It might be time to expand your mind to all the possibilities

By Ty Anderson

When looking at the figure on this page, how many squares do you see? Go ahead. Take a second.  Your first answer will probably be 16, as you immediately notice the 4x4 pattern. But as you look a little deeper at the drawing, you see a few more. The big square going around the little ones makes 17. Throw in the 2x2s and you have 26 squares. Upon further examination, you notice the 3x3s.

Before you know it, what appeared to be 16 squares have turned into 30.

Every time I show this to a group, there always seems to be some mathematician in the audience that throws out a number like 156. So, for all you math whizzes out there, let’s agree on 30 for the sake of the illustration.  

The process used to discover all 30 squares is the same process used when evaluating a basketball player. A player is evaluated and judged from the minute he walks into a gym, to the minute he leaves. The judgment never ceases. A player’s 16 squares are the attributes you see without delving into his game. When a 6-foot, 9-inch, 240-pound monster walks onto the court, the entire gym knows he’s a threat to rebound, block shots and be a physical down-low presence.

But is that all there is to his game? Of course it’s not. Squares 17 through 30 might paint an entirely different picture of this kid. Maybe he runs the floor exceptionally well. Maybe he handles the ball better than anyone on the court. Perhaps his basketball I.Q. is what sets him apart from the other players his age.

Or maybe squares 17 through 30 tell us he’s timid, soft and does not use that big body to his advantage. Maybe he’s a bad teammate and makes countless selfish plays throughout the course of a game or puts his teammates down so much that they do not even like playing with him.

Either way, the most important squares are 17 through 30. Those are the squares that tell the real story – the ones that tell all the details you don’t see in squares 1 through 16.  

The Iverson factor

Many NBA pundits considered Allen Iverson to be the best little man in the game and one of the top players in the world for about 10 years. His 16 squares showed a guy that had lightening quickness and could blow by any defender that dared get in his way. He used an array of moves and his exceptional athletic ability to lead the NBA in scoring.  He was a perennial NBA All-Star.

Iverson’s 16 squares were as good as any you could find. But as you delved deeper into squares 17 through 30, you saw that maybe this player wasn’t who you thought he was. Here’s a player who has yet to find a coach he can get along with for any significant period of time. Bad shots and sub-par shooting percentages have become his trademark. Apart from one failed trip to the NBA Finals, Iverson’s teams have not been overly successful – a career winning percentage around .500.

In one of his most infamous press conferences, Iverson told the world his feelings on “practice,” i.e., he didn’t like it. Iverson’s 30 squares have recently been put on display, having been traded from Denver to Detroit for Chauncey Billups. Iverson’s former team, Denver, climbed to second place in the Western Conference and lost in the Conference Finals to the eventual NBA champs Los Angeles Lakers. His new team exited in the first round of the playoffs.

The Kobe factor

You want to see solid squares. Kobe Bryant is considered by many to be the best basketball player in the world. Think about his game. His 16 squares are easy to see: amazing talent, phenomenal scorer, great defender, world class athleticism, countless All Star appearances, MVP awards, scoring titles, NBA championships, etc.

It’s no accident he has accomplished all these difficult feats. If you delve into squares 17 through 30, you see that Kobe is regarded by almost everyone in the basketball world as the league’s hardest worker. Nobody pushes his body and mind to the limit more than he does.

During the off-season, he conducts his “666 workout.” That translates into six hours per day, six days per week, six months per year of running (two hours), basketball (two hours) and weights and cardio (two hours).

Remember, those hours don’t include the time he spends watching film and rehabbing his body to stay healthy. This commitment has made Kobe the best. The “666 workout” can only be seen if you know squares 17 though 30. His ferocity on the court shows up in those squares, making him one of the most feared players in the NBA. During a game, he forces his teammates to raise their levels as much as he raises his own.

And while his teammates might not always like Kobe, they respect him.

A basketball player’s 16 squares are the most obvious, but squares 17 through 30 are what define him.  OC

BIO: Ty Anderson is a senior at Georgia Tech University and a member of the men’s basketball team. Growing up in a basketball family, he is the grandson of legendary Hall of Fame Coach Charles “Lefty” Driesell. Referred to by many as a “coach on the floor,” Anderson is a student of the game. A four year varsity starter at Oconee County High School, he was a two-time All Northeast Georgia performer and was named to the state’s 2006 Top High School Seniors by Rivals.com. During his high school career, Anderson was selected to all-star teams at the Five-Star Basketball camp, Elite Hoops Georgia Showcase and Rivals.com Georgia Invitational Showcase, among others. He has been running the L.E.A.P. Basketball Academy since 2006, working with players from ages 8 to the NBA level. Anderson aspires to be a college basketball coach.

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