Basketball’s Impostor
By: HoopDirt.com guest contributor Maurice Joseph
A mentor of mine once told me that success and failure are the exact same impostor. He stressed that they both need to be handled with a certain level of focus, toughness and consistency, or else they can potentially be detrimental to your end goal. That concept has resonated with me for quite some time and it has shaped the manner in which I approach my job on a daily basis.
I have had the great fortune of playing for two tremendous college basketball coaches who have both won national championships in their careers. Besides leading their programs to the basketball pinnacle, a glaring similarity that they both possess is the unwavering detail oriented approach that they exercise throughout the inevitable highs and lows of a season.
There will always be battles to fight against natural human instinct when coaching. Players and teams, in general, are going to be down during rough times and high when things are going great. How do we avoid crashing and burning on one end, or getting comfortable and complacent on the other? These are just a few of the many things that I witnessed as a player and now, as an assistant coach, I can fully comprehend their value.
Attention to Detail
The little things matter. We have all been in practices where the action was stopped because someone was in the wrong spot, running the wrong play or simply had no idea what was going on. This is commonplace, but what about when a screener’s foot is two inches away from where it is supposed to be in order to run a play correctly, or when a player forgets to jump stop and runs through his pass (setting himself up for a charge) during a fast break drill? Those plays may result in made baskets, which we all want, but the details of how things should be done are neglected. Harping on things that may seem minute can have monumental benefits as teams attempt to improve throughout the year. Additionally, paying attention to detail develops and reinforces a mindset amongst players and staff members that whether it be on or off the court, things need to be executed in a certain way to yield the results that the program wants and expects. This extends from the court, to the classroom, to the school’s surrounding community, to the airport during team travel. How the minor details are treated throughout success and failure can have a major impact on a team’s end goal. The little things matter.
Lean on Leadership
Both success and failure will undoubtedly affect everyone associated with a program. How they are handled can be closely monitored during games, practices and strength and conditioning sessions; but how a team handles them when no staff members are around can be crucial. This is why it is important for teams to have solid leadership in place. A team’s captains or leaders will usually be looked upon by other teammates (especially younger players) to gauge how they should be reacting to the ups and downs of a season. This can be the difference between players getting in the gym at night and players getting into trouble at night. Team leaders are usually the more mature and experienced players on a team and have most likely been through the most highs and lows throughout their careers. It is therefore important for coaches to have a sufficient level of trust in their leaders so that they feel comfortable that players are handling success and failure in the right manner, whether it be in the locker room, the dorms or at nights on the weekends. Teams with experience and leadership are usually better equipped to handle the good and the bad times and it is always beneficial to coaches when they can afford to lean on that leadership.
Sustain Energy
Body language and energy were two terms that came up constantly throughout my playing career. Whether in practice, games or film sessions, body language and energy were always expected to be at an elite level. Energy is highly contagious, for better or worse, and it will affect everyone involved with a program over time. Wins and losses are a given throughout the course of a season and on some nights, unfortunately, you don’t have as much control over the outcome of a game as you would like. However, something you can control on a daily basis is the energy that you choose to give off to your team. Like I mentioned, energy is contagious and the type of energy that you put out to your team, will be the same exact energy that you get back. Having a team that can sustain a high level of energy daily, whether a season is going tremendously or atrociously, will be equipped to battle adversity. I was fortunate to play for assistant coaches who made players feel like they were in the trenches with us with the energy they gave off, and that was a choice that they made. Now, as an assistant coach, I truly understand how impactful that was and I choose to follow suit.
I am always interested in learning how different coaches with different philosophies approach their teams from day to day, particularly when it comes to handling success and failure. Details, leadership and energy all play a key role but there are dozens of other factors that can determine how a team finishes a practice, a game or a season. As time goes by and different experiences generate various lessons, handling the highs and lows that basketball’s impostor provides should become more straightforward.
About the Author
Maurice Joseph is in his third season as an assistant coach at George Washington after spending the previous two seasons as Assistant Director of Basketball Operations on Coach Mike Lonergan’s staff.
A native of Montreal, Quebec and 2009 graduate of the University of Vermont, Joseph began his playing career at Michigan State in 2005 and played for two seasons under coach Tom Izzo before transferring to Vermont in 2007. A two-year team captain of the Catamounts, Joseph was the team’s second-leading scorer (13.9 ppg) for the 2009-10 season under Lonergan.
Joseph, who was named Canada’s National Player of the Year in 2005, is the older brother of former Syracuse standout and 2012 NBA draftee Kris Joseph.
