So often I hear about how intricate a system is and I always want to ask a few questions:
- Do the players fully understand all parts of the system?
- Is the team great at any part of the system or average at a number of parts?
- Does having all of these “things” bring comfort to the coach but mediocrity to the execution of the system?
Essentially, it’s the philosophical question: is more actually better when it comes to the amount of “stuff” you have in your system? Having been around Doc Rivers the past 6 seasons I have come to appreciate the art of simplifying as much as you can.
We strongly feel that simplifying things helps us in two important areas: (1) it makes us more decisive and (2) it makes us more aggressive. As one of the best football coaches of decades past once said, “a hesitant athlete is a non-athlete.”
We would rather our guys just play than have to think too much. The more that’s in their heads, the more they may have to think first and react next. We feel that wastes a second and puts our guys at a disadvantage.
In our minds, simple means aggressive and decisive!
