What Is "Player Development"?

[closg00]

A little help please from people who know something about basketball operations. What are your thoughts after reading these comments that were in the press recently.

Why hasn't John Wall had a larger impact on the Wizards? I heard great things about him out of college but now he just hasn't hit the stardom predicted from him. Is it the Wizards or is it him?

Chad Ford
(1:36 PM)



I think it's the Wizards. Bad culture. Immature teammates. But I'm still surprised he hasn't impacted the team more. He's been a mild disappointment for me. So much talent there. The Wizards need to blow up this entire team (sans Trevor Booker) and get some adults in there

And these:

From the body language of his players as they joked around in the locker room prior to tip-off, to their dancing and giggling in pregame warmups, Wittman knew that the result at the end of the night was going to resemble the 120-100 debacle that unfolded at Verizon Center on Monday night.

Pam McGee - If I’m the Wizards and I’m really trying to build a franchise, really committed to rebuilding and developing, I would nurture that talent. I would help a kid like JaVale the best I could.”

I wondered what does the job of "Player Development entail and what has Ed Tapscott been doing in his position as head of Player Development for the Wizard organization for these past years? Is he responsible for the "bad culture" or is it the fault of the GM? Who establishes the culture of the team and organization?

[Ruzious]

There's a wise old saying that you can't make chicken salad out of chicken seaweed. If you put together a "core" made up of Larry, Moe, and Curly, what're your choices of outcomes - no matter who you dress up in a $5,000 suit (or given the Wiz history - a $49.99 suit with mothballs) and put a nice title on?

[Nivek]

There's a terrific book I've been reading called "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle. It's a Gladwell-esque book about how humans develop skills. I've recommended it to some friends (as well as to the Wiz front office), and I recommend it to everyone here -- especially if you have kids or if you're trying to develop a skill of your own.

Anyway, the number one thing teams need to evaluate when picking players is how they practice. Not just "practice" when the coach and his teammates are around, but PRACTICE on his own. How does he work on his game? There are definite and distinctive characteristics for how someone practices a skill and how well they learn it.

In "Talent Code", Coyle tells the story of some researchers who wondered if they could predict skill based on interviews about how people practice. So, they developed some questions, gathered a group of volleyball players and asked them to describe how they practice serving the ball. Then they took the responses and used them to predict whether a player was an expert player, intermediate player or a beginner. And they got it right 90% of the time.

Becoming world class at something takes 10 years/10,000 hours of sustained "deep" practice. Not just rote repetition, but the person pushing himself/herself to the edge of their abilities over and over and over again.

The takeaway is that if you want to develop players, you a) need to pick guys with good work habits; or b) you have to come up with a way to teach them these work habits. The problem, however is coming up with a motivator for guys who think they've "arrived" because they have guaranteed multi-million dollar contracts.

[Nivek]

As a tag-along to my previous post: a good first step in player development would be to identify players who want to develop. Because good practice takes a lot of time, a lot of work, a lot of repetition. The book suggests some things teams could look for when trying to gauge a player's motivation.

[closg00]

Thanks for the book suggestion, Kev I added it to my cart on Amazon.

Re: Players and their work-habits, I wonder how-much of this is chicken and egg? Would JaVale and Nick be the same players they are currently if they were drafted and "developed" under the Spurs or OKC organization? Perhaps an org like the Spurs or OKC, would have passed entirely on players like Young, Crawford, & McGee.

[FAH1223]

we need capable veteran talent so our young guys learn how to play the right way with higher IQ players

the Clippers saw this with Griffin and went out on a shopping spree getting Caron, Billups, and trading for CP3

IDENTIFY the players who put in work and find others that are the same.

[Ruzious]

Thanks for the book suggestion, Kev I added it to my cart on Amazon.

Re: Players and their work-habits, I wonder how-much of this is chicken and egg? Would JaVale and Nick be the same players they are currently if they were drafted and "developed" under the Spurs or OKC organization? Perhaps an org like the Spurs or OKC, would have passed entirely on players like Young, Crawford, & McGee.

