Sizing Up the Boston Celtics: What About Teamwork?

“Not Finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is team work that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare.”

I read those words not in a sports book, but a business one. More on that later.

The book got me thinking about the Boston Celtics, and how little teamwork been discussed with the new-look team.

Let me first state that I believe in the "new-look" Boston Celtics.

Still, there has been little discussion about how this three-star team will achieve its goals.  

The last time I looked, basketball was a team game.

That hasn’t changed over the years, though there has been a concerted effort by the NBA to market the stars, not the teams.  

We're a star-struck, celebrity-driven society, I’m told.

Sports reflects the culture. You don’t have to read People magazine or the numerous knockoffs that have spawned like rabbits at supermarket checkouts to see that.

By the way—I can’t believe how many otherwise intelligent people read those rags. I really can’t. Some do it openly. Others try to hide it (behind a copy of Newsweek, or if they’re really smart, The Economist or Harvard Business Review)...but will end up admitting it if you ask them outright. 

"I...uh...like to see what’s going on."

Marketing research confirms it time and again: People are fascinated by celebrities. It’s almost an addiction for many.

Is it any wonder that the NBA has embraced the concept?

Even I admit to being excited when I meet an NBA player, and I’m not a kid anymore. Maybe I don’t have any right to judge the People people. They are me.

But sports figures are...uh...more relevant to the world than Brittney Spears, right?

I keep telling myself that. Somehow, I’m not convinced.

ESPN propels individual flash into hypergear.

You’ll never see a great defensive sequence by multiple players on the Plays of the Week. You won’t see the guy in the sharp suit seated at the desk in front of the camera say, “Wow! Look at that perfect screen! Boo-ya!” or “That was a great double pick, wasn’t it?  Restaurant quality.”

You won’t see the steal that led to the pass that led to the dunk. We don’t want to see how the firecracker was made. We want to see the final explosion.

It's human nature. We’re told that if good news sold newspapers or drove media ratings, we'd get it ’til the cows came home.

It doesn’t. We don’t.

Can you imagine Slam trying to market itself with a fold-out diagram of a great defensive play—complete with circles and arrows? 

Yawn.

We want it simple. We want it straight to the point. We want the shot of the dunk at the moment of maximum impact.  

Smile—you’ve just been posterized! We want the explosion.

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