More from Brian McCormick

From Brian McCormick's Hard2Guard Player Development Newsletter:

The NBA Draft and Skill Development

This discussion took place on a message board. Someone posted that a former NBA player said that his contacts with NBA teams loved a player from his area, but they did not know what position the player would play. He continued that the NBA personnel said that it was obvious that he had no post footwork despite most NBA people feeling that he would have to be a power forward because of his sub-standard shooting.

How does a player who played for a well-respected high school program, a well-respected AAU program, a well-respected college program, and a skills trainer make it to 19 years old without an ability to shoot and no post footwork? Most adults blame the player, and his laziness or lack of work ethic or lack of deliberate practice. Does a player playing year-round with two teams and working with a skills trainer lack a work ethic? It certainly seems like he has invested the time to improve his skills.

I blame the adults. Between our fear of hurting a child’s feeling or damaging their self-esteem, and worrying about a player transferring high schools/AAU/college teams if they do not like us, we coddle players. How does a player learn about work ethic or about practicing his weaknesses if his mentors and guides in the talent development process do not teach him? We have created a problem because adults are scared of children and the power of their talent.

Over and over, television analysts commented on Greg Popovich treating Tim Duncan the same as Aaron Baynes or another player, as if Coach Pop was revolutionary or differed from other coaches in this respect. Isn’t it a major problem if Coach Pop is different? Shouldn’t all parents, coaches, teachers, trainers, etc. raise their expectations for all children rather than allowing the talented to get away with things because of their athleticism or height? In the classroom, high expectations have been shown to improve self-esteem, confidence, and academic performance in students (Brophy, 2008; 2010). Is there any reason to expect there to be a difference with coaches and players?

In You Haven’t Taught Until They’ve Learned, Swen Nater and Ronald Gallimore (2007) wrote about John Wooden and his coaching philosophy. Wooden said that he was a positive coach. Gallimore and Tharp (2004) studied Wooden’s coaching over a full season, and found that only 6.9% of his feedback was praise. I watch some coaches and trainers, and it seems like every other word out of their mouths is “Good.” Over 50% of Wooden’s comments were instructions (Gallimore & Tharp, 2004). Wooden believed that providing his players the information that they needed to improve was positive coaching. He also gave more praise to the players who played less and was more reluctant to praise the starters (Nater & Gallimore, 2007).
If Popovich and Wooden are two of the most revered coaches in basketball history, and they did not give stars star treatment, nor use superfluous compliments, why have we allowed our fear of talented children or our fear of damaging children’s self-esteem to change the way that we coach children, especially talented athletes?

This overly-sensitive coaching and parenting may not prepare children for success. In a series of studies, Duckworth et al. (2007) has shown that grit has correlated with academic and Spelling Bee success and predicted summer retention at West Point. Grit was defined as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Grit entails working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress.” (Duckworth et al., 2007; p. 1087).

Because grit has been shown to correlate with success, are we helping players by coddling them? Does anyone reach a high level of success without overcoming adversity and plateaus?

The NBA draft pick’s lack of skills, as mentioned by the former NBA player, is disconcerting in terms of projecting his success. However, more than the physical, the deficiencies may say more about the player’s mental make-up? If his coaches, trainers, and parents have challenged him, and he still has a low skill level, why should NBA teams expect him to develop suddenly when he reaches the NBA? If his coaches, trainers, and parents have coddled him and allowed him to get by on his size and athleticism, accounting for his lack of footwork and shooting, what will happen when athleticism is not enough and he meets adversity? Has he developed the mental skills to cope with adversity? The studies by Duckworth et al. (2007) suggested that his success ultimately will be determined by the answer to the last question. Has he developed the mental skills to cope with the struggles that he will inevitably face as he reaches higher competitive levels?