Sunday, July 27, 2014

Team Chemistry Understood

Team Chemistry Understood

Making decisions about adding a member to your team, whether it be a sports team, a work or production team is very important. Adding the wrong person can disrupt the ongoing work and set back progress that has already been made.  Although there are many factors in this choice, the subtle issues of personality, attitudes and timing can often undo what seems to be compatible work history and accomplishment.

Even when you have been working together for some time, you will find that different combinations of people produce better results together. Often this knowledge comes at a cost of time and frustration as personalities generate unneeded friction diverting attention from the job at hand to solving personnel conflicts. These issues can be resolved before they begin.

Team Astrology is the outgrowth of a life long interest in how relationships are affected by peoples birth charts. As an astrologer since 1985, I have become used to applying it to all situations and found that it is very reliable in assessing the chemistry between people in any circumstance,

The following article concerns the team play of the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association. They are a good test case because of unexpected success and the fact the the entire team was assembled at the same time; new GM and Coach who selected players from those available via the old roster, free agent signings and trades. The team did well above the average for a new team and coach, so I am analyzing the effect of the combination of the individual players birth charts on their relationship with the coach and other players, and how these factors may have affected their performance.

Phoenix Suns Team Chemistry in the 2013/14 Season


The Phoenix Suns success has become the talk of the league, but their recent draft has left many puzzled about their direction. Observations that General Manager Ryan McDonough and Coach Jeff Hornacek share a vision and feel for the type of player who can be successful in their system is validated by last season's plus twenty-three game win implement over last season. With an emphasis on speed of play many thought the best athletes would their priority, but their choices indicate that clarity of thought and lack of hesitation to make the right move is their key to speed. Mental speed is more important than physical speed, and Hornecek's simplified offense depends on enabling the players natural ability and lifelong game to takeover. Making the right decision is easy when it is what a player has been doing all his life.

As an astrologer specializing in relationships, I have done an analysis of the Suns draft under McDonough and Hornecek and found that they prefer young men with with fire and earth dominant in their charts. This may be the product of their interviews and their take on each ones personality, and how it fits with their strategy and coaching style, especially when seeing their charts compared to the players they have brought into the organization. Both men have Venus in Aries where it gives them a special appreciation for the fast pace that they prefer.

The GM is a Pieces Sun and Mercury with a Cancer Moon who has a knack for detail due to the Mars/Jupiter conjunction in Virgo, where Saturn also resides. He is a very capable analyst and negotiator from these positions, since they work to internalize all the information he gathers and enable him to keep his thoughts to himself. This is an important quality in the rumor mill of sports.
 
Hornecek is a Taurus sun with a Virgo moon, both are earth signs and this is reflected in his practical approach. The Virgo moon is known for being detail oriented and naturally organizes everything according to common characteristics. Mercury in Gemini gives him a quick mind that likes the personal social aspects of his work. His enjoyment of the high speed game is shown by the position of Venus and Mars, which are in fire signs, Aries and Leo respectively. All of the suns players make positive aspects to these features of the coaches chart. These are the personal astrological bodies and they are the most important in comparing charts for relationships.
 
The positions of Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus and Pluto are important but vary only slightly from year to year, making them generational rather than personal. This is important when considering why this years and next are filled with high quality prospects. These years are when Uranus conjuncts Neptune in Capricorn, giving unusual power to self--belief, and raising this group to a higher plateau than others without this aspect. Uranus gives an energetic boost to whatever it aspects and positive Neptune is about ideals and visualized goals, allowing this group to routinely exceed expectations. 

The team management has gone after players that connect well with the coach. Hornecek's Taurus Sun gives him an easy communication with players having a Taurus Moon, such as Eric Bledsoe, Miles Plumlee, Alex Len, Alec Brown, Leandro Barbosa and TJ Warren. Emphasizing the importance of this connection is the fact that Goran Dragic, Channing Frye and PJ Tucker are also Taurus sun individuals, like their coach, giving the whole group an extra level of compatibility. Hornacek has a Virgo Moon enabling him to easily understand the Virgo Sun players on his roster, such as the Morrii brothers, TJ Warren, Tyler Ennis, Dionte Christmas and Miles Plumlee. 

The sign that Venus is in for both McDonough and Hornecek is Aries, and it should be noted that conjunctions between the Moon and  Venus are always good because it creates a union of what is desired and what is subconsciously felt. That many of the Suns players have this Moon position is positive for several reasons. Aries Moon provides a natural prioritization quality to the person, making choices easy so they seldom over think what they are doing, but most importantly, it makes them extremely competitive. It can be considered ideal for a point guard for this reason. Goran Dragic and Tyler Ennis, and Ish Smith have Aries Moons as well as Bogdan Bogdanovic, who plays point in Serbia, all of whom handle the ball very well. 

