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Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

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  • #1

    Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

    Pacers.com
    Jeff Tzucker

    http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/kevin...work-chemistry

    "When you look at an organization," Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard told me, "And how to perform—specifically with an individual—if you can figure out how to improve it a little bit, everybody just a little bit, the organization benefits a lot."

    Kevin Pritchard is a man who champions the cause, who bleeds the brand. He won't hide from it, won't be ashamed of it, and will leave his stamp on it. Why? Because he believes that if everyone pitches in selflessly, you may not win every time out on the floor, but what you create is something far more important: The right environment. And, out of the right environment, success can occur. This is the magic of great teams, that elusive "chemistry". Great teams are selfless and relentlessly practice something former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith used to preach:

    Help the Helper

    The phrase, Help the Helper, used as the title in Kevin Pritchard's new book (co-written with Dr. John Eliot, Ph.D.) is simple, but its effect profound. In fact, it's at at the heart of everything great teams do: Help the person who's helping the person at the center of action.

    Sounds confusing, I know. But it's not. Let me explain.

    In a basketball game, helping the helper might play out like this:

    There is a primary action on the court—for example, a guard brings the ball up the court. However, the guard ("ballhandler") is facing a pressing defense and is having a hard time getting across the half-court line to avoid a back-court penalty.
    To free the ball-handler, a teammate (the helper) leaves his designated spot on the floor to set a screen. However, the helper left the spot where he would otherwise catch a pass to avoid a backcourt penalty. Now, there's no one there and the team risks turning the ball over on a penalty.
    Seeing the gap left on the floor, you run to the open spot, catch a press-breaking pass from the ball-handler and help the team avoid a back-court penalty. You have just helped the helper.
    In every day life, helping the helper happens all the time, but often escapes notice. An example might be an elderly family member who is unable to take care of themselves any longer. Someone, often a family member, takes on the extra duty to help out. Those around the situation see the help clearly happening—it's a visible act close to the center of action. Because the helper is so close to the center of action, he or she may gain praise from others for it. This is similar to the basketball player above setting a screen and getting credit from a TV or radio announcer for it.

    But, let's say you help the helper by bringing food, cleaning house, or running errands for the person helping the elderly relative? No one really sees you helping since your help is happening two steps away from the center of action. Little glory is passed your way, even though your act of helping the helper is indispensable and necessary. Do you get frustrated that no one is heaping praise on you? Or do you just go about your business and are happy to help any way you can?

    Ladies and gentlemen, helping the helper.

    Frankly, it's an elegant way of looking at teamwork of all kinds, from sports to business to friends and family. And what makes it unique in this era of business leadership books and sports-stat-geekery is that helping the helper is about building the right culture, not simply relying on stats to build a team.

    Not that you should throw out stats, but...

    According to Pritchard and Dr. Eliot, the problem with statistical analysis is stats can't predict what someone will do next year or how someone behaves when the cameras are off. Stats only look at what has happened and what is measurable. But, a positive, unselfish culture based around helping the helper creates an right environment ripe for success.

    "We evaluate talent and sometimes you like players and they just kind of make you tingle." Pritchard's voice rises a little. "Like, man, that guy can jump, he can do this, he can do that. Take that aside for a second, remove that.

    "When the guy walks to the bench, you watch how he interacts with his coach, how he walks into the locker room. Does he high-five his teammates when they're playing? Is he as excited when they make plays or is he all in his own world that he can't get out? Those are the things that if you can really get a handle on it—and it's not easy, it's difficult—but it's the foundation to me of a player that's willing to do two things: Be unselfish and be tough."

    He pauses.

    "But you have to be willing to be part of something bigger than yourself."

    To speak metaphorically, what Pritchard is describing feels a bit like the age-old difference between Looks and Personality. For example:

    The Kobe-Shaq-Payton-Malone Lakers may have been a good-looking team on paper, but their personality wasn't great. They weren't greater than the sum of their parts and, as their Finals loss shows, their sum was certainly less than Detroit's—a better team.

    Conversely, the 1980s Lakers and Celtics are still revered because along with all their individual talent, the teams played together beautifully, selflessly. To continue the metaphor, those teams had a great personality along with good looks.

    (If you go down the line of NBA Finals teams, it's often pretty clear who was more beautiful, who was better-looking, and who was too overwhelming in one or the other category for the opposition to overcome. Take a minute to do it—It's an illuminating exercise. I digress.)

