Basketball recently lost one of its pioneers. While that term is thrown around whenever a player from the black and white era passes away, the true understanding of what it means to be a pioneer is lost. In my view a pioneer is someone who is a visionary who transforms and then defines how things are done moving forward, creating an enduring standard. My dad, Dolph Schayes was such a person. As a player in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s my
Please, people, don’t panic! The strategy of fouling bad foul shooters, incessantly creating a parade to the free throw line, will die a quiet death. I’m not talking about a team that is behind by 6 with a minute to go trying to get the ball back. I’m talking about the “Hack-a-Shaq” – or Dwight, or DeAndre – strategy of putting a 40 percent shooter on the line 40 times a game. Yes, it is bad television. It kills the flow of
In this section I am discussing the world of entrepreneurship. People who have jobs rely heavily on structures and systems that were created by others. When we enter the world of personal success we start from scratch and need to build them ourselves. After much searching and contemplation, I finally hit upon the answer: So where did the answer actually lie? What was the model I could understand clearly, implement easily and follow through to results? I kept looking. What about successful companies
The mechanism by which many athletes and millions of Americans go broke can be easily visualized by a metaphor of a large bathtub. For top athletes, the tub is better represented by a swimming pool. But for now let’s keep it a large tub. The faucet represents our earned money. The more we earn, the more water is pouring into the tub. Of course, the drain represents our expenses. As we earn more, the faucet pours out more and more water, filling
We’ve all heard the stories about athletes, including basketball players, going broke despite making millions — or tens of millions — of dollars. From Scottie Pippen to Allen Iverson to Antoine Walker, the ledger of those who have squandered their fortunes is a long one. How does this happen? Why? As I told Noah Coslov of CineSport in this video interview: “The biggest thing is not really understanding how current lifestyle will impact their future lifestyle.” I have written a book on this very
We have all heard about the alarming statistics indicating that most professional athletes will be broke within five to seven years of retirement. And we all ask the same questions. “How can this happen when they make all that money?” “Who is advising these guys?” “Where is their agent?” “Why doesn’t the league do something?” Plus we have all heard the stories about the extravagant spending, the children out of wedlock, the bad investments and wonder, “How dumb can these guys be?” The answer is much simpler
It’s In No One’s Interest That You Get It. All players entering the NBA participate in the Rookie Transition Program. The league and the players association require every new player to attend a weeklong training session before the season starts. The program is an intense immersion type experience designed to open player’s eyes to NBA life. All kinds of lifestyle topics are covered. They cover wealth and investing. They cover health. They cover sex education, drug education and other topics players need
“A fool and his money is one big party!” If you read only one chapter in this book, read this one. It has the answer why so few succeed while most fail miserably. We have all heard that athletes and entertainers blow all of their money on cars, drugs, jewelry, clothes and women, and not necessarily in that order. We hear every day about all these poor slobs who burn through millions of dollars and are left broke and lonely with no