"We" is greater than "Me": Lessons from NBA Champions San Antonio Spurs

Now that the NBA draft was just completed and moving into the free agency circus, which highlights the individual more than the team, let us reflect back on the most recent champions, which highlights the team’s accomplishment: the San Antonio Spurs. Their MVP for the finals, Kawhi Leonard, is not even considered part of the known “Big Three” composed of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobli.

If you saw how they played in the last three games of the Finals; their ball movement, teamwork, and support to one another is what organizations should watch and learn from for these skills are transferable to the efficacy and effectiveness of the group. As the draft was just completed, the main focus is more on the individual instead of what the individual can do for the team. As for the free agency frenzy, the focus seems to be where superstars and role players should go, or ought to go, and how much money they can get, instead of identifying team success. There is no doubt that the greatness of an individual should be celebrated but it is really refreshing to see how the Spurs won the whole thing collectively with humility, class, and again; with wonderful teamwork.

Great Teamwork: San Antonio Spurs

To put things into perspective salary wise, the big three of Miami last NBA season (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh) was compensated a shy of 60 million dollars combined (http://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/MIA.html). The whole team of San Antonio spurs meanwhile was compensated for 63 million dollars (http://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/SAS.html)! Yes, it is important to pay for top talent but that in itself, as evidenced by the results, is not enough to be a winning championship organization. Another point of view that total teamwork trumped individual greatness. Or as Coach Phil Jackson would say; which is a Gestalt Perspective, “that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. And in his book Sacred Hoops, he has referred to this saying that the strength of the wolf is the strength of the pack and the strength of the pack is the strength of the wolf.

Given the team culture that the San Antonio Spurs live by, they do not care about individual accolades, about individual statistics, and to some extent, about how much each person earns. They do not care who scores the most points but they care about who will get the highest percentage shot available. They do not care who gets an assist but they do pass that ball masterfully. With this unselfishness, all their focus is to win the game and win the ultimate prize. They just focus on the game on how it should be played the right way, and not identifying who is right.

How does this relate to AAA Physical Therapy then? First, we will work closely with your other medical professionals as much as we can. We know this is a team effort to make you feel better, improve range of motion, and increase functionality while reducing pain as much as possible. Second, if you have your loved ones with you to undergo treatment, we will work closely with them as well. The bottom line is we will work with your team as much as we can because it takes a collective effort to make the therapeutic process successful.

AAA Physical Therapy is also a team on its own with specific functions and roles just like the Spurs. Our main goal to win a championship is based on our mission: to provide the best personalized physical therapy possible. And this mission is anchored on values of compassion, dedication, and excellence. To meet our team of physical therapists that try to emulate what the Spurs do, Day is our Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (OCS) and Certified Integrated Manual Therapist (CIMT). She also provides Trigger Point Dry Needling (TDN) services. Nina’s experience is mostly in Geriatric Rehabilitation and she is also completing her Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT). To know more about what these physical therapists’ (PTs) acronyms mean, please watch out for the next blog / newsletter! Or call us at 410.922.9955 / email us at info@aaaptmd.com / visit us www.aaaptmd.com and like and follow us in our social media network Facebook | Twitter | Google | Youtube | Blog | LinkedIn!