    So, what do these sports analogies have to do with business or family or friends? Help the Helper translates to the boardroom to cubicles to anything in your life that demands more than one person to do. And the code goes goes for anyone at any level of any organization.

    Creating a successful team seems easy enough to say, but how do you find people with those traits, let alone build an entire team with those traits? According to Pritchard, you first need to define what style of team you want to help eliminate the noise.

    "So if you're this," Pritchard tells me, gesturing with his right hand. "You say, 'Listen, we're a team that plays with toughness and unselfishness.' Anything you do player personnel-wise (trades, drafts, or free agent signings) better fit in to what you're about. And it actually helps you make decisions because you can immediately say, 'What about this player?' And if he doesn't fit in, you can say, 'Nah, doesn't fit.' Then it becomes a smaller pool of players and you can evaluate which one really fits the best, what are the best evaluation metrics. It helps you define and trickle down in terms of your decision-making process."

    At the expense of sounding like a homer, this current Pacers squad feels like it is just that: Working for something bigger than themselves. And, in the face of Granger's injury, even more so than ever—particularly on the defensive side of the ball.

    "I want to see a team that sticks together," said Pritchard, "that works hard, and that during the tough times, hunkers down and figures a way out. Because every year you have to have to figure it out. Every year presents new challenges, new problems."

    When Granger went down, the team had to learn to adjust to helping each other in different ways. The roles changed, rotations changed, and the glory will not likely go to the one who is helping two steps away from the action. But, it must be done.

    The good news is the team's culture is situated in the right place—unselfish guys willing to do what it takes for the good of the team. If you have the right attitude, you stand a chance to build a culture where winning can occur, whether it's in the office or on the court. But everyone has to be willing to pitch in wherever the help is needed.

    "If Peter and Paul and everybody in here," Pritchard said, waving his right hand around in a circular motion, "If we would just become a little bit better, then as a group we're a lot better."
    I like the idea of making the essence of your team a combination of toughness and unselfishness. As long as any individual talent you bring in fits that mold, eventually with enough pieces you're very likely going to have a winning club, which is what we have.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

    Team chemistry? Who needs something so silly.


    On a serious note, good to see the culture change.
    “Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

      Originally posted by MAStamper View Post
      I like the idea of making the essence of your team a combination of toughness and unselfishness. As long as any individual talent you bring in fits that mold, eventually with enough pieces you're very likely going to have a winning club, which is what we have.
      The idea is fine. In practice, unfortunately for us, basically the entire history of the NBA has proven that individual talent trumps all that intangible stuff when it comes to achieving the ultimate goal.
      "I had to take her down like Chris Brown."

      -Lance Stephenson

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

        Originally posted by BRushWithDeath View Post
        The idea is fine. In practice, unfortunately for us, basically the entire history of the NBA has proven that individual talent trumps all that intangible stuff when it comes to achieving the ultimate goal.
        IMO the part of MAStamper's post you bolded is the difference between last year's Heat team and the one that lost to Dallas two years ago. So yeah, talent is incredibly important. Talent with chemistry is unstoppable.

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

          After reading this I'm reminded that the biggest difference between most of the NBA GMs and a used car salesman is the salary...color me not impressed. I'm with Brush on this one. First and foremost its all about the talent. After that, everything else is a distant 2nd. After reading this I'm even more concerned about the future of our team. All the chemistry in the world won't get u squat and it wont beat the Heat. Or the Clippers. Or the Thunder. Or the Knicks. Or even the Lakers in spite of how it might look right now. In the end it comes down to two things really. First and foremost, player talent. Someone needs to be able to evaluate talent and ideally find hidden gems-and then be able to acqiure it. Second is coaching talent. Cause poor coaching can certainly offset wonderful talent. Everything else, pfft. And i scoff when they use the Pistons team as their chemistry example...what a crock. That team was loaded with talent. The real trick there was how they got it. How they got Ben Wallace. How they got Rip. Chauncey. How they got Sheed. The fact they identified a number of them as even having that talent prior to their breaking out. And then finally coaching that brought all the talent together...so please... Spare me the sermon and go out and find/acquire the talent through shrewd deals and then find a coach to bring it all together. And so far, Im not seeing the comparisons between Gerald Green, DJ Augustin and Ian Mahinmi to Rip, Chauncey and Sheed. And with all due respect to Vogel, hes no Larry Brown. So please, give me a break.
          The Most Common Cause of Stress is Dealing with Idiots

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

            I like what he said, because I agree. I mean if you take as him overrating chemistry and character, this is bad news, but I don't think he is. See, if you look at every great team, which was immensely talented, they were all unselfish, and were extremely supporting of each other. s

            What we forget about, is how we naturally belittle the talent of teams with selfish talent. An example- it hasn't been until recent years that we've all considered Z-Bo a great talent. Even though he has ALWAYS had the same level of talent as he does now. Only now, he's an unselfish player that wants to crush the opposition versus, whatever he was before.

