Don't Panic: The Less You Do, the More You Do.

As I interact with more and more people through the MyGuy process, I find more tidbits that might be helpful in sharing. One of the hardest thing for us MyGuy players to do is to sit tight on our players when they go through rough patches. Basketball is a game of runs. It means that teams will go through hot spurts throughout the game. (Like a team scoring nine points in a row or something.) Players go through hot and cold streaks too. In the actual game, coaches will make adjustments. For our purposes, we do similar adjustments. The problem is, sometimes we do too much, we panic, make a move, and the player we were just on catches fire. So we switch back, by that time it is too late and we miss out on points. Why is this?

Psychologically, we invest in these players. It is like the stock market. There are ebbs and flows, ups and downs. The trick is not to "BUY" high, and then the first moment it hits a low, you SELL. In stock market terms, if you buy when "Lebron" is hot at 1 dollar, you don't want to sell him when he is low at 25 cents, you stick with him until he gets hotter and sell him when he reaches $1.50. (Not my best analogy.) The point is, we need to stick through the downs sometimes because historical evidence tells us, Lebron will eventually get out of the slump. Look at the first quarter from Game 1 of Pacers/Heat.

Do you see that? 6 min into the game and he had THREE turnovers for a whopping -10. This is the SAME James that scored 150 by himself, each quarter (that was just last week). I'll be honest, at this point, I was like "whoa...." However, I did advise everyone that I was staying the course. I noted that George was looking good, in case everyone wanted to switch. Here are the side by side stats.

The highlighted part is what would have happened if you switched to George or Hibbert at that point. Let's say you switched from Lebron after the third turnover and gone to George. You would have had a FG (20), 3Pt (30), Assist (10), Assist (20 because of a streak) and a Turnover (-20). For a total of 50 (because you were at -10 on Lebron). If you went w/ Hibbert, you would have gotten two assists (10 each), a defensive rebound (10), a field goal (20) and his saving grace, the block (50) with ten seconds left. Hibbert did not streak and with the -10 from Lebron, a score of 90. Both scenarios give you 50 MyGuy points. Let's look at Lebron by himself again:

From that moment on, Lebron put up 150 by himself. If you stayed on like me, you would have scored 140. (I actually got my 150 because I got a free throw from another player in there, but that doesn't do anything for this study) Doubling your output. What happened? If you switched, you sold early on Lebron at his lowest point. Law of averages (and his talent) dictate that Lebron will bounce back. He did, got on a streak, which is not terribly uncommon for him, and gave us a very decent score. There are plenty more scenarios where you might have tried to switch back and that might have helped or you might have caught on the wave too late. The point is, without switching, you would have scored more as opposed to "try to ride the hot hand." You would have missed both George's and Hibbert's part to streak and got a lower return.

This is more than just points too. It's peace of mind. If you switched off James, from the fifth minute to the third minute, you would have been kicking yourself because you just cost yourself 120 points. It stresses you out and makes you second guess yourself. So this whole game you're playing this hot potato, trying to jump from one player to another. You get mad at yourself because if you had just stayed put, you would have scored more. Look, this is just for Viggle points, we shouldn't beat ourselves over missing some points that translate into a few measly pennies. But we do, fair or not, we do. But this is supposed to be fun, so let's try not to stress ourselves needlessly. Life will do that for us.

Now, this is not to say we should NEVER switch. Each situation is different. I take the time to analyze small details like is Lebron missing a lot of shots because the defense is that good (an indicator to switch) or because the ball just barely rims out (an indicator of bad luck and to stick with him). There are also only five players left where I feel completely comfortable riding the rough stretches for a little bit: Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook. Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Paul George and Lance Stephenson are close, but don't have my utmost confidence. Those five I trust because they have talent (some of the best players in the world), opportunity (best players on the team tend to get the ball more) and history (they've done it before) on their sides. I'm more willing to stick with four missed shots from Lebron James than I am from Roy Hibbert, who has been wildly inconsistent these playoffs. Which is why I try to tell people that I'm not panicking and to stick to their choice. I've had some of my twitter friends switch at the right time and have done just fine too. Also good, this is a game of choice, I'm only here to give out my educated personal opinion. This is a guessing game, and the reason I do as well as I do is because I have years of watching the NBA under my belt. If i was psychic I would have purchased Viggle by now.

My general rule of thumb with the five superstars is to wait it out. I don't have a definite time limit, but I try to give them at least six minutes of game time before I make any rash decisions. The biggest factor is being able to watch the game and see if an adjustment needs to be made sooner than later. I know it's stressful, I know it's hard to hang tight on a player that isn't doing quite well. Just remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint. Sometimes, the less you do, the more you do:

(If you don't love this movie....you hate happiness in general).

I have gone through most of this MyGuy sticking to my guns, but if Kevin Durant is my pick, and he's not doing well, I'll switch to Duncan. I'm not switching off James to go to Hibbert though, in my mind, those guys are not on the same level. It's not easy, but don't panic. These guys generally come to play. I know as MyGuy players we come to play. So happy coaching and here's to getting extra Viggle points!

Couple of "tips"to not switching.

• Put the device away.... it's frustrating to see the plays sometimes. So just stop seeing it. Take a ten minute break or until the end of the quarter. Out of sight, out of mind.
• Remember, each MyGuy we play we get +50 JUST FOR PLAYING....so we're getting extra points. If we have a bad quarter, oh well. Move onto the next. No need to stress.
• Sometimes, change is a good thing. If at the end of the first quarter, someone else is thoroughly playing better, it may be time for an adjustment. Teams make adjustments every timeout, we can make similar adjustments. 
• If you're stressed out. Click here. (hehe, two points)

MyGuy is fun. So let's go out there and have some fun. This is a small sample size. I just had too much data to go through, but generally this is how most basketball games go. The best players go through hot and cold streaks and there isn't an exact science to figure out when one ends and one begins. I have to preach patience to myself in these games too haha. So it's not perfect, but it's a good way to go to help alleviate some of our stress. I do make switches to Free Throw shooters if I'm watching the game live.