Reading Coach Spo's body language...

Axel · Post #1 » by **Axel** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 9:59 pm

Most of you guys have probably seen this clip already, but this is the first time I've seen it (i was stumbling around NBA.com). Spo's body language immediately caught my eye....he isn't particularly good at hiding it. Some people are better than others, but he certainly isn't fooling the initiated eye.

http://www.nba.com/playoffs/2011/finals ... elstra.nba

28 seconds in.... while talking about "staying the course", he massages his left forearm which is a "reassuring" gesture. Perhaps he doesn't believe what he is saying and so he is reassuring himself.

33 seconds in... "we've worked extremely hard *scratches head* uh to get home court advantage" - scratching his head would tend to indicate that he is frustrated or confused

36 seconds... adjusts microphone - nervous habit?

40 seconds......"We're doing a lot of good things. Uh. *bites lips*. That we have to just...uh.. focus on uh... playing our game"

Biting one's lips is often a sign of worry or anxiety. He also seems clearly lost for words, and isn't able to define the "good things" we are doing aside from "playing our game"

No I'm not some body language expert and don't claim to be. Body language is important to pay attention to, however, and most of us know what certain gestures mean. I'm a little unnerved, because the guy clearly isn't exuding confidence; he looks worried and confused. I'm not sure if our team gets any of its inspiration from its coach, but after watching that clip, I certainly hope they've found another source of inspiration.

Vertical Limit · Post #2 » by **Vertical Limit** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:09 pm

Guy is new at this, give him a few years to develop some swagger. He's still a rookie, when he gets his first championship he'll be a man.

broke · Post #3 » by **broke** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:15 pm

maybe he just doesnt want to talk to the media.. i sure as hell would rather be preparing with my guys than talking ourselves up to a pack of people who dislike us.

Hon-essim · Post #4 » by **Hon-essim** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:27 pm

I think you're looking too much into it.

He's not confused or worried but obviously he's anxious. Probably too much pressure to keep his job for next season and because he might be starting to lose the attention of his players but that's as far as I would extend it.

If you compare how any normal player would act if they were in the Finals than he isn't exuding some deeply evident body language of confusion and lack of confidence. If anything he comes off over-confident if not very pumped up as if the Heat has figured out Dallas for the next game and he's excited to introduce some new fangled practice and the weight of the world has been lifted from his shoulders.

Post #5 » by **DefenseWins** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:35 pm

He's nervous because he knows he's getting out-coached and afraid it'll happen again tonight........

truthiness · Post #6 » by **truthiness** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:42 pm

I wish he was worried because he knew losing the finals means losing his job ....

Axel · Post #7 » by **Axel** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:50 pm

Hon-essim wrote:I think you're looking too much into it.

He's not confused or worried but obviously he's anxious. Probably too much pressure to keep his job for next season and because he might be starting to lose the attention of his players but that's as far as I would extend it.

You're reading into it more than I am. I never speculated as to why he might be feeling nervous or anxious, I just said that he is.

Hon-essim · Post #8 » by **Hon-essim** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 11:01 pm

In terms of body language reading, looking too much is about picking all the little details without creating a complete picture. (or settling on a complete picture before hand but extending it so that it seems like the next elements further proved your observations instead of simply being confirmation bias)

Speculating is actually the lesser type of reading because I am inferring context from the actions and mixing subjectivity with almost zero empirical objectivity except for the overall effect the set of actions made me speculate.

On the other hand, these just as much count as attempts at whys:

Perhaps he doesn't believe what he is saying and so he is reassuring himself.

would tend to indicate that he is frustrated or confused

He also seems clearly lost for words, and isn't able to define the "good things"

The only difference between our whys is that you started with one action and in order to add false strength to your initial conclusion, (when it seems you've already made up your conclusion from the first gesture) you pointed out several more actions only to come up and explain the why as frustration or confusion or worried ness.

Meanwhile I added a counter guess to my reply because as you would see if you didn't snip the later paragraph of my reply: my observations did not match up with my emotional conclusion.

I'm willing to buy your analysis along with your pessimistic conclusion to an extent and you did admit to not being a body language expert and I was acknowledging that with my why but at the same time, I just as much saw excitement and not worriedness from Spo and that distinction is important hence why I had to add a speculated guess as to why his actions might be so and yet at the same time it was not conclusively so.