Big Men, Free Throws, and Bureaucrats

It's a law of nature--big men don't make free throws. Think Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal, and many others. But the NY Times has an article on the Mavericks' free throw coach.
He's the only such coach in the league. He coached Shawn Bradley, who achieved a 90% accuracy figure (though it turns out to have been only one year).

It's amazing that, given the highly competitive environment, no other team has followed suit. Indeed, the article claims that videotaping free throws is highly unusual. (Compare this to a recent article on Phil Mahre, holder of the American record for ski victories, who's making a limited comeback in his 40's. The article observed that now skiers have their runs videotaped and slow-mo analyzed for imperfections in their style, etc.) This seems to be a failure of the competitive free market. Economists, please study.

But the most interesting bit was this:

"Even when the player wants to learn, Boren must conquer another barrier.

He tells them: “When I look at you, I see two things — a brain and a bunch of muscles — and the good news is the brain is really clicking. But the bad news is your muscles have been taking a siesta. They like it the old way and they’re not paying attention to any of this stuff. So when we get down there, they’re going to resist.”

That's a good metaphor for bureaucratic reorganizations and mergers of organization--the brain may say one thing but the muscles do another. It's an especially attractive metaphor because I've found it true. For example, when I drive a usual routine I get locked into a routine so muscles take over. Which is fine, except on those occasions where I need to vary the routine, like deviate from the route to stop at a store.