What It Takes To Win
Note: My next column will be a review of the first quarter of the baseball season. I'm a little excited. Be forewarned.
I didn't do an NBA Playoff Preview partly because I'm lazy and didn't find the time, but mostly because I was scared to make a prediction and be horribly wrong. I wanted to predict that LeBron James could not win the Championship, that he didn't have it in him and was in the wrong system because he wasn't in a system. The Cavaliers could not win because they weren't a team. They may have loved each other and genuinely enjoyed playing, but they weren't a team. They were cheerleaders watching their best player and trying to be prepared on the off chance that they got the ball after LeBron took it to the basket. That's not offense. Antawn Jamison, a solid player, got worse on Cleveland. That's not the sign of a good team, for a better than solid power forward to come to your team and get dramatically worse.
Look at every team that won the NBA Championship in the last thirty years. Yes, they had great players, but they also had something else going for them. They had systems. Every player on the team had a role. Magic's Lakers? They had Showtime. It was like poetry in motion, the closest thing we had seen to Wooden's Bruins in a decade. Bird's Celtics? They played defense. They were gritty. They pounded the ball inside, and they had Larry Bird knocking down every shot he ever took. Isiah's Pistons? The Bad Boys of basketball. Team defense. You didn't want to play them and Chuck Daly got them to be efficient on offense. Hakeem's Rockets? Pound it, rotate, off the ball movement, recover. Dream Shake. We'll skip most of the 90's for a minute. Don't worry, I know who's next. We'll get there. On to Duncan's Spurs. The epitome of team. Gregg Popovich is a master of the motion offense. Yes, they played the matchups, but the Spurs got you in the halfcourt set and executed, time and time again. Fundamentals. Bank shots. Basketball nerds may have been the only ones who liked watching the Spurs, but they won. Kobe and Shaq's Lakers? The triangle offense. Swing the ball. Make the defense move, switch, recover. Take advantage of the mismatch when it shows itself. Chauncey's Pistons? See Isiah. Kobe and Pau's Lakers? See Kobe and Shaq only subtract a little bit of toughness. Here's your other ingredient: Pat Riley, K.C. Jones, Chuck Daly, Rudy Tomjanovich, Gregg Popovich, Larry Brown, and Phil Jackson. Great coaches. The players bought into their systems because they worked and the results speak for themselves.
Back to the majority of the nineties. Yes, you had Phil Jackson, but Phil Jackson had already been there for a bit before the Bulls started winning. And Michael Jordan, the best to ever lace them up, he had been there a while too. Seven years to be exact. What was the difference between year number six and years seven through nine? Michael Jordan bought in. He was the best player in the league already, but until he bought into the triangle, the Bulls were doomed from the start. It's not just about passing when you're double and triple teamed. It's about trusting your teammates to be a part of the game for the majority of the 48 minutes. Every game. Michael Jordan hit some big shots, but so did Steve Kerr. Why? Because he was in rhythm. Every shot, every situation in the playoffs and already been played out hundreds of times in the regular season. I loved Jordan's Bulls when they were winning. I knew what was coming because their offense always looked the same. It may be tough to the teach, but the triangle was easy to watch. When Jordan wanted to do his own thing for an entire season it was impossible for his teammates to find any kind of rhythm. How can you be in rhythm when you don't know when you're going to see the ball, if ever? Jordan buys into the offense. He buys into being the most important spoke in the wheel, but a spoke no less. The Bulls win, a lot. He was the best player in the league on a team, a real team. His teammates may have hated him, but Jordan had the respect of his teammates. He trusted them, albeit in a zero fun, demanding fashion. Jordan was the greatest player, but there would not have been any three-peats without Jordan's willingness to be a part of a team.
There's a reason people like President Obama like the game of basketball as a metaphor for life. The sense of accomplishment one achieves as a basketball team can mirror that of say, the boardroom. There is a team involved, a leader, role players, and a work ethic that must be present. As it stands now, a team will win the 2010 NBA Championship. I actually think that the Celtics are in the driver's seat, as much as that pains me to say as a Lakers guy, but, and here's the big what if. What if Rondo "goes down" as he does so often? What if he riffs with the Big Three? Without Bynum, the Lakers lack the inside depth against the Celts, but I like Kobe on Rondo and Rondo folding this postseason. The Big Three have lost a step and the Lakers finally have an identity on offense after all these years trying to build it around Kobe as opposed to Shaq. But the system's the same. The players bought into it. Phil has the respect of his players and it's time to win. The Lakers have what it takes to win. Unfortunately a few other teams do too. The ones that don't have been exposed. Sorry LeBron. And I'm not sure a change of scenery is the only necessary change.
