Monday, October 13, 2014

The engine

To win, you have to have talent, you have to have discipline and you have to have motivation. Our talent level is as good as it has been for at least a decade. Shields' teams generally have had the discipline, to his credit.

The motivation, however, has to come from within the roster. Someone has to be a cheerleader and someone has to be the enforcer - positive and negative motivation. I think we have the former; J. T. Thomas seems to fit that role, and maybe others as well. Good enforcers are harder to find, because they generally are not the rah-rah type. They are quieter, and blunter when there is a need for it. They are the ones who do not allow retreat, who stop sloppy play, who "by main force and obstinance" will not allow the team to panic or get soft when the going gets tough. I do not know who that player(s) will be for us, but we will have to have one if we are going to be really good.

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