Improbable Path: Jonathon Simmons’ Rise

I love the San Antonio Spurs!  One of the things I like the most is how they  seem to find and develop incredible players that really make an impact on their team.  The Spurs coaching staff find 'diamonds in the rough’ and make them into incredible players.  Many coaches go for the sure thing and the Spurs do that as well. However, what they have done over time is given athletes the opportunity to continue to grow, evolve and move up.  They find athletes that may not get much of a look on other teams and as they work with the system they end up thriving. This has definitely been the case Jonathon Simmons’ over time.  A few years ago he was part of the D-League and Summer League team associated with the Spurs. Now he has climbed his way up to being on the Spurs team and has had a couple of really great games so far.  I wanted to share an article that Lorne Chan wrote just to give some perspective on his path.  

Improbable Path: Jonathon Simmons’ Rise 

 By: Lorne Chan Spurs.com

http://www.nba.com/spurs/improbable-path/

When Jonathon Simmons walked into an Austin gym three years ago, he was one of 60 guys refusing to give up on a dream.

The Austin Toros held an open tryout at Concordia University in September 2013, where the requirements were a $150 registration fee and an accurate size for a souvenir jersey.

Some in attendance had pro experience, while others played their most competitive games in a neighbor’s driveway. Simmons was a relative unknown, with a resume that contained one season of Division I basketball and a few semi-pro games.

The open tryout is a place where everybody has been told no before. They are participants who have been told at some point that they might be better off giving up on basketball. 
They find themselves at a D-League open tryout because they refuse to believe what they’ve been told.

 “I try to focus on moving forward, but I still think back to that tryout all the time,” Simmons said. “Walking in with all those guys, trying to figure out a way to stand out.”

Three years later, Simmons is a 26-year-old NBA rookie for the Spurs. He heard a chant from the crowd in Milwaukee during a January game:

“Who Are You? Who Are You?”

Simmons responded with a career-high 18 points.

Spurs fans have gotten to know Simmons this season as a key member of the “Juice Unit,” the Silver & Black reserves who make up one of the best benches in the NBA.

A 6-foot-6 guard, he’s averaging 5.7 points per game with an array of high-flying highlights as he nears the end of his rookie season. His improbable path from an unknown at an open tryout to the NBA may be the ultimate leap.

A year ago, Simmons was scraping by to earn diaper money for his children. Now, Simmons has an NBA contract and the NBA per diem alone –money players receive for meals on the road – is more than he made playing basketball before this season. 

“I still can’t believe this,” said his mother, LaTonya Simmons. “This is one of those stories you see in a movie, but this is not somebody else’s story. I’m looking at the TV, and that is my child on the screen.”

Count LaTonya among those who weren’t sure about her son’s basketball future.

She saw him toil in 2012-13 with the Sugar Land Legends, a suburban semi-pro team in Houston. He’d score 30 or 40 points a game, but in front of sparse crowds for little or no pay. With nobody watching, calls weren’t coming in for Simmons to further his career.

LaTonya had a fallback career in mind for him. As a barber.

“He’s pretty good at cutting hair, and he would have built up a nice clientele,” LaTonya said. “I told him a few times in the offseason he should think about getting his barber’s license. Basketball turns out to be better than cutting hair.”

A tryout in Austin might have been Simmons’ last shot at pro basketball. With daughters to support at home, the barber’s chair was the viable option. Simmons was closer to holding clippers than facing the Clippers.

Tryouts are a key part of building a roster for the now-Austin Spurs. The entire coaching staff runs participants through six hours of drills, with San Antonio Spurs scouts and staff members in attendance as well. According to Brian Pauga, the Austin Spurs’ general manager and San Antonio Spurs’ director of scouting, it only took a few minutes to see that Simmons was “head and shoulders” above everybody else trying out.

“We saw an athlete who could really finish plays,” Pauga said. “He clearly had so much talent, but the work he put in since that day is why he is where he is now.”

Simmons was a raw talent at the tryout, having bounced around at two junior colleges and the University of Houston. He grew up in Houston’s northeast side, attending what was then called M.B. Smiley High. 

Simmons went to class enough to stay eligible for basketball, but there was little else for motivation at Smiley.

During Simmons’ senior year in 2007-08, a Johns Hopkins study labeled Smiley as a “dropout factory,” a school where at least 40 percent of a freshman class doesn’t get to their senior year.
Smiley was rated “academically unacceptable” by the Texas Education Agency, and it’s school district, North Forest, recorded an average SAT score - 748 out of 1600 – that was one of the worst in Texas.

In 2013, the TEA shut down North Forest ISD, and the Houston ISD absorbed the entire school  district.

“Jonathon was a good kid,” LaTonya said, “But there aren’t many kids in this neighborhood who are given a chance. He always had a dream of the NBA, but you got the feeling that it might be unreachable.”

LaTonya was doing all that she could to raise her four kids; Jonathon, the oldest, his younger brother and two sisters. LaTonya has worked at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport for almost 20 years now, doing everything from working at check-in to taking boarding passes for United Airlines. She sent tens of thousands of people off on their dream vacations, without taking a trip of her own. 

