(Six critical ways that effective team captains can help the team to win more games this season)
1. Ensure High Standards And A Strong Work Ethic
Without effective team leaders, mediocrity can become the goal of the team. The team motto can become “Do just enough to get by” and “That’s good enough.” No one steps up and sets the tone for the rest of the team to follow. Further, when some athletes inevitably slack off and cut corners, no one is willing to constructively confront them on it and let them know that their laziness is unacceptable and detrimental to the team.
Great team leaders lead by example and set the standards for everyone else to follow. They consistently give it they’re all and demand that their teammates do the same.
“The second I let down, particularly if I’m perceived as the leader of my team, I give others an opening to let down as well. Why not? If the person out front takes a day off or doesn’t play hard, why should anyone else?”
--Michael Jordan
2. Keep Your Team From Crumbling Under Pressure And Adversity
Without a team leader, teams often crumble under pressure and adversity. Players quickly get frustrated with opponents, officials, teammates, and themselves and lose their composure. They get distracted by their past mistakes and worry about making future errors. Further, when teams fall apart they tend to blame each other, which distract, divides, and destroy your team. Without a team leader, your players isolate themselves from the team instead of pulling together and staying tough. This lack of leadership and mental toughness during adversity often forces you to burn precious time-outs and make unwanted substitutions during the game. Worse, your team ends up beating itself because they self-destruct rather than staying tough and forcing your opponents to beat you.You can likely trace many of your losses back to the lack of ineffective team leaders stepping up and refocusing the team during critical stretches.
Effective team leaders help their teammates weather the inevitable storms of adversity that occur during games and throughout the season. When adversity strikes, great leaders maintain their own composure, which keeps their teammates under control. They can refocus the team back on the task at hand. Good team leaders are a calming force who are able to help their teammates adjust and refocus.
“Young players are leaders only when they are playing well…that’s not leadership. Anyone can lead the league in high fives when things are going well. But during adversity is when you need leaders in your group.”
3. Build Better Team Chemistry
Effective team leaders promote a positive sense of team chemistry. They welcome and take the new members of the team under their wing so the new players feel accepted and have someone to turn to should something go wrong.
Effective team leaders prevent cliques from developing as they look to break down barriers, unify their teammates, and rally them around a common goal.
“If you want to build an atmosphere in which everybody pulls together to win, then you, as a leader have to recognize that it all starts with you. It starts with your attitude, your commitment, your caring, your passion for excellence, and your dedication to winning. It starts with the example you set.”
--Pat Williams – Orlando Magic General Manager
4. Help The Coach To Take The Pulse Of The Team
If the coach does not have a good leader he can trust the coach might miss some important things happening with the players and team. The coach might not know why a certain player all of a sudden isn’t playing well or why another might not be communicating with the coach any more. Further, the players may lose enthusiasm and the coaches may not be sure why.
Effective team leaders help keep the coaches connected to the team. They keep the coaches informed about how players might be doing, who is struggling, and if there is any dissension brewing amongst the team.
5. Minimize And Manage Conflict
Additionally, good team leaders will help the coaches to manage the inevitable conflict that occurs on every team between players, coaches, parents, and others. They can often handle and solve a lot of problems before the coaches even have to get involved. This frees up time to focus on what the coaches do best – Coaching!
6. Are The Best Insurance Against Stupidity
Good leaders are the best insurance policy against athletes making stupid decisions at school and in the community that could tarnish the team and club.
Great team leaders tend to be around their teammates more and can be a positive influence on them. This is especially true on weekend evenings when athletes can be tempted to do things that could potentially have negative effects on themselves and the team, not to mention your program’s reputation. Great team leaders look out for their teammates and are willing to constructively confront them when necessary.
6.15.2010
KOBE WANTING TO BE COACHED
When Chuck Person arrived in Los Angeles for training camp, he had never before said a word to Bryant. Person, a former Pacers and Kings assistant, was hired by the Lakers as a special assistant because of his close relationship with the newly acquired Ron Artest. The Lakers wanted somebody to help Artest with his transition. They did not need anybody to help Bryant with his shooting. But Person, who spent 13 years stretching NBA defenses, had studied Bryant's stroke from afar, marveling at his footwork, his vertical leap, his power of separation. "There was just one thing," Person says, "that I felt I could enhance."
