Luboš Bartoň

John Lucas stopped practice and began to shout at me.

"Get the fuck out of here," he said. “Go back to college or wherever you came from. I want a shooter who can shoot."

John was one of the best NBA players of the 1980s and later became coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2002. I attended a summer camp there. I did well. I had good practices, but once I made a mistake and didn’t shoot when I was supposed to. It was not the right choice, and it was something that he instantly made me aware of, with emphasis.

I didn't move, my pride didn't allow me to leave. Not because of one missed shot. Since then, I have always remembered one crucial thing.  I can't lose focus and let a chance slip by. As a coach, I use this principle a lot, and if one of my players misses a chance, I yell at him, too. He can shoot an air ball, I don’t care. He will need to train more, but it’s more important that he rid his mind of any doubt. When he gets the ball, he has to be willing to shoot.

I only played six months under the guidance of Světislav Pěšic, but it felt more like two years. Pěšic was one of the most distinctive coaching characters of our era. He had a tough way of dealing with people, but he was never rude to me because of my character. Otherwise, this type of behavior was normal for him.

Then there was coach Aita García from Badalona (Spain). He was the complete opposite. He was a professor who made a big impression on me, both in basketball and in life. We had frequent conversations, discussing everything imaginable. He knows a lot about the world and he was able to connect many seemingly unrelated topics and explain them to me. He would take inspiration from various directions and put them together. As a player, a man, and now a coach who must be able to look at things from different angles, he has helped me tremendously.

That's what I've always prided myself on: My ability to collect as much information as possible. I’ve got a talent for listening. All I need is an ordinary conversation and I can learn something new from the person with whom I’m speaking.

I may not always agree with everything they say, but if I form an opinion on a certain subject, I need to work out my reason for feeling this way. I need to know why I believe it to be true. Then I compare and search for other ideas that might also make sense. At the end of the day, most of us stay within our comfort zones. I think we’re capable of evolving to some degree as people, but we can never completely change who we are. You can’t change your character or your personality, but it’s important to know what you should be working on and how to do it. You need that desire in order to be able to make a change.

Then it's all about work. Hard work.

I recently spoke at a business conference on self-discipline and restraint. I spoke about how these principles have helped me to be successful in sports and how they are reflected in my everyday life.

I've always been told how professional I am, but that's not the most important thing for me. I believe being a professional means doing the things you don’t necessarily want to do. Being disciplined plays an important role in being professional. I believe in living a life where I voluntarily do the things I need to do without anyone forcing my hand or punishing me if I don’t. Everything has to come from within.

As a basketball player, I had my goals and dreams and I did everything to achieve them since I was a teenager. This is why I don’t understand the basketball players today who have immense opportunities waiting before them, yet they lack this approach. No matter how hard I try, I can’t understand them; their mindset is completely different from mine. I don't want to compare everyone to myself. I don't think everyone has to be like me, but there is only one truth: You have to give up everything you have if you want to make it to the top. Talent is far from enough.

I was super talented, but it only took me to a certain level. The rest I had to make up for with hard work, pain and dedication to the sport. 

There were times when even that wasn’t enough.