Basketball and Change Part One

Basketball and Change Part One
"Once you're labeled the best you want to stay up there, and you can't do it by loafing around. If i don't keep changing I'm history"-Larry Bird

If you look at the dictionary definition of change, it uses verbs such as make, transform, convert, substitute and exchange. Larry Bird played 13 seasons in the NBA, he won three championships, was a three time MVP, played in twelve all star games and was also the 1998 Coach of the year, a very successful resume, he is is definitely mentioned in the discussion  about greatest players to ever lace em up. Funny I think how Bird talks about reaching the pinnacle, being considered at the top of his craft, looked at as a master, yet always looking to change or evolve. When i read this quote it makes me feel as if changing or transforming came from hard work, something worth maintaining, almost like the prey constantly dodging the predator, a sense of urgency at wanting to go to bed the best, yet wake up early to make sure you stay the best...Larry Legend  is trying to tell us that yesterday and its conquests are not good enough. As much as we accomplished, as hard as we worked, as shiny as our trophies were, they are positives indeed, but what was successful yesterday, is not always guaranteed to be successful today. Larry Bird wanted to be the best player on the floor every time he stepped onto it. Great players must know they are great, they know this because they put in the work, they evolve, they exchange yesterdays conquests for a shot at being the best today and tomorrow. As I grew up watching Larry Bird play,I saw players come and go with more talent, skill, flare and even more desire, yet I saw him remain one of the best because he adjusted, he found a way. Case in point, My Uncle Russ a lifetime Boston Celtics fan, sat with me shortly before his death in 2007, he was terminally ill dying of Amyloidosis from fighting in the Vietnam war. He was my inspiration for basketball and he loved Larry Bird, he also loved to talk hoops, we started talking about Celtic basketball, in specific Bird. My uncle a qualified observer and owner of many Larry Bird game tapes challenged me to go back through some of the old tapes and watch Larry Bird, not for his scoring prowess and deadly precision from beyond the three point arc but at how he morphed later in his career from a deadye scorer(which he was until he hung his sneakers up for the last time) but how as his dominant skills started to fade and his advantages shrank, he became a tenacious rebounder and loose ball blood hound, always a great passer he became better and helped younger players like the late Reggie Lewis become all stars. Bird realized for his teams to stay at the top of the heap, they had to continue to change. He had to change...In the game of basketball someone is always trying to gain an edge, coaches spend more time scouting other teams than ever, social media streamlines the exchange of information and the game and its players change at lightning speeds. In order to get to the top you have to evolve as a coach and as a player, and in order to stay there you have to keep changing. Larry Bird was a great player but his teammates will tell you he never stopped working and he hated to lose, if he did lose, changes were made.