A young player is taught, from the time he can lift the ball overhead, to finish the shot with his index finger pointed at the ground. "Kobe was following through with so much of the index that the ball was turning ever so slightly off that finger and he was getting a little sidespin," Person says. "When he wasn't right on, the ball would roll off the rim." Person believed he could help Bryant, but he had to be tactful about it. He could not just walk up to one of the best scorers ever and tinker with his shot. He needed an opening.
On Dec. 11 Los Angeles played the Timberwolves, and point guard Jordan Farmar made a lazy pass to Bryant at the three-point line. Timberwolves forward Corey Brewer lunged for it, deflecting the ball off Bryant's right index finger. Told he had an avulsion fracture, Bryant refused to sit out, and the next night in Utah he missed 17 of 24 shots, including eight of nine three-pointers. The time was right for Person. He approached Bryant and explained that he too had suffered an avulsion fracture in his index finger, with Indiana in 1991. He also told Bryant that the injury presented an opportunity.
"I asked him for his trust," Person says, "and I told him that we should start working together. He didn't argue with me. He bought in right away." Person wanted Bryant to put more pressure on the middle and ring fingers in his release, creating more backspin and friendlier rolls off the rim. The pad Bryant had to wear on the index finger would force him to concentrate on the other two.
The day after the Utah game, Bryant and Person convened early at the Lakers' training facility and shot for one hour before practice. The next day they did the same. Then they flew to Chicago and worked out that night at the United Center. During a break Bryant asked Person, "Did you ever score 40 points with your finger this way?" Person said he did. For Bryant it was a rare moment of self-doubt, and then it was gone. "I'm going to get 50," he said. They arrived at the United Center early the next morning for a shootaround, stayed late, and that night Bryant lit up the Bulls for 42 points on 15-of-26 shooting. A day later he scored 39 in Milwaukee, with a game-winner at the buzzer.
Penetrating Bryant's circle is not easy, but Person had a way in. As a freshman at Brantley (Ala.) High School 31 years ago, Person attended a summer basketball camp at Auburn University. The guest counselor was Jerry West, who as the Lakers executive vice president would bring Bryant from high school to Los Angeles 17 years later. "All the things I told Kobe," Person says, "are things Jerry West told me at that camp." Person persuaded Bryant to raise the ball straight into his shot instead of holding it for a moment at his hip, which has quickened his release; lift his right elbow from nose level to forehead level, which has heightened his arc; and keep that elbow pointed at the basket no matter how his body is contorted. "If you saw a tape of him shooting six months ago," Person says, "it would look completely different."
Many in the organization did not understand why Bryant insisted on playing with the broken finger. He could afford to take time off in December; they needed him healthy in June. As it turned out, playing in December is exactly what prepared Bryant for June. He spent the regular season refashioning his shot in time for the playoffs. The transition was not always easy—his field goal percentage, free throw percentage and three-point percentage all dipped as Person's tinkering intensified—but it was necessary. Although the fracture has healed, Bryant was left with an arthritic knuckle on his index finger that is swollen and painful but appears to affect him not at all. "It's almost helped to some degree," says Lakers shooting coach Craig Hodges. "at the net when Kobe shoots now. The ball sinks to the bottom, and 'Pow!' It pops up. That's the backspin he's getting from the middle finger." The index finger is just supposed to hold the ball. The middle finger is supposed to do the work.
Bryant's longevity is a by-product of the many subtle adjustments he has made over the years, starting in 1999, when he broke his right hand and spent all of training camp developing his left. Back then, defenders would dare Bryant to shoot from outside, an unfathomable strategy today. They also tried to lock him up in the post, equally unthinkable. "I don't know any better post player in the game now," West says. Next up for Bryant, says Lakers assistant Jim Cleamons, "he will learn to come off screens so the ball will work for him and he won't have to beat everybody." Bryant's endless improvements require a kind of humility, the best player in the game forever open to the idea that he can get better.
A young player is taught, from the time he can lift the ball overhead, to finish the shot with his index finger pointed at the ground. "Kobe was following through with so much of the index that the ball was turning ever so slightly off that finger and he was getting a little sidespin," Person says. "When he wasn't right on, the ball would roll off the rim." Person believed he could help Bryant, but he had to be tactful about it. He could not just walk up to one of the best scorers ever and tinker with his shot. He needed an opening.
