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Message: [QUOTE="willtalk, post: 2541206, member: 1220"] I believe I should have farther defined the necessity for the achievement of proper balance between the individual and the collective. Every player brings their individual skills to the team where it is blended with the other players individual skills in order to make the sum greater than it's individual parts. That is the purpose of " Team Play". Unfortunately the "game of basketball" has morphed more into the team merely being a means for an individual to shine. More and more younger generations have bought into this perspective. For a while "Womens Basketball" seemed to be less influenced, but that is also rapidly changing. The direction basketball has taken in respect to the dynamic between the promotion of the individual vis the team seems to parallel the transition in American society. We transitioned from the generation of sacrifice that was born out of the depression and struggled through WW2 and the early fifties to the post war babies who where indulged with the things their parents were denied. The became the generation of self entitlement. The post war situational circumstances had changed but unfortunately the need for balance between individual desire and co-operative social responsibility was lost. Individual ambition and success became paramount and was promoted socially. Sports tend to reflect any societies values both positive and negatives. Basketball, as it was purely and american invention, unlike football ( a morph from soccer) and baseball ( a form of cricket), is the perfect metaphor for our society. It is as such also valid barometer for the health of our society. Basketball, more than any other sport requires the ability to recognize the present situational circumstance in order to evaluate whether individual ( selfish ) or collective team ( unselfish) action is the better choice. In basketball situational circumstances are in constant flux so the ability to recognize in essential in deciding the right action. That is one aspect of BB IQ. You listed Diana Taurasi as an example of someone who personified the optimum blend of selfish and unselfishness as a guard. That optimum blend represents the balance between the individual and society that brings out the best in both. When that " Balance is not maintained it results in the eventual detriment. We are seeing that manifest in our society now. The individual needs the team as much as the team needs the individual. Sometimes for the good of the team the individual needs to shine, but other times they need to become one of many. The trick is knowing when each time takes place. The are dictated by situational circumstance which in basketball is ever in flux. A really good Point guard, like Taurasi acts like the conductor of an orchestra and makes sure the instruments are on key and the timing of the solo's are followed. The maintain the balance between the individual and the team. Unfortunately players like Allen Iverson were promoted as an ideal. The thing is that despite his massive individual skills those skills were never the asset to a team that most believed. This became evident when the teams he left did not decline in wins, but rather usually played better with him gone. His remark " Practice" speaks to the heart of his cluelessness about the role of the individual to their team. The major purpose of " Practice is not to make the individual better, but to integrate individual skills to make the team better. He could not see how it helped him so he felt it was unnecessary. For him yes! But practice was not to perfect his individual skills but to integrate them into the team. He only perceived the team as a vehicle for his own ends. The team was not important except in that concept. He didn't recognize that long term he was acting even to his own detriment. He is the poster boy for the clueless me first self entitled American who was and still is instrumental in the decline, of not only our social, but economic structures. At the end, no one wanted him on their team even though many of his skills were still intact. The fact that he is still idolized by many young players speaks volumes. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach