Читать книгу Trust the Grind - Jeremy Bhandari - Страница 12

“It wasn’t about money. It wasn’t about headlines. I wanted to be the best. I wanted to win, and that’s why I played.”

In life, in order to reach some sort of success, you must have self-discipline. Self-discipline is defined as “the ability to control one’s feelings and overcome one’s weaknesses; the ability to pursue what one thinks is right despite temptations to abandon it,” by Google dictionary. However, self-discipline is not something you magically attain as you grow. As a kid growing up in San Francisco going all the way to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Jason Kidd’s story is one that encapsulates self-discipline and everything that comes with it.

In grade school, we were all asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. Some marveled at the idea of being an actor while others dreamed of being a firefighter, astronaut, or teacher. By the second grade, all Jason Kidd wanted to do was be a professional athlete. While sitting in class, Kidd would draw himself on a court, making sure to include whatever jersey number he aspired to wear. When I spoke with Jason, he recalled “role-playing how they were going to introduce my name when I took the field or came onto the court.” When it was recess time, he envisioned himself as Magic Johnson or Julius “Dr. J” Erving.

To work toward this walloping dream, Jason spent nearly all of his free time playing sports. Even on days when he wasn’t up for another soccer practice, he persevered. His parents taught him what commitment meant, and if they could work all day and still make sure Jason was on time for every practice, the least he could do was return the favor by giving it his all.

As he grew older, Jason shifted the majority of his focus to basketball. He would spend countless hours on the court, working on all aspects of his game. Kidd noted, “I was always traveling to play in a basketball tournament somewhere. I thought that was just the norm as a kid growing up. I loved to play. I would play anywhere.” By the time he was in middle school, Jason’s passion for the game had helped mold him into one of the best players in all of California. Still, that wasn’t good enough for Kidd, who recalls attending a basketball camp in Kansas while he was a seventh grader. It was an opportunity for young Jason to play with some of the most talented high school players in the nation. He said, “To be the best, I wanted to play against the best throughout the country.”

His eventual high school basketball coach, Frank LaPorte, recalls the first time he saw Jason at a summer youth tournament. In a 1991 interview for the San Francisco Chronicle, LaPorte said, “He did some things out there that even amazed coaches. One approached me and wondered if he was a junior [in high school]. I said, ‘No he’s a freshman.’ Everybody knew. As an eighth grader, Jason Kidd was the talk of the town.”

Because of LaPorte’s vision and belief in Kidd’s abilities, Jason, a freshman in high school, was put in front of cameras to do media interviews. LaPorte knew the sky was the limit for his new star player and wanted to get him comfortable and prepared for what he will have to go through for years to come.

By the time Kidd was an upperclassman, all of America had started to take notice. As a junior, he finished the year averaging 25 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, and 6 steals per game. After practices, Kidd would set aside time to open up fan mail. Kidd, when asked about the fan mail, told the LA Times in 1991, “Younger kids mostly write and tell me I am their hero. They tell me they’re my number one fan and that they want to be my friend.”

St. Joseph’s gym had a seating capacity of just eight hundred, but, because of the attention on Kidd, games against rival schools had to be played in larger venues. In a January win over Oakland Bishop O’Dowd, Kid dropped 35 points and hauled down 11 rebounds in front of a crowd of five thousand at Cal State Hayward. This doesn’t include the hundreds of fans who were shut out at the door.

Media requests for interviews with the St. Joseph star were so excessive that Coach LaPorte had to stop answering his phone and returning texts.

With Kidd’s incredible play, Alameda St Joseph, with a record of 30 wins to 3 losses, made it all the way to the state championship to square off against Los Angeles Fremont. Up to this point, Southern California teams had dominated the Northern California squads in the state final, having won nine straight contests.