Raising four children on her own, LaTonya didn’t have any time or money for a vacation. Working shifts that bled into dinnertime, LaTonya would take the four kids to McDonald’s, where they had their choice of $3 worth of items off the Dollar Menu.

“I still like the Dollar Menu though, no matter how much I’m making,” Jonathon said.

LaTonya is still working at the airport, where she’s added a mini-Spurs ball to the antennae of her walkie-talkie. She said strangers come up to her every day talking about her son. 

“Some people will just yell ‘Go Spurs Go!’ from down the hall,” LaTonya said. “Whenever I get that, and I tell my son’s story, it makes you think about how many people work their whole lives for goals, but they get so close and it seems so far. Jonathon had obstacles and setbacks, but he stayed focused.”​

Jonathon graduated from Smiley and attended junior colleges – one year at Paris Junior College and two years at Midland JC – as he worked toward qualifying for a Division I school. 
Staying close to home, he attended the University of Houston for his junior season. He led the Cougars in scoring, averaging 14.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.

Rather than return for his senior season, Simmons opted to enter into the 2012 NBA Draft. 

Houston coach Wayne Dickey said he advised against it, but Simmons was determined to declare.
He had another motivating factor: providing for his three daughters.

Simmons believed he was ready and had a chance to support his children. Others weren’t so sure.
"I didn’t want him to fall into the category of a guy who should have made it,” said Dickey, who is now an assistant at Oklahoma State. “We all loved coaching him. His heart was always in the right place, and he always wanted to do what’s best. But we didn’t know what was going to happen.“

Simmons went undrafted and was without a backup plan. He said he didn’t know about his D-League or overseas basketball options at the time.

“That was maybe the time that I really doubted myself the most,” he said. “I was seeing guys that I played against in college get drafted and go to Summer League, and I had nothing. I felt like I could have played at that level back then, but I had no options.”

Simmons took the first paying gig he could find playing basketball, and it was with the semi-pro  Sugar Land Legends. 

He was easily the best player on the floor, but playing in high school gyms, Simmons realized how far from the NBA he was.

He needed any sort of way to stand in front of a professional coach and show what he had to offer. There happened to be a team in Austin taking a look at all comers.

The Austin Spurs have signed players out of open tryouts before. Forward Eric Dawson, who grew up a couple of miles away from the AT&T Center, spent parts of four seasons in Austin and earned a 10-day contract with the San Antonio Spurs in 2012. Wing Terrance Woodbury and guard Devondrick Walker have also turned their tryouts into Austin Spurs contracts.

With Simmons, Austin coaches knew he had the potential to be the best player they had seen in a tryout. Now, they had to get to work.

“The D-League really lights a fire under you,” said Spurs guard Danny Green, one of five players on the team with D-League experience. “You see what it takes to make it to the NBA and how many great players in the D-League are next to you gunning for those same spots. A lot of guys should experience that.”

Before he arrived in Austin, Simmons had never spent more than one season in any system.

“He used to just put his head down and try to jump over you, and that’s just not life in the NBA,” said Austin Spurs coach Ken McDonald. “When he learned to see the floor in our system, from there he took off.”

Austin Spurs coaches sit down with players at the beginning of each season, and map out a list of goals, working on strengths and weaknesses. For Simmons, defense and outside shooting were underlined.

He averaged 10 points a game for Austin in 2013-14, and his first season in the D-League opened up some options overseas as well. Simmons decided to stay in Austin for another year, because he didn’t want to be an ocean away from his family, which now included four daughters. 

 “When you’re evaluating players, you’re also evaluating their character,” Austin Spurs coach Ken McDonald said. “In our notes on Jonathon, we made sure to put that whenever he had some spare time on the road, he was on FaceTime with his daughters.”

As Simmons returned to Houston for another offseason, the doubts began to creep back. Nights in Bakersfield and Boise wore him down and the NBA calls hadn’t come yet. 

“I tried to limit doubt as much as possible,” Simmons said. “You have to try to stay positive and go from there. Coaches kept telling me that I had to have faith.”

In his second Austin season, 2014-15, Simmons reached those underlined goals. His work ethic was second to none, and his 3-point percentage jumped from .284 (25 of 88) in his first season to .398  (51 of 128). He was named to the D-League All-Defensive Third Team.

But Simmons watched as teammates JaMychal Green, Bryce Cotton and Jarell Eddie all received call-ups, and he didn’t. Simmons said he was proud of his teammates at the time, but the situation was even difficult for McDonald to handle.

“All these guys around him are leaving the nest, and we don’t understand why he isn’t getting called up either,” McDonald said. “He was doing all the right things. But we had to just preach to him that he was right there.”

The call finally came in July 2015, while Simmons was on the bus with Brooklyn’s summer league team. His agent called to tell him the Spurs were prepared to offer his first NBA contract.

The dream once thought as unreachable was now a reality. Simmons would never have to think about being a barber again. He won’t have to worry about scrounging money for diapers.

“It’s surreal and also humbling at the same time,” Simmons said. “The process was a grind, and I don’t take any part of it for granted. It was a humbling experience, and now I enjoy this part even more.”

One of his first calls was to LaTonya, who said she spent the entire night in shock. Simmons joined  the Spurs’ Summer League team in Las Vegas and celebrated with a championship game MVP trophy as the Spurs won the tournament.

