And that’s why we were able to beat more talented teams. There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren’t willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve.
The minute you get away from fundamentals, the bottom can fall out.
Fundamentals were the most crucial part of my game in the NBA. Everything I did, everything I achieved, can be traced back to the way I approached the fundamentals and how I applied them to my abilities.
They really are the basic building blocks or principles that make everything work. I don’t care what you’re doing or what you’re trying to accomplish; you can’t skip fundamentals if you want to be the best.
You have to monitor your fundamentals constantly because the only thing that changes will be your attention to them. The fundamentals will never change.
Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.
It comes down to a very simple saying: There is a right way and a wrong way to do things. You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way.
If you don’t back it up with performance and hard work, talking doesn’t mean a thing.
From "I Can't Accept Not Trying" by Michael Jordan
