The subject, working hard all the time, is as obvious as an Arctic blast. But for years it bewildered Damon Bailey, bedeviled him, condemned him to incandescent performances one evening, disappearing acts the next.
It did not matter that he recognized his failing and the inconsistency of his efforts, nor was he healed by the eclectic ministrations of Bob Knight. Bailey’s coach regaled him, challenged him, benched him, tutored him, stroked him in hopes of producing consistency. Yet through his first three seasons at Indiana, Bailey never mastered that demanding art.
Finally, before the start of this season, Knight called Bailey into his office. “I’m done (messing) with you,” Knight told him. “You’re either going to play, or you’re not going to play. It’s your decision.”
“That’s exactly right,” says Knight. “And I think it’s all to his credit that he went from there. He picked up at that point, and I haven’t had to do anything after that. But it’s taken a long time.”
“I took him seriously,” says Bailey. “I think that Coach has worked extremely hard to get me to be a good player. I felt, coming into this year, this is my last year, this is it. I had the mindset, `Hey. I’m gonna play hard, and whatever happens, happens.’
“I just decided to go out, put all the bull behind me and have fun.”
It is rarely safe to tie a team’s fortunes to a single player, and surely not safe when it is a team as intricately constructed as Indiana. But Damon Bailey is unquestionably the Hoosiers’ leader, their steadiest hand, their headiest choreographer, their leading scorer (an average of 23.5 points per game).
After three seasons filled with inconsistency, he is now as consistent as a metronome and at last working always with the vigor Knight has long sought from him. His points, rebounds, steals and minutes are up significantly from a year ago, and he is finally filling the role so many consigned to him nearly a decade ago.
He was just a 14-year old 8th-grader in 1986, yet he was transformed on a winter evening Knight dropped by to see him play. “Damon Bailey is better than any guard we have right now. I don’t mean potentially better. I mean better today,” Knight later said, and from that moment Bailey was transformed into a basketball legend in a state that idolizes the title.
His legend would only grow during his brilliant high school career, and now he was a king-in-waiting, a near-mythic figure known by a single name, “Damon.” Even before he played a game for Indiana, his worshipers granted him greatness and draped him with superlatives.
It was no surprise, then, that he did not immediately match their expectations. Those expectations were extreme, stoked by the worshipers’ zeal. But when his performances remained inconsistent, when his efforts remained unpredictable, that was a surprise, and unacceptable to Knight.
This was not about Bailey’s scoring average, which through his first three years was a modest 11.3. Nor was it about the majority of Bailey’s performances, which were regularly good, sometimes sublime. This was about the ocassional lapse, the unexpected disappearance, the inability to always labor enough to reach that level called greatness.
Knight and Bailey talked often about this, theorized openly, recognized that-in high school-Bailey could regularly succeed without full effort. An old habit that’s tough to break, both agreed, and they also agreed that Bailey was working to do just that.
Still, says Knight, “My all-time favorite saying may be this: `What is there about the word no you don’t understand?’
“Carry that on to what we’re talking about here. When I tell you your effort isn’t good, I’m not telling you for any other reason than your effort isn’t good. Now you ask me why do I think (Bailey has changed this season). I don’t know. The question may be why didn’t he understand it (earlier).”
Did Bailey identify a problem he finally solved?
“Not really. I just think I was labeled a scorer in high school, and people have to realize in the past I wasn’t looked on to score as much. This year, more than in the past, people are screening for me, looking to get me the ball, where in the past they were looking to get Calbert (Cheaney, now with the Bullets) the ball because he was our best player.
“That’s something that just happened this year. The players are looking to get me the ball, and I am working harder. I think a little bit of that is, you know, when you know you’re going to get the ball, you work harder. In the past you may work a screen, and you’re kinda wasting your time because you know the ball’s going over to Calbert, which is what we wanted to do and needed to do to win.”
“That’s bull,” says Knight. “That to me is pure rationalization. It has nothing to do with fact. I could show you tapes where Bailey didn’t even try to set up a cut. He just stood around. But it’s hard for a kid to admit he didn’t play hard. . . .
“I just think his effort has improved immeasurably. I think his awareness of effort has improved the same amount. I think before effort can improve, awareness of effort has to improve. I think he’s realized that, and seen that, and that’s made him as consistent a player as he’s been.
“His effectiveness, his efficiency, is all related to his awareness of effort. Effort is what gets you to the foul line. You make cuts that are hard to guard. You take the ball to the bucket, you’re going to get fouled.”
Damon Bailey has surely done that this season, the numbers more clear than the reasons behind his new consistency. In 35 games last season, he attempted only 114 free throws, and in just 13 games this season, he has already tried 131. He’s also scored 20 or more points in 10 of those 13 games, led Indiana in scoring in nine of them, and has more than doubled his scoring average of a season ago while taking less than twice the number of shots.
So he is, at last, once again his team’s leader, not only producing the bulk of its points, but also setting the important pick, making the important pass.
“Damon” is who he is again, and when asked if he enjoys that, Bailey smiles softly. “I think if you play the game,” he says, “you’ve got to want the ball in the last minute. You’ve got to want to be the one your team’s looking to to score, to lead them, whatever.
“What I did in the past, getting the ball to Calbert, I’m not going to say I didn’t enjoy that. That’s something that’s going to help me in the long run, doing different things. But this year I have to score more for us to be successful, and that’s something I’ve tried to do. I’ve tried to go in with the mindset that I’m just going to play hard today. I feel with me playing hard, I’m going to be hard to play against.”
