought the Boston Celtics would have been in the 2010 NBA Final the way they played the regular season and look what they did. Maybe you would be pressed to find a Nate Robinson or a Rajon Rondo type of player on the Raptors roster or maybe I am having an extremely optimistic Tuesday. I am starting to think Chris Bosh leaving the Raptors was the best thing for the team as a whole. I enjoy Chris Bosh as a player and will support and watch him play for Miami but he needed to leave. Players like Sonny Weems, DeMar DeRozen, Jarret Jack are on highlight-of the-night packs and the first players people want to talk about now. This is good. The next thing the Raptors need to do is play with confidence and to be aggressive right out of the gate - no holding back. No casually jogging back to defend, no third or fourth quarter break-downs in transition. None of that. Stare the three Miami Kings in the face and plow through the rest of the NBA. Because really, they have nothing to loose.
Can't stand the Heat? Get out of Denver.
As much as I support LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh playing together, the novelty is starting to wear off. But apparently not in Denver. The Denver Nuggets marketing department needs to give their collective heads a shake. Instead promoting the product they have, to sell tickets they are promoting the Miami Heat: "10-Game Fan Plan - See The Miami Heat Free". Woulld you go into a job interview and say "Hire me because my neighbour is awesome?" No. This floors me. By including the Miami Heat in their marketing campaign they are essentially saying two things. One, the Miami Heat are more exciting to watch than us. Two, we have no confidence our product can sell itself. If I were the Miami Heat, I'd be asking for royalties.
Basketball Beyond the Floor
Remember to join me here on the DNB this Thursday for our last "Basketball Beyond the Floor" of the season. Starting next week, a new feature called "Behind Enemy Lines" will take it's place. This new feature will take at look at the Raptor's opponents for the coming week. Until this Thursday, happy reading.
Showing posts with label Mike Krzyzewski. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Krzyzewski. Show all posts
10/12/10
9/16/10
"Basketball Beyond the Floor"
"My proudest times as a coach are those when I recognize that a group of players has become a team, a whole that is truly greater than the sum of its parts" (Mike Krzyzewski in The Gold Standard written with Jamie K. Spatola). If you were paying attention to the 2010 World Basketball Championships this year and wondered, how did Team USA do it? The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team is the answer to this question. While it doesn't talk about this year's team, it explains how Duke University Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski took over the Team USA program and brought it to life with some key tools. It certainly helps he was blessed with some serious talent on the squad, too. This is one of the first 'how to' coaching books one can take seriously. Each chapter lays out the layers to building a great team and shares the 'moments' from his coaching career which exemplifies this. Think about it. For the past 30 years, he has been the Head Coach of the Duke University Blue Devils, won 3 NCAA Championships and 12 National Coach of the Year awards. Why wouldn't you listen to what he has to say about coaching? There is so much meat to the book that we can't possibly touch on everything, so let's dig into the highlights.
Take the time
This was the underlying thread which ran through the book. Take the time to choose your people, understand context, gain perspective, form relationships, develop a support system, establish standards, cultivate leadership, learn the language, adapt internally, practice, for self assessment, get motivated and last but not least, game time. This is how he lays out each chapter - a sort of 'good coaching techniques' checklist. One of the first Krzyzewski techniques that stood out for me was the notion of 'selfless service'. Coach Krzyzewski wanted to see if his 2006 Olympians had a capacity to feel at a deeper level than looking out for number one. So he brought in a former player of his, who was a General in the United States Army, Bob Brown and 3 wounded soldiers, to give the players a pep talk: "What makes teams great is the selfless service - It's putting the needs of someone else before yourself. On the basketball court that might be diving for the loose ball or taking a charge. On the battlefield it may be running into a wall of bullets or putting your life on the line for someone". Clearly fighting for your country and fighting for Olympic Basketball gold are two very different things. But the point was made. I agree. It is OK to have an ego and be driven, but the ego cannot be bigger than that of the team.