On Dec. 11 Los Angeles played the Timberwolves, and point guard Jordan Farmar made a lazy pass to Bryant at the three-point line. Timberwolves forward Corey Brewer lunged for it, deflecting the ball off Bryant's right index finger. Told he had an avulsion fracture, Bryant refused to sit out, and the next night in Utah he missed 17 of 24 shots, including eight of nine three-pointers. The time was right for Person. He approached Bryant and explained that he too had suffered an avulsion fracture in his index finger, with Indiana in 1991. He also told Bryant that the injury presented an opportunity.
"I asked him for his trust," Person says, "and I told him that we should start working together. He didn't argue with me. He bought in right away." Person wanted Bryant to put more pressure on the middle and ring fingers in his release, creating more backspin and friendlier rolls off the rim. The pad Bryant had to wear on the index finger would force him to concentrate on the other two.
The day after the Utah game, Bryant and Person convened early at the Lakers' training facility and shot for one hour before practice. The next day they did the same. Then they flew to Chicago and worked out that night at the United Center. During a break Bryant asked Person, "Did you ever score 40 points with your finger this way?" Person said he did. For Bryant it was a rare moment of self-doubt, and then it was gone. "I'm going to get 50," he said. They arrived at the United Center early the next morning for a shootaround, stayed late, and that night Bryant lit up the Bulls for 42 points on 15-of-26 shooting. A day later he scored 39 in Milwaukee, with a game-winner at the buzzer.
Penetrating Bryant's circle is not easy, but Person had a way in. As a freshman at Brantley (Ala.) High School 31 years ago, Person attended a summer basketball camp at Auburn University. The guest counselor was Jerry West, who as the Lakers executive vice president would bring Bryant from high school to Los Angeles 17 years later. "All the things I told Kobe," Person says, "are things Jerry West told me at that camp." Person persuaded Bryant to raise the ball straight into his shot instead of holding it for a moment at his hip, which has quickened his release; lift his right elbow from nose level to forehead level, which has heightened his arc; and keep that elbow pointed at the basket no matter how his body is contorted. "If you saw a tape of him shooting six months ago," Person says, "it would look completely different."
Many in the organization did not understand why Bryant insisted on playing with the broken finger. He could afford to take time off in December; they needed him healthy in June. As it turned out, playing in December is exactly what prepared Bryant for June. He spent the regular season refashioning his shot in time for the playoffs. The transition was not always easy—his field goal percentage, free throw percentage and three-point percentage all dipped as Person's tinkering intensified—but it was necessary. Although the fracture has healed, Bryant was left with an arthritic knuckle on his index finger that is swollen and painful but appears to affect him not at all. "It's almost helped to some degree," says Lakers shooting coach Craig Hodges. "at the net when Kobe shoots now. The ball sinks to the bottom, and 'Pow!' It pops up. That's the backspin he's getting from the middle finger." The index finger is just supposed to hold the ball. The middle finger is supposed to do the work.
Bryant's longevity is a by-product of the many subtle adjustments he has made over the years, starting in 1999, when he broke his right hand and spent all of training camp developing his left. Back then, defenders would dare Bryant to shoot from outside, an unfathomable strategy today. They also tried to lock him up in the post, equally unthinkable. "I don't know any better post player in the game now," West says. Next up for Bryant, says Lakers assistant Jim Cleamons, "he will learn to come off screens so the ball will work for him and he won't have to beat everybody." Bryant's endless improvements require a kind of humility, the best player in the game forever open to the idea that he can get better.
6.06.2010
Wooden's Greatest Quotes
The life lessons taught by John Wooden have become legend. Here's a collection of some of the greatest "Woodenisms."
"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."
"Never mistake activity for achievement."
"Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then."
"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."
"Be prepared and be honest."
"Be quick, but don't hurry."
"You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one."
"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."
"What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player."
"Winning takes talent; to repeat takes character."
"A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment."
"I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent."
"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"
"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."
"It isn't what you do, but how you do it."
"Ability is a poor man's wealth."
"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."
"Consider the rights of others before your own feelings and the feelings of others before your own rights."
"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
"Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability."
"It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it."
"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."
"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."
"Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful."
"The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team."
"Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."
"Success is never final; failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."
"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."
"Never mistake activity for achievement."
"Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then."
"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."
"Be prepared and be honest."
"Be quick, but don't hurry."
"You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one."
"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."
"What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player."
"Winning takes talent; to repeat takes character."
"A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment."
"I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent."
"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"
"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."
"It isn't what you do, but how you do it."
"Ability is a poor man's wealth."
"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."
"Consider the rights of others before your own feelings and the feelings of others before your own rights."
