Magic, flow, human potential

Magic Johnson has the highest career average for assists in the history of the NBA: 11.2 per game.

Ironically, Magic was able to elevate what is probably the most selfless act of the sport – assisting a teammate – into something innovative and attention-getting.

This paradox resonates heavily with this passage from Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience:

A self that is only differentiated – not integrated – may attain great individual accomplishments, but risks being mired in self-centered egotism. By the same token, a person whose self is based exclusively on integration will be well connected and secure, but lack autonomous individuality. Only when a person invests equal amounts of psychic energy in these two processes and avoids both selfishness and conformity is the self likely to reflect complexity.

-Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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This Csikszentmihalyi quote has helped put some meat on why I think Kobe may never reach his full potential….

While Magic understands and cultivates a culture of selflessness on the court, Kobe doesn’t seem to be able to elevate his game by elevating the game of others…

This is why I’m not sure Kobe will ever be as good a player as Jordan.

Jordan gets what Kobe doesn’t:

To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don’t isolate.

-Michael Jordan

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