The 'moment' which exemplified this point was my absolute favourite. Captain Scott Smiley was one of the wounded soldiers and was permanently blinded by a piece of shrapnel in his eye. USA Basketball staff got him a set of earphones which were connected to the lav mics on Dwayne Wade and Gilbert Arenas. With Wade and Arenas doing the play-by-play, Captain Smiley could experience practice. Well, doesn't Dwayne Wade pause to express his pride for wearing the Team USA jersey to Captain Smiley but acknowledges people like the Captain were the real heroes? There are a few players I can think of which need this lesson - to think beyond the end of their nose.
Knowing when to "me" and when to "we"
"The best leadership your team can have is a combination of your strengths and theirs" - Mike Krzyzewski. You may or may not know, as Head Coach of the Duke Men's Basketball program, Krzyzewski recruited Kobe Bryant to come play for him. Had he not decided to got straight to the NBA, Krzyzewski says in the book Kobe would have played his college days with him. This is what I find interesting. Krzyzewski saved an email from Kobe and in it Kobe describes his vision for the Olympic team: "...I think our team should be filled with players who are willing to play for you. Guys who want to be coached so that you can do what you do best with no worries of communication between pro players and college coach". This was my concern back in April of 1989 when FIBA voted to allow pro basketball players to play in international competition or for a national team outside the NBA. Olympic players and coaches are not paid so what is the draw for these players? Some come from teams where they are catered to, so how does a college coach get these guys to listen to him? By getting players with Kobe's mindset to model that type of behaviour. Krzyzewski also touches on this when he talks about adapting within the team: "When leaders make clear their willingness to change, it establishes an environment in which everyone can be comfortable adapting". Again, it is OK to have an ego and be confident in yourself but you can't see yourself as above the team. Let's face it, we all have egos and if someone tells you they or someone else doesn't have one, they are clearly delusional. The idea here is, keep the ego in check.
Throw away the rulebook - sort of.
Instead of a list of rules, Mike Krzyzewski believes in establishing a set of standards. He believes once a group agrees on a set of standards, they unite and become focused to a single purpose. In the book, he lists a set of 20 standards his Duke team needs to live by. Here are the ones which stand out for me:
(3) Confront Immediately - Let nothing linger.
(12) Flexibility - We don't complain.
(17) Unselfishness - We make the extra pass. Our value is not measured in playing time.
(18) We are This Duke team - The time is now - not the past.
#12 and #17 kind of go hand in hand since the one thing you hear players complain about is playing time. However, I am not sure it is OK to be satisfied with, say, 5 minutes of playing time. Sure, you don't complain and realize your contribution might have been helping your team gain possession in the transition let's just say, but I think the 5-minute-a-game player needs to continue to work hard and improve his game to show why he deserves more playing time. More playing time means more time on the floor to become better. Something which can't be accomplished in 5 minutes. But I think this is what Krzyzewski is trying to say: work for more playing time, don't try and complain to get it.
Flick Pick of the Week
See if you can find the made for TV movie "Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story". It's a true story about a college player named Hank Gathers, who collapsed and died during an NCAA Tournament game. Keeps with the theme of keeping things in perspective.
To follow this week's discussion, I thought we would read Rebound Rules - The Art of Success 2.0 by another NCAA coach, Rick Pitino. You will also know, Rick Pitino was Coach and President of the Boston Celtics. I want to see how this compares to The Gold Standard. I will see you on Tuesday for another serving of Jiggly Bits. So until then, happy reading.
Take the time
This was the underlying thread which ran through the book. Take the time to choose your people, understand context, gain perspective, form relationships, develop a support system, establish standards, cultivate leadership, learn the language, adapt internally, practice, for self assessment, get motivated and last but not least, game time. This is how he lays out each chapter - a sort of 'good coaching techniques' checklist. One of the first Krzyzewski techniques that stood out for me was the notion of 'selfless service'. Coach Krzyzewski wanted to see if his 2006 Olympians had a capacity to feel at a deeper level than looking out for number one. So he brought in a former player of his, who was a General in the United States Army, Bob Brown and 3 wounded soldiers, to give the players a pep talk: "What makes teams great is the selfless service - It's putting the needs of someone else before yourself. On the basketball court that might be diving for the loose ball or taking a charge. On the battlefield it may be running into a wall of bullets or putting your life on the line for someone". Clearly fighting for your country and fighting for Olympic Basketball gold are two very different things. But the point was made. I agree. It is OK to have an ego and be driven, but the ego cannot be bigger than that of the team.
