You'll see this a lot from players, both current and retired. "I feel as if I'm the best at [whatever skill they prize the highest]." Then when they hear this sort of braggadocio coming out of their mouths, they immediately switch to, "Well, this is the sort of attitude you have to have if you want to be successful at this level."
They're not wrong. There's something inherent in most successful pro players that has them consistently thinking, no matter the mitigating factors, that that next shot is going in the net. Or that the next attempt shot in their face will be summarily sent into the 10th row.
It's not the smartest attitude to boast, but it helps make up for the other 90 percent of the time, avoid the willies, insure self-confidence when things aren't going well, and steel themselves for when it's a wide-open shot they should make. I remember reading Reggie Miller tell a journalist that he gets ticked off at himself when he doesn't make an absurd amount of his wide-open looks, something like 75 to 80 percent, even if they're from 25 feet away. Why wouldn't he far eclipse his usual averages, he thought? He's wide open!
The latest to come clean with this line of thinking is former Dallas, Milwaukee, but mostly Seattle sharpshooter Dale Ellis, who had this to say to the Boston Globe over the weekend:
"I'm the best shooter of all time,'' he said. "I know that from the jump. I set the standard. I gave them something to shoot for. I was the first player in the history of the game to get 1,000 3-pointers. To be able to play on that level, you have to have that attitude about yourself. You can say it's arrogant or cocky or whatever, but that's OK. There's no way you can compete without it. There's no way you can excel without that confidence level.''
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