Simmons said he feels his journey is just beginning. He’s still an NBA rookie, after all. He’s scored in double figures eight times this season, providing a valuable jolt of energy off the bench.

“He just dives into the game, and he competes,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He’s really got great athletic skills, and he’s a quick learner, a good worker. So he’s got a chance to be a long-time player in the league if he pays attention and sticks to it.”

Going from an open tryout to the NBA, there’s one part of his new life Simmons is still trying to grasp. He often runs into people on the street who tell him he’s an inspiration.

Simmons thought of himself as a guy grinding away, who took the long way to his professional dream. He was a guy trying to support his four children. 

He never thought about what people would think when he made it. 

“People say it’s inspiring, but I still don’t see it,” he said. “I just had to work a little harder than others.”

In February, LaTonya Simmons was on the other side of the airport counter. After 18 years of long shifts to provide for her four kids, she flew to Los Angeles for a quick vacation. 
She did a little sightseeing before she went to the Staples Center, where her son faced the Clippers.




lchan@attcenter.com
Twitter:@lornechan

Ray Allen's Letter to My Younger Self

After not playing in the NBA for the last 2 years Ray Allen officially retired.  He published this letter to his 13-year-old self as a way to reflect back on his journey over the last couple of decades.  Ever since reading his message earlier this week  I got thinking his article really captures the essence of basketball at a high level.  When players first start playing it's to be around friends or they think it's fun.  There is so much positivity to it.  However, when you get out of high school there is a different motivation especially when people's jobs depend on the outcome of their teams.  If you don't have a rock solid foundation in your love for the game or you aren't sure how to protect it from other people who can really shake its foundation the game becomes a lot more complicated.  Some players really love the idea of playing in the NBA. However, when it comes down to the work involved, the competition or how many obstacles you have to get through to be at that level other choices often become a lot more appealing. Over the years I have really enjoyed watching Ray Allen play and he will certainly be held in very high esteem.  Here what he had to say: 

Dear 13-year-old Ray,

When you get off the school bus tomorrow, you’re going to be in a whole new world. This is nothing new. Every time your father gets stationed at a new Air Force base, you have to say goodbye to your friends and start a new life. It’s the same routine once every three years or so. New school, new culture, new faces. 

Northern California. Then Germany. Then Oklahoma. Then England. Then Southern California. 

And now, Dalzell, South Carolina. 

You’re used to being the kid that nobody knows. The majority of your existence has been about trying to find new friends, trying to show people that you’re a good person and that you mean no harm. You’re used to being an outsider.

You’ve gotten pretty good at it. 

This time is different though. It’s the middle of the school year. Everybody already knows one another. You’re at a critical age, and kids are just.… 

Kids are just mean. 

You’ve grown up in a military household your whole life. Until now, your friends were all from military families. You walked around the neighborhood with your I.D. card hanging around your neck like a dog tag in case some unfamiliar MPs rolled by. You spent your formative elementary school years in Britain. So you don’t even realize it, but to some people, you speak very proper. 

When you step off that school bus in South Carolina tomorrow and open your mouth, those kids are going to look at you like you’re an alien. 

“You talk like a white boy,” they’ll say.

You’ll look around the school and see groups of kids all paired off, and you’ll feel like you don’t have a place. 

You’ll think to yourself, I don’t understand. Who am I supposed to be? 

I’m going to be 100% honest with you. I wish I could tell you that it will get easier, and that you’re going to blend in, and that it’s going to be alright. But you’re not going to fit in with the white kids, or the black kids … or the nerds … or even the jocks.

“You talk like a white boy,” they’ll say.

You’ll be the enemy to a lot of people simply because you’re not from around there.

This will be both the toughest and the best thing that will ever happen to you.

What I want you to do is this: Go to the basketball court. Stay at the basketball court. You can build your entire existence there. 

The world is much bigger than Dalzell, South Carolina. If you stick to the plan, you’ll see. Remember that when when you’re lying in bed on Saturday and Sunday mornings and you hear the engine of your father’s old Trans-Van start up outside. 

You know that sound. It’s not pretty. 

All you’ll want to do is sleep, but grab your sneakers and run down the stairs because he will leave you. You have exactly two minutes before the heat kicks on in the van and he’s backing out of the driveway. He’s on military time, and if you don’t get to the Air Force base court by 0900 on the dot to put your name at the top of the sign-up sheet, you’re going to have to wait around all day to get a run in. 

You’ll learn a lot on that court. As a 13-year-old kid playing against grown men, you’ll learn to play in transition out of necessity. You’ll play so fast that all the airmen will start calling you “Showtime” when you walk into the gym. 

In between games, when you’re on the sidelines, I want you to listen very carefully to all the stories these guys tell. 

You’re going to hear a lot of, “Man, I coulda …” on these courts. 

Man, I wish I could go back in time. 

I’d have gone D-I. 

Booze got the best of me. 

Man, I coulda.… 

Man, I shoulda.… 

I wish I could go back, young fella.…

Don’t ever put yourself in the position to wish you could hop in a time machine, Ray. You need to stay focused, because things will only become more complicated as you have more success on the court.