The 'moment' which exemplified this point was my absolute favourite. Captain Scott Smiley was one of the wounded soldiers and was permanently blinded by a piece of shrapnel in his eye. USA Basketball staff got him a set of earphones which were connected to the lav mics on Dwayne Wade and Gilbert Arenas. With Wade and Arenas doing the play-by-play, Captain Smiley could experience practice. Well, doesn't Dwayne Wade pause to express his pride for wearing the Team USA jersey to Captain Smiley but acknowledges people like the Captain were the real heroes? There are a few players I can think of which need this lesson - to think beyond the end of their nose.
Knowing when to "me" and when to "we"
"The best leadership your team can have is a combination of your strengths and theirs" - Mike Krzyzewski. You may or may not know, as Head Coach of the Duke Men's Basketball program, Krzyzewski recruited Kobe Bryant to come play for him. Had he not decided to got straight to the NBA, Krzyzewski says in the book Kobe would have played his college days with him. This is what I find interesting. Krzyzewski saved an email from Kobe and in it Kobe describes his vision for the Olympic team: "...I think our team should be filled with players who are willing to play for you. Guys who want to be coached so that you can do what you do best with no worries of communication between pro players and college coach". This was my concern back in April of 1989 when FIBA voted to allow pro basketball players to play in international competition or for a national team outside the NBA. Olympic players and coaches are not paid so what is the draw for these players? Some come from teams where they are catered to, so how does a college coach get these guys to listen to him? By getting players with Kobe's mindset to model that type of behaviour. Krzyzewski also touches on this when he talks about adapting within the team: "When leaders make clear their willingness to change, it establishes an environment in which everyone can be comfortable adapting". Again, it is OK to have an ego and be confident in yourself but you can't see yourself as above the team. Let's face it, we all have egos and if someone tells you they or someone else doesn't have one, they are clearly delusional. The idea here is, keep the ego in check.
Throw away the rulebook - sort of.
Instead of a list of rules, Mike Krzyzewski believes in establishing a set of standards. He believes once a group agrees on a set of standards, they unite and become focused to a single purpose. In the book, he lists a set of 20 standards his Duke team needs to live by. Here are the ones which stand out for me:
(3) Confront Immediately - Let nothing linger.
(12) Flexibility - We don't complain.
(17) Unselfishness - We make the extra pass. Our value is not measured in playing time.
(18) We are This Duke team - The time is now - not the past.
#12 and #17 kind of go hand in hand since the one thing you hear players complain about is playing time. However, I am not sure it is OK to be satisfied with, say, 5 minutes of playing time. Sure, you don't complain and realize your contribution might have been helping your team gain possession in the transition let's just say, but I think the 5-minute-a-game player needs to continue to work hard and improve his game to show why he deserves more playing time. More playing time means more time on the floor to become better. Something which can't be accomplished in 5 minutes. But I think this is what Krzyzewski is trying to say: work for more playing time, don't try and complain to get it.
Flick Pick of the Week
See if you can find the made for TV movie "Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story". It's a true story about a college player named Hank Gathers, who collapsed and died during an NCAA Tournament game. Keeps with the theme of keeping things in perspective.
To follow this week's discussion, I thought we would read Rebound Rules - The Art of Success 2.0 by another NCAA coach, Rick Pitino. You will also know, Rick Pitino was Coach and President of the Boston Celtics. I want to see how this compares to The Gold Standard. I will see you on Tuesday for another serving of Jiggly Bits. So until then, happy reading.
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