Early in the game, it looked like that trend would continue. Fremont led by 6 at half-time and racked up a 10-point lead late in the third quarter. However, St. Joseph’s 10 to 0 run had the score knotted up. It was then Kidd’s time to shine in front of nearly fifteen thousand fans and show why he was considered the nation’s top player. In the final three minutes of the state championship, Kidd, who was playing with 4 fouls, notched 7 points, 3 steals, and 2 assists. He would finish the contest with a game-high 25 points, 8 rebounds, 7 steals, 4 assists, and 1 block. Kidd’s epic performance gave St. Joseph their first state title in school history. In a post-game interview with the LA Times in 1991, Fremont coach Sam Sullivan said the obvious: “Kidd is a fantastic ballplayer who carried his team and won them a championship.”

Following the game, hundreds of avid, hopped-up fans waited outside the coliseum for Kidd’s autograph. It was an exciting time for the Bay Area. Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and the San Francisco 49ers had just won Super Bowl XXIV. Rickey Henderson, Dave Stewart, Mark McGwire, and Dennis Eckersley had pioneered the Oakland Athletics and won the 1989 World Series. And now, there was eighteen-year-old Jason Kidd, as popular as anyone in the state.

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Gary Payton, a native of the Bay Area, summarized it best in a 2018 interview with ESPN. “Joe Montana was doing the things in the ‘80s—winning Super Bowls,” Payton said. “I had left [for college] in ’86, and then J came in and all of the sudden, they [Montana and Kidd] were the biggest things in the Bay Area at the time.”

Despite all this attention, Kidd stayed grounded. In our interview, he said, “Whenever I saw the newspapers, I just read about Joe Montana and how successful he was as a professional. That’s what I paid attention to. It wasn’t so much me being in the newspaper. I focused on the superstars in the Bay Area that I wanted to be like.”

In the summer following the state championship, Kidd was given the opportunity to practice with the Golden State Warriors. Playing with guys like Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin, Kidd was quickly humbled. “As someone who just won a state title, you feel like you’re on cloud nine. I got to see I still had a long way to go.”

Eager to improve his game, Kidd also spent that summer practicing with Gary Payton, who was five years older than Jason and a member of the Seattle SuperSonics. Rather than taking it easy on the teen, Payton showed no mercy. After one day of working out with the former number two overall pick in the 1990 NBA draft, Kidd went home to his parents and cried. Payton did not let him score one basket and, in typical Gary Payton fashion, talked a lot of trash, constantly reminding Kidd that he was still just a high schooler. Kidd recalls the advice his parents offered as they looked at their son with tears in his eyes: “You gotta go back. You’re not just gonna sit here.”

From then on, Kidd approached each practice with a positive attitude. “Showing how far away I was just made me that much hungrier,” he said. The goal of becoming a professional athlete was still his focus, and surrounding himself with the best was an easy way to elevate his game. Spending time with people who are better in a particular field causes one to push themselves harder while also focusing on the fundamental aspects of the challenge ahead.

As a senior, with thousands of “Jason Kidd” jerseys and posters being sold at school, Kidd did not disappoint his fan club. While averaging 25 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds, and 7 steals, Kidd led St. Joseph to another state championship. To add to his trophy case, Kidd received the Naismith Award, an award given to the nation’s top high school player and was named the state’s player of the year for the second time in a row.

With dozens of schools begging for his talents, Kidd decided to stay in-state and attend the University of California, Berkeley.

Despite coming off two straight losing seasons, Cal was immediately back in national attention, thanks to their new star. During his freshman season, Kidd averaged 13 points, 7.7 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and led the country with 110 steals. Kidd set an NCAA record for most steals by a freshman. He was named National Freshman of the Year, while also earning a spot on the All-Pac-10 team.

Kidd thrived on the biggest stage: the NCAA tournament. In the opening round against LSU, he had 16 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 steals. There was no bucket bigger than his game-winning basket, which is now referred to as the “pretzel shot,” a name coined by LSU coach Dale Brown.

Following the contest, according to a 1993 LA Times article, Brown claimed that the sixth-seeded Cal Bears had no chance to beat the third-seeded Duke Blue Devils, who were coming off back-to-back National Championships. Brown also added that Kidd would be no match for Duke’s All-American point guard, Bobby Hurley.

