THE ESSENCE OF THE GAME IS DECEPTION

At my PEC camps, I always repeat a quote I heard from Dena Evans... "the essence of the game is deception." During our lecture sessions, we cover various ways to be "clever" on the court and LEGALLY take advantage of certain situations... but this isn't one of them. 

With 8.3 seconds left, down by 2 points and out of timeouts, Jason Kidd uses his cleverness to get his team a much needed timeout... and a $50K fine as well.

JASON KIDD "SPILL" VIDEO

TALENT ISN'T ENOUGH

Teams will always have a couple of talented players, but talented players aren't enough to win championships. You have to have mature players. Players that do not yet understand the concept of teamwork and sacrifice, will never be called a champion.

NOTHING LASTS FOREVER...

Thanks Rebecca Tillett!

WANT CONSISTENT DEFENSE? PROVIDE A GOAL...

Playing good defense takes a lot of effort... playing great defense takes a lot of sustained effort.  One of the things I would use to help the athletes sustain that level of effort was a simple motivational poster I would keep in the locker room as a daily reminder of what they were capable of.

The poster had the title "Club 30" across the top and the rest of the poster was blank.  The goal was to hold every team we played to 30 points or less.  If the team reached the goal, we would write-in our opponent's name and how many points we held them to as a visual reminder of accomplishing our defensive goal.  As we entered the playoffs, I would reprint the poster with a list of our season accomplishments as a motivator of what is possible if we stay focused on defense.

This was a simple idea that really kept the athletes focused on defense throughout the entire game, regardless of the score.  The closer our opponent got to scoring 30, the more the bench would remind them to stay sharp on defense by yelling "club 30" as a reminder.

The picture here represented what the team accomplished by the time we entered the playoffs a few years ago.  

IT'S WITHIN YOU

Your success or failure has very little to do with your opponent, your coach or the referees. It is a choice every athlete makes within themselves... whether they realize it or not. You must believe it to achieve it.

LOVE HIM OR HATE HIM

Love Him or Hate Him, there is a reason Nick Saban has been so successful at Alabama.  Saban isn't about looking behind and living in yesterday's victories... his mindset is focused on 'can we perform better today, than we did yesterday.'  

As a player (or as a coach), success is always within your grasp... the hardest part is being able to hold onto it.

LEADERSHIP IS MORE THAN JUST A WORD

"Any fool can get a mob to tear down a barn. But it takes talent & skill to get that same mob to help build one." 

The best leaders stay focused on building relationships on the team... not tearing them down.

IMPOSSIBLE IS JUST A WORD

We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. Refuse to accept impossible... it's just a word.

SECOND CHANCES

Danny Greene has been a rock-solid role player for the Spurs all season and getting plenty of air-time on Sports Center as a result; but there is a reason why... he became a "team player."

"Green's initial contact with the Spurs was thanks to a stint in Cleveland with the Cavaliers under Danny Ferry. When Ferry lost his job as Cleveland's general manager in 2010 and returned to the Spurs organization that had given him his post-playing start, he recommended they bring in Green. They signed him on Nov. 17, 2010, and waived him on Nov. 23, 2010. They couldn't stand him. The Spurs didn't like his attitude and didn't think he'd fit in with their team-oriented culture.

Then, Green did something that didn't fit in with our unapologetic, text-message culture. He asked for a second chance -- on a voicemail message he left for Gregg Popovich.

Green says he told him, "I'll do whatever you need me to do. Rebound, defense, towel boy, water boy … whatever you need me to do, I'm going to do that."

Popovich took it to heart. He brought back Green that March and signed him through the end of the 2010-11 season. By the next season, Green started more than half of the 66 games in the lockout-shortened schedule.

"Pop's a really good dude, and he gave me a second chance and I appreciate that," Green said. "The whole way along he's been pushing me and teaching me to be better, and I've grown within the system."

How much has Green improved since joining the Spurs?  He was 27.3% from outside before joining the Spurs and now shoots 42.9%.  He was 66.7% at the FT line before falling into Pop's system, now?  He shoots 84.8% from the line.  Rebounding?  Pre-Spurs Green was 0.9% rebounds per game...now?  3.1 RPG. In fact, Greene has improved in almost every statistical category.  

Thanks J.A. Adande | ESPN.com

SELECT WISELY...

Don't look for a shot you think you can make... look for a shot you cannot miss.  Shot Selection is the #1 thing that usually determines whether a team wins or loses.  Sports Center type shots may look really cool, but they rarely go in, which is why they're shown on TV.  High-percentage shots are the shots that win games... and Championships.