THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE BEST PLAYER

Every team has a best player. Some of these “best players” understand the responsibility that goes with that and others don’t. We have found that those who do have two things in common:

.......... ◦they have earned this designation (not just been given it)
.......... ◦they understand it’s an everyday responsibility

Kevin Garnett made an interesting comment on the bench the other night when he was talking to a teammate about consistency. He said, “an All-Star has to be a pit bull; he has to bring it every night!”

Everyone wants to be Michael Jordan or Paul Pierce or Tim Duncan or Steve Nash, but they don’t want the responsibility that goes with it. What Kevin was saying is being the best is not a one time thing. It is an everyday commitment to excel as a player who gives maximum effort every time he hits the floor. That means every game, every half, every quarter, every minute, every second, and every possession!

And this will be the case for anyone in any field who is — or wants to become — the best. It is a personal commitment that takes incredible daily focus. I encourage you to use Kevin’s statement with the player or players on your team who may be taking this for granted. You can tell them that Kevin not only talks the talk on this but he walks the walk. He understands that being the best requires more!

THE BEST NEVER REST

Nice post from: http://www.basketballcoachesclub.blogspot.com/

Nearly three months after cutting down the nets in Indianapolis, the 63-year-old Krzyzewski insisted he's feeling plenty refreshed as he prepares for the U.S. national team's training camp next month in Las Vegas.

"I'm on to the next thing, and the next thing is getting better as a basketball coach," Krzyzewski said Monday during his annual midsummer news conference. "You've got to get better each year, so the opportunity to coach the United States gives me an opportunity to get better. I'll coach this summer more than anybody in the United States.

"As long as I take my breaks and stay fresh, I think that's a good thing," he added. "You would want the guy defending you (in a courtroom) to get better in law. You would want the guy or woman treating you in health to keep up to date, and I think as long as you're in any profession, you should get better, because it's constantly changing."

"I'm a basketball coach all the time. That's what I do. I don't play golf. I chase my dog, or he chases me, and I whack down some trees and bushes and play with my grandkids and drink a little bit of wine," a smiling Krzyzewski said.

"I like to socialize, but I'm a basketball coach every day of my life."

DEVELOPING THE RIGHT HABITS

Darren Hardy of Success Magazine discuss the development of habits:

My dad used Larry Bird as an example to teach me about habits when I was a kid. "Larry Legend" is known as one of the greatest professional basketball players, but he wasn't known for being the most athletically talented player. Nobody would have described Larry as "graceful" on the basketball court. Yet, despite his limited natural athletic ability, he led the Boston Celtics to three world championships and remains one of the best players of all time. How did he do it?

It was Larry's habits—his relentless dedication to practice and to improve his game. Bird was one of the most consistent free-throw shooters in the history of the NBA. Growing up, his habit was to practice five hundred free-throw shots every morning before school. With that kind of discipline, Larry made the most of his God-given talents and kicked the butts of some of the most "gifted" players on the court.

Like Larry Bird, you can condition your automatic and unconscious response to be those of a developed champion. This chapter is about choosing to make up for what you lack in innate ability with discipline, hard work and good habits. It's about becoming a creature of champion habits.

With enough practice and repetition, any behavior, good or bad, becomes automatic over time. That means that even though we developed most of our habits unconsciously (by modeling our parents, responding to environmental or cultural associations, or creating coping mechanisms), we can consciously decide to change them. It stands to reason that since you learned every habit you have, you can also unlearn the ones that aren't serving you well.