Sue Bird is one of the best WNBA players ever. She is a point guard for the Seattle Storm and has won at every level she has played at. In high school they won a State Championships at Christ the King located in Queens New York. She captured a couple of NCAA National Championships at UConn and then a couple WNBA Championships with the Seattle Storm. This summer her and her team USA teammates dominated in Rio winning gold by huge margins each and every game they played.
At 36 years old, Bird has an incredible feel for the game and is the best point guard in the WNBA. Her play has been characterized as unselfish and she owns who she is. Sue isn’t the the biggest player as she stands about 5’10”. She is certainly not the fastest player in the game but she had evolved in order to find another way to win. She knows how to get her teammates involved and will do what it takes to get her team there. Perhaps the greatest gift she brings is her feel for the game. She knows when to oscillate between getting others to do it or controlling the flow of the game herself.
After studying Sue Bird for years it is obvious she is contagious to watch. The biggest lessons to take from her is the gift of authenticity because she speaks her mind when she is leading and to enjoy how much she plays in the moment. She doesn’t get too far ahead or behind she just tends to stay right at her level of peak performance even as her career comes towards its end. Her ability to find a way to win is one of her greatest gifts. If there is a way to win Sue Bird will make it happen. Her Basketball IQ is through the roof she will see things before they happen and anticipates what the next move will be. It is very fun to watch her play!
Over her 14 year career Sue Bird has been true to herself in that she can hit big time shots. She also finds her teammates to help them rise to the occasion as well. You see there is a big difference between being a scorer and a playmaker. A scorer is someone that can make a tough shot, nail a buzzer beater or put themselves in a position to be successful. A playmaker can do all the same things as a scorer but as an added bonus they can do the same things for their teammates through their contributions. They know when someone else is open or when to take the game into their own hands. They understand there is a time and place and have a clear vision of what is going on in the game at that moment.
From a defensive perspective shutting down a scorer is easy compared to stopping a playmaker. Scorers are capable of hitting you with a single blow or a couple of blows whereas a playmaker is similar to delivering death by thousands of paper cuts in that they are that hard to stop. It can certainly be much harder to be a playmaker especially when the group isn’t on the same page. However, if everyone is on the same page it is incredibly hard to stop. Bird is a playmaker and watching her for any amount of time makes you realize that her skill set is impressive.
Here are a couple of videos that will give you an idea of what her style of play is like.
Finding a way to win is an invaluable asset that is incredibly impressive. When you see a player that wants to win by any means necessary it is such an amazing talent to behold. Evolve your game with this in mind. Players can be big, they can be fast but there is so much more to basketball than that. Figure out what makes you special and use that to your advantage as best as you can.
Watch this one to catch Sue at from 1 min mark
Finding a way to win is an invaluable asset that is incredibly impressive. When you see a player that wants to win by any means necessary it is such an amazing talent to behold. Evolve your game with this in mind. Players can be big, they can be fast but there is so much more to basketball than that. Figure out what makes you special and use that to your advantage as best as you can.
No comments:
Post a Comment