With under three minutes to play in Cal’s second-round game against Duke, trailing 77–76, Kidd attempted to pass the ball inside to a teammate, but it was batted away. Rather than giving up on the play, Kidd hustled to the ball, and, while falling down after being fouled by Grant Hill, put up a shot that bounced off the backboard and directly through the net. He went on to make his free throw, giving Cal a 79–77 lead. A lead that the Bears never gave back. Cal’s 82–77 victory gave the Bears their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1960.

The nation’s best freshmen finished the game with 11 points, 14 assists (Cal record for an NCAA tournament game), 8 rebounds, and 4 steals. The performance earned him a spot on the cover of Sports Illustrated just two days later. Although Cal was defeated by Kansas in the following round, the Bears’ season was a success.

As a sophomore in the ensuing season, Kidd continued to excel. In a January game against Stanford, Kidd had 18 assists, which is still a school record for most assists in a game. He finished the season with 272 assists, which was not only the most in a season by a Cal player, but also stands as a Pac-10 conference record. He was named 1994 Pac-10 Player of the Year. Following his impressive campaign, Kidd declared for the NBA draft, forgoing his junior and senior seasons.

Despite playing just two years, Kidd racked up 204 steals, a program record, and the most ever by a Pac-10/12 player. In California program history, there have been 5 total triple-doubles to date. Kidd had 4 of them. In 2004, Kidd’s number 5 jersey was retired by the program.

Kidd was selected second overall in the 1994 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks. After an impressive rookie season, leading all first-year players with 7.7 assists per game, Kidd shared the 1995 NBA Rookie of the Year Award with Grant Hill of the Detroit Pistons. The following season, he made his first All-Star team and finished the year averaging 16.6 points, 9.7 assists, and 6.8 rebounds.

From 1997 to 2001, no player had more assists than the San Francisco native. During that span, Kidd made three more All-Star teams and led the NBA in assists in three straight seasons. In 2001, after stints with the Mavericks and Suns, Kidd was sent to the New Jersey Nets, a team that was coming off a dreadful 26–56 record.

Eager to shift the culture in a positive direction, Kidd set the tone early on during training camp when he dove for a ball in a summer practice. “Every possession means something,” he said. “I’m out here to compete and win.” While showing leadership skills, Kidd, already one of the premier assist-men in the league, focused on his jumper. When I asked Kidd how he went about molding his shot, I was anything but surprised with his answer. He said, “I shot thousands of shots [per day] and worked on my technique.”

Kidd would head to the practice facility early, working on his approach as the rest of the team piled in. After technique work, Kidd gave me the rest of the rundown for the day: “Then you have the team practice. Then after practice, now you’re working on your corners. Start to work on your distance. Shooting from different spots on the floor, taking shots that you would get in the game.”

While all this work may get exhausting, Kidd reminded me that you have to put in the work and believe in what you do in order to see positive results. “There’s going to be days where everything feels perfect, but the ball just doesn’t go in. Are you going to believe in what you’re doing is right and stick with it? Or are you going to try and change it? I had to trust that we were doing the right thing and it paid off.”

During his first season with the Nets, Kidd averaged 14.7 points, 9.9 assists, 7.3 rebounds, and led all NBA players with 175 steals, which had me asking him how the heck he was so good defensively.

Kidd responded, “It starts with your want. You gotta want to do something that most people don’t.” While the majority of players consider playing lockdown defense, “dirty work,” Kidd relished the idea of trying to shut down the opposing team’s best player. He said, “I watched a lot of film. I studied the opponent. Not just the guy I would be guarding, but also the other guys. Just in case there was a switch.” Kidd talked about breaking down film of guys like Muggsy Bogues, Reggie Miller, and Michael Jordan. When he brought up Mike, Kidd was quick to mention “that [Michael’s] file was really small because he was just too good.” Kidd also said that film was something he started to study back when he was in high school. No wonder he currently ranks as the nation’s all-time high school leader in steals.

