Kobe's desire

Article from Sports Illustrated on Kobe Bryant:

Now it is 5:30 in the morning after Game 4, and Bryant is headed to the gym. Only hours earlier the Lakers pulled out a dramatic 99--91 win to take a 3--1 series lead, and with three more chances to finish the series, the players could finally relax. There are two nights off before Game 5, and it was time to celebrate a bit, and Kobe did. For all of four hours. Now, before he goes to sleep, it is time to get in some work.

At the urging of his trainer, Tim Grover, Bryant heads to the fitness center at the Ritz-Carlton, where a couple of early-bird businessmen are shocked to share their treadmill time with an 11-time All-Star. For an hour and a half Grover takes Bryant through a series of exercises: weights, stretching, muscle-activation routines. Grover's logic is that if Bryant gets his work in now, he can have a block of uninterrupted sleep and not disturb his rest pattern.

Bryant's work ethic is renowned, but this season he became even more obsessive. Unhappy with his physical stamina during the Finals a year ago, he asked Grover, with whom he'd worked during the off-season, to become, in essence, his personal trainer: travel with him, monitor his workouts. For Grover, who runs his business out of Chicago, and whose clients include Dwyane Wade (and, for many years, Michael Jordan), it was asking a lot. "There are only about three guys in the league I would have even considered doing this for," says Grover. "With Kobe, I knew he'd take it very seriously."

Grover's modifications were small but important. Bryant had never been an advocate of cold tubs; Grover had him taking ice baths frequently for muscle recovery. He focused on strengthening Bryant's ankles, wrists, hips—"areas that don't make you look better in your jersey but can become nagging injuries," Grover says. The result is that, despite having played for nearly three years straight due to his Olympic commitments, Bryant came into these Finals free of ankle braces, shoulder wraps and sleeves—although his right ring finger, dislocated earlier in the season, remained taped. He even wore low-top shoes. (Bryant believes they give him a greater range of motion, and Grover concurs.) When Bryant missed those free throws in Game 3, finishing 5 of 10 from the line, Grover had him show up early the next day and spend 40 minutes just shooting foul shots. "The superstars aren't superstars just by accident," says Grover. "Michael was Michael because of what he did on and off the court; it didn't just happen. Same with Kobe. It's because of the time and effort and the knowledge that he gains and his willingness to listen to people."

Game 1: Lakers 100 Magic 75

A couple of quotes from last night's Lakers victory:

Lamar Odom on team chemistry: "As our camaraderie off the court picks up, we start to push each other more on the court."

Kobe Bryant: "I just want it so bad," Bryant said. "That's all. I just want it really bad. You just put everything you have into the game and your emotions kind of flow out of you."

"It's a great opportunity. Last year was a great opportunity to get it done too, and we just weren't tough enough to get it done. I think this year we're a tough team, as we proved the first three rounds. This round's going to be about execution, defensive execution. Offensively, we can score with the best of them."

Hunger to Win

Good article from ESPN the Magazine's Chris Broussard on how the greatest basketball players all have one thing in common; an insatiable desire to win. Thanks to Coach Spilker for sharing this article with me.

No words were spoken, but the volume was louder than a roar. Moments after scoring 45 points in last year's winner-take-all Game 7 Eastern Conference semifinal loss to the Celtics, LeBron James hustled off the court in a huff. Chin buried in his chest, he stormed into the locker room -- blowing by security guards, bumping past teammates -- never once taking his eyes off the floor.

He was ticked.

And that was a good thing.

If you want to know what drove the Cavaliers to their 66-16 record this season; if you want to understand why they protected their home court (39-2) like a SWAT unit, where they shellacked opponents by more than 15 points a game; if you want to understand why James suddenly looked like the NBA's most fearsome defender, well, your answers start with that angry walk through the bowels of the Garden last year.

