Swen Nater

While reading Coach Wooden and Me (affiliate link), by Kareem Abdul Jabbar, I ran across the story of Swen Nater, who was a first round NBA/ABA draft pick even though he never started, and only play 2 minutes on average per game while at UCLA. Deliberate Practice.

Swen was not a “natural”

Apparently, Swen tried out for the high school team, but didn’t make the cut. Ouch – not a promising start.  Met a great coach in community college. Worked out, hustled, got better. So far, so good.

Worked hard, scholarship to UCLA

Playing on John Wooden’s legend-in-the-making UCLA Bruins was a blessing with a pretty big caveat: 

“You won’t play much” – Coach Wooden 

This is an odd recruiting pitch, right? Who wants to practice, practice, practice, then sit on the bench during games? That sounds like a crap deal. Not an encouraging.

Swen would be #2. Bill Walton (one of the best centers in history) was getting recruited at the same time. John Wooden, a paragon of integrity, told Swen that he would not get a chance to play very much. In fact, he would spend most of the season on the bench (because Bill Walton would start).

“I wanted young men who wanted to play for UCLA, and not one that I had to talk into playing for UCLA. I always believed the way to build a great team is to find the kind of people you want to work with and tell them the truth.” – John Wooden

Train with the best. However, Wooden did give him this upside:

“But you will have the opportunity to play against the best center in the nation in practice everyday. And I believe this is going to give you a better chance of becoming a professional basketball player than if you went to another school.”  – John Wooden

short-term = deliberate practice

Swen joined UCLA and faced-off with Bill Walton every day.  I can only imagine it was hard – playing against the one of the best every day. Working, sweating, learning, failing, growing. 

Then, after all that work in practice, you don’t plan much in the official game. Sitting on the bench A LOT. Playing an average of 2 minutes per official game, bummer.

Long-term = great results

So what was the results of all that deliberate practice? Awesome results. Swen went on to play professional basketball for 12 seasons, even leading the league for rebounds one year. Only player to get picked 1st round in the NBA draft who never started in a NCAA game. As Steve Martin might remark, “so good they could not ignore him.” When someone asked Bill Walton who the best center he played against – Bill pointed out Swen Nater. 

Train with the best

• This story reminds of me of Sheryl Sandberg joining Google, after Eric Schmidt told her to “get on the rocket ship” here. Surround yourself with greatness
• This story reminds me of Anders Ericsson and his belief that you can be in the top 10% of world experts in most any field with deliberate practice here
• This story reminds me to focus on the short-term and long-term here. Swen focused on his craft, on doing the hard work to get better, for the long-term goal of playing in the NBA. Well-done.

So What?

• Surround yourself with people who inspire, teach, train with you
• Find a coach / mentor / partner who gives you good, difficult advice and feedback
• Be humble. Do the work. Don’t talk about what you “deserve”; earn it