You Can’t Get Around the Need for a Process

Sports teams are notorious for trying to recruit superstar players with the notion that doing so will bring them championships. It rarely works that way.

Teams like the New Jersey Devils and the Houston Astros put a process in place first and then added the pieces later. You could argue that the process of these teams essentially created the superstar players on them. Martin Brodeur is widely considered to be the best goalie of his generation, if not the best goalie of all time. Would that be the case if the process of the Devils team didn’t provide him with the environment to craft such a great body of work in the crease?

Jose Altuve of the Astros was the American League MVP in 2017. But the process the Astros had in place certainly put him in the position to showcase his skills consistently at such a high level. Sure, the team had other great players. Yet Altuve stood out in 2017. Furthermore, Alex Bergman thrived in the next year, garnering consideration for the MVP title as well. Surely to have TWO players on the same team over a two-year period find themselves in conversations for MVP says something about the process just as much as it does for the players – if not more.

Another team I enjoy watching, the San Antonio Spurs, has had tremendous success since the late 80s. Even with superstars like David Robinson…