How do I know? Because I've seen versions of that walk a few times since I started covering the NBA 20 years ago. And so I can tell you that for the first time on a basketball court, James was probably experiencing real pain. Hunger pain, you might call it, but it has nothing to do with food. It's the kind of ache that Michael Jordan felt after losing in the playoffs year after year to the Pistons, what Isiah endured when his Pistons kept falling to the Celtics, what Magic and Bird went through each time they lost to one another. Stomach-churning losses make ravenous competitors hungrier. It's why the postseason brings out the best in the best. "The playoffs are all about having hunger to the point where you're never satisfied," James explains.

Hunger is not an emotion, not quite a mentality and certainly not a skill. What it is, though, is as vital as anything drawn up on a whiteboard or honed in a gymnasium. Coaches come up with syrupy speeches and perform wild pregame stunts in an effort to generate it, and moderately talented players -- "energy guys" -- earn millions for providing a form of it. It's unquantifiable and only vaguely identifiable, and that allows every baller to think he's hungrier than the man he's facing up. Only some of them, of course, have a case. "It's that old cliché: 'Don't talk about it, be about it,'" says Hornets coach Byron Scott, who won three rings with the Lakers. "A lot of teams talk about how hungry they are, how dedicated they are. But until you go out and show it, it's just talk."

Now, some examples of hunger are textbook: Mine are Willis Reed limping onto the court in the 1970 Finals. Dominique and Bird dueling it out in Game 7 in 1988. MJ's 38-point performance while battling defenders and the flu in the 1997 Finals. Derek Fisher sinking a clutch three in 2007, an hour after flying 2,000 miles from his daughter's eye-cancer surgery.

LeBron's hunger has infected his teammates. Not that they can't have a good time.

Where will it come from this year? Who's going to commit to playing D for all 48? Who's going to fight through screens or risk lumps and lacerations lunging into the stands after the rock? We offer some guesses elsewhere in this story. But know this: It's not about physical effort only. That's the easy part. The hard part is using discipline and maturity to apply your brain as much as your body. Take it from a reporter who's spent a lot of days with players during series: There are guys who scour scouting reports and those who skim them -- and the difference is clear come tip-off. When I look at a player and try to guess how he'll impact a series, I begin by asking how dialed-in he is, on off-days and on-nights. Does he watch film in free time, seeking every edge possible, or just in coach- mandated sessions? Does winning mean enough to him that he'll sacrifice touches, feeding the hot hand even if it's not his? These are the kinds of questions coaches and captains ask all season as they scan the practice court and locker room. If they don't like the answers they see, it's their obligation to ratchet up the hunger quotient.

Exhibit A: Early December in Boston, when Kevin Garnett nearly brought Glen Davis to tears. KG felt the Celtics' subs were squandering a 25-point lead against the Blazers. So during a timeout, he got in Davis' grill and let him have it. The C's won, and kept right on winning for eight games.

Exhibit B: Kobe's bizarre "trade me" rants, delivered in July 2007 following back-to-back first-round exits. Kobe told me later the episode motivated teammates and created a "win now" sense of urgency upstairs. See, front office execs can show their hunger as well. Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak responded to his star's cravings by adding a necessary post threat in Pau Gasol.

Exhibit C: Denver trading for Chauncey Billups, which wasn't just a way to get rid of AI. Nuggets personnel boss Mark Warkentien knew Billups had plenty of practice whetting the appetites of his old Pistons teammates, who once fluctuated famously between famished and full. Billups' priority in Denver has been to coax the Nuggets, longtime opening-round fodder, to at least the second round for the first time in 15 years. "I'm not good at playing it off or playing with people who don't have the same passion or desire that I have," Billups says.

Some guys, I have come to believe, are just wired with a particular and insatiable desire. "CP3 and me are similar in our desire to win," Utah's Deron Williams says of New Orleans' Chris Paul. "We both hate to lose in whatever we do." Sounds like a cliché, but it's not. It's hard to describe what it's like to be in the presence of some of the most competitive people in the world, but you can actually feel their heart when you are. I was on the set of last season's NBA preview photo shoot for The Magazine when Ray Allen and Paul Pierce were locked in a game of table tennis that was anything but two guys killing time. Allen's eyes trained on the ball; beads of sweat formed on Pierce's brow. Watching them, I got the feeling that if they were half as intense during the season as they were on that late September evening they'd be champs -- and nine months later they were.

