Confidence, cockiness, swagger, arrogance…In everyday life these words are sometimes thought of as negative traits. However, when you think about these words from a basketball standpoint the meaning flips. Think about the best players. Do you ever hear them second guess themselves? No, they are FULL of confidence. When Kobe was asked if he would beat LeBron in a game of one-on-one, what do you think he said?
It also seems as if Kevin Durant (and a few others) think the same thing…
He was quick to say that he could “beat him in his sleep”. Every time a great player steps on the court, they expect to be great. If you want to be the best, you have to believe you can be the best. Remember not to confuse this with being arrogant off the court, trying to get in the spotlight, not giving teammates credit, and bragging about how good you are. But, be confident, plan on winning, and go do it.
Be sure to leave your thoughts and comments below.
He has 25 years of experience playing basketball, training basketball players, and coaching basketball. The World of Hoops provides intelligent and intense basketball training to take basketball players to the next level.
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I assume the Kobe story sholud be posted in the comments right ? I’m from Vancouver but went to high school in Victoria, BC, and if you didn’t know, a guy named Steve Nash made his name in Victoria in a school called St. Michael’s, we’d play in their gym and you’d see all these Nash tributes in the rafters etc., why am I telling you all this? Well, everyone with any basketball knowledge on east coast Canada is a Suns fan . The year Nash won his second MVP (I just call it Kobe’s magical season , 81pts, 35 ppg, and the shit that’s about to happen next), in my dorm we’d all watched the Suns-Lakers series together, all 50 macho rugby/hockey/basketball/football players in one living room, and I’d get the dirtiest looks from people when I’d cheer a Lakers basket, although I did have one more Laker fan to cheer with, he wasn’t as outgoing as me so I’d get most of the hate (especially when Kobe baptised Nash with that dunk, they kicked me outta the living room after that, suckers). So it’s game four, by then I have a cast on my ankle because I’d just fractured it in a rugby game (got hit by two 250lb guys from both sides), the only benefit from not being able to walk for 3 months is that the Suns fans didn’t have the heart to kick me out anymore. With the Lakers down 2 with less than 10 to play, I basically did the Laker’s commentary, that’s if you replace actual commentary with all profanities, so you can imagine what came out of my mouth when Smush got that steal (people use him like a punchline now, but Laker fans never forget the steal), and Kobe made a floater that would make Tony Parker ashamed of himself.So OT, jumpball, Walton vs Nash, Luke almost tips it out of bounds but Kobe retrieves it, and I could feel the atmosphere in the whole room change in an instant, it’s like everyone in the room was about to be interrogated by Jack Bauer.Bang! Game winner! Then came my first defying laws of physics/medicine moment , ’cause I swear to god I jumped like 40 inches (with the cast on my ankle) to chest bump the only other laker fan in the room, and we both almost fell on our asses, but we couldn’t stop screaming.It turns out that one ankle injury led to several back and hip injuries and basically ended my basketball career during my first season with the University of Toronto varsity team, (altho I don’t think the chest bump did anything because I jumped off the opposite foot), but whenever I get down on myself for not being able to play anymore, I’d think of that kobe moment and the biggest smirk will show up on my face, people on the subway look at me like I’m crazy but all I could hear is final seconds, Bryant for the win, BAAAAAAAAAAANG!!! -DJ F.L.A.S.H.