The fourth personal planet in this analysis is Mars and Hornecek has his Mars in Leo, which gives him a steady, outgoing demeanor that very competitive without being selfish. It rules how a person goes after what they want. Players on his team with prominent personal Leo positions are Alex Len (Mars), TJ Warren,(Venus) and Gerald Green whose Leo moon makes him love the spotlight and excel at doing what it takes to wow the crowd.  The Sun in Leo gives an aggressive, outgoing energy that works very well in competitive sports, it makes an individual generous and proud, driving them to work hard to not make mistakes, so the fact that Alec Brown, Archie Goodwin and Bogdan Bogdanovic are Leo Suns makes perfect sense. Hornecek's Mars in Leo allows him to appreciate, relate and communicate very well with these players.

Since I use only the day of birth without an exact time, there is no rising sign included here. But since only the moon moves significantly, I run the charts for just before noon so the moon is in the middle of its daily motion giving it about a six degree possible variance. It can make a difference when someone is on the cusp of a sign, for instance TJ Warren is either a Taurus or Aries Moon, In this case both are good. Alec Brown has his moon involved in both a fixed grand square and a grand trine in Earth, so if the moon moves six degrees it could shift that entire set. Brown has a chart that suggests he is good long term prospect because his moon automatically resolves issues and his Sun is sextile mars, making him able to do what he thinks. This evolving awareness along with physical maturation should see him have a long career in the NBA. Astrological resonance is seldom this obvious and many talented players have more refined aspects that do wonders for them because of their rising sign and degree, which we are not using here.
 
Recently signed Isaiah Thomas has his Mars in Taurus conjunct the Hornecek and Dragics Sun, and directly on five other teammates moons, that should give him the ability to be even more intuitive with the open man. With his moon in Pieces he is very intuitive and able to sense who is ready to score.  

The Aries Moon seems especially important to the team, since guard play is pivotal to their success, The players Taurus Sun or Moon, along with Virgo Sun are especially prominent, since the ability of the coach to direct the team is greatly facilitated by their presence in the same sign as his Sun or Moon. While the team is well represented in all the signs with the rest their charts, the role of astrology in the Suns style of play seems undeniable. Coach Hornecek is a capable instructor who has demonstrated his ability to teach outside shooting in Utah and now Phoenix, but having players that get what he tells them is huge. His patience and calmness cannot be denied as contributors to this success, since players like Gerald Green have blossomed in his system after years of traveling between teams.

Individual analysis can show many other qualities evident with the team members and why they perform as they do, but it is the cohesiveness of the team around the coach's philosophy that makes the most difference and the Suns certainly have this covered astrologically. With the coach having trines with his sun and moon, and venus and mars, picking players with good aspects from their personal planets to his makes the entire team get along in a natural way. Examining any group of friends you will see this pattern in play, so gathering a group of professionals with these aspects is like planning a party of friends.
 
Why so many of the Suns have their Sun or Moon in the sign of the Coach's Sun or Moon or in the sign of his Mars or Venus is unlikely to be an accident. Whether the team management is using astrology or simply going with their gut is unknown to me, but the effect on team chemistry is apparent. All of these players get what the Coach is communicating and know their roles.  Earth signs predominate in this group with a heavy emphasis on fire signs as well. Of the entire roster only Shavlik Randolf is without a major personal planet in the sign of the coach, and he was a late season pickup.  

The General Manger is savvy about using information and, as a Pieces is probably a natural at Astrology as well as any level of complexity needed to understand his team and the league they play in. 
Commenting on team chemistry, I would say that favorable aspects from personal planets between the coach and his players helps the players understand the coach, and also connects the players to one another on the court. All the Suns point guards have Aries moons except Bledsoe, whose moon is in early Taurus like the coach's sun, 

As a life long Suns fan I have watched the team go through its ups and downs, but the common thread of its ups has been the player savvy coaches such as Cotton Fitzsimmons, whose player orientation set the stage for for the overachieving teams we all loved so much in the past. Owner Robert Sarver was quick to get onboard with the ideas of Ryan McDonough, and he showing his strength of judgement in basketball equals that of his business life. The combination of savvy management and ownership should have the patience to build a longterm winner for Phoenix.

Updated July 27, 2014

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