            Again, talent is the most important thing, but having that chemistry is as well. Most of the time I believe, when obtaining that all talent team, the chemistry problem solves its self.

            I did a terrible job wording all of that but hopefully you all understand what I'm getting at.

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

              Originally posted by BRushWithDeath View Post
              The idea is fine. In practice, unfortunately for us, basically the entire history of the NBA has proven that individual talent trumps all that intangible stuff when it comes to achieving the ultimate goal.
              I'm not sure I agree with you, there. There have been any number of ultra talented players who never won the ulitmate prize. Sports is all about the team in BB as well as all others. Wilt was the most dominant player who ever played the ame and didn't win a championship until his talent was blended with the talents of others(Lakers-72). Oscar never came close until he became just a cog in the Mil. gear with Kareem. Look at Jordan's first years in the league, until Phil came to town, he was an awesome talent going nowhere.

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

                Originally posted by BRushWithDeath View Post
                The idea is fine. In practice, unfortunately for us, basically the entire history of the NBA has proven that individual talent trumps all that intangible stuff when it comes to achieving the ultimate goal.
                Talent without those intagibles equals the Sacramento Kings.

                So, no. Talent alone doesn't win anything.
                Originally posted by IrishPacer
                Empty vessels make the most noise.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

                  Originally posted by cinotimz View Post
                  After reading this I'm reminded that the biggest difference between most of the NBA GMs and a used car salesman is the salary...color me not impressed. I'm with Brush on this one. First and foremost its all about the talent. After that, everything else is a distant 2nd. After reading this I'm even more concerned about the future of our team. All the chemistry in the world won't get u squat and it wont beat the Heat. Or the Clippers. Or the Thunder. Or the Knicks. Or even the Lakers in spite of how it might look right now. In the end it comes down to two things really. First and foremost, player talent. Someone needs to be able to evaluate talent and ideally find hidden gems-and then be able to acqiure it. Second is coaching talent. Cause poor coaching can certainly offset wonderful talent. Everything else, pfft. And i scoff when they use the Pistons team as their chemistry example...what a crock. That team was loaded with talent. The real trick there was how they got it. How they got Ben Wallace. How they got Rip. Chauncey. How they got Sheed. The fact they identified a number of them as even having that talent prior to their breaking out. And then finally coaching that brought all the talent together...so please... Spare me the sermon and go out and find/acquire the talent through shrewd deals and then find a coach to bring it all together. And so far, Im not seeing the comparisons between Gerald Green, DJ Augustin and Ian Mahinmi to Rip, Chauncey and Sheed. And with all due respect to Vogel, hes no Larry Brown. So please, give me a break.
                  I guess you can't really compare our bench to another teams starters.
                  Last edited by kielbeze; 12-27-2012, 09:33 PM. Reason: HOOKT ON PHONIKX

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

                    Originally posted by cinotimz View Post
                    After reading this I'm reminded that the biggest difference between most of the NBA GMs and a used car salesman is the salary...color me not impressed. I'm with Brush on this one. First and foremost its all about the talent. After that, everything else is a distant 2nd. After reading this I'm even more concerned about the future of our team. All the chemistry in the world won't get u squat and it wont beat the Heat. Or the Clippers. Or the Thunder. Or the Knicks. Or even the Lakers in spite of how it might look right now. In the end it comes down to two things really. First and foremost, player talent. Someone needs to be able to evaluate talent and ideally find hidden gems-and then be able to acqiure it. Second is coaching talent. Cause poor coaching can certainly offset wonderful talent. Everything else, pfft. And i scoff when they use the Pistons team as their chemistry example...what a crock. That team was loaded with talent. The real trick there was how they got it. How they got Ben Wallace. How they got Rip. Chauncey. How they got Sheed. The fact they identified a number of them as even having that talent prior to their breaking out. And then finally coaching that brought all the talent together...so please... Spare me the sermon and go out and find/acquire the talent through shrewd deals and then find a coach to bring it all together. And so far, Im not seeing the comparisons between Gerald Green, DJ Augustin and Ian Mahinmi to Rip, Chauncey and Sheed. And with all due respect to Vogel, hes no Larry Brown. So please, give me a break.
                    I don't see what you're getting at. All those teams you mentioned have incredible chemistry except the Lakers. And our chemistry beat their talent already.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

