During our three-year partnership in Albany, what most impressed me about Phil's approach to the game was his ability to make coaching adjustments. After we'd gotten whipped by twenty points by a particular team, I would despair of ever beating that ball club. However, even back then Phil was able to identify and isolate an opponent's weak points, and by changing the angle of a certain pick, or perhaps forcing a certain player to his right instead of his left, he'd enable the Patroons to turn the score around in the rematch. And he gave me a lifetime's worth of insights into the strategies and philosophies of the sacred hoop. Ballplayers always know when their coach is lying to them, and vice versa.
Referees are a necessary evil.
Ball games are won or lost in practice sessions. A player's character is more important than his talent. There's no substitute for experience, and most players aren't really capable of understanding the game until they're twenty-six or so. More important than how many points a player scores is when he scores them. Coaching basketball can be dangerous to one's mental, physical, and psychological health.