When you start getting attention from colleges, some of your own teammates will say things like, “UConn? You’ll sit on the bench for four years.” 

Just because you don’t drink, they’ll say, “Man, you’re gonna be an alcoholic once you get to college. You won’t be ready. All they do is drink there.” 

A lot of people don’t want to see you succeed. Don’t get into fistfights with these kids. Trust me, it will accomplish nothing. 

Instead, remember exactly who said those things. 

Remember how they said it. 

Remember their faces. 

Keep these voices inside your head and use them as fuel every single day when you wake up. 

And the voices telling you you’re the man? Those are the voices to keep out. When you start getting some national attention in high school, you’ll hear things like, “Ray’s jumpshot is God-given.” 

Listen: God doesn’t care whether or not you make your next jump shot. 

God will give you a lot of things in life, but he’s not going to give you your jump shot. Only hard work will do that. 

Don’t be so naive as to think you’re ready for college ball. 

Young fella, you’re not ready. 

In high school, you might think you understand what it takes to be a great basketball player, but you will truly have no idea. When you get to UConn, your coach will show you what hard work really is. 

His name is Jim Calhoun. Don’t get on this man’s shit list.

When you walk into the gym for that first practice, get ready for hell on wheels. You’re going to be all excited to put on your Huskies gear and start shooting around. But then Coach Calhoun is going to flip the script.

“Freshmen!” he’ll say. “You think you deserve to wear this uniform? You don’t deserve the privilege. Not yet.” 

“I want to see some sweat,” Coach will say. 

Up until that very moment, you’ll think basketball is all about going out and putting up some jump shots and showing your skill. 

When you get put through Coach Calhoun’s first practice you’ll realize, Oh, this game is a sonofabitch. 

You will be put through the hardest workout of your life. You’ll be gasping for air, hunched over. But the thing is, the gym in Storrs is air conditioned. Your body is used to playing in the sweatbox gyms in South Carolina, where there’s no air conditioning. 

At the end of the practice, coach Calhoun is going to line everybody up and walk down the line, looking at every player. 

When he gets to you, he’ll look down at your shirt. There will be a single bead of sweat trickling down your Adam’s apple. 

He’ll  look at you. Then he’ll look at the little bead of sweat. Then he’ll look back at you. 

“That’s it? I guess we didn’t work you hard enough, Allen.” 

The next practice is going to be even tougher. 

This man is going to damn near break you, but he’s going to make you a much better player and person. This will be your introduction to what it really takes to be great. 

A few days later, you’re going to have one of the most memorable moments of your life. You’re going to wake up at 5:30 a.m. and go to the weight room to get your workout in, and then you’ll come back to the dorm and shower before class. 

You’ll put on a shirt and tie, throw your backpack over your shoulder and walk across campus to your first class of the day. 

It’s early, so it’s still quiet. The leaves are crunching under your feet. You’re sore, but your clothes are on point. You got your work in. You’re prepared. You have a purpose. 

I don’t know what it is about this moment in particular, but as you’re walking, you’ll think, Wow. I’m a college student. No matter what happens at the end of this tunnel, I’m going to make my family proud. 

When you get to your public-speaking class and sit down, this girl will turn to you and say, “Hey, why are you so dressed up?”

You’ll say, “Because I can.”

In that moment, it will feel like you have conquered the world. 

I could end this letter right here, and you would still probably be excited about what you are going to accomplish in life. But you still have an 18-year NBA career ahead of you. 

How do I sum up nearly two decades in the NBA? What do you really need to know? What’s truly important?

You’ll get to play against your heroes: Michael Jordan and Clyde Drexler. 

You’ll play alongside Hall of Famers: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade. 

Sometimes you’ll be afraid. 

Sometimes you’ll think you’re out of your league. 

But you’ll keep showing up every day, putting in the work. 

You’ll put up more than 26,000 shots in your career. Almost six out of 10 won’t even go in. I told you this game was a sonofabitch. 

Don’t worry, though. A successful man is built of 1,000 failures. Or in your case, 14,000 misses. 

You’ll win a championship in Boston. 

You’ll win another in Miami. 

The personalities on those two teams will be different, but both teams will have the same thing in common: habits. 

Boring old habits. 

I know you want me to let you in on some big secret to success in the NBA. 

The secret is there is no secret. 

It’s just boring old habits.

In every locker room you’ll ever be in, everybody will say all the right things. Everybody says they’re willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to win a title. But this game isn’t a movie. It’s not about being the man in the fourth quarter. It’s not about talk. It’s getting in your work every single day, when nobody is watching.

Listen: God doesn’t care whether or not you make your next jump shot.

Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade. The men who you are going to win championships with are all going to be very different people. What makes them champions is the boring old habits that nobody sees. They compete to see who can be the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.

Your peers who think this is a cliché, or who think this doesn’t apply to them because they have God-given talent, will play their whole careers without winning an NBA title. 

But I want you to understand something deeper. The championships are not the point. 

Yes, there will be a sense of validation and vindication when you raise the trophy above your head, remembering everyone who ever said you wouldn’t amount to anything. 

Four-year benchwarmer. 

Alcoholic. 

White boy. 

