Lebron James and Draymond at The Shop | Communicate Your Role | Know Your Role

There are a lot of guys who have no idea what their roles are.  They have no idea where to shoot.  There are guys who DON’T KNOW HOW TO PLAY.

LeBron James, Draymond Green, 2 Chainz and special guests come together at a local New Orleans barbershop to talk the NBA, Olympics, music, football and more.   You can see the entire video here:

At about the 9:25 mark, Record producer Steve Stoute starts out talking about business resumes and the fact that for all of the skills that are on resumes, they never talk about a person’s work ethic.  He says that everybody gets credit for stuff that you didn’t do when you are part of a team because that is part of being on a team.  But he likes to ask, 'What role did you play in driving the outcome vs. being a teammate of the outcome?"  Great coaches, great CEOs, and great managers have to decide: 

Is it the guy or is the environment that the guy was in?  Are you the driver or just along for the ride.

Rich Paul, a friend and business partner of LeBron James, adds that there is a combination of things that play into a player’s performance, including the player, the people around the player, and the maturity level of the player.  It’s also important, as a leader, to give your athletes roles and that they understand their role, and their ability to fulfill that role to the highest of expectations.

Steve Stout comments that there are guys are running around and playing in the NBA, but don’t have a role or a sense of purpose.  They don’t even know when/where to shoot from in the offense.  It has to start from day 1.  Coaches have to have a set role.  As Steve Stout asked, ‘How do you put 5 guys on the court and they don’t have a role.

Charles Oakley then mentions how important it is for coaches to establish roles in training camp.  He says that coaches have to set their roles and coaches have to set the locker room, right away.  You have energy guys, scorers, 3 point shooters, ball movers, defenders, etc, but everybody has a role that they have to perform and perfect.

LBJ added that the coach and the leader/commander of the team have to address athletes when they aren’t doing what they need to be doing or aren’t filling their roles to the level that is expected.  You have to nip it immediately so it doesn’t unravel the team. 

They then add that not only do players not know their roles, there are guys who don’t even really know how to play!

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As an athlete, know what you bring to the team, know your role, and work hard to perfect it.  As a coach, it's important to makes sure that everybody knows their role and performs it to the level of expectations that you have communicated to them.