Kidd had transformed the Nets, leading them to a 52–30 regular-season record and finishing runner-up to Tim Duncan in MVP voting. During the postseason, Kidd performed how he always does in big moments, leading New Jersey all the way to the NBA Finals before ultimately falling to the Los Angeles Lakers. In his twenty playoff games, Kidd scored over 300 points, brought down over 150 rebounds, and tallied up over 175 assists. In the history of basketball, only two other players, Magic Johnson (1990–91) and Lebron James (2017–18), have accomplished that feat in a single postseason run.

The next season, Kidd averaged a career-high 18.7 points and had the Nets right back in the NBA finals. Although they fell short for the second season in a row, losing in six games to the San Antonio Spurs, Jason Kidd had changed the culture in New Jersey and proved he was a winner.

In 2011, at age thirty-seven, Kidd was finally able to hoist the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. As the starting point guard for the Dallas Mavericks, Kidd and his teammates defeated the Miami Heat in six games to capture the franchise’s first NBA championship. In game three of the NBA finals, Kidd recorded 10 assists, becoming the oldest player over the last thirty years to have a 10-assist game in the NBA finals.

Jason Kidd ended his career as a ten-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA First-Team member, and a nine-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. He currently ranks second in NBA history in career assists and steals, while also holding onto tenth place in 3-point field goals made. Only two players in the history of the sport finished their career with at least 15,000 points, 10,000 assists, and 5,000 rebounds. One of them is Jason Kidd, and the other is the man who Kidd often mimicked as a child on the playgrounds: Magic Johnson. In 2018, Kidd was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, going down in history as one of the best point guards the game has seen.

At the end of our interview, I asked Jason his thoughts on what he believes are the keys to self-discipline. Obviously, in order to be considered “disciplined” you must identify what you are trying to accomplish. Ever since he was a kid, Jason was focused on becoming the best possible basketball player and would do whatever it took to win. Whether it was breaking down film of his opponent or shooting thousands of jumpers a day, Kidd was committed to the craft.

Not only do they have insane work ethics, self-disciplined people make taking care of their bodies their first priority. Kidd credits getting the right amount of rest and eating the proper foods as the main reasons he was able to stay in the league for so long and perform at a high level. He always ate oatmeal for breakfast, and Kidd firmly believed in taking a nap before the game to physically and mentally rest. Part of staying disciplined is making sure you are locked-in and alert at all times. In order to maintain a heightened focus, you must get a suitable amount of rest. So if you need to, be like Jason and mix in a nap.

For five years, researchers from the University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland, followed 3,462 individuals, all between thirty-five and seventy-five years old and noted that people who napped once or twice a week actually lowered their risk of suffering from any sort of cardiovascular disease. The academics also concluded that these individuals were 48 percent less likely than non-nappers to endure a heart attack, stroke, or suffer from heart failure.

Everyone has that family member, friend, or coworker who, no matter what the situation, finds a way to complain. You know, the ones that swear they have worse luck than anyone on the planet and are convinced that someone is out to get them. Well, when it comes to building self-discipline in life, the more negativity you are around, the less productivity you will generate.

Jason credited a lot of his success to surrounding himself with the right individuals. He said, “When you’re around someone or around people who are doing the right thing, that makes it a lot easier for you to do the right thing.” When Jason spent that summer practicing with NBA stars, he was able to pick their brains and get a first-person look at what it takes to be a professional.

It’s time to put your ego aside and seek out individuals who are smarter and more experienced than you. While you may feel inadequate or feeble at first, much like Jason when he first stepped up against Gary Payton, I can promise that hard work pays off and that there is no better way to grow in a particular field or area than spending time with those who have already walked the path that you are pursuing.

For those who aren’t blessed to be in an atmosphere with high performers in the department that they hope to specialize in, Jason recommends writing in a diary—something that was suggested to him during his time with the Phoenix Suns. In this diary, Kidd would document when things were going well and when things weren’t so pretty. That way, he was able to better prepare himself for when future events arise.

