Performing as a Team

A blog post exploring the impact of team dynamics, home advantage and cohesion influence a winning team, relating to Netflix's "Court of Gold" documentary following four Men's Basketball teams through the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

What?

Team Dynamics in sports refers to the psychological and social processes that influence how athletes interact, communicate and perform together as a unit. This encompasses factors such as leadership, trust, communication, cohesion amongst others that will be explored during this blog post. Typically, strong team dynamics allow for a more effective level of collaboration, resilience as well as shared motivations which can lead to better performances on the court / pitch and limits the potential negative impacts that could disadvantage them. Typically team dynamics and cohesion can be split into two categories depending on the environment: Task and Social - Task cohesion refers to how effectively the team can work together to attain their goal whether that be win their match or similar. This does not account for social cohesion which is how well the team gets on, how harmoniously the athletes can interact. Both of these hold different benefits for teams to be performing at an optimal level however this is not always the case, many famous teams famously did not prove socially cohesive but were successful such as The 90's Chicago Bulls - Led by Michael Jordan, many such reports suggested that this team did not get on however deemed incredibly successful winning 6 NBA Championships creating one of the greatest sporting dynasties in history.

This blog will look to psychologically profile the Men's Basketball teams from the 2024 Paris Olympics Games, what factors may be influencing the team dynamics and what psychological theories may have been present during the competition.

Who?

USA

When you think of Basketball powerhouses you synonymously think of the American National Team, since it's Olympic introduction, the USAMB (USA Men's Basketball) team has won the tournament 17 of the 20 times, therefore this accompanied with the elite basketball league being hosted out of the States creates a sense of inevitability that the US team should convincingly win the tournament making the expectations on the group exponential. Differently to other competitions, the USAMB team did fail to medal at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup losing to Germany in the semi-final and losing to Canada in the third-place game, a tournament they entered with similar levels of expectations however, the top tier of US talent declined the invite for to participate in the tournament.

Interestingly this created an uncommon narrative for the squad heading into the Paris games in that they needed to "avenge" the World Cup defeat, this lead to a rallying campaign from the premier talent in the NBA with basketball phenoms LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant announcing their intentions to play in the team along with a host of the finest talent the NBA has produced. This creates an embarrassment of riches for the recruitment for the event with the team's least-noteworthy players still being multiple time NBA All-Stars in the top 1% of the league. This then creates a challenge for the coaches and that players themselves as they go from being the outright best player on their team to being a role-player in a star-studded US system. The team dynamics surrounding this will be incredibly unique for the 12 man roster for this team, can they create a synergy to be able to perform as an effective team? Could they live up to the great expectations for themselves and the pressure that comes along with this?

Canada

It seems only right that the next team that was featured in the documentary was Canada Basketball. Typically the USA's "little brother", Canada has recently experienced a surge of talent, elevating their national roster to an unprecedented level with All-NBA talent such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray and RJ Barrett propelling the optimism surrounding the squad's chances of medalling at the 2024 Games, a result that they have not reached since 1936 with the squad failing to qualify for the Olympics since 2000 optimism was growing. This combined with a mixture of NBA veterans who would play effective roles within the group created one of the favourites for the tournament. In the previous summer, the squad consisting largely of the same roster of players had won the Bronze medal at the 2023 FIBA World Cup defeating the aforementioned USAMB squad in the Bronze Medal game.

With the Canadian team's trajectory clearly on the rise, this established the first genuine expectations for the squad in recent years. The team was placed in the tournament's "group of death," which included three other medal contenders: Greece, Australia, and Spain, indicating that the challenges for this squad would be constant throughout the tournament. Could the "little brother" now with a smattering of some of the best basketball talent make their first real noise at the games? How would the squad cope with their new-found expectations?

Serbia

Whilst probably going under the radar to the majority of casual basketball fans, the Serbia men's national basketball or "The Eagles" has been quietly performing at a strong level in international tournaments for the past couple of decades. With Olympic silver in 2016 as well as World Cup silver in 2014 & 2023 and heading into the Paris games as FIBA World number 4 Ranking the Serbs would prove to be no pushover. The documentary focuses on the veteran leadership that is held within the squad, with the majority of the roster being long-serving members. The squad consisted of largely talents playing their association basketball in Europe with only 4 players of the 12 man roster playing in the NBA. One of the these however was 3x NBA Most Valuable Player and 2023 NBA Champion Nikola Jokić, arguably the best player in the world heading into the Olympic Games. Serbia seemed to exemplify "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" as they had crafty NBA talent leadership and an ultimate understanding of the role that the other members of the squad would follow.