Winning does little to sate hunger for such guys. Michael Jordan still wants a seventh ring. The three titles Kobe won with Shaq might as well be ancient history now. He won't retire happy until he gets ice for his pinky without help from the big man. "I'm always starving," Kobe says. "I'm going to scrape the plate, whether it's now or five years ago." Tim Duncan owns four rings with the Spurs, but that's not enough. "You don't want to see somebody else holding the trophy because you know what it feels like. It makes you want it that much more."

So does actually believing that your team can win, as opposed to just hoping or wanting. The handful of teams with a real reason to think the Larry O'Brien Trophy could be theirs grow hungrier with each step toward that goal. Which brings us back to our cover subject. LeBron says he's hungrier than ever this season, and you believe him, if only because the Cavaliers are on the short list of favorites to win it all for the first time in his career. "It reminds me of the days when I was back in high school," he says. "Every time we went out on the court we knew we were going to win. So, yeah, this is the hungriest I've been. I see the potential in our team."

Having the best record in the league will do that.

It's been almost a year since LeBron took that surly walk after the Cavaliers swallowed a very bitter pill. This spring, King James & Co. expect nothing less than a four-series meal. And they're saving room for dessert.

Work ethic takes Young to higher level

Sam Young of Pittsburgh is one reason the Panthers are playing today in the Elite 8 against Villanova. Young's relentless work ethic has pushed Pitt all year long. This article on espn.com tells the story of Young's passion and work ethic:

Stories of Young's devotion to his craft are legendary around Pitt. People talk about the nights he slept on an air mattress in the gym after hours of shooting alone and how he would blow off social gatherings on weekends to find a pickup game on campus. That tunnel vision didn't just begin in college, either.

"This is a guy who'd be at school at 6:30 in the morning working out or at the gym," said close friend Chris Howard, Young's teammate at Friendly High School and now a guard at South Florida. "When he was at Hargrave, there'd be times we'd call each other and be on speakerphone while we were doing push-ups.

"He's not one of those guys you're going to see in the club. Sometimes he'll call me and say he's going to movies, and I'll joke around and say, 'Who are you going with? Who's the girl?' And he'll say, 'I'm going by myself.' That's the kind of focus you've got to have until you get to the place you want to be."

The Evolution of Leo Lyons

Article recently in the Kansas City Star about the maturation process for Missouri forward Leo Lyons, who has helped his team each the Elite 8 with a victory last night over Memphis. It has not always been easy for Lyons, who has admitted he was lazy when he first arrived at Missouri and didn't like being coached:

He despised getting yelled at. And Mike Anderson yelled at him constantly, every day, screamed that he was lazy, shouted that he was in the wrong place, howled that he was not going to play unless he started working. No coach had ever yelled at Leo before, not at any of his four high schools, not his freshman year at Missouri, not ever. Maybe they were afraid to yell at him, afraid to lose him. Leo Lyons was a sensitive soul. He had a long body and a light shooting touch and big basketball dreams, really big dreams, but there was something soft about him, too.

“People let me do what I want,” he says plainly.

Anderson saw a player who did not go to class (Anderson suspended him for missing classes), a player who made bad decisions off the court (Anderson suspended him again for missing curfew in the well-chronicled incident at Club Athena) and a player who did not always think first. (Anderson suspended Lyons again after he was pulled over for driving with his lights off and other traffic violations were discovered.)

Anderson also saw a player who was a bit too goofy (One game he forgot to wear his jersey under his warm-up jacket), and a player who brooded after being yelled at. (“No, he did not respond too well at first,” Anderson says.)

Most of all, though, he saw a player who not only did not play hard but did not even seem to realize that he was not playing hard. (Anderson benched him repeatedly for it.)

“Leo’s a good young man,” Anderson says. “But young men have to learn how to be men.”
Anderson smiles.

“It took a little bit longer with Leo.”

When the season ended, Lyons declared for the NBA draft, but quickly realized that he would not get drafted high enough and decided to return for his senior year. And almost immediately he saw that something had changed. He noticed how hard his teammates were working in the summer months. He heard them talking about putting together a season they would always remember.