But if I’m being real with you, what you’ll realize after you win the first title is that the thrill is fleeting. The vindication is fleeting. If you only chase that high, you’re going to end up very depressed. 

The championships are almost secondary to the feeling you’ll get from waking up every morning and putting in the work. The championships are like when you were sitting in class at UConn with your shirt and tie on. They’re just the culmination.

Your winding path to those moments, just like your walk across campus on that quiet fall morning in Connecticut, is where you will find happiness. 

I really mean it from the bottom of my heart: Life is about the journey, not the destination. And that journey will change you as a person. 

Let me tell you one final story that may help you understand what I mean. 

It’s the early morning hours of June 21, 2013. You’re 38 years old, and just a few hours ago you won Game 7 of the NBA Finals with the Miami Heat. 

You are an NBA champion for the second time.

You lay down in bed at about five in the morning, but you just can’t sleep. Finally, around seven o’clock, you give up on sleep and creep downstairs. All your friends and family have come over to your house to celebrate — they’re all passed out on couches, sound asleep. You tiptoe around them on the way to the kitchen to make some breakfast. The sun is coming up, the house is quiet. You have achieved exactly what you set out to do. But you’re still restless. 

So why do you feel this way? Isn’t this what you worked so hard for?

Around 7:30, you get into your car and go for a drive. 

You park your car in front of a white office building. They’re just opening up. 

When you walk in the door, the receptionist looks at you and says, “Ray? What … what are you doing here?” 

“I couldn’t sleep.” 

“But … you just won the title.” 

“Yeah, I just wanted to get out of the house.” 

“But … it’s eight in the morning. And you just won the title.” 

“Well, I still got some work to be done on this tooth. Is he in?” 

Your dentist walks out of his office. 

“Ray? What are you … what?” 

“Couldn’t sleep.” 

This is what success looks like for you. You’re the kind of guy who goes to the dentist the morning after winning an NBA title. 

I know, man. 

I know. 

But in order to achieve your dreams, you will become a different kind of person. You’ll become a bit obsessive about your routine. This will come at a heavy cost to some of your friends and family. 

Most nights, you won’t go out. Your friends will ask why. You won’t drink alcohol, ever. People will look at you funny. When you get to the NBA, you won’t always play cards with the boys. Some people will assume you’re not being a good teammate. You’ll even have to put your family on the back-burner for your job.

Most of the time, you will be alone.

That won’t make you the most popular person. Some people simply won’t understand. Is the cost worth it? 

Only you can answer that. 

Who am I supposed to be? 

Tomorrow when you get off that school bus in South Carolina, you’ll have to choose. 

Every day for the rest of your life, you’ll have to choose. 

Do you want to fit in, or do you want to embark on the lonely pursuit of greatness? 

I write this to you today as a 41-year-old man who is retiring from the game. I write to you as a man who is completely at peace with himself. 

The hell you experience when you get off that bus will be temporary. Basketball will take you far away from that school yard. You will become far more than just a basketball player. You’ll get to act in movies. You’ll travel the world. You will become a husband, and the father of five amazing children. 

Now, the most important question in your life isn’t, “Who am I supposed to be?” or even, “What do I have to do to win another championship?”

It’s, “Daddy, guess what happened in math class today?”

That’s the reward that awaits you at the end of your journey. 

Go to the court. Stay at the court. 

Get your work in, young fella. 

Most people will never really get to know the real you. But they’ll know your work. 

James Clear Article on the Power of Getting 1% Better

This is an article written by James Clear about the power of getting 1% better.  I love James Clear's material because it speaks to how leaders in their field work on improving and pushing themselves to their highest capacity. I hope you all have a great week!  
Coach Marla 

Pat Riley on the Remarkable Power of Getting 1% Better

By James Clear   

The 1986 Los Angeles Lakers were one of the most talented basketball teams ever assembled, but they are rarely remembered that way.
The team started the 1985-86 NBA season with a 29-5 record. “The pundits were saying that we might be the best team in the history of basketball,” head coach Pat Riley mockingly said after the season. 
Despite their talent, the Lakers stumbled in the 1986 playoffs and suffered a surprising season-ending defeat in the Western Conference Finals. The “best team in the history of basketball” didn’t even play for the NBA Championship that year.
As the head coach, Pat Riley was tired of hearing about how much talent his players had and about how much promise his team held. He didn’t want to see flashes of brilliance followed by a gradual fade back to mediocrity. He wanted the Lakers to play up to their potential, night after night.
In the summer of 1986, Riley created a plan to do exactly that. 

Step 1: Taking Their Number

Following the 1986 season, Riley revealed a new program that he called the Career Best Effort program or CBE. 
“When players first join the Lakers,” Riley explained, “we track their basketball statistics all the way back to high school. I call this Taking Their Number. We look for an accurate gauge of what a player can do, then build him into our plan for the team, based on the notion that he will maintain and then improve upon his averages.”
You’ll notice that Riley was interested in the average speed of his players. His first calculation was to see what a player’s normal day looked like, not his best day.
In her book, When the Game Was Ours (Audiobook), author Jackie MacMullan explains Riley’s CBE calculations by saying,

“The Lakers coach recorded data from basic categories on the stat sheet, applied a plus or a minus to each column, and then divided the total by minutes played. He calculated a rating for each player and asked them to improve their output by at least 1 percent over the course of the season. If they succeeded, it would be a CBE, or Career Best Effort.” 

