Being an athlete seems like an amazing thing to most of us, at least from the outside. But making it to any professional league takes an immense amount of concentration and hard work.
Who knows, better than the great Bill Russell? Russell is one of the most decorated players ever to step foot on a basketball court. In his 13-year career, he won 11 NBA championships! Although the level of the league was not that high during his playing days, it’s still commendable what he achieved.
Coming back to the point, Russell believes playing basketball is not an easy task. He revealed that not having a killer instinct means you will not be successful while playing the sport.
Reddit user u/WhenMachinesCry shared a post where he found Bill Russell’s law of basketball. The post revealed:
Russell’s First Law: You must make the other player do what you want him to do. How? You must start him thinking. If he is thinking instead of doing, he is yours. There is no time in basketball to think: “This has happened; this is what I must do next.” In the amount of time it takes to think through that semicolon, it is already too late.
Russell’s Second Law: You got to have the killer instinct. If you do not have it, forget about basketball and go into social psychology or something. If you sometimes wonder if you’ve got it, you ain’t got it. No pussycats, please. The killer instinct, by my definition, is the ability to spot—and exploit—a weakness in your opponent. There are psychological subrules in this category.
Russell’s Third Law: Be cute but not cuddly. I mean, you should be nice at all times, but there is a lot to be said for an elbow in the chops when all else fails. This is forceful psychology. Last resort stuff.
Russell’s Final Law: Remember that basketball is a game of habit. In getting good at it, we develop certain habits. Therefore, if you make a player deviate from his habits—by psyching him—you’ve got him.
All the points are spot on and if a young player follows these laws religiously, they will increase their chances of succeeding in the league.