Then, Mike Anderson asked him to be one of the team captains.

“People look up to you, Leo,” he would remember Anderson saying.

And suddenly he felt … different. He had never been asked to be a leader before. That’s not to say that everything went perfectly after that; it only works that way in the movies. Lyons still had his good moments and his bad ones. He still found himself on the bench listening to Anderson’s soliloquies about keeping his head in the game and playing hard.

But his good moments were sensational. He scored 30 against Baylor, grabbed 15 rebounds at Colorado and in a three-game Big 12 stretch, he made 28 of 29 free throws. He took over games for brief stretches.

“The thing that has impressed me is how much better he has played on defense,” Anderson says. “He has really put his heart into that.”

“The hardest part to me is that you have to make those second and third efforts,” Lyons says. “You’re used to seeing guys who make one hard effort on defense. But we feed off each other, you might have to make five efforts in one defensive play.

“It took me awhile to learn that.”

Lyons may have had the most complete game of his career against Cornell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. He scored, rebounded, defended, handled the ball. He left his teammates talking about how far the Tigers can go in the tournament if he keeps playing like that. He left Cornell coach Steve Donahue in awe.

“A senior like that, plays at a great pace, very skilled, yet tough,” Donahue says. “When he misses his shot, he has the ability to chase it down. He does it against all competition. That’s what makes him really good.”

And what did Lyons think of his game? “I’ve played like that before,” he says. “But I’m just so much more mature now. That’s the difference.”

Greatest Attitude In the World! (Click on the box to see it)

This is the note posted from a 25 year old Navy SEAL outside his hospital room. He had been shot 8 times in Afghanistan, has had 22 surgeries, and will need at least 8 more. With all of these problems, he still plans on going back and serving his country. This guy is a true hero.

RIGHT CLICK ON THE PICTURE AND CHOOSE OPEN PICTURE

How the Best Get Better and Better

This is an excerpt from the Harvard Business Review titled "Leadership & Strategy"

According to the author:

"The real key to excellence in both sports and business is not the ability to swim fast or do quantitative analyses quickly in your head; rather, it is mental toughness. Elite performers in both arenas thrive on pressure; they excel when the heat is turned up. Their rise to the top is the result of very careful planning—of setting and hitting hundreds of small goals. Elite performers use competition to hone their skills, and they reinvent themselves continually to stay ahead of the pack. Finally, whenever they score big wins, top performers take time to celebrate their victories."

Based on his work with elite athletes, he outlines how the "best of the best get better and better."


1. Learn to love the pressure. "Top sports performers don’t allow themselves to be distracted by the victories or failures of others. They concentrate on what they can control and forget the rest." (A think forward mentality!)

2. Set long-term goals, then outline short-term objectives and action steps. "Much of star athletes’ ability to rebound from defeat comes from an intense focus on long-term goals and aspirations. At the same time, both sports stars and their coaches are keenly aware that the road to long-term success is paved with small achievements. The trick here is to meticulously plan short-term goals so that performance will peak at major, rather than minor, events."

3. Compete against the best in order to improve. "If you hope to make it to the very top...make sure you train with the people who will push you the hardest."

4. Seek constructive criticism, feedback, and advice. "How do you motivate yourself to embark on another cycle of building the mental and physical endurance required to win the next time, especially now that you have become the benchmark? [Elite performers have] an insatiable appetite for feedback. They have a particularly strong need for instant, in the moment feedback."

5. Work hard; play hard. "Elite performers...put almost as much effort into their celebrations as they do into their accomplishments. Celebration is more than an emotional release. Done effectively, it involves a deep level of analysis and enhanced awareness. The very best performers do not move on before they have scrutinized and understood thoroughly the factors underpinning their success. Dwelling on success for too long is a distraction and, worse, leads to complacency. Celebrate—but push on."

6. An intense desire to compete. "What drives all elite performers is a fierce desire to compete—and win. That’s what truly separates elite performers from ordinary high achievers. It takes supreme, almost unimaginable grit and courage to get back into the ring and fight to the bitter end."