Systematic Coaching

Paul Johnson believes in himself and his system -- and he is not afraid to implement team building tools and show an unwavering passion for his philosophy of a team:

“It’s not just his offense; he teaches toughness, he shows a sense of pride, a sense of determination,” said Mike Sewak, the co-offensive line coach, who has known Johnson for 23 years. “The best way to do that is get involved, and he’s involved with his team.”

“He is incredibly confident, the most confident coach I have been around, bordering on cocky,” Andrew Gardner, a senior left tackle, said. “Every day, you hear about people questioning whether this offense is going to work on this level, and I think he gets tired answering questions about it because he knows it will work.”

Coaches often teach and preach specific systems on offense and defense, along with other values. Systems are important for the development of players, teams, programs, and franchises. In basketball, with a thoroughly planned structure and an understanding of spacing, screening, interaction, and scoring spots, five people become one on the floor. More significantly, every member of the team, including the coaches, becomes unified. When there is ultimate belief in the system from the top, a trickle-down effect occurs that results in a long term team investment.

Coach K did not always run a 4-out spread offense in the ½ court like the one of his recent Duke teams and the 2008 USA Team. He used to teach a motion offense with different looks and varied screening action. He has adjusted his sets to highlight drive and kick opportunities, three-pointers, and isolations on the block. Coach Calipari has not always utilized the Dribble Drive Motion (DDM); he ran something completely different when he was at UMass.

Good players can adjust to any system. It’s not necessarily the offense and the plays that are, or are not, effective. It comes down to how personnel are used and how the system is taught. Utah’s Jerry Sloan believes in his system and wants players on his team who fit its style. Many teams do not have the benefit of breakdown players like Lebron James or Derrick Rose, so those squads have to maximize the skills of the individuals they do have. Players have to understand their roles just as coaches need to realize how the pieces fit together.

In Pistol, Press Maravich’s philosophy is explained via George Krajack, who was once his best player at Clemson:

“Press never had the same kind of talent that guys like McGuire and Everett Case had. He didn’t have anybody who could break you down off the dribble. He didn’t have anybody who could take over a game and win it by himself. None of us were good enough to freelance…He was forever designing schemes…Press could move those salt and pepper shakers (from the meal table) around until he figured out a way to beat anybody…”

A great teacher and a potent system can create exceptional players. Further, with preparation and concentration, as Bob Knight emphasizes, the mental game can make up for what a player may lack in athletic ability. Knight writes in his autobiography:

“We’ve had some kids who weren’t great basketball players who have been really good scorers, because of the way we used them.”

In a sense, described here is a taste of Gestalt, the psychological theory that proposes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Fittingly, a system is a set of parts that work together to form a complex mechanism. The whole, or the mechanism, is actually made up of myriad components: the vision for the program, communication, social dynamics, player and staff roles, skill development…the list goes on and on. But the system truly works when the players wholeheartedly believe in it, or at least, believe they believe in it (a later discussion).

What is truly extraordinary is when there is a talented player who works harder than anyone, is convinced by the overall mechanism, has the respect of his teammates, and plays in the system with supreme creativity and confidence. (Sounds a bit like MJ, huh?)

Cerebral Matter

Each week, “Cerebral Matter” highlights articles, anecdotes, and analyses related to the psychological aspects of performance.

• To a reporter who asked for her motto when she was on the “brink of mental defeat,” (Dara) Torres coolly replied, “You know, I’ve been doing this for so long that I don’t get on the brink of mental defeat.” (NYT)
  

• Silver medalists at the Olympics seem to perform what we call an upward comparison — they compare themselves against someone better off than them. Bronze medalists seem to perform downward comparison — they tend to compare themselves with people who did worse. (PT)
  

• While (Candace) Parker admits to some physical and mental fatigue, she is attempting to use these Olympics to do more than help the United States win its fourth consecutive gold medal in women’s basketball.
  
  With her resplendent smile and transcendent game, Parker is close to becoming the first international icon in her sport…
  
  …With her ability to dunk with flair, Parker has changed the women’s game. Gail Goestenkors, the coach at Texas and an assistant with the national team, said that while recruiting in July, she noticed that many high school prospects were dunking, a mental barrier she said Parker helped break. (NYT)
  

• The Twins demoted (Francisco Liriano) after Oakland pounded him for six runs and five hits in two-thirds of an inning in an 11-2 drubbing.
  
  So when Liriano’s mechanics appeared out of whack last Wednesday, Redmond said he suspected why.
  
  “This is the team that he blew his arm out on,” Redmond said. “I think that might have been something to do with it. It might be a little mental thing for him to get over. But he made it.” (NYT)
  

• Their coach has been known to sing to them — Bob Dylan, no less — and ask them questions, to shake up their thinking. And sometimes she drops her Socratic ways and tells them to control the ball better.
  
