The Psychology OF A NBA Role

The Psychology Of A NBA Role

Acceptance is a very important aspect of playing sports. These athletes at every level and in every sport need to understand that they all have a role to fill when it comes to winning and playing together. Some of the best teams that have won championships in the NBA, not only had great players, but everyone on the team knew what their role was and played it without complaint or jealousy of another teammate. The Miami Heat when they had Wade, Bosh, and James. They were all the number one option on their own respected teams and they all came together and that couldn't be the case anymore. Bosh accepted that and accepted that he would have to be the 3rd option when on the court with the other two superstars. Wade and LeBron had to figure out how they could win together being the number 1 option. It took some time but eventually, even though Wade was the number 1 option for years before LeBron came, he knew that if they were going to win and succeed that lebron needed to be that number one option.

This has played a major role in almost every successful team in the NBA. MJ, Pippen, and Rodman all had specific roles and knew and played their roles very well and because of that, they were very successful. When KD chose to go to Golden State to play with Steph, Klay, and Green, they all had to accept different and new roles in order to succeed.
 
This also comes with age as well, when you get older and you are able to do less things at your position, you will be used a lot differently on the team. When it comes to Ray Allen, joining the heat, his role was a lot different then before he did. Part of joining a new team is accepting that you will have different and new roles then you did before. Another example of this is with Carmelo Anthony. He was the number one option for the nuggets and the Knicks when he played for them but as he got older, his role was changed and he had a hard time accepting that fact when he played for OKC. He wanted to be a starter but the coach at the time thought he would fit better on the bench and so this caused tension and it ultimately led to him being out of the NBA for a few years. He then found a team, the Portland Trailblazers, to give him the role he wanted, a starting role, even though he wasn't the number one or two option. Accepting these facts is very important yet hard for athletes because it means that they don't get what they want or that their prime has passed and they will eventually have to retire from the sport they once loved.
 
Players also need to accept that they won't make every shot, they won't complete every pass, and they won't hit every ball and they won't win every game. We can look at this past weekend when Tom Brady faced Drew Brees in a playoff game. No one can argue that they both aren't all time great quarterbacks but at the end of the day, one had to lose and one had to win. That's a hard pill to swallow for both of these players because they are great at what they do yet, both of them can't win. They both had to accept that all they could do is go out there and try to play their best game and hopefully it was enough to win. When looking at the NBA, no matter how talented teams are, at the end of the day, it's the same thing, one team has to win and the other has to lose. These players also have to accept the fact that they will play bad games and that they will have games where they throw a lot of interceptions, where they will strike out a lot and where they will have a very bad night shooting the ball. It has happened to every great player that has ever played in their respected sports. The one thing that separates them is that they don't let this get in their way of how they continue to play their game and how hard they work to continue to be better. Acceptance is a very big part of that because if you can't accept things will undoubtedly happen, then it will eventually destroy you when it keeps happening over and over again and you don't change and accept the new circumstances of reality.
 
Now its very important to understand one thing when figuring out how to accept things like these, every person in the world, no matter how rich or poor, big or small, tall or short, no matter their religion or race, we all have to accept things that are hard for us to accept. Whether its accepting that a divorce is final, accepting that you lost a child, accepting you didn't get a promotion, accepting that you have mental health issues, the fact that you didn't make the right choice when it comes to family, friends or relationship, or that you have gained weight people have to accept things every day big or small and it is very hard to do but acceptance and change can be done if you fight and work for this.
 
If there is one thing that you take away from this article its that hardships and changes are going to happen in your life no matter whether its a sport where you are getting paid millions of dollars to do or if you are just an ordinary person like me and you, that if you don't learn how to accept these changes or losses, it will only hurt you when trying to live and love the rest of your life.