The Great Teams
Lessons from basketball savants
If you’d like to learn how strategic and cerebral basketball can be, I recommend the podcast and YouTube channel Mind The Game. Co-hosted by Lebron James (NBA 4x MVP; 4x Finals MVP; 4x Champion; 20x All-Star; all-time leading scorer) and JJ Redick (15 year NBA career; 41.5% NBA career 3-point shooter; 2006 National College Player of the Year), this show covers the intricacies of basketball while teaching the language of the game.
What I love most about watching this show (seven episodes released thus far) is how much more fun and enlightening it makes watching a basketball game. It’s like visiting a country after learning the local language.
The hosts cover a vast variety of basketball concepts in depth, including Inverted Pick-and-Rolls, Post Splits, Ghost Screens, Top Locking, defensive schemes, optimal spacing, adjustments teams make in playoff series, and the evolution of the game.
Lebron even shared this insightful advice on the characteristics of high performing basketball teams:
The great teams know their strengths, and they go to their strengths. They avoid their weaknesses.
A great team would never throw the ball into the post to a guy, and expect him to score when that's not what he does. A great team would never run a pick and roll with a player if he's not a pick and roll player.
Nobody on that floor does something that they shouldn't be doing. This means a great team won't go through too many games where they have terrible possessions.
That's the difference between a great, a good, and a bad team.
I’ve always found this concept to translate well to the corporate world. Encourage your team and colleagues to identify, use, and celebrate their super powers, instead of dwelling on their weaknesses. Doing so makes for a great team.
