TITLE: Doing the Obvious Things Well
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: March 16, 2016  2:33 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
The San Antonio Spurs perennially challenge for the championship
of the National Basketball Association.  Like most great NBA teams,
they have several excellent players.  However, the foundation of
their success isn't the high-flying sort of offense that people
often associate with professional basketball, but rather a
meticulous defense, the sort of defense people usually associate
with defensive specialists and hard-working journeymen.

What's the secret?
<A HREF="http://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/240352/The-Subtle-Details-Of-The-Spurs-Stifling-Defense">
   This article</A>
tells us there is no magic:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 It's easy to think some form of incomprehensible genius is
 responsible for the subtle components of an elite defense,
 but in all reality, doing the obvious thing and doing it
 well (which is the hard part) is often all it takes.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is true of so many things in life.  Figure out what you need
to do to excel, and then practice it -- both in preparation for
the act and in the act itself.

It's not very exciting, but grunt work and attention to detail are
usually the primary components of excellence.  A little luck helps,
of course; the Spurs were able to draft all-time great  Tim Duncan
as David Robinson's career was winding down.  But even that luck is
tinged with an unexciting message...  What makes Duncan great isn't
flashy style and supernatural skills.  It's mostly doing the obvious
things and doing them well.
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