The narrative throughout for this squad is that they were the "steady head" a lack of expectation due to the

stable nature of the squad having clear roles and leadership scales from which the matches would be performed, this synergy would be a guiding light for the squad as well as the top-end talent they boast in the form of "The Joker". Could this squad prove to be the ultimate "team"? Can a clear hierarchy of talent simplify the roles within the teem allowing them all to excel?

France

Claiming a silver medal at the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, the France National Basketball Team, now competing on home soil, will have the full support of their nation as they enter the tournament. Les Bleus had medalled in all except one of their last four basketball tournaments (Olympics & FIBA World Cup) and would be looking to do one better and with the gold in the Olympics for the first time in the nation's history. Similarly to the Serbian squad the roster did not boast the same number of NBA players as that of the American and Canadian counterparts but however did have a large amount of continuity through the roster with a large number of players being ever-present during their most recent international campaigns. Veteran leaders such as Evan Fournier and team-captain Nicolas Batum provide a stable level of professionalism in likely their final Olympic Games and are now accompanied by generational talent Victor Wembanyama, heading into the summer Wembanyama had won the NBA's Rooke of the Year in convincing fashion with many placing his performance ceiling up there with NBA hall of famers due to his unique combination of skill set and frightening physical profile.

Typically during a home Olympic Games, the host nation can expect to win around 3x as many medals compared with their tally three Olympics before, giving this French basketball roster a real chance at challenging for medals. The reasons for this are difficult to quantify at times however, the factors of playing on home turf, having more familiar and accustomed playing conditions will definitely reduce the chances of any negative implications as well as the roaring crowd that will be found in the arena when the home nation compete increasing support and pressure alike. The French team however were ranked at World #9 heading into the games making them an unlikely candidate to be vying for the Gold medal. Can the home-town heroes defy tough opposition to come out with a medal? Will the pressure of being the home nation prove too much for Les Bleus?

Home Advantage

When discussing the Olympics and especially in this case with the France Olympic Team being the home nation, home advantage and the effect that comes from this cannot be underestimated despite its lack of tangible quantification. It is commonly regarded across all team sports that the home team consistently wins over 50% of sporting contests meaning they win significantly more than they lose when ties and other scoring systems are in play. In a basketball specific setting, previous research has highlighted that home teams tend to have higher numbers of defensive and offensive rebounds as well as shooting better percentages in field goals and free throws compared with visiting teams.

In terms of how this may present itself for the athletes, the most obvious factor would be the noise and vocal support for the players. When they are performing key moments such as free throws the crowd will look to distract and disturb the opposition shooter as this is such an independent task rarely found as part of a team sport such as basketball. Likewise, as previously mentioned during the documentary you see the training facilities and living arrangements that are available for the French national team compared to the others. All of their home games are played in the same area during the group phase which is closest to their Olympic base meaning less travel is necessary. We see that the team has bespoke training facilities which they have access to during all international squad training meaning that no facilities are different and there is no need for a period of acclimatisation as they are already comfortable in their routines. Psychologically, this can create a safer space for the athlete and avoid any possible disruptions that may be caused to them. Likewise, the French team would have the easiest support to their family and support networks compared to other teams which may be thousands of miles from their family. This impact on relaxation cannot be underestimated as the frantic nature of an Olympic tournament can easily cause burnout for professional basketball players who may have had two weeks since the end of their 80+ game season.

These factors are not limited to purely the basketball event within the Olympics as previously mentioned home nations at the Olympics can expect to win 3x their usual amount of medals due to the factors presented above as well as many others that may be more intangible. Put yourself in their shoes, if you were in a gold-medal match for your sporting event, would you want 20,000 people shouting for you or against you, how could this affect you, other psychological factors such as anxiety or arousal may skyrocket.

How can teams fail?

Analysing team dynamics and cohesion in elite sports can be challenging at first glance, especially when trying to identify the positive and negative impacts on performance. As noted earlier, positive cohesion is evident when a team performs well, with high task cohesion, and when positive relationships exist, indicating high social cohesion. This section of the blog will concentrate on the potential negative issues that may arise from poor team dynamics.

A key psychological theory for this is "Steiner's Model of Group Productivity" which suggests that actual productivity (how well a team performs) is the sum of potential productivity (how well a team could perform at their peak with no issues) minus faulty processes (to be explained). This suggests that whatever issues may present themselves inhibit the optimal performance level of a team and the results are the actual performance.

