REALITY AND OTHERWISE
Former NBA center and coach Johnny Kerr said his biggest test as a coach came when he coached the expansion Chicago Bulls and his biggest player was 6-8 Erwin Mueller: “We had lost seven in a row, and I decided to give a psychological pep talk before a game with the Celtics,” Kerr said. “I told Bob Boozer to go out and pretend he was the best scorer in basketball. I told Jerry Sloan to pretend he was the best defensive guard. I told Guy Rodgers to pretend he could run an offense better than any other guard, and I told Mueller to pretend he was the best rebounding, shot-blocking, scoring center in the game. We lost the game by 17. I was pacing around the locker room afterward trying to figure out what to say when Mueller walked up, put his arm around me and said, ‘Don’t worry about it, coach. Just pretend we won.'” From a story in the…
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