Recently, I've been re-reading The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons.
In part because it's such a great analysis of determining what separated the good from the very good, the very good from the great, and the great from the elite...also because I have way too much time on my hands, and 700 pages of basketball is a good way to kill time.
One of my favorite chapters is about "the secret." He talks about how statistics and talent are overvalued when talking about NBA champions—teams win when players "know their role, ignore statistics, and value winning over everything else.
"They win because their best players sacrifice to make everyone else happy. They win as long everyone remains on the same page."
In further discussion on superstar players, Simmons goes on to create three groups:
"Elite players who made themselves and everyone else better; elite players who were out for themselves; and elite players who vacillated back and forth between those two mind-sets depending on how it suited their own interests."
It's pretty easy to target players in the first group. Guys like Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Magic J ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Eric Felkey
2010 NBA Finals: Kobe Bryant Has a Chance To Further Cement His Legacy
June 1st, 2010 by Eric Felkey Leave a reply »
Advertisement