I recently finished "Red and Me" by Bill Russell; the book chronicles Russell's friendship with the longtime coach with the Boston Celtics, Red Auerbach. It was a Father's Day present from my wife. Principally due to the rough language, I can't endorse the book or recommend it to you players. However, there was some interesting thoughts from the book that provides insight into the best coach-player tandem in professional team sports history.
I found some great insights as a coach. For one thing, Auerbach was really ahead of his time, in a lot of ways ... for instance, in embracing the role of black players in the NBA. He also was a basketball "Moneyball" guy, in that he was most concerned with production rather than aesthetics and/or conventional wisdom.
Here are some of most noteworthy quotes:
"A man has to draw a line inside himself that he won't allow any man to cross."
"He (Auerbach) was willing to buck current conventional wisdom to suit his own vision of how to win. Also, he trusted and respected the advice of his friends and had enormous confidence in his own instincts."
"He (Auerbach) was a mathematician of the highest order. He understood the efficacy of equations, especially in terms of problem-solving."
"My ambition as your friend is that my friendship has a positive influence on your quality of life. If I am able to accomplish this, it will enhance my quality of life."
"It is far more important to understand than be understood."
"We recognized that disagreements were not obstacles to our mutual respect, but rather stepping-stones to understanding."
"Let the first thing out of your mouth be your second thought. It will greatly reduce the number of apologies you have to make ... "
Red didn't care what other people thought of him. "All he did was stay true to himself and try to do good work."
His methods were "always geared to the team over any one player."
"Good friends must be confident in their own skin."
"In a true friendship, nothing about your principles is up for debate."
"My attitude, in difficult situations, is to keep moving forward positively."
Funny, but I wasn't crazy about reading a basketball book. But I found it to be "more than basketball", if you will.
See you on the field,
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