                      Originally posted by cinotimz View Post
                      And so far, Im not seeing the comparisons between Gerald Green, DJ Augustin and Ian Mahinmi to Rip, Chauncey and Sheed. And with all due respect to Vogel, hes no Larry Brown. So please, give me a break.
                      Nonsense, you're comparing appeals to oranges. Green, Mahinmi, and DJ were part of a bench revamping while the Detroit acquisitions were for starting caliber talent. You need to be comparing those moves to Hibbert (trade), Hill (trade), or West (FA). All have been very solid moves by our FO.

                      I agree that superstars greatly increase your chances of winning a championship, but remember this is Indianapolis. We are not Miami, nor LA, nor NY, or Chicago. Carmelo didn't demand a trade to NY b/c he liked the weather. Kobe isn't itching to sign in Indianapolis. It's part of being a small market, and it's never going to change, I promise you that. Sure, we could draft a Tim Duncan or Kevin Durant, but we haven't had a top pick to do so, and for every Tim Duncan there are 10 Greg Oden's. If drafting top 10 was a sure-fire way to become a contender than Minnesota, Sacramento, Golden State, Toronto, and half dozen other teams should be ripe with rings.......but they're not. I feel our front office has done a decent job reaching for star type players when presented the opportunity (PG & Lance), but believe me, they aren't growing on trees. There are only a handful who have led their teams to championships over the past decade and we didn't have a shot at any of them.

                      The Detroit model is our only feasible model that has been shown to work, why not follow it? Memphis is following it and they are certainly contenders. We are following that path and I feel with some good health and improved bench, we are certainly a top 6-7 team. What more can you ask for when you don't have Lebron or Durant or Carmelo on your roster?

                      There are a select few on this board that love to critique and spew negativity about the team, but they rarely offer an alternative approach. When they do drop their infinite wisdom, hindsight proves otherwise.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

                        About 50% of the time, a great team along the lines of the Detroit Pistons or Indiana Pacers of 1998 and 1999 have a good chance to win it all. But if they are faced by one of the dynasties who also have extreme talent along with good team chemistry, they will almost certainly lose.

                        So, yes, it takes both and talent will trump chemistry.

                        But in Indiana, there is no other way to get it done...but to create a team with good chemistry. This is not South Beach folks. Pritchard has the right approach.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

                          Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post
                          About 50% of the time, a great team along the lines of the Detroit Pistons or Indiana Pacers of 1998 and 1999 have a good chance to win it all. But if they are faced by one of the dynasties who also have extreme talent along with good team chemistry, they will almost certainly lose.

                          So, yes, it takes both and talent will trump chemistry.

                          But in Indiana, there is no other way to get it done...but to create a team with good chemistry. This is not South Beach folks. Pritchard has the right approach.
                          If you've got both, almost impossible to stop. *Unless another team has more of it.*

                          But I'd take chemistry over talent, if you can only have one or the other.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

                            Originally posted by Sookie View Post
                            If you've got both, almost impossible to stop. *Unless another team has more of it.*

                            But I'd take chemistry over talent, if you can only have one or the other.
                            I actually agree. But if you have both in adequate quantity, the one with greater talent is going to win the series.

                            For the Pacers, they just need to maintain their chemistry and try to get better. At some point, they may take a risk on a guy to get them over the hump. But that risk should be made wisely. Cousins is like throwing a hail Mary when your down a touchdown in the 3rd quarter. We should be in no hurry to take that gamble.

                            BTW, the Pacers are still a little young as a team anyway. Give it a couple more years and we may need to think about that type of move.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Decoding the Mystery of Great Team Chemistry

                              Talent alone does not trump chemistry alone, and vice versa. Actually if look closely at all of the championship teams, every one of them have great chemistry that is combined with superb talent. The Boston/LA of the 80's, the Bulls, Rockets, Spurs, LA of 2000's, Detroit, Dallas, Boston of late and Miami have that great chemistry that blends well with the talent they have. The Kobe/Shaq downfall started when their chemistry was lost. Last year's Knicks never got so far because of chemistry issues. Indy had lost to Miami because while both had superior team chemistry, the Heat team were just more talented. So just pure talent or pure chemistry alone will not take you so far. It takes both to win it all.

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