I didn't do an NBA Playoff Preview partly because I'm lazy and didn't find the time, but mostly because I was scared to make a prediction and be horribly wrong. I wanted to predict that LeBron James could not win the Championship, that he didn't have it in him and was in the wrong system because he wasn't in a system. The Cavaliers could not win because they weren't a team. They may have loved each other and genuinely enjoyed playing, but they weren't a team. They were cheerleaders watching their best player and trying to be prepared on the off chance that they got the ball after LeBron took it to the basket. That's not offense. Antawn Jamison, a solid player, got worse on Cleveland. That's not the sign of a good team, for a better than solid power forward to come to your team and get dramatically worse.
Look at every team that won the NBA Championship in the last thirty years. Yes, they had great players, but they also had something else going for them. They had systems. Every player on the team had a role. Magic's Lakers? They had Showtime. It was like poetry in motion, the closest thing we had seen to Wooden's Bruins in a decade. Bird's Celtics? They played defense. They were gritty. They pounded the ball inside, and they had Larry Bird knocking down every shot he ever took. Isiah's Pistons? The Bad Boys of basketball. Team defense. You didn't want to play them and Chuck Daly got them to be efficient on offense. Hakeem's Rockets? Pound it, rotate, off the ball movement, recover. Dream Shake. We'll skip most of the 90's for a minute. Don't worry, I know who's next. We'll get there. On to Duncan's Spurs. The epitome of team. Gregg Popovich is a master of the motion offense. Yes, they played the matchups, but the Spurs got you in the halfcourt set and executed, time and time again. Fundamentals. Bank shots. Basketball nerds may have been the only ones who liked watching the Spurs, but they won. Kobe and Shaq's Lakers? The triangle offense. Swing the ball. Make the defense move, switch, recover. Take advantage of the mismatch when it shows itself. Chauncey's Pistons? See Isiah. Kobe and Pau's Lakers? See Kobe and Shaq only subtract a little bit of toughness. Here's your other ingredient: Pat Riley, K.C. Jones, Chuck Daly, Rudy Tomjanovich, Gregg Popovich, Larry Brown, and Phil Jackson. Great coaches. The players bought into their systems because they worked and the results speak for themselves.
Back to the majority of the nineties. Yes, you had Phil Jackson, but Phil Jackson had already been there for a bit before the Bulls started winning. And Michael Jordan, the best to ever lace them up, he had been there a while too. Seven years to be exact. What was the difference between year number six and years seven through nine? Michael Jordan bought in. He was the best player in the league already, but until he bought into the triangle, the Bulls were doomed from the start. It's not just about passing when you're double and triple teamed. It's about trusting your teammates to be a part of the game for the majority of the 48 minutes. Every game. Michael Jordan hit some big shots, but so did Steve Kerr. Why? Because he was in rhythm. Every shot, every situation in the playoffs and already been played out hundreds of times in the regular season. I loved Jordan's Bulls when they were winning. I knew what was coming because their offense always looked the same. It may be tough to the teach, but the triangle was easy to watch. When Jordan wanted to do his own thing for an entire season it was impossible for his teammates to find any kind of rhythm. How can you be in rhythm when you don't know when you're going to see the ball, if ever? Jordan buys into the offense. He buys into being the most important spoke in the wheel, but a spoke no less. The Bulls win, a lot. He was the best player in the league on a team, a real team. His teammates may have hated him, but Jordan had the respect of his teammates. He trusted them, albeit in a zero fun, demanding fashion. Jordan was the greatest player, but there would not have been any three-peats without Jordan's willingness to be a part of a team.
There's a reason people like President Obama like the game of basketball as a metaphor for life. The sense of accomplishment one achieves as a basketball team can mirror that of say, the boardroom. There is a team involved, a leader, role players, and a work ethic that must be present. As it stands now, a team will win the 2010 NBA Championship. I actually think that the Celtics are in the driver's seat, as much as that pains me to say as a Lakers guy, but, and here's the big what if. What if Rondo "goes down" as he does so often? What if he riffs with the Big Three? Without Bynum, the Lakers lack the inside depth against the Celts, but I like Kobe on Rondo and Rondo folding this postseason. The Big Three have lost a step and the Lakers finally have an identity on offense after all these years trying to build it around Kobe as opposed to Shaq. But the system's the same. The players bought into it. Phil has the respect of his players and it's time to win. The Lakers have what it takes to win. Unfortunately a few other teams do too. The ones that don't have been exposed. Sorry LeBron. And I'm not sure a change of scenery is the only necessary change.
Comments