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Why You Have to Make Good Choices Even if You Get Bad Results
How you play is truly more important than whether or not you win the game
I help coach my daughter’s basketball team. She’s in sixth grade and all the players have the same bad habit.
Whenever they get the ball, they immediately go into a dribble. This prevents them from surveying the court to see if anyone might be open for a pass. Most of them are right-handed so they immediately drive to the right.
The defense has been conditioned to swarm because they know no pass is coming. The player tries to get down to the block on the right side, but is met by a wall of defenders. This causes the player to retreat and launch an awkward shot from the baseline.
It’s difficult to shoot from the baseline because you don’t have the benefit of the backboard. Your only reference is the hoop hanging in the sky. It’s also difficult to play for the rebound on a shot like this. The ball might miss completely and come up short.
It might bounce off the rim at an odd angle.
It might overshoot the rim and land on the other side.
When you allow yourself to get pushed into a corner, you end up making a bad decision.
