"Screen somebody out there!"

I took a break the last couple of weeks and enjoyed some time at the beach.  My wife and I are still training for a marathon that's coming up in a couple of weeks, so it wasn't all rest and relaxation.  However, we definitely needed some time away, and we both had a great time.  Back to writing!

I remember the first time I learned about Coach Bob Knight as if it were only yesterday.  Coach Knight hosted a television show on one of our local television stations (WTTV Channel 4).  He used to wear a plaid blazer (very stylish for the 1970's) during the show, and he would have some of his Indiana University Hoosiers basketball players run through basketball drills to demonstrate some of the fundamentals of basketball, at least according to Coach Knight.  Even though we were a Purdue University family, I was still enthralled!  How could you not be, when Coach brought legendary players like Kent Benson, Quinn Buckner, and Scottie May on the show?  Remember, to this day, IU is the only team to win the NCAA championship and go undefeated the entire season!

Coach Knight won the NCAA championship three times (1976, 1981, and 1987), and at one point had more college Division I basketball wins (902) than any other coach in history (he's currently fifth on the all-time wins list).  Unfortunately, even though he was one heck of a basketball coach, Bob Knight was not a good person.  His history of volatile behavior, which included throwing a chair towards a Purdue player in 1985, as well as allegations (which were true) of physically assaulting one of his players during a basketball practice, eventually led to his firing in the fall of 2000.  He would go on to coach Texas Tech from 2001 to 2008, though he remained somewhat of a pariah at Indiana University until his triumphant return to Indiana University's Assembly Hall in 2020. 

It's unfortunate when you grow up and learn that some of your childhood heroes don't deserve to be called heroes.  So I don't want to make this post about Bob Knight.  I bring all of this up in the context of another basketball legend who I was fortunate enough to see play during my lifetime, Michael Jordan.  At least to me, the arguments about who was the better player, Michael Jordan or LeBron James  are pointless.  I've seen them both play, and I say Jordan was the best that I've ever seen play the game.  One of my favorite Michael Jordan stories actually involves Coach Knight.

Years ago, professional basketball players weren't allowed to play in the Olympic Games.  As a matter of fact, the last amateur team to play in the Olympics for the United States was actually the 1984 team, who were coached by Bob Knight.  The star of that team (in retrospect) was Michael Jordan, then a first team All American who played for the North Carolina Tar Heels and their legendary head coach, Dean Smith.  Bob Knight would say that Michael Jordan was the best basketball player he had ever seen, while Michael Jordan wrote in his memoir The Jordan Rules that "I don't know if I would have done it (played for the U.S. team) if I knew what Knight was going to be like."  

I posted about "team chemistry" and dealing with superstars a few posts back, and here is where things come back full circle.  There is an oft repeated story about the final game in the 1984 Olympics between the United States and Spain.  At half time, Coach Knight went into the locker room wondering what he could say to the team.  They had already breezed through the tournament without losing a single game.  Michael Jordan was on absolute fire, and the U.S. team was winning by 28 points at the half.  Knight would admit, "We played the game about as well as basketball can be played."  However, Coach Knight wondered what he could say to the team to get them play even better during the second half.

He decided that if he criticized the star of the team, the other players would be encouraged to play even harder in the second half.  So Knight immediately started criticizing Jordan, saying "Mike, when in the hell are you going to set a screen? We had four guys out there screening. When the hell are you going to screen somebody, Mike? I mean all you’re doing is rebounding, passing, and scoring. Screen somebody out here."

Okay, I get it.  I guess.  I've been saying that you can't treat the superstars differently from everyone else on the team.  But making up stuff to complain about?  I'm not so sure about that.  Regardless, what did Jordan come back with?  

Jordan responds by saying, "Coach, didn’t I just read last week where you said I may be the quickest player you’ve ever been around?"

Knight comes back with, "What the hell does that have to do with you screening?"

Jordan replies with his signature smile, "Coach, I think I set them quicker than you can see them."

Here's my first point.  Don't place your superstars on a pedestal.  It's important that the rest of the members of the team see that you, as their leader, treat everyone - superstars and role players - equally.  And here is my second point.  Create the kind of psychologically safe environment where one of your players feels completely at ease with responding in the way that Michael Jordan did, "Coach, I think I set them quicker than you can see them."