"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
"Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability."
"It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it."
"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."
"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."
"Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful."
"The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team."
"Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."
"Success is never final; failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."
6.04.2010
Phil Jackson: Immersion
Phil Jackson had this to say on Wednesday, when asked whether playing NBA basketball is fun:
"I think joy is in the competition, and if you are a player that relishes competition, I think this is what you consider to be fun, even though it may not be ha ha fun, it’s engagement. It’s immersion. It’s focus. All those things that draw the best out of your attention and your capabilities energy wise."
This idea of “immersion” really grabs me. We’ve probably all experienced this at some point: we lose ourselves in the task at hand; time evaporates; the world pleasantly falls away. And we’ve also, in the past twenty years of watching Phil Jackson-coached teams, gotten pretty used to seeing this phenomenon at play on the basketball court. We know what it looks like. The ball flows freely. The players’ faces take on a cool intensity. Their movements become both calmer and more dynamic and the game suddenly looks easy. As far as I’m concerned, these things–engagement, immersion, focus, joy–come pretty close to defining the best sense of both “work” and “play,” which, as anybody whose ever seriously practiced art or sports or music can tell you, aren’t all that far apart.
I’m reticent a little bit to use this analysis, but you talk to guys that come back from the war and they miss being in the war, and they go back and reenlist because they miss that total immersion of life that they have at that particular time. That’s some of what an athlete gets, that adrenaline, that immersion of total use of their facilities and all their faculties that make it hard to leave the game.
"I think joy is in the competition, and if you are a player that relishes competition, I think this is what you consider to be fun, even though it may not be ha ha fun, it’s engagement. It’s immersion. It’s focus. All those things that draw the best out of your attention and your capabilities energy wise."
This idea of “immersion” really grabs me. We’ve probably all experienced this at some point: we lose ourselves in the task at hand; time evaporates; the world pleasantly falls away. And we’ve also, in the past twenty years of watching Phil Jackson-coached teams, gotten pretty used to seeing this phenomenon at play on the basketball court. We know what it looks like. The ball flows freely. The players’ faces take on a cool intensity. Their movements become both calmer and more dynamic and the game suddenly looks easy. As far as I’m concerned, these things–engagement, immersion, focus, joy–come pretty close to defining the best sense of both “work” and “play,” which, as anybody whose ever seriously practiced art or sports or music can tell you, aren’t all that far apart.
I’m reticent a little bit to use this analysis, but you talk to guys that come back from the war and they miss being in the war, and they go back and reenlist because they miss that total immersion of life that they have at that particular time. That’s some of what an athlete gets, that adrenaline, that immersion of total use of their facilities and all their faculties that make it hard to leave the game.
6.02.2010
Psychology of the Free Throw
When it comes to understanding why players make or miss big free throws, scientific researchers agree with athletes: The clutch-shot challenge is mostly mental, not mechanical.
…brings us to two theories that get to the heart of crunch-time failures. One, called the Explicit Monitoring Hypothesis, suggests we choke because pressure makes us focus too much on actions that should be routine essentially, we over think a situation. Te other is called Regulatory Focus Theory, which proposes that most people pursue life goals in one of two ways: by trying to accomplish something positive or by trying to avoid something negative.
(Troy, this is what I was thinking about for you. This article is about big free throw attempts, but I think it has good thoughts about free throw shooting in general. If you can convince yourself that every free throw you take is an opportunity of some sort, whether it is thought of as a chance for easy points (like you said, highest percentage shot in basketball other than an open layin), to showcase your practice, or maybe more simply you could think of it as fun. If you could make some sort of positive association with free throws rather than trying to avoid something negative I believe it could go a long way.)
What does this have to do with free throws?
Free throw shooting, like putting and infield throws, is exactly the kind of task athletes perform best when it’s just a procedure, that is, when the brain isn’t overly monitoring the actions of the body (find middle of rim to bring focus away from anything mechanical or any other distractions). In fact, in one study, basketball players who got specific direction on how to improve their free throw mechanics went on to shoot worse under stress than players who were simply told to do their best. That’s Explicit Monitoring in action.
But, it turns out, game situations affect free throws, too. Researchers at the university of Texas looked at every free throw attempted by NBA players in the final mute of close games for three seasons, from 2003 to 2006. They found players shot 78.2%, slightly better than their career average of 76%, when games were tied, but worse (69%) when the shooter’s team was behind by one point.