I think you hit the nail on the head. They would have passed on them. People like to say those guys would have been better off with better oranizations - and there might be some truth to that, BUT... good organizations generally eliminate those type of people from consideration, imo - and would never give them a chance.

[Nivek]

Thanks for the book suggestion, Kev I added it to my cart on Amazon.

Re: Players and their work-habits, I wonder how-much of this is chicken and egg? Would JaVale and Nick be the same players they are currently if they were drafted and "developed" under the Spurs or OKC organization? Perhaps an org like the Spurs or OKC, would have passed entirely on players like Young, Crawford, & McGee.

Player development starts at whatever age a kid starts playing basketball. Some of it is the coaching he gets, some of it is just the passion/dedication the kid has for getting better. The rule of thumb for becoming world class at something is 10 years/10,000 hours of work. The typical starting point for someone who becomes world class at something is age 7-10. So, by the time a guy reaches the NBA, his work habits should be pretty well defined. If a team has to beg a guy to work on his skills -- there's a problem.

[Nivek]

And, I agree with Ruz that a team like the Spurs probably would have passed on guys like Young, Crawford, Blatche, and McGee.

By the way -- that book gets into the science behind the 10,000-hour rule.

[fishercob]

Thanks for the book suggestion, Kev I added it to my cart on Amazon.

Re: Players and their work-habits, I wonder how-much of this is chicken and egg? Would JaVale and Nick be the same players they are currently if they were drafted and "developed" under the Spurs or OKC organization? Perhaps an org like the Spurs or OKC, would have passed entirely on players like Young, Crawford, & McGee.

I think you answered your own question. The Spurs had an got rid of guys like Stephen Jackson and Hedo Turkoglu. They value Matt Bonner and Danny Green, Malik Rose, etc. Maybe a kid can develop slightly better work habits being around a group of true professionals, but it's not up to an organization to make a player something he isn't. It's the org's job to identify the right players -- and that's where Ernie and co have failed miserably.

For the sake of this discussion, let's say there are two main characteristics of basketball players:
(1) guys who have talent -- a combination of athleticism and skill
(2) guys with basketball IQ -- some combo of work ethic and basketball smarts

The Wizards have TWO guys on their entire roster who fit in both categories -- Wall and Booker, and Booker isn't all that talented.

Vale, Dray, Nick, Crawford all have some physical skill, but little idea what do to with it
Mason, Mo, Shard, Vesely, may have good brains but have little skill

Mack and Seraphin aren't good enough to matter.


TWO guys on an entire roster. Ernie has got to go.

[Nivek]

Practice habits can be taught. It's a skill like anything else and can be learned. The issue is the difficulty in teaching practice skills to guys who have arrived in the NBA without good practice skills. The big motivators for extensive and deep practice among kids are a desire to be part of a group they perceive as being valuable, and being worried about safety/security.

So, if a player has managed to reach the NBA based on athletic ability (primarily), and he hasn't practiced his basketball skills as much as his peers, it doesn't seem likely he's going to start practicing those skills once he's arrived in the NBA. He's already part of "the club" and he has the security of guaranteed NBA paychecks (at least for a little while). Those motivators probably explain the contract year phenomenon -- players are suddenly afraid of being out of the club, so they work hard to get ready for the season.

Man, non-guaranteed contracts would be nice.

I'm reminded of that conversation I had with Amare in his rookie year, which I've described before. But what strikes me now is how Amare talked about his personal workouts, and motivations. His description of private "practice" fits very much the description of "deep practice" in the book. He was motivated to work hard on basketball as a kid in part because of family instability (dad gone, mom drug addicted and in prison -- he knew at an early age that if he wanted something in his life, he was going to have to go do it). And, once he reached the NBA, he was motivated to continue working because he wanted to be considered one of the best players -- he wanted to make All-Star teams.

[dobrojim]

great thread and posts, esp Kev.

