I watched a few speeches of players being inducted into the Basketball Hall Of Fame class of 2018. It was interesting how each player’s speech who I watched pretty much matched their public personas. Steve Nash’s had some funny moments of dry humor. Ray Allen’s was not flashy but efficient, in chronological order, and overall cleanly done.

Jason Kidd’s was harder to predict.

I didn’t know as much about Jason’s personality as the others from his playing career; he wasn’t as talkative with the media (that, or I didn’t pay as much attention). So I didn’t have a good idea of what his speech would be like as I queued it up.

It came and went quickly.

Usually when players give their speeches, they’ll have notes on the podium in front of them, and will refer to the notes as they talk about their careers, families, coaches, teammates, and the rest. The speaker will naturally look at certain people in the audience — wife, or high school coach, for example — as they’re mentioned. This is normal stuff that anyone would do when giving a retrospective on their life and career.

Jason Kidd had no notes. Soon after he began speaking, though, it was clear to me that Jason was reading from a TelePrompTer at the back of the auditorium; you can see his eyes staring straight ahead and up the whole time. I don’t think Jason practiced his speech, either — his timing is way off (often he didn’t pause long enough to allow people to clap before he resumed reading) and his whole speech, though with the same elements as any other, lasted 9 minutes, as opposed to the usual 15-25 minutes of others’.

Not a criticism of Jason Kidd — it’s his speech, after all, and he is going into the Hall Of Fame with it — just an observation about preparation.

For Your Game
No matter how many times you’ve done something, practice at least once for every new venue, new audience, or new material.