Height. Common basketball adage. Google it and you get a zillion entries.
Speed. Also very common. Tons of entries. Physical attributes you can’t really teach. Oh you can knock 1/10th of a second off your hundred yard dash time or whatever. You can increase your strength but it doesn’t stick. As soon as you stop lifting you’re back to your old fat self. Genetics is a bitch. That’s what it is, you cannot teach genetics.
Effort. Google “One thing you cannot teach is effort” and one of the first search results you get is, “What do you mean you can’t teach effort?” Parents, teachers, that’s what we do. You can incentivize effort—Mow the lawn, I’ll give you $5. Don’t mow the lawn, you’re grounded. Maybe half the time we’re even successful! There is a whole motivational industry. But you cannot incentivize genetics—Grow an inch I’ll give you $100. Of course you can teach effort.
“One thing you can’t teach is motor.”
That was Alonzo Mourning last night in praise of Bam Adebayo and, in unstated, understood contrast to Hassan Whiteside. Zo is just wrong. What then was your boss, Zo, the author of the motivational tract The Winner Within, doing out there on the practice court with whip and chair with Dion Weighters and James Johnson? C’mon Zo, not even Pat Riley goes as far as you do. One of Riley’s formulations is “Hard work guarantees you nothing. But without it, you don’t stand a chance.” You can teach it, you can incentivize it, you can demand it, but even when you are successful in motivating effort winning is not guaranteed. There are the unteachables—height say--that are accounted for by implication in Riley’s formulation that are not in Alonzo Mourning’s. Hassan Whiteside is 7’0”. Bam Adebayo is 6’10”. And no matter how high Bam’s motor runs he will never be 7'0" tall and he will never lead the NBA in rebounds and in blocked shots—as Hassan has done.
That, however, is Miami “Heat” “Culture.” Hard work, high motor, uber alles. 601 Biscayne actually, really, truly, prefers Bam’s 8.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg, .8 bpg to Hassan’s 13.4, 11.4, 2.3. And that guarantees failure.
*Siri to transcribe accurately. I dictated the original of this post in the car. I didn't make any mistakes. Siri made plenty of mistakes. So, with embarrassment and exasperation, I apologize and have corrected.
Speed. Also very common. Tons of entries. Physical attributes you can’t really teach. Oh you can knock 1/10th of a second off your hundred yard dash time or whatever. You can increase your strength but it doesn’t stick. As soon as you stop lifting you’re back to your old fat self. Genetics is a bitch. That’s what it is, you cannot teach genetics.
Effort. Google “One thing you cannot teach is effort” and one of the first search results you get is, “What do you mean you can’t teach effort?” Parents, teachers, that’s what we do. You can incentivize effort—Mow the lawn, I’ll give you $5. Don’t mow the lawn, you’re grounded. Maybe half the time we’re even successful! There is a whole motivational industry. But you cannot incentivize genetics—Grow an inch I’ll give you $100. Of course you can teach effort.
“One thing you can’t teach is motor.”
That was Alonzo Mourning last night in praise of Bam Adebayo and, in unstated, understood contrast to Hassan Whiteside. Zo is just wrong. What then was your boss, Zo, the author of the motivational tract The Winner Within, doing out there on the practice court with whip and chair with Dion Weighters and James Johnson? C’mon Zo, not even Pat Riley goes as far as you do. One of Riley’s formulations is “Hard work guarantees you nothing. But without it, you don’t stand a chance.” You can teach it, you can incentivize it, you can demand it, but even when you are successful in motivating effort winning is not guaranteed. There are the unteachables—height say--that are accounted for by implication in Riley’s formulation that are not in Alonzo Mourning’s. Hassan Whiteside is 7’0”. Bam Adebayo is 6’10”. And no matter how high Bam’s motor runs he will never be 7'0" tall and he will never lead the NBA in rebounds and in blocked shots—as Hassan has done.
That, however, is Miami “Heat” “Culture.” Hard work, high motor, uber alles. 601 Biscayne actually, really, truly, prefers Bam’s 8.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg, .8 bpg to Hassan’s 13.4, 11.4, 2.3. And that guarantees failure.
*Siri to transcribe accurately. I dictated the original of this post in the car. I didn't make any mistakes. Siri made plenty of mistakes. So, with embarrassment and exasperation, I apologize and have corrected.