I just sent my hoop playing daughter an email to read this
thread. And I found the book mentioned in the Fairfax
County Library catalog. I love socialism

I put the book on hold so I could get/read it.

[BanndNDC]

interesting stuff. besides the social factors i would think there is also some personality type factors, such as a being introspective or a propensity to tinker or focus on mechanics.

i cant help but think about some of the clips of McGee practicing/working on stuff this summer. he didnt seem to be working on form or doing things "right" but merely on doing things. and then there is nick young, who (admittedly) can do no right in my mind but does seem to hit all the problem indicators (social peer group acceptance based on pickup games and athletic ability).

[cwb3]

This thread needs some WD input to make it proper!

[Nivek]

On practice, the book talks about how proper practice is crucial. A master music teacher says it something like -- if you're not in deep practice, you might as well stop.

The book also tells the story of a tennis school in Russia that produces an amazing number of elite players (both men and women) despite having few resources and only one indoor court. The woman who runs it won't let her students play in a tournament for the first three years. They practice hitting shots in slow motion with no ball. She walks around correcting form and technique. Says that everything starts with technique.

There's a music summer camp that includes alumni like Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and Joshua Bell. They have students learn pieces by playing so slowly it sounds like whale noises. Same principle as slow-mo tennis strokes -- mistakes and errors jump out when going slow and they're more easily corrected.

As for the motivation triggers -- the social scientists (and the author) acknowledge that losing a parent at a young age (which is common among elite performers and world leaders) is not necessarily a predictor of success. It motivates SOME to work hard. Others might just give up.

[dobrojim]

As an amateur but always aspiring to be better musician
I have gotten lessons from one of the premier dobro players
in the world who happens to live in Silver Spring, Mike Auldridge.
It may have been him, or it may have been someone else, but
what I learned or was told was never to practice a piece/song
any faster than you can get through the most difficult part
of without making a mistake. I've found that technique to
be painful and boring. And ultimately correct. That said,
I play as much for enjoyment as I do to get better so I don't
always follow this very good advice.

[daSwami]

I've heard (from a friend who works with the team as an off-season trainer) that Wall carries a basketball with him everywhere he goes and that he's a serious-minded player who knows that improvement takes hard work. Same dude (my friend) is not so keen on some of the other players on the current roster (the usual suspects).

Since (as I see it) Wall's primary deficits involve decision-making on the court (apart from shooting), I wonder if there is a systemized way to teach young players how to become 'smarter' on the court. Seems to me that the best way for that to happen is through playing time. I wonder if there's any chance Wall could get an opportunity to scrimmage against Team USA this summer. I bet he could learn a lot.

[Zonkerbl]

As an amateur but always aspiring to be better musician
I have gotten lessons from one of the premier dobro players
in the world who happens to live in Silver Spring, Mike Auldridge.
It may have been him, or it may have been someone else, but
what I learned or was told was never to practice a piece/song
any faster than you can get through the most difficult part
of without making a mistake. I've found that technique to
be painful and boring. And ultimately correct. That said,
I play as much for enjoyment as I do to get better so I don't
always follow this very good advice.

I wish I could get my son to do that.

[Nivek]

As an amateur but always aspiring to be better musician
I have gotten lessons from one of the premier dobro players
in the world who happens to live in Silver Spring, Mike Auldridge.
It may have been him, or it may have been someone else, but
what I learned or was told was never to practice a piece/song
any faster than you can get through the most difficult part
of without making a mistake. I've found that technique to
be painful and boring. And ultimately correct. That said,
I play as much for enjoyment as I do to get better so I don't
always follow this very good advice.

I wish I could get my son to do that.

My son got this advice from his music teachers. He was already doing well, but as he's started practicing the way the pros have recommended, he's learning pieces faster and his playing is getting better.

[fishercob]

Since (as I see it) Wall's primary deficits involve decision-making on the court (apart from shooting), I wonder if there is a systemized way to teach young players how to become 'smarter' on the court. Seems to me that the best way for that to happen is through playing time.

Experience and film study.