Staring The Bull in The Eye: How The Buccaneers of Laney High Almost Killed a Chicago Bull
Imagine you're playing trivia pursuit with a group of friends and you’re one question away from winning. You’re a self-proclaimed “genius” in every subject EXCEPT sports and you’re hoping it’s not a sports questions. Murphy’s Law strikes as the question is read: “Name the basketball player who’s won 6x NBA championship titles, winner of 6x Finals MVP’s, and 5x league MVP?” Like throwing darts in the dark, uhm, Michael Jordan? — That’s right! you’ve just won, and you’d not be alone guessing Michael Jordan’s name to that question. Almost all with absolutely zero knowledge of sports, know of Jordan’s name. In truth, many will synonymously equate the Jordan name as either “the best” or “the greatest” person to have ever played basketball. However according to Professor Dweck, it was Jordan’s growth-mindset attitude of dealing with set-backs and failures early-on in life, that shaped his basketball identity — He was determined to be the great and make it to the NBA.
In Professor Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Jordan is described “as not being a natural.” In fact, Michael was actually cut from his Laney High School varsity team in his sophomore year. The coach at the time wanted taller players and since Michael was only 5’ feet — 9” inches tall during his sophomore year, he was replaced by a taller 6’ feet — 7” inches tall Leroy Smith (who went on to play college basketball) — Michael was sent down to play for the junior varsity team. That night Michael told his mother of his demotion and she’s quoted to have said: “I told him to go back and discipline himself… and boy did he listen.”
You see, Michael didn’t dwell on the negatives, instead he viewed his demotion(s) as a learning experience and a necessary obstacle for him to overcome in order to become great in the future. Per Dweck: “The other thing exceptional people seem to have is a special talent for converting life’s setbacks into future successes. Creativity researchers concur. In a poll of 143 creativity researchers, there was wide agreement about the number one ingredient in creative achievement. And it was exactly the kind of perseverance and resilience produced by the growth mindset.”
He was committed to getting to the gym earlier and staying longer, working on his weaknesses; strengthening his defensive skills by recovering to the ball faster, committed on becoming ambidextrous with his dribbling which allowed him to drive and finish strong at the rim. When the next season came along, it was evident that Jordan was the hardest working athlete in the gym. And as a Junior, in his first game as a starter for the Buccaneers, Jordan scored 35 points and was clearly the best player on the team. Jordan’s name quickly became buzz worthy in Wilmington, NC., and soon caught the eye of UNC’s head basketball coach. Dean Smith, was so impressed with Jordan, he made it a point to get Michael to commit and sign with UNC before the end of his junior year.
“In short, the growth mindset lets people — even those who are targets of negative labels — use and develop their minds fully. Their heads are not filled with limiting thoughts, a fragile sense of belonging, and a belief that other people can define them.”
During Jordan’s senior year, his Laney Buccaneers were matched against rival New Hanover High School in the state championship game. Both teams were closely matched, however the Buccaneers were favored to win since they’ve already defeated New Hanover twice prior in that same year. Incredibly, New Hanover pulled off a stunning 56–52 upset and won the North Carolina State Championship. This was a crushing defeat because Jordans’ Buccaneers were considered the favorites. From Mindset’s, a major defeat like the one Jordan experienced would caused considerable damage emotionally to a fixed mindset person.
“People with the fixed mindset can have just as much confidence as people with growth mindset — before anything happens, that is. But as you can imagine, their confidence is more fragile since setbacks and even effort can undermine it.”
However, Michael had never been thin skinned, put on a pedestal, or had “worshipers” telling him he was great all the time. Instead he was thick skinned, knew he had to continuously work and develop his game, and didn’t need or want the fruitful sounds of others telling him he was great — he already new it, he just needed time to develop it. To Michael, every setback was learning experience, every failure was training to get better, any criticism was time to research and improve oneself. Just because he lost the State Championship, Michael didn’t let the defeat define him as person. Instead, “not winning” actually became the first course of block in a strong foundation to support Michael Jordan’s unparalleled basketball hall of fame career.
