Less is more

I have this phone that does everything but mow my lawn. It has internet, a camera, an alarm clock, over 500 of my favorite songs, a scanner, an e-book library, a calculator, a camcorder, GPS, FM radio, pictures, and access to every kind of social networking known to man. Oh right, I can also call people and they can call me. That's really all I need, but anymore, any gadget you buy seems to have 40 other gadgets included. Heck, I don't even know how to use most of them!

I have long been a proponent of the "less is more" philosophy. Until recently, I didn't consider why I believed it. It just made sense to me. Upon further review, I think it resonates with me because I appreciate simplicity. Life does not need to be complicated to be good. I think sometimes the newest innovations are little more than unnecessarily complex mechanisms used to accomplish (formerly) simple tasks.

Segue to basketball. I've got notebooks and binders and playbooks with hundreds of different offenses and sets and schemes. You can count the stuff we'll put in this year on two hands. It's consistent with my philosophy. We could install a bunch of stuff and run most of it poorly OR put in a few things and do them really well. It's like the familiar coaching maxim from John Wooden - "Don't confuse activity with accomplishment." I scouted an opponent a couple years ago and watched them run through 12 different plays against man-to-man defense. The final score was in the 40s, including an agonizingly bad overtime session. You can have all the complexity in the world, but if you can't pass and catch what difference does it make? Do the ordinary things extraordinarily well and you will be successful.

Did you hear that, Microsoft??