Article on maturity

["Greg Odegaard" <gmodegaa@longvred.rmc.com>]

The following is a rather long article from On Hoops about the "stages" of
maturity.  Very interesting stuff, which we can only hope to apply to our
own AW next season and beyond.  Lessons maybe all of us could learn from as
well. (?)



"The 8 Spokes on the Wheel of Stardom 


There's a big difference between age and maturity.

How many people do you see either at work or school or socially who just
behave like kids even though, chronologically, they're older than you. The
mature person, who is wise, well adjusted, and objective in outlook and
approach, need not be an old bastard. The immature idiot who skits around
making ill-advised decisions about themselves or their careers need not be
a youngster.

In life, there are various stages we all go through as we grow up. Getting
stuck at a lower level while your body and your responsibilities increase
may be interesting, ignorance is the mother of adventure, they say, but
does it do anyone any good, either as individuals or as a society? Get an
immature person in a position of leadership, either a boss or a teacher or
even a parent, and inevitably this impacts on the development on the people
who are influenced by them.

It's the same in the NBA.

How rare is it for someone to come into the NBA at any age and a) fit right
in, b) perform at the top level, and c) keep improving every year. So many
players come into the league with wild expectations, and don't even make it
to first base. Look at Bo Kimble, or Willie Burton, or Shawn Respert. It's
not as if they suffered a career ending injury, or they never had skills,
it's just that they aren't ready for the big league in some intangible,
though exceedingly real, way. Another group of NBA players come in and
thrive their first couple seasons, but then hit the wall. They're static
now, they can't seem to improve any more, and they either do a Harold Minor
or a Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and disappear altogether, or they're like Penny
Hardaway or Chris Webber and have to go back to the drawing board and
re-discover themselves.

Personal growth is an interesting issue, and Matt was recently reading a
book given to him by his old man which mentioned something rather
intriguing. The Xervante Indians of the Brazilian rainforest have 8
distinct stages they go through as they progress from boyhood to manhood.
It takes up to 40 years for individuals to "reach the end" of their
journey, but along the way all the rest of the tribe is working with them.
Teaching, guiding, mentoring, coaching. All the buzzwords you hear all the
time, but for this group of people, they really mean something, and it's a
system that works.

It's kinda like what happens at Chapel Hill every summer. Not only do all
the young North Carolina players get together for coaching and scrimmaging,
but as a matter of evolved policy, all the old guys come back there too.
The Brad Daughertys, the Rick Foxes, the Scott Williamses, the Sheed
Wallaces, the Sam Perkinses, the George Lynchs, the Jerry Stackhouses all
come back. Everyone, from Eric Montross to Michael Jordan. They all get
together for a day or a week or a month and teach the kids, in a
non-threatening environment, what it means to be a person and a player in
the NBA. The big names like Jordan often pop in just for short visits, but
the old NC alums take pleasure and pride in coming back, seeing Dean, and
practicing on the old floor, where it all began. It benefits the young guys
enormously, of course, and it also helps the older guys as well to get some
perspective. Their mentors did it for them, and they hand down the
tradition, taking the time to guide the youngsters through the necessary
stages of development they'll need in order to become a more rounded
package in whatever venture they try they hand at when the leave school.

It's a blueprint which would probably work well with any team, college,
pro, or just the weekend youth club, social group or church. A group of
respected, more experienced elders, who know the value of personal growth,
actively showing a concern for yours. Maybe we wouldn't have any Derrick
Colemans or Christian Laettners in society if they were properly guided
through the necessary staircase of growth. As with the Xervante Indians, we
think there are 8 stages of development that all NBA players need to go
through in order to progress from rookie to Superstar:


Stage 1 - Skills

The prerequisite. If you don't have the skills, it doesn't matter what else
you may have in your emotional and spiritual armory, you won't get a look
in. But hang on, it worked for Rex Walters, didn't it? Having some natural
talent is not the be all and end all of a player's suitability and success
in the NBA, although so many scouts, fans and players believe it is. In
reality, it's the first step, nothing more.


Stage 2 - Resilience

No matter who you are, with the possible exception of Magic Johnson, you're
going to face some adversity in your early years. Michael Jordan did, Grant
Hill did, Shaq did. All the big names do, so, by extension, just the
ordinary role player has got so much more to go through in order to
overcome any initial adversity. If you don't work hard to absorb it, grow
with it, and move past it, you'll end up like Harold Minor and spat out as
quickly as you can say "Slam Dunk Champ".