“You have to write things down,” he said. “Things aren’t always going to go well. You can go back at your notes and look back at the time when you were playing at a very high level. [I can see] what was I doing during this time, what was I eating, what was I doing on the court, what was going on in my life, so you can always reflect. When it’s 60 games in [of the NBA season] and I’m tired, I look back at the book to see what I did last year during this time to get over the hump.” Whether it was the ups and downs of the rigorous NBA season or far-fetched goals he wished to accomplish, Kidd made note of it all.

In our goal-setting chapter, we saw the power of writing down our dreams, aspirations, and even simple tasks that we wanted to get done. Jason Kidd’s story is a living example of the benefits of taking time out of your day to document your journey, manifesting that this simple action is a pivotal step in attaining long-term success.

Only two players in NBA history have scored over 15,000 points, corralled 5,000 rebounds, and dished out 10,000 assists: Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Jason Kidd.

After talking with Jason, I purchased my own diary. Any time I felt a day went well, I would make sure to jot down the steps I took during that day for it to be a success. Whether it was the food I ate, the people I spoke with, how I managed my time, or even the thoughts I generated inside my head, I included it all. On days that I struggled or encountered moments where I came up short, I went into full detail as to why the particular situation played out as it did and how I can improve the next time it arises.

The concept of writing in a diary is now a staple for me. Think about it. Life happens so fast, making it impossible to remember everything that goes on. With a diary, you give yourself the ability to reflect on your personal life, which ultimately helps prepare yourself for a brighter future.

While I was hoping to learn a little bit about swag from Jason (if you haven’t seen his bleach blonde hair cut from his Phoenix days, please check it out), getting the chance to talk about discipline and absorbing ways to ultimately better myself is just as good.

Discipline is, by far, the most common trait adopted by all successful people. If you aspire to be in the top 1 percent, you must do what only 1 percent of people are willing to do. While breaking down videos of your opponents in high school or taking thousands of jump shots a day may not be the most glamourous way to spend time, it was how Jason Kidd separated himself from the pack.

Self-discipline is attained by training your mind to solely focus on what you feel is important in order to achieve your goals. Someone who wants to lose weight must develop the discipline to eat strong, healthy foods rather than those filled with sugar. If you wish to get all As on your report card, you must discipline yourself and spend extra time studying while others take part in activities that will not benefit them in the long run.

Beyond self-reflection, journals can be utilized as a way to mightily improve our efficiency. As you know, when we write things down, we automatically give ourselves a better chance to accomplish any task or goal. For further emphasis, here is an examination on doodling in the classroom.

In 1996, Beesley and Apthorp conducted a study to see the links between strong note-taking and overall success of college students. They were eager to see if writing down notes led to stronger retention of the information at hand. According to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the group who took notes performed better on tests than those who chose not to record the information during lectures. The researchers also found that the note-takers actually outperformed the control group who reviewed the lecture annotations but did not physically write them down.

In 2012, James and Engelhardt constructed a study using fifteen children in Indiana. The boys and girls were asked to write, trace, or type out letters while their brains were scanned. The researchers, according to Trends in Neuroscience and Education, identified that scripting the letters triggered more brain regions than typing them on a computer.

Even in the digital age, there is still something special about writing things down. Not only are you more prone to retain the information you write, but your brain is literally energized in ways that aren’t possible unless you put pen to paper. So each day, write down what you would like to accomplish. It only takes a minute and automatically increases your chances of getting things done.

Paramount Points

•Boost your benchmark by surrounding yourself with individuals who have a successful track record in the field that you wish to excel in.

•Identify what it takes to be successful in your coveted field. Part of becoming a self-disciplined individual is grasping what it takes to be prosperous.

•There will be days when you are tired, not in the mood, and shots just aren’t falling, but KEEP GOING.

•Purchase a journal, and use it to track your journey.

•If you want to be in the 1 percent of people, you must do what only 1 percent of people are willing to do.