Dealing in Reality: The Importance of Truth
When I’m asked what it’s like to coach in the NBA, one of the first things I talk about is that you must deal in reality at this level. There is no time and, quite frankly, no tolerance to falsely build a player up or your team up, because at this level the players know when you’re telling the truth and when you’re telling them what they want to hear.
One of my favorite examples of this for all young players is Kevin Garnett. In his first conversation with Doc Rivers, he asked Doc to coach him. He asked Doc to correct him. He asked Doc to “call him out” if necessary. He wanted the truth. Sitting next to him on the bench, he would often ask one of the coaches, “What do you see out there?” He’s referring not only to what our opponent is doing to us but also how he can improve his play when he gets back in the game.
Professional coaches deal in reality in a number of ways, including:
They don’t mince words when they talk to their teams: they may, in fact, use the name of the player who’s not sprinting back on defense, or the one who’s over dribbling coming off pick and rolls. The corrections are direct, honest, and factual...but not demeaning.
They use stats to tell the truth. Stats can tell the player who is over dribbling that on three possessions he took more than 8 dribbles; in three others he took 7 dribbles – making the point that we need ball movement, not dribbling.
They use film edits to show players where they need improvement, knowing that you can tell them or show them -- and the best way is to do both. Showing through film adds a second way of learning and confirms what the player has been told. This is one of the reasons coaches watch so much film; they feel the time spent on editing is well worth it if showing and correcting is important to that player’s improvement and to winning.
The other thing I found with elite players I’ve worked with in high school, college, and the NBA is that great players want to hear the truth because they want to improve and they understand that being their best never stops. It’s continuous work to improve and the best way to improve is to know exactly (the truth, the reality) what you need to work on. And if one of your players says he wants to be the best but pouts and shows an attitude when corrected or yelled at, then you can tell them that the great players seek the truth knowing that sometimes it will be uncomfortable to hear. The best of the best almost demand that their coaches make them better!
Hearing the truth is so important to improvement that in my new program created for athletes and teams THE CHALLENGE SERIES the first Challenge is the Challenge of Truth. I explain its importance and share a story of Kevin Garnett so players can see how KG used Truth to become the best he could be. Truth is the first of 16 Challenges in THE CHALLENGE SERIES program. I hope you will check it out.
Thanks for spending some Think Time with me. - Kevin
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