The approach to winning is different for everyone. For Kobe, it was taking control of the game and making his impact known. For today’s guest, it was about selfless, often overlooked contributions that made everyone around him better. While his individual stat lines didn’t always turn heads, something special happened with every team that he was on. They started winning more and more. This eventually culminated in 10 playoff appearances and 2 NBA Championships over a 13 season NBA career.
At every level, Shane Battier was able to make his teams better. He was a 3 time state champion in Highschool, won an NCAA Championship and National College player of the year honors while at Duke, and eventually made 3 finals appearances coming away with 2 championships with the Miami Heat. In this interview, we learn how Shane’s unique basketball philosophy was shaped, what separated the great teams he was on from the mediocre, and what he learned from playing with and against all time greats like LeBron and Kobe.
This is a deep look into sports performance, the athlete mindset, and sports psychology at the highest level.
Timestamps
- 0:00 Intro
- 1:12 Love of Basketball
- 3:05 Internal Challenge
- 4:20 Role of Practice?
- 7:30 Basketball Focus
- 9:40 On Team Sports
- 14:10 Who Came Before Shane?
- 21:30 Living in Shadows
- 24:00 Coach K Motivators
- 26:45 Career Evolution
- 29:50 Individual vs Team Wins
- 32:00 The Details
- 33:30 Zone States
- 39:40 Let the Plan Fail You
- 40:00 What is Greatness?
- 42:55 What Got Shane Closest?
- 46:25 Curiosity
- 50:30 Biggest Insight from Outside of Basketball
- 54:00 Competitive Advantage
- 57:00 On Goals
- 59:00 Why GOATs are Different
- 1:01:00 Unwilling to Sacrifice
- 1:04:00 After Basketball
- 1:05:00 Trust and Mission Focus
- 1:11:30 The Battier Effect
- 1:14:00 After Basketball
Links and resources
- Shane’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShaneBattier
- Battier Take Charge Foundation: https://www.battiertakecharge.org/