Below is an excerpt from Mindset’s where Dweck describes the dangers of a fixed mindset:
“Why is effort so terrifying? — The are two reasons. One is that in the fixed mindset, great geniuses are not supposed to need it. So just needing it casts a shadow on your ability. The second is that, it robs you of all your excuses. Without effort, you can always, ‘I could have been [fill in the blank].’ But once you try, you can’t say that anymore.”
Because of Michael’s strong growth mindset mentality, he thrived on “FEAR” and used it as fuel for competition. During most of his freshman year at the University of North Carolina (UNC), the spotlight wasn’t on Michael — but on upperclassman star forwards James Worthy and Sam Perkins, who later went on to play in the NBA. However, Michael wasn’t playing the game for spotlight, he was playing it for his love of competition. To be able to prove who the best player was on any team on any giving day. Ironically, while still a freshman, his game winning shot against the Georgetown Hoyas in the final seconds of the 1982 NCAA National Championship game catapulted his notoriety and put the sporting worlds “spotlight” directly on Michael.
He continued to excel in his collegiate career; Jordan was selected as College player-of-the-year for the 1983–84 season. He left UNC one year shy of graduating with his class and entered the NBA draft. Jordan was selected the 3rd overall pick by the Chicago Bulls in the 1984 draft, where his greatness continued to become more apparent.
During his rookie season in Chicago, whom prior to Michal had only won 35 percent of their games, Jordan was electrifying. He averaged 28.2 point per game on 51.5 percent on shooting which enabled a once mediocre Bulls team, become an instant play-off contender. Jordan was named rookie of the year and was fan selected as an All-Star “starter” during his rookie season.
Yes, Michael had made it. He had accomplished his dream of becoming an NBA player and All-Star — all in his rookie season. According to Dweck’s research, if Michael would have been a fixed mindset person; he would have slowed down his drive of competing, just because he made it. In the fixed mindset — any subsequent failures would be viewed as tarnishing his legacy and/or ruining all the years of hard work he’d put into his game. “The fixed mindset believes: that success is about being more gifted than others, that failure does measure you, and that effort is for those who can’t make it on talent.” Thankfully, Michael Jordan is the absolute antithesis of anything that closely resembles the fixed mindset.
I absolutely agree with Dweck, that it is imperative to have a growth mindset mentality. And I echo her thoughts that being a fixed mindset person is not a life-long sentence, rather a choice that a person can make in any part of his or her life, to change. To become free of shackles that limit your potential, to be able to cast away any doubt, to turn fear into hunger, and become resilient against the naysayers who have absolutely zero interest in your well-being. Sure, some might say it’s because he (Michael) was naturally gifted at being 6’ft. — 6” inches tall and 220 pounds, which enabled him to achieve his greatness. However, I’d counter that argument by saying there’s hundreds of 6’ft. — 6” inches tall 220 pound NBA players whom have never really done much with their naturally gifted talents and fizzled out of the NBA.
I believe it was all due to Jordan’s Growth mindset, which allowed him to achieve and sustain greatness. Even though he had many setbacks, Jordan was able to compartmentalize those setbacks for use for his future successes. Jordan believed that success stems from the mind. “The mental toughness and the heart are a lot stronger than some of the physical advantages you might have. I’ve always said that and I’ve always believed that.” He was so deeply involved with his growth-mindset, that his Chicago Bulls teammates eventually became believers, more-importantly the team became growth-mindset dominant which was the catalyst for them winning (6x NBA championships, where Jordan was 6x NBA Finals MVP, 5x League MVP, and 10x NBA scoring champion). Some might say if Jordan would have chosen the wrong mindset, his career might have ended as a Laney High Buccaneer. I say since he chose the right mindset, his legacy ended as a Chicago Bull.
