Lvjeff, first off, my initial (knee jerk) reaction to the video of the boot camp was negative. I am not a fan of the military drill instructor persona and it just seemed gimmicky.
But (by way segue), I can't rule out there could be some value in this kind of team building exercise. As I said before, whether it is a ropes course or some other kind of outward bound activity, lots of teams do these kinds of activities. I would assume they are seeing some value in them.
Per the Red Auerbach quote, in today's game, players spend a lot of time on activities that are playing basketball but are believed to improve the abilities to play the game. Speed and conditioning work to help reduce risk of injuries and make players stronger and faster are a major component of all programs. That is a lot of time spent not playing b-ball per se.
One thing that struck me from the vid is when the drill Sargent type ask Mercedes, the team leader, how long she was going to let Graves keep making this one mistake in exercise they were doing. So, that is learning to look out for each other and speaking up (and who knows what the barrier might have been). But how many times last year, was a lack of communication responsible for blown defensive plays and missed scoring opportunities? If I recall correctly, poor communication was a persistent problem. If this program breaks down whatever barriers that existed last year, that would be a plus.
Or look at this way, I would assume that the team spent a lot of time playing b-ball last year and they had some glaring deficiencies; so maybe mixing it up a bit might push some buttons that needed to be pushed.