The researchers think Regulatory Focus Theory helps describe what’s going on there. When a player’s team is down a point, all of the pressure on him points in one direction: He doesn’t want to choke, and he doesn’t want to lose. But in a tied game, although he still doesn’t want to choke, he can’t lose. In fact, he has a chance to win. And holding those two competing ideas at the same time – instead of keying in on one unified dread - offers just enough of a distraction. The brain has less time or energy to screw up what the body is doing.
A lot is going on in the brain when players take free throws. And the players who do best are probably those who can push not only mechanics out of their minds but also any thought of winning and losing – and heroes and goats, too.
…brings us to two theories that get to the heart of crunch-time failures. One, called the Explicit Monitoring Hypothesis, suggests we choke because pressure makes us focus too much on actions that should be routine essentially, we over think a situation. Te other is called Regulatory Focus Theory, which proposes that most people pursue life goals in one of two ways: by trying to accomplish something positive or by trying to avoid something negative.
(Troy, this is what I was thinking about for you. This article is about big free throw attempts, but I think it has good thoughts about free throw shooting in general. If you can convince yourself that every free throw you take is an opportunity of some sort, whether it is thought of as a chance for easy points (like you said, highest percentage shot in basketball other than an open layin), to showcase your practice, or maybe more simply you could think of it as fun. If you could make some sort of positive association with free throws rather than trying to avoid something negative I believe it could go a long way.)
What does this have to do with free throws?
Free throw shooting, like putting and infield throws, is exactly the kind of task athletes perform best when it’s just a procedure, that is, when the brain isn’t overly monitoring the actions of the body (find middle of rim to bring focus away from anything mechanical or any other distractions). In fact, in one study, basketball players who got specific direction on how to improve their free throw mechanics went on to shoot worse under stress than players who were simply told to do their best. That’s Explicit Monitoring in action.
But, it turns out, game situations affect free throws, too. Researchers at the university of Texas looked at every free throw attempted by NBA players in the final mute of close games for three seasons, from 2003 to 2006. They found players shot 78.2%, slightly better than their career average of 76%, when games were tied, but worse (69%) when the shooter’s team was behind by one point.
The researchers think Regulatory Focus Theory helps describe what’s going on there. When a player’s team is down a point, all of the pressure on him points in one direction: He doesn’t want to choke, and he doesn’t want to lose. But in a tied game, although he still doesn’t want to choke, he can’t lose. In fact, he has a chance to win. And holding those two competing ideas at the same time – instead of keying in on one unified dread - offers just enough of a distraction. The brain has less time or energy to screw up what the body is doing.
A lot is going on in the brain when players take free throws. And the players who do best are probably those who can push not only mechanics out of their minds but also any thought of winning and losing – and heroes and goats, too.
5.09.2010
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS - COMPETING
Florida head coach Urban Meyer visited Patriots minicamp last year and came away with a strong liking of how the Patriots go about their business:
"The last practice- this is before they go on vacation- they did a two-minute drill and it was Tom Brady against the first-team defense," Meyer said. "And they scored right at the end. It was in shorts, and it was like they won the Super Bowl. They're all jumping around, and I'm thinking, 'Now I know why. Everything they do, they compete!' If someone comes to watch our practice and says that about Florida I will know we're in good shape."
"The last practice- this is before they go on vacation- they did a two-minute drill and it was Tom Brady against the first-team defense," Meyer said. "And they scored right at the end. It was in shorts, and it was like they won the Super Bowl. They're all jumping around, and I'm thinking, 'Now I know why. Everything they do, they compete!' If someone comes to watch our practice and says that about Florida I will know we're in good shape."
MANU GINOBILI
Spurs guard Manu Ginobili is the heart and soul of the Spurs drive for another championship. Ginobili displayed his toughness in Game 3 against Dallas when he suffered a broken nose and returned to action five minutes later. Says Coach Popovich:
"Those are the players who you know are really special. Every team has to have some of those. We're fortunate Manu's on our team."
Popovich called him a great competitor after he scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3 with a broken nose. What makes his competitiveness different from other players?
"That's hard to articulate," Popovich says. "It's just something that shows in a variety of situations. They do things in certain moments of the game. Their understanding of what's going on and their drive to do what most players wouldn't even dream of makes them different.”
"He combines some incredible ball skills with great desire, great passion and an unbelievable will to win, and that's what makes him special."
"Those are the players who you know are really special. Every team has to have some of those. We're fortunate Manu's on our team."