This model therefore presents faulty processes as the negative aspect of team dynamics, but what does this look like? The two main categories for faulty processes fall as either co-ordination losses or motivation losses. Co-ordination losses typically involve ineffective teamwork & strategies which are more than likely tactical or technical issues within the team, these are typically an issue with teams that are less experienced performing together such as the USA and Canadian basketball teams limiting the potential productivity. Oppositely, the French and Serbian rosters possess much more continuity so the likelihood of co-ordination losses are reduced due to the familiarity they have with one another within the key players. Likewise, the familiarity for the French outfit should minimise the potential co-ordination losses due to their understanding and practice within familiar environments. Motivational losses refers more to players not giving 100% effort and instead relying on teammates to perform. A prime concern for this faulty process would be the potential disruption caused amongst the US national team, with a roster full of incredible players, would those given a smaller role pout and not perform to their optimal proving that the individual is not bigger than the team. Similarly, due to their superior reputation of player Canada and the US team may suffer with overconfidence and an expectation that they will easily knock off smaller teams which may lead to social loafing (giving less that 100% effort), giving the opportunity for a more motivated team performing at a higher percentage of their actual productivity than a complacent side. Optimally, teams would be performing at 100% of their potential productivity which would mean that matches are won purely on talent, however it must be the focus to minimise faulty processes and the impact that these have on productivity.

Cohesion and Creating a Performing Team

As previously mentioned task and social cohesion play a huge role in how successful a team is in regards to their performance as well as how well the team socialise. These can be improved in a number of ways that are subjective for the members of the team - some ideas to improve these are as follows:

Improving Task Cohesion (Performing better towards a common goal):

Setting clear, collective goals - all members understand and commit to common objectives
Define roles and responsibilities - clarifying expectations to minimize and motivational losses
Encourage collective problem-solving - enhancing buy-in, commitment and shared thinking skills
Shared Reflections - conducting regular team debriefs to analyse and reinforce learnings

Improving Social Cohesion (Building stronger personal bonds):

Organising off-court/field activities - team meals, social bonding exercises can be beneficial
Create traditions / rituals - establish team rituals to create social norms e.g fist bumps
Encourage Peer Support - developing a positive, developmental environment
Celebrate individual and team milestones - recognise achievements (e.g England celebrating international caps)

Paris 2024 Outcomes

Canada

In their first Olympic tournament in 24 years, Canada started off strongly going unbeaten in the "group of death" besting Australia, Spain and Greece with relative ease. Unfortunately for them, the Canadian team rolled into the home-town France who defeated the Canadians 82-73 in the first knockout stage / quarter-finals. This was seen as a slight disappointment for one of the medal favourites going into the tournament however, the newfound talent showed up with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander making the tournament's All-Second Team proving that the team is continuing with their upward trajectory. Expect Team Canada to be medal favourites moving forward.

Serbia

The Eagles left the Paris games happy claiming the Bronze medal position with their only defeats coming against Team USA in the group stage and narrowly losing 95-91 against the States again in the Semi-finals. The team then defeated reigning FIBA World Cup Winners Germany to claim the Bronze Medal an accomplishment for a together Serbian outfit. As expected talisman Nikola Jokić was selected to the tournaments All-First Team. Throughout the games the Serbian side showed their grit and tenacity proving a tough challenge for all oppositions which can expect to be continued.

France

Les Bleus took full advantage and took the pressures of being the host nation in their stride claiming the Silver medal at the hands of an Olympic powerhouse. A roaring crowd willed on an underdog French outfit to claim some major scalps on their way to the final beating Canada and a vengeful besting of Germany, highlighting their combined synergy amongst the team and the local crowd. With 20-year-old Victor Wembanyama earning honours in the tournament All-First team, expect this young star and his French colleagues to be challenging for medals for the ongoing future.

USA

The stars and stripes continue their dominance on the Olympic games and use their "vengeful" narrative to seamlessly mould into a terrifying basketball outfit defeating France in the Gold medal game and going unbeaten throughout the tournament. The team re-established their stars in Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James all having MVP-moments during the games whilst empowering other players to be "super role-players" and assist their country to victory. This diminished any possible faulty processes that could have inhibited the teams chances with players sacrificing for each other and playing for the collective rather than themselves. The highlight of the tournament would be Steph Curry's explosion to 24 points in the Gold medal game highlighting the team's selflessness to not need to play for the individual but playing for what is best for the squad. LeBron and Steph made the tournament's All-First team, making them the only two players from the same nation among the team.

Effective Teams are Winning Teams

Team USA showed their ability to mould into a team and remove the individual from the team to perform optimally despite potential complications. Whilst France and Serbia showed how sometimes a team can be greater than the sum of its parts, it's worth remembering that teams work in different ways however finding the optimal performing systems and characteristics is best for maximising the actual performance of a team. This blog based on the Netflix documentary "Court of Gold" profiles the four nations involved and their characteristics and looks at team dynamics.

If you found this post intriguing and wish to explore further, don't hesitate to leave a comment or reach out via social media or the website's contact section. If you think your team could benefit from working with a Sport Psychologist why not get in touch and we can discuss how psychology could be used to benefit your team.

@MESportPsychology