As all of us head into a new season, there’s a lot of excitement and hope. We’ve had it every year, and I expect we’ll have these same feelings every new season to come. That’s the fun part of this time of year for all teams — the hope that this year will be a championship season and a great team success.

Team is an easy word to use but a tough thing to become. Any group of players can put on the same uniforms, but that doesn’t make them a team. It’s not about the uniform being the same or players being on one side or the other. It’s about the cohesion a group is willing to play with.

The power of the team is that it can accomplish so much more than one person can accomplish on his own. The power of the team is that on a given player’s bad personal day, others are there to pick up the slack. The power of a team is that when one player isn’t emotionally up for a given game, others are there to provide that lift for him. The power of a team is simply that the sum is greater than its individual parts.

I know this is true because I was fortunate to be a part of an NBA World Championship as an assistant coach for our 2008 Boston Celtics. Everything you have read in this blog held true for our team that year. We also knew that being a team does not guarantee a championship, but playing as individuals certainly does guarantee you will not win a championship. We chose the team route!