Popovich called him a great competitor after he scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3 with a broken nose. What makes his competitiveness different from other players?
"That's hard to articulate," Popovich says. "It's just something that shows in a variety of situations. They do things in certain moments of the game. Their understanding of what's going on and their drive to do what most players wouldn't even dream of makes them different.”
"He combines some incredible ball skills with great desire, great passion and an unbelievable will to win, and that's what makes him special."
4.30.2010
JAMAL CRAWFORD - PRESSURE
His 4-for-18, 11-point night in Wednesday's Game 5 loss at home, seriously ratcheted up the pressure on Crawford to come through in Vinnie Johnson fashion in Game 6 on Friday night in Milwaukee and keep Atlanta playing into May. It's the type of pressure, as Floyd Mayweather likes to say, "that separates those who are talented from those who are God-gifted."
4.27.2010
HI - FIVE
Players patting each other on the butt may be funny. But what's not funny is winning games, and the evidence suggests that teammates who touch each other liberally on the court -- high-fives, fist-bumps, hugs, pats and the like -- tend to do that better than players who don't.
Benedict Carey reports in The New York Times:
Michael W. Kraus led a research team that coded every bump, hug and high five in a single game played by each team in the National Basketball Association early last season.
In a paper due out this year in the journal Emotion, Mr. Kraus and his co-authors, Cassy Huang and Dr. Keltner, report that with a few exceptions, good teams tended to be touchier than bad ones. The most touch-bonded teams were the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, currently two of the league’s top teams; at the bottom were the mediocre Sacramento Kings and Charlotte Bobcats.
The same was true, more or less, for players. The touchiest player was Kevin Garnett, the Celtics’ star big man, followed by star forwards Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors and Carlos Boozer of the Utah Jazz. “Within 600 milliseconds of shooting a free throw, Garnett has reached out and touched four guys,” Dr. Keltner said.
To correct for the possibility that the better teams touch more often simply because they are winning, the researchers rated performance based not on points or victories but on a sophisticated measure of how efficiently players and teams managed the ball -- their ratio of assists to giveaways, for example. And even after the high expectations surrounding the more talented teams were taken into account, the correlation persisted. Players who made contact with teammates most consistently and longest tended to rate highest on measures of performance, and the teams with those players seemed to get the most out of their talent.
It's a dynamic that I feel I see playing out in many parts of society. Some people are apparently scared to touch others. Scared of seeming inappropriate. Scared of being uncool. In same-gender settings like the NBA, maybe scared of appearing to be gay. (The exact thing that gives the headline of this post comedy value in some circles.)
But guess what! Being timid is no way to lead. NBA players face a lot of challenges. Intense defenses. Injuries. Grueling schedules. The playoffs. Younger players gunning for their jobs. Careers that could end with the twist of a knee. Pressures off the court to make this much money or support this many people.
Some dude mocking you for hugging a teammate? Forget him. It's just small potatoes. You just can't get hung up on that. Life's too short. It's extremely liberating and powerful to just entirely skip worrying about that kind of eighth-grade insult.
The researchers say they have not yet been able to prove any kind of cause-and-effect -- does the hugging and touching cause the wins?
It's a powerful form of communication that may do a lot to uplift and inspire teammates.
There are many great examples of this, including LeBron James, who clearly lives in the land of 10,000 physical greetings. TrueHoop reader Christopher, who first made me aware of this study, remembers another all-timer: "Think of Magic Johnson's first pro game. Kareem hits the game winner, and the irrepressible rookie won't stop hugging him. ... Kareem's entire shell started to crack a bit that day, but more importantly the nation started to see Magic's HUGE spirit and love of the game."
As a supportive teammate, one of my favorite players has always been Tim Duncan. He's always putting an arm around teammates' shoulders and the like. I once asked him about an episode at Wake Forest. Duncan's teammate Randolph Childress was feeling down. Coach Dave Odom was talking to Childress and Duncan. Childress stared at the floor. As they both listened to Odom, Duncan reached out a hand and lifted Childress' chin, steering Childress' face towards his coach's.
Not just anyone can do that. It's rude and bold, done poorly. But Duncan is exploding with love and support for his teammates. It was intended, Duncan insisted to me later, not to correct Childress for disrespecting the coach in some way (he couldn't even imagine that anyone would think that) but to uplift Childress. To inspire him. To increase his self-confidence. It's not hard for me to believe having a player behaving like that could make a team perform better, over time, by keeping everyone as motivated and connected as could be.