Riley was careful to point out that CBE was not merely about points or statistics, but giving your “best effort spiritually and mentally and physically.” Players got credit for “allowing an opponent to run into you when you know that a foul will be called against him, diving for loose balls, going after rebounds whether you are likely to get them or not, helping a teammate when the player he’s guarding has surged past him, and other ‘unsung hero’ deeds.” 

Step 2: Calculating Your CBE

I don’t know Riley’s exact formula, but here’s what the CBE calculation might look like in practice:
Let’s say that Magic Johnson had 11 points, 8 rebounds, 12 assists, 2 steals, and 5 turnovers in a particular game. Magic also got credit for an “unsung hero” deed by diving after a loose ball (+1). Finally, he played a total of 33 minutes in this imaginary game.
If we add up all the positive numbers (11+8+12+2+1), we get 34. Then, we subtract the 5 turnovers (34-5) to get 29. Finally, we divide 29 by 33 minutes played.
29/33 = 0.879
In this example, Magic’s CBE number would have been 879.  This number was calculated for all of a player’s games and he was then asked to improve his average CBE by one percent during the course of the season. Riley knew that if the Lakers could aggregate many small individual improvements they would achieve a big jump in team performance.

Step 3: Historical Comparisons

Throughout the 1987 season, Riley was constantly comparing each player’s current CBE to not only their past performances, but also other players around the league. As Riley put it, “We rank team members alongside league opponents who play the same position and have similar role definitions.” 

“Riley trumpeted the top performers in the league in bold lettering on the blackboard each week and measured them against the corresponding players on his own roster.
Solid, reliable players generally rated a score in the 600s, while elite players scored at least 800. Magic Johnson, who submitted 138 triple-doubles in his career, often scored over 1,000.”

The Lakers also emphasized year-over-year progress by making historical comparisons of CBE data. Riley said, “We stacked the month of November, 1986, next to November, 1985, and showed the players whether they were doing better or worse than at the same point last season. Then we showed them how their performance figures for December, 1986, stacked up against November’s.”
Imagine you’re one of the players. Every week you walk into the locker room and see your name ranked alongside Michael Jordan or Larry Bird or some other competitor across the league. You’re constantly aware of how you are performing relative to the competition and relative to your average performance. It is impossible to lie to yourself about whether you are playing well or poorly. You are are constantly aware of your choices, your actions, and your performance.
Compare that situation to how most of us live our lives. We don’t track or measure the things that we say are important to us. We make excuses, create rationalizations, and lie to ourselves about our daily performance. We have no evidence of whether we are performing better or worse compared to previous months or years. It’s not hard to see why the CBE program delivered results.

The Results of CBE

The Los Angeles Lakers began executing the CBE program in October of 1986. Eight months later, they were NBA Champions. The following year, during the 1987-88 season, Pat Riley led his team to another title as the Lakers became the first team in 20 years to win back-to-back NBA championships.

“Sustaining an effort is the most important thing for any enterprise. The way to be successful is to learn how to do things right, then do them the same way every time. Players can’t excel in every area, but they can strive to better themselves in the areas that we value most for each individual. Then we can show them what they need to do to have their Career Best Effort. Over the length of a season, a correlation always appears between great effort and great overall numbers. It may not show from one game to the next, but in the long run superior effort is reflected in the win column.”
—Pat Riley

What Makes Great Performers Great?

There is a surprisingly narrow gap that separates the good performance from the great performance. And that narrow gap is separated by small habits and daily rituals.
It is so easy to dismiss the value of making slightly better decisions on a daily basis. Sticking with the fundamentals is not impressive. Falling in love with boredom is not sexy. Getting one percent better isn’t going to make headlines.
There is one thing about it though: it works.

Getting Cut - Ways to Learn from It

It can be very disheartening and challenging when a player gets cut from a team they were hoping to be a part of.  It doesn’t really matter if the team was a school team, provincial team, club team, national team or some other team they might have been trying out for.  It never feels good to be rejected or deselected from something you wanted to be a part of.  There are many ways to deal with the situation.  Some athletes choose to use the experience as a way to get more bitter and frustrated which may eventually lead them to giving up or quitting.  While other athletes choose to help the feedback make them a better player.  

As coaches we sometimes say “it is better to get cut early” meaning that when you get cut at a younger age you have a chance to learn the most from the experience before it is too late and the time to improve runs out.   You can re-evaluate and then use the feedback to continue to improve. When you get cut early you have a chance to rethink your motivation, change your habits and really dig in to find ways to get better. Sometimes getting cut helps you to choose a different path that is better suited for the next phase of your life.    

