Page 135 - How to Create a Winning Organization

8

IT TAKES 10 HANDS TO

SCORE A BASKET

“For the strength of the pack is the wolf;
and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”
—Rudyard Kipling

hen the USA basketball team failed to win the gold
Wmedal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, many
asked, “How could this happen? How could the USA team—every
player an NBA All-Star—lose to Argentina, Lithuania, and Puerto
Rico?”
It was a reasonable question. Many observers felt that the for-
eign teams had at very best only two or three players talented
enough to make it in the NBA. Every single USA player was al-
ready in the NBA—in fact, they were some of the best in the
league. How could the other countries beat us?
The answer is simple: We sent great players. They sent great
teams. This is not to lay any blame on Larry Brown, coach of the
USA Olympic Basketball team. As head coach, he guided the 2004
Detroit Pistons to victory in the finals over Los Angeles and its su-
perstar lineup that included Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, and
Karl Malone. Detroit, without a single superstar, was taught fine
team play by Coach Brown.
The Detroit Pistons were not superstars, but they became a
super team. In the Olympics, Coach Brown had very little time to

117
Copyright © 2005 by John Wooden and Steve Jamison. Click here for terms of use.