This is definitely an idea I should have had earlier, but
I’m glad it popped into my head this morning anyway. As a coach and teacher,
some of the most interesting books are on human psychology. Of course
basketball books can be great too. This is our first ‘Recommended Reading’
post, but it certainly won’t be the last.
I just finished David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell. It is an excellent book, another in
Gladwell’s series of excellent books. At first glance it seems to be about how
underdogs overcome the odds to claim victory, which would have obvious value to
us as coaches when facing superior opponents. The true content of the book is
that what can be perceived as disadvantages are sometimes anything but, and how
success can be derived from those disadvantages.
There is a portion of the book dedicated to basketball, and
many of you will be familiar with its story. It centers on how underdogs can
use the press defense against superior opponents to try and tilt the odds in
their favor. This idea, at least in coaching circles I am in, has gained plenty
of traction in theory – but many coaches still fail to use it in practice. The
difficulty of conditioning and teaching a team to press non-stop is pretty
daunting.
There are more lessons than that in this book though, and
plenty of ideas that had my brain working overtime. The stories of individuals
who use their disadvantages or disabilities to rise high is incredible, and it
gave me so much to think about in terms of how we help our players grow as individuals.
I have met so many athletes that could have benefited from advice derived from
the lessons learned in this book that I really wish I had read it earlier in my
career.