Whenever I hear of somebody getting cut I often think of my experience of how I got cut in grade 7 from the junior girls team at my school and I was devastated.  I was really angry at the coach but that's when I decided to engage my work ethic instead.  I could tell getting mad was a waste of energy and I shifted to wanting to prove the coach wrong.  My sister helped me to get better.  She taught me how to do layups, how to shoot and also how to do so many of the fundamental things that would help me to get better.  Once I had the foundation I shot up the ranks quickly playing on the grade 11 and 12 team when I was in grade 9.  Besides my own experience of dealing with being cut early I also think about the story that is often told about Michael Jordan who was cut from the senior team when he was about 15 years old.  He used that experience to fuel him because he never wanted to feel that pain again.  I often think about how getting cut ignited his spirit, taught him how to dig deep and unleashed a powerful force on the basketball world. He never wanted to experience that feeling again so he made it so he became the greatest player ever.  I sometimes wonder what kind of basketball player he would have been had that experience never happened to him?  If he made the team instead of being cut would he have had the same career later in his life?  

Cuts happen, coaches have choices to make as there are only a certain number of players that can round out a roster and sometimes it comes down to the number of players in those positions as well as the fit of the athlete.  During a Canada Basketball training camp a couple of the coaches who were former National Team members divulged that every single player that eventually made the team had been cut in the years prior to finally being selected. So, no one is immune to rejection and it becomes common and standard practice the higher the level you try to reach.  

1. Get Feedback - This can be painful but helpful if you can ever get feedback from the coach(es) that cut you it is important to ask. It is the very best way to figure out ways to continue to improve especially if it hurts.  Try to also figure it out yourself by watching other people and learning from players that are better than you.  You have to learn to be your own best coach.  Most often it is about the details and executing those movements the best you can as close as possible to what was shown. The next time the drill or skill try to remember the little things and learn to repeat them.  
2. Take the Lesson - learning to deal with rejection is a crucial lesson in life.  There are a lot of ways that life isn’t going to go the way you are expecting it to go.  When bad things happen you have to find a way to dig deep and find away through them. Many people who get rejected learn to come back stronger and better than they were before.  Adversity is the best teacher.  
3. Come up with an Action Plan - Once you have a good idea of what needs to be improved really work on getting better.  If you identify your shot needs to get better find someone that can help you improve your technique.  Work on your plan every single day.  
4. Channel the pain - Use the pain as fuel and every time you don’t feel like working on your game or your workout isn’t going well that is when you tap into that feeling to really get your fired up to keep going. This should be able to help turn things around.  

In closing, there are a lot of times in life when things aren’t going to go your way.  Opportunities will come and go but being able to respond to them is what matters most.  Sometimes getting rejected helps you to take time to get over it and build confidence to not put yourself in a position to let that happen again.  You may not have control over what happens to you but you always have control over how you respond to those circumstances every single time.  

Locker Room Talk

This week’s blog is coming straight from the heart. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the statements Donald Trump made into a hot mic that came to light recently.  Although those statements were made 11 years ago they were incredibly hurtful and demeaning to women. Knowing this wasn't just a one time incident.  Trump has had so many sexist statements come out that it is impossible to ignore this last one. The thing that I have noticed is how many men have stepped up on social media and personally to speak up against his statements about women.  Just indicating his comments were “locker room talk” seems to not only excuse it away but to also indicate that all men speak like this in locker rooms which is incredibly untrue.   

Not to mention that men aren't the only people who use locker rooms. Women do too! Now I know that this may be different than the Miss Universe pageant change rooms Trump has bragged about frequenting so that would explain why he may be unclear. I am by no means inviting him in to take a look around but I can say one thing is for sure women aren’t talking this way either.  It is safe to say he was speaking for himself and his comments go far beyond being considered “locker room talk”. 

Everybody knows that when women aren’t around men communicate very differently to one another.  I figured that out early when my family would get together during the holidays.  The men would be in one area to relax after a meal and the women would be in another. I realized from that experience at a young age men change a bit.  They joke around differently, they tease and criticize each other and sometimes they say things that are off side.  They say things that maybe they shouldn’t because they are exaggerating for impact or speaking more freely than they normally do.  Regardless, I know personally and profoundly that there is a huge percentage of men that love, respect and adore women. Trumps comments went too far. 

In the locker rooms I have been in, for the better part of 2 decades, men don’t treat women like that. When I was playing on the team most of my coaches were men and they have always been incredibly respectful to us as players.  Now that I am often the only woman with my teams and the organizations I am apart of I realized something very very important in that once the coaches and players know as well as trust me they no longer see my gender as a huge barrier. So it isn’t that they are softening up due to me being there it’s because they truly don’t talk like that. 

Women are amazing!  I have been told on more than one occasion by men that we are the reason and motivation for why they do so many things they do.  If women weren’t around it would be an incredibly different world. Women make men better and it is true the other way around as well.  We enhance their lives in so many ways and that is something to embrace as well as own.  Our femininity transforms men and that is nothing to be upset about it is a gift.  We play many diverse roles in their lives from mother, nurturer, lover, and sometimes we even have to hold them accountable by being the voice of reason when they might do something truly idiotic.

As I mentioned before I thought about this hot mic incident a lot this week and my thoughts weren’t all negative.  I realize life isn’t perfect but we have come a long way in our journey.  I saw how many of my coaching colleagues and friends spoke up and dismissed this behaviour as being unacceptable.  They were truly offended to be painted with this type of brush. This signals to me that things are getting better.  Many men do have our backs and they sincerely care.  They look out for us in many ways and it has been men at nearly every turn that have helped guide, encourage, support and help in my coaching career consistently since I started out. I am not naive, I am sure there are dark and creepy corners where this Trump style of locker room talk still exists.  However, maybe this incident has helped these men see they don’t want to sound like that anymore and that this kind of dialog is out of style now.  

