The impossible has happened! The Toronto Raptors have finally made it the NBA Finals, after several years of false starts and disappointment.
This basketball team is no overnight success. As a writer, a lot of lessons can be gleaned from the glorious ascension of the Raptors:
They took a leap of faith
In 2018, Masai Ujiri, the president of the Toronto Raptors, made the difficult decision to make a few key changes to the team’s starting line-up.
Ujiri had traded DeMar DeRozen, arguably the franchise’s most loyal and popular team member, to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for the maligned Kawhi Leonard; an all-star in his own right but with some added baggage.
While the move was praised by many sports analysts as a necessary action to make the Raptors competitive in the post-season, many fans were put out at the time with what seemed like a betrayal and brand suicide.
Well, hindsight is 20-20 and Ujiri ended up coming out smelling of roses.
As writers, we need to stay firm with our convictions. Other people may not get what we’re trying to achieve, but we should keep faith and “trust the process”.
Don’t be married to the outcome
When Leonard was acquired from the Spurs, there was a lingering sense of trepidation that his time would be short-lived with the Raptors.
It’s common knowledge that Leonard wanted to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, and with his limited one-year contract, it was only a matter of time before he left the Raptors to head west as a free agent.
Rather than get caught up on the fear of losing Leonard after only one season, Toronto leaned in on their investment. They built the team around Leonard, making him feel at home, and trying their darndest to convince him that Canada is not all that bad in the winter months.
Writing is an unpredictable craft. We can have an idea in our mind that might turn out drastically different once committed to paper.
The important thing is to not get frustrated when Idea A does not look exactly like Final Product B.
Instead of getting bogged down on having elements of your story look a certain way, learn to enjoy the journey; embrace new ideas or story threads that may occur, as they may take your writing in exciting directions you may never have thought possible.
Don’t give up when things look bad
In the semi-finals, the Raptors were handily bested in the first two rounds against their competitor, the Milwaukee Bucks.
With only 4 games needed to claim victory in the conference, the odds were stacked against the Raptors, a team that was so used to succumbing to the pressure of the playoffs.
However, thanks to a willingness to change things up and quick tactical decision-making by first-time coach Nick Nurse, the team was not only able to tie the series up, they also stole a crucial home game from the Bucks and won 4 straight games to claim the series.
When writing, it is inevitable that we shall hit some low points in our writing. Plot holes will emerge that will prove difficult to conquer, feedback may sting and prevent us from soldiering forward, and our own lack of self-worth or feelings of inferiority will make us question why we had begun the foolhardy process of writing a book in the first place.
When these thoughts creep in, rather than lay down and accept defeat as inevitable, it’s the pivotal time to step up and prove the naysayers wrong.
Even if the road looks long, bumpy, and unforgiving, it is this crucial period of discomfort that will propel an amateur writer into a professional writer. An okay writer into an amazing writer.
What do you think? How important is perserverence to a writer’s growth? What other valuable lessons can writers learn from basketball? And are you excited to see history be made as a Canadian team plays the NBA Finals for the first time in history?
