There are few who have had as storied a career in professional basketball as Derek Fisher, with the 18-year NBA veteran having been involved with some of the most important moments in league history.
Across his extensive career as both a player and a coach, he has remained involved in the highest level of the sport, including winning five championships as a member of the Lakers.
Recently on the Just Bricks podcast, Fisher opened up about what he has learned as a coach in the world's toughest leagues, and how they have changed and grown during his career.
MORE: Josh Giddey shines as OKC Thunder wins first round NBA playoff series | Kirk Penney to be inducted into FIBA Hall of Fame
Derek Fisher on the growth of international basketball
Basketball as a sport is more international than it has ever been, with players from all over the world dominating in the NBA and WNBA, as well as FIBA tournaments.
According to Derek Fisher, this international growth has been nothing but a positive, and indicates less a regression from American basketball, but rather a surge from other countries.
"I also believe the growth of basketball around the world is the most significant contributor to why there are more top players in the NBA that are finding success," Fisher told Just Bricks.
"You think about the NBA in terms of basketball, it was an American sport for the most part until the Dream Team in 1992 in Barcelona, and that kind of changed the way the world consumed basketball.
"Literally for the last 30 years, the world has been on a chase to be just as good as [America], and I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all.
"So while we would say today, the top five players in the league to some degree are internationally born players, I don't think that means basketball in the United States is forever doomed and it has regressed.
"I just think we have to give more credit to the growth around the world and view it as a positive thing as opposed to a right or wrong thing."
The importance of relationship-building as a coach
After retiring as a player, Fisher spent the next eight years trying his hand as a coach, leading first the New York Knicks, and then the Los Angeles Sparks.
While he saw mixed success during his tenures, Fisher said that the toughest lesson he learned was around the human side of coaching, rather than the stylistic approach to games.
"I think in hindsight, it is a difficult transition to make and there are still things, you know, even now a decade later, that I'm still learning intentionally," Fisher said.
"I've always approached coaching from that perspective of, you know, I don't have all the answers and have never pretended to have all the answers.
"I think the relationships that you can directly build with your players is probably the most important aspect of coaching.
"The X's and O's, the strategy, the tactical parts, you know, that's a collaborative effort that you should be kind of going through with your coaching staff and, and other coaching support and resources that you can get that almost anywhere.
"But if you are one of the rare coaches that have that gift and that ability to really build genuine relationships with your players in hindsight, that's the thing that I feel like took me the longest to connect to, going from being a player and being in the locker room to being a coach.
"I've struggled for years understanding how do you break that barrier, and ultimately, it's just basically two people getting to know each other, and as a coach, you have to want to get to know your players at a really high level, and that's something that I'm continuing to work on every single day."