In closing, instead of seeing it as a fight for equality I look at it as a challenge to restore partnership.  Men and women have amazing values that enhance each other.  Yes these factors are equal in that they balance out but they are by no means the same.  When I am coaching I don’t try to be a man. I can’t do the things that men can do but, they also can’t do what I can do either.  I surround myself with great assistant coaches that help to ensure that balance exists on our coaching team.  When I am the assistant I hope the other coaches feel like I bring something different and balance that table out as well. The point is that it sometimes isn’t about gender it is about owning who you are.  Strong people lift others up.  Strong people have each others' backs.  Strong people unite one another.  Gender has little to do with that and everything to do with supporting people and being the best version of yourself. Due to all of this I like the talk that goes on in all of the locker rooms I have been a part of and if I didn't I would certainly take steps to change it.  I hope all of my players understand the value of all women and choose not to take this type of dinosaur view about life.  

13 Ways to Build Culture

This is a blog that was created by Alan Stein when he was with Stonger Team.  Now that he is at Pure Sweat I want to give him the credit here for this week’s blog entry.   

(http://puresweatbasketball.com/13-ways-build-culture/)

Culture is something that I really strive to utilize when building any teams I am responsible for helping.  It is powerful and really makes a big difference in terms of the bonds the team together.  The stronger the team bonds together the more successful they tend to be.  I once heard Mano Watsa from PGC, which is a basketball camp organization, say your culture is what happens when the leaders of the team aren’t around.  How does your team act when no one is telling them what to do.  Here is what Alan had to say when it came to 13 Ways to Build Culture.  

1. Program > Team > Player
2. Players and coaches talk to each other, not at each other. Big difference. 
3. No one is perfect. Mistakes will happen on and off the court.  Learn from them. 
4. Every player and every coach is important to the team and plays a role.  Respect that. 
5. Focus on effort and attitude. Those are the only 2 things we have complete control over.  
6. You either accept it or you correct it. There is nothing in between. 
7. Repetition is not viewed as punishment.  Repetition is necessary to development.  
8. Confront issues, not people. 
9. Goals match behaviours and habits. 
10. Be on time.  It is a sign of respect. 
11. Discipline = Love 
12. If you aren’t prepared to put the team first… don’t play.  
13. Believe or leave 

Even though these have been written with sports in mind I believe they can be used for the corporate world as well.  These ways to build culture can help any team to really develop the necessary habits to being successful and continue to thrive.  

The WHY Movement

A few of months ago my office started doing something really interesting.  They got us involved in some sessions that helped us as individuals to discover the purpose of our lives.  It was about discovering our reason WHY.  It is a test and a series of workshops we took company wide that helped us to uncover and see our personal gifts so we could understand what makes us who we are to unlock our passion.  

When we are involved in our WHY we are able to connect with each other and realize the motivation and viewpoint the other person is coming from.  It helps to recognize the unique gifts each person brings to the organization.  This test really helped to clarify the standpoint that different coworkers are coming from a different place.  It was interesting to see the different teams were made in terms of the characteristics they possessed as well as how they were able to help our customers and the business as a whole.  

We have a display up at work that has each person’s picture along with their WHY so if you wonder what group your colleagues belong to you can reference that area.  It has really helped to see every team member in a different light.  You can quickly identify each others strengths and what they stand for.  Due to this each team member has a better understanding of how they fit and contribute to the cause of the organization.  When aligned with your WHY you come from a place of passion, respect and appreciation which contributes to the success of the company in a different way than before.  

Initially I heard some of the upper management talking about their WHY classification as they attended a separate workshop before us.  One of the managers got up to share about how the group he belonged to was called Contribution.  It took me only a few seconds to hear him talk when I fully realized I was part of that group before I even took the test.  The Contribution group is interested in being part of a greater cause.  They don’t want to just participate their interest is in relishing in the success of the greater good by working behind the scenes making the world a better place.  Contribution people are go to people that you can get help from in just about anything.  They are reliable and committed teammates and are often found in athletics which clearly rang true for me.  After answering the test truthfully and unbiased I found I actually ended up belonging to that group after all.  There was a clear reason it resonated with me.

So, what are some of the other groups that people can be a part of?  Well without going into too much detail I will give you a few of them.  

Simplify - Their reason for living is to break things down in the simplest form and remove unnecessary elements. 

Make Sense - This group takes complicated problems and organizes them into sensible resolutions.

Right Way - Individuals who belong to this group believe the is a correct way to do things and they have to go about achieving them in that particular way. 

Better Way - People in this group find better ways to do things by being innovative and continuously improving.  They want to discover and share better ways.    

Trust  - This group believes the most important thing in life is trust.  They work very hard to gain it and really value letting their actions speak instead of just their words.  

Knowing your WHY helps you to figure out your behaviour.  You gain insight and understand the reasons you make some of the choices you make.  You know your value and what the group counts on you to do. If you want to know more about this process please see. http://www.knowyourwhy.com/know-your-why/