  Either way, it worked Thursday night for Pia Sundhage of Sweden, one of the great hires by any American sports federation. Under Sundhage’s tutelage, the American women displayed mental resilience, outlasting their own dangerous lethargy, as they won their second straight gold medal in the Olympic soccer tournament with a 1-0 victory over Brazil. (NYT)
  

• When asked if he was tired physically, emotionally or mentally, Nadal said, “Yeah, I think it is a little bit of everything, no? Probably the toughest thing is mentally, no?” (US Open NYT Blog)
  

• This morning’s (August 21, 2008) New York Times shows Usain Bolt’s new world record, relative to the 250 greatest 200-meter sprints ever. Not only does this not look like a normal distribution, it doesn’t even look like the tail of any standard distribution (Justin Wolfers) has ever seen... (Freakonomics NYT Blog)
  

• “There is a huge amount of social and psychological forces keeping people from quitting,” Ori Brafman said. He gave an example of an experiment by a Harvard professor who auctioned off a $20 bill. The catch was that while the winner got the $20, the bidder who came in second had to pay the amount of his bid, but got nothing in return.
  
  The experiment was done repeatedly with a variety of participants, and most bidders dropped out at about $12, usually leaving two to fight it out, Mr. Brafman said.
  
  “They didn’t want to be a sucker, paying $12 for nothing,” he said. The record? A bid of $204 for a $20 bill.
  
  “Rather than thinking about winning, they’re playing not to lose,” he said…
  
  … “It is as important to teach someone how to quit as staying committed,” he said. “Lots of times people just stop showing up, and that’s wrong.” Rather, he suggested, say something like “ ‘I tried to work it out, and this not a good match for me.’ Do it in a responsible manner.”
  
  The truth is, it sometimes shows more courage to leave than to stay. (NYT)
  
  

A Coined Path

What happens when you’re ranked No. 188, playing the world No. 1 in the U.S. Open, on a court that has more fans than the one you prefer to play on, in a match you don’t believe you can prevail in?

Well, if you’re Julie Coin, you win. And that is impressive considering the circumstances.

How many times does an athlete actually admit that she wasn't expecting to win? Or answer honestly with a gasp of disbelief? Who has the capacity to even fight from the underground up, especially when starting a competition with a monotonous mindset?

The qualifier from France played each point with focus and energy and found herself with a 6-3 first set win. She lost the second set 4-6, but maintained her forehand, serve, head game and rhythm. Then she blasted a couple of aces in the final set before holding on to triumph, 6-3.

It was a classic case of the best player crumbling and the extreme underdog reaching within, gaining confidence, and staying patient.

The greatest upset in tennis history? I’m not sure about that, but Julie surely coined her newly discovered path -- a humble winner headed to the next round…

Is Yao Broken?

Earlier, I wrote about "The Psychological Weight of a Nation" and the intense strategies China uses to become competitive. Now that the Olympics are complete, do there exist post-game resources for competitors? Are measures being implemented to support the athletes who trained for years, even their entire lives, for the spectacle in Beijing?

I particularly wonder about the athletes who "failed" in their country's opinion. When one works so hard, especially because of external pressures, and then does not succeed, he or she is bound to internalize and even exaggerate or distort the thoughts and feelings that accompany the outcome. Every comment or emotion can become magnified, and if there is not a support system in place, the result may be detrimental to one's psyche.

Yao Ming spoke of his disappointment and despondency:

“After (the) Lithuania game, I come back to my room and I feel my energy just go away,” Yao said. “My body is empty. I have a couple minutes lying on the bed when I cannot even move. Not because I’m tired, but because mentally I feel really, really sad. These games I’ve prepared for almost my whole life and now they’re over.”

Have you ever experienced so much stimulation from an event that you find yourself "crashing" after it ended? Yao seems to be in a similar situation, only multiplied by numbers beyond most of our conceptions. Only his peers can relate. He was molded and groomed for his sport, the most monumental of unwritten promises to his homeland. And now the air is deflated from the once tireless tires, despair drifting through the consummate model of strength and courage. Yao assimilated the words and dreams of a billion and now has to digest and deal with the consequences.

Is it conceivable that all of the counselors, psychologists, and trainers who were hired to prepare the athletes for competition are now concentrated on the "cool down" segment? Are professional helpers working with individuals who struggled in the arenas and on the fields so they don't struggle for the rest of their lives? For many who did not succeed as they hoped, including Yao, it's time to resurrect the foundation and harness the resiliency that is ever so important in not only athletics, but life.

Nobody wants to see a drooping giant. Especially in Houston.

Comparing Results, Similar Ratings

There have been a substantial number of visits to this site since the post on USA player productivity, a summary of statistics derived from the Performance and Productivity rating (PaP). Here, we compare results from some of the more popular formulas known to calculate an estimate of productivity, whether the analysis is referred to as NBA Efficiency, Win Score, Game Score, Credit, PaP, or WARP. I even threw in an experimental "colleague" stat.

As one can guess from box scores and observations, Wade and James are always at the top. Bosh follows them in third, except in the new PaP, a stat that accounts more than the old for the ability to score. Here, we find Kobe in the top three. The big man from the Raptors was certainly an important power in the team's run for the gold and these stats do not account for the number of screens he set, how hard he ran the floor, or how he squatted into his stance to defend guards. Chris Paul is consistently in the top five and, by far, the most influential point guard. From there, it’s the steady Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard rounding out the top six.

By no means are these statistics a substitute for the ability to play basketball within a system, nor do they define strategy, leadership, chemistry, or other intangibles -- but they are interesting to examine. For an even more in depth analysis of Team USA that uses +/-, explore APBRmetrics.

(click to enlarge)