So maybe the researchers will find that the hugs cause the wins. But I'd guess it would also be worth investigating the idea that players who touch each other are just the kind of fearless players who make inspiring leaders. Maybe identifying players who touch each other is a crude way to identify those who aren't sweating the small stuff -- and everyone likes being around people like that.
BELOW IS A LINK TO STEVE NASH AND HOW MANY HI-FIVES HE GIVES DURING A GAME...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koR2efE2alQ&feature=player_embedded
Benedict Carey reports in The New York Times:
Michael W. Kraus led a research team that coded every bump, hug and high five in a single game played by each team in the National Basketball Association early last season.
In a paper due out this year in the journal Emotion, Mr. Kraus and his co-authors, Cassy Huang and Dr. Keltner, report that with a few exceptions, good teams tended to be touchier than bad ones. The most touch-bonded teams were the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, currently two of the league’s top teams; at the bottom were the mediocre Sacramento Kings and Charlotte Bobcats.
The same was true, more or less, for players. The touchiest player was Kevin Garnett, the Celtics’ star big man, followed by star forwards Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors and Carlos Boozer of the Utah Jazz. “Within 600 milliseconds of shooting a free throw, Garnett has reached out and touched four guys,” Dr. Keltner said.
To correct for the possibility that the better teams touch more often simply because they are winning, the researchers rated performance based not on points or victories but on a sophisticated measure of how efficiently players and teams managed the ball -- their ratio of assists to giveaways, for example. And even after the high expectations surrounding the more talented teams were taken into account, the correlation persisted. Players who made contact with teammates most consistently and longest tended to rate highest on measures of performance, and the teams with those players seemed to get the most out of their talent.
It's a dynamic that I feel I see playing out in many parts of society. Some people are apparently scared to touch others. Scared of seeming inappropriate. Scared of being uncool. In same-gender settings like the NBA, maybe scared of appearing to be gay. (The exact thing that gives the headline of this post comedy value in some circles.)
But guess what! Being timid is no way to lead. NBA players face a lot of challenges. Intense defenses. Injuries. Grueling schedules. The playoffs. Younger players gunning for their jobs. Careers that could end with the twist of a knee. Pressures off the court to make this much money or support this many people.
Some dude mocking you for hugging a teammate? Forget him. It's just small potatoes. You just can't get hung up on that. Life's too short. It's extremely liberating and powerful to just entirely skip worrying about that kind of eighth-grade insult.
The researchers say they have not yet been able to prove any kind of cause-and-effect -- does the hugging and touching cause the wins?
It's a powerful form of communication that may do a lot to uplift and inspire teammates.
There are many great examples of this, including LeBron James, who clearly lives in the land of 10,000 physical greetings. TrueHoop reader Christopher, who first made me aware of this study, remembers another all-timer: "Think of Magic Johnson's first pro game. Kareem hits the game winner, and the irrepressible rookie won't stop hugging him. ... Kareem's entire shell started to crack a bit that day, but more importantly the nation started to see Magic's HUGE spirit and love of the game."
As a supportive teammate, one of my favorite players has always been Tim Duncan. He's always putting an arm around teammates' shoulders and the like. I once asked him about an episode at Wake Forest. Duncan's teammate Randolph Childress was feeling down. Coach Dave Odom was talking to Childress and Duncan. Childress stared at the floor. As they both listened to Odom, Duncan reached out a hand and lifted Childress' chin, steering Childress' face towards his coach's.
Not just anyone can do that. It's rude and bold, done poorly. But Duncan is exploding with love and support for his teammates. It was intended, Duncan insisted to me later, not to correct Childress for disrespecting the coach in some way (he couldn't even imagine that anyone would think that) but to uplift Childress. To inspire him. To increase his self-confidence. It's not hard for me to believe having a player behaving like that could make a team perform better, over time, by keeping everyone as motivated and connected as could be.
So maybe the researchers will find that the hugs cause the wins. But I'd guess it would also be worth investigating the idea that players who touch each other are just the kind of fearless players who make inspiring leaders. Maybe identifying players who touch each other is a crude way to identify those who aren't sweating the small stuff -- and everyone likes being around people like that.
BELOW IS A LINK TO STEVE NASH AND HOW MANY HI-FIVES HE GIVES DURING A GAME...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koR2efE2alQ&feature=player_embedded
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