Managing/coaching young talent requires that you taper expectations, compartmentalize highs and lows into teachable moments that create identity and push through moments of suffering.
76ers vs Nets
This is an example of how coaching a young team in the playoffs is about comparmentalizing highs and lows into teachable moments. The pendulum swung quickly from high to low. Claxton makes a great play but his inability to manage his emotions hurt his team.
Managing emotions is a theme of the 2023 NBA Playoffs. Two players were ejected in the Sixers vs Nets game. James Harden was ejected when the refs called a questionable flagarant foul on him and Claxton was tossed after receiving his second technical foul. The difference between the Sixers and the Nets was that the Sixers were able to absorb Harden’s ejection and pull of the win.
Claxton’s two technicals came after clashes with Joel Embiid.
The first teachable moment came early in the first quarter. Embiid deserved an ejection for kicking Claxton, but Claxton initiated the clash between the two by standing over Embiid and taunting Embiid.
It is clear that Claxton is amped up. Claxton is exhibiting the same signs that workers exhibit in the work place: stress, pressure, anger, frustration and excitement. The stress, pressure, anger and frustration comes from the failure associated with developing skills. The excitment comes from those moment when you solved a complex problem and generated a positive result. Claxton’s technical stemmed from all of these emotions. There could be some bad blood between Embiid and Claxton but as a manager/coach you have to be aware of his emotions and address them.
The responsibility for Claxton’s second technical is shared by Claxton and the Nets coaching staff.
Moments of Suffering
Management/leaders/coaches develop strategies to achieve their goals. There are times when the strategy is a bad strategy and leadership has to own it. There are also moments where the problem is not the strategy but the execution.
The clip is an example of how a strategy appears to be the problem but if you stick through moments of suffering and teach, execution will improve and the strategy will work.
The Nets strategy to double Embiid and Harden was not effective in the first half. The Nets double teams were identified by both Harden and Embiid and they took advantage of the double teams by finding an open teammate and placed the Nets defense in scramble mode.
In order to make the proper adjustments, the Nets coaching staff needed time. To obtain that time, the Nets needed to fight through moments of suffering until half time.
In this clip the score is 51–42 in favor in Philadelphia. When Claxton got ejected in the second half the score was 87–81 in favor of Brooklyn.
Brooklyn fought through the suffering in the first half and addressed problems in their execution in the second half and took the lead in the second half.
Developing an Identity
A major obstacle for a young team is establishing an identity. In basketball there is a hierarchy and the alpha dogs or the wolves establish a teams identity. The 76ers and the Golden State Warriors know which players they want to take their shots. They know where the ball needs to go and how to work off that individual.
The Nets have two really good players in Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson. Both came over in a trade for Kevin Durant. On the Suns, they were role players but on the Nets they have primary roles.
The problem with young teams is that young players want to be the alpha dog. The offense flows through everybody and you have players taking shots that they should not take. There are possession in which the key players do not touch the ball but this is not the case with an experienced team.
In game three, the Nets made strides to establishing an identity. In the second half, Johnson and Bridges consistently touched the ball. They were playmakers or scorers possession after possession until the the clip above.
Down two points, Spencer Dinwiddie got the ball and raced down the court. Instead of Johnson and Bridges getting the ball, Dinwiddie attacked the rim and his shot was blocked by Embiid.
The highs and lows of the second half created a teachable moment to establish identity for the Nets. The team and the organization is going to have to answer questions of who is going to be the alpha. Do they stick with Bridges and Johnson or do they go for a top free agent in the offseason? As far as the 2023 season, the Nets find themselves at the brink of elimination. They have had flashes of good basketball but are going through the pain and evolution that all young teams go through.
Warriors vs Kings
Mike Brown’s comments are intended to taper the teams expectations and to create a “we against the world” mentality. Brown wants to instill toughness in his team and manage their emotions. When the Kings attack the rim, he wants his team to handle bumps, and grabbing by the Warriros so that they can play through contact. When the whistle is not blown, the team is to get back instead of arguing for calls. Brown’s message to taper the expectation of favorable calls is a common theme expressed by all coaches at all levels when their teams go on the road.
For a young team however, the words that come out of the coaches mouth are interpreted differently than what the coach meant.
The Kings free-throw rate is in purple and the Warriors free-throw rate is in yellow. The line-plots clearly demonstrate that the free-throw calls favored the Kings in relation to field goal attempts. The Kings free-throw rate dropped when compared to games one and two but the Kings free-throw rate is higher in all three games than the Warriors free-throw rate.
Mike Brown wanted toughness, composure and perseverance but the end result was the Kings shooting a series high 47 three-point shots. The players settled. They settled because of the Warriors defense and they settled because Mike Brown’s message was lost on the young team. The belief that they will have unfavorable whistles allowed them to take the easy way out. They stayed out of the paint and hung around the perimeter.
The Kings first offensive possession was an indication of how their night was going to go. They turned the ball over. They got out rebounded and they shot a high volume of threes. Clearly the message was lost on the Kings.
76ers and Warriors
The focus of this piece is on the Kings and the Nets but basketball is a mirror. The 76ers and Warriors are experienced teams and have a grasp of the key points in this article. Both teams compartmentalized highs and lows and leaned on their identity in order to push through suffering. Golden State was down Draymond Green and Gary Payton II but they didn’t panic. Down 2–0, they went home and leaned on their back court. They played hard nose defense and repelled the Kings.
76ers lost James Harden, gave up the lead and Joel Embiid hobbled his way up and down the court and they still found a way to win the game.
Both teams tapered their expectations by not panicking. Emotions have gotten the better of the 76ers and Warriors but they have bounced back from their low moments.
In basketball and in business, youth lacks experience and leadership has to understand the ebb and flows of their industry to guide young talent through difficult times.
There are hundreds of decisions and scenerios for coaches to navigate through in a basketball game. The major difference between a young team and an experience team is identity. Experience teams know their identity and they have experienced more situations that have tested their identity than a young talented team. The evolution of a young team to an experience team requires that a coach know how to instill that identity. It also needs for young talent to become experienced talent.
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