Stage 3 - Work Ethic

You may have gotten into the league 'cause you've got skills, but if you
want to stay there, you've gotto keep working. Lose a few pounds, give up
beer, go to Pete Newell's big man camp in the offseason. The things that
got you points your rookie season won't work forever, you've gotto keep
growing as a player, 'cause there's a new wave of young kids coming into
the league now, and unless you can get better, you'll end up like Yinka
Dare or Dee Brown.


Stage 4 - Greed

When you're in the NBA, so much is more important than money. Do you want
to be a winner, or a whiner? As the league's average salary is well over $2
million per player, why do we hear so much about the astronomical contracts
given to the likes of Glenn Robinson, Horace Grant, Kevin Garnett? The
second last thing any player wants is to be forever labeled a greedy
arrogant pig. Being called a chump is worse, but for a talented player, a
bad public image will hurt them personally in terms of their marketing
appeal, and will also have a detrimental affect on the competitiveness of
their team.


Stage 5 - Role

No matter who you are, there's no way one player can do it all on the
court. Sure, Jordan can score, defend, pass, shoot threes, hit FTs, grab
the big rebounds and lead a team, but he isn't the tough low-post presence
the Bulls have always needed in order for the triangle to be effective. No
one player can do everything if their team is going to be elite. Isiah
Thomas had to give up some of his own game in order to meld together a
Pistons team which won back-to-back titles. For the Grant Hills and David
Robinsons who've made it to this level unscathed, it's finding a role and
empowering teammates which is the next step along the road to success.


Stage 6 - Practice

As you get older, and your team around you begins to settle, you are an
established NBA superstar, but you don't yet have a ring. You average 20
and 10, are mature and respected, so what else is there you can do on the
court? Keep in touch with your body and set yourself new challenges. Learn
to make 90% of your free throws, like Bill Laimbeer set out to do in the
'86/87 season, tell yourself that you'll lead the NBA in assists, like Wilt
did in '67/68. Your body's starting to decline, but your game can be as
formidable as ever.


Stage 7 - Agility

When we were playing ball in the local town comp, Todd, the most athletic
and dominating player on our team, was simply unstoppable. Enormous hops,
genuine athletic talent, a touch on the ball that takes years to perfect.
He was invincible. Until we played this team of old bastards who had all
the physical agility of a lamp post, where this balding 5-9 guy who was
about 45 years old defended Todd like a champion. Made him take and miss
off-balance shots, took away his low post moves, even did the impossible,
blocked him. How? Because he had mental agility, the inner fire to see
through the first level, and consume the game from within. It's where
Jordan is now, far more deadly in his mid 30's than he was in his mid-20s,
just because his mental agility and awareness is so much more heightened.


Stage 8 - Humility

How often do you hear Jordan or Hakeem proclaiming how they're the greatest
players in the world? It's true. This decade nobody else has been able to
win a NBA championship, but the 2 Finals MVP's always seem to be praising
other players and the coaches and the Gatorade boys before acting like
spoilt brats. Yeah, sure, maybe it's annoying diplomatic non-speak, but
even so, they set the example that Shawn Kemp, Charles Barkley, Allen
Iverson, Karl Malone and Shaquille O'Neal simply do not follow, and they're
the only ones who can legitimately claim to be those things that everybody
else is screaming. Co-incidence, you think?


Examining the way young players grow, and the pittfalls present every step
along the way, reminds us of the Parable of the Sower. All the seeds in the
bag were scattered, and all of them had the same growth potential. But some
landed on the paved pathway, and the birds ate them up. Others landed
amongst the stones, and although they started off excitedly, they rapidly
withered and died when their roots were frustrated in their search for
nutrients. Some sprouted strongly through the initial phases, but under the
hot sun, sparse waterings, and the competition of choking weeds, their
growth became stunted and they declined too. But finally, there were some
seeds which made it through all the hardship to become fully grown,
healthy, mature, well balanced adults.

And finally, like it is in Chapel Hill, and like it possibly should be
everywhere, it's no accident that it is these few, successful, strong,
plants that are responsible for the birth of the next generation."