Mind Control

Heres An Excerpt From Kobe Bryants New Autobiography, Appropriately Titled The Mamba Mentality, Which Touches On Coaching, Mentorship, Dunking, Clutch Buckets And Plenty More.

- Kobe Bryant

A good coach is of the utmost importance.

COACHES ARE TEACHERS. Some coaches—lesser coaches—try telling you things. Good coaches, however, teach you how to think and arm you with the fundamental tools necessary to execute properly. Simply put, good coaches make sure you know how to use both hands, how to make proper reads, how to understand the game. Good coaches tell you where the fish are, great coaches teach you how to find them. That’s the same at every level.

In certain situations, like in the midst of a game, good coaches relay executional information. They point out what specifically is and isn’t working. Based on that and your own feel for the game, you utilize some of that information immediately and you save some of it in your back pocket for crucial moments during the game. Then, when the time is right...boom!

Phil Jackson was more than just a coach—he was a visionary.

WHEREAS HIS ASSISTANT coach Tex Winter was all about the minutiae. Phil was about the scale. He taught concepts within basketball, but more so the macro concept of basketball. He was able to teach—without lecturing—the importance of being a team and how to get from Point A to Point B to Point Championship. He was also able to get guys to understand energy, flow, and meditation.