The Genius Motivational Tactic The Washington Wizards Use To Get Maximum Effort Out Of Players

The Washington Wizards upset the Chicago Bulls and will move on to the next round of the NBA Playoffs.

The Wizards had one of the top ten defensive teams in the league during the regular season. A huge reason behind Washington's defensive success seems to be an idea out of a grammar school classroom.

The Wizards have charted defense throughout the season with a "Hustle Board." It's essentially a bulletin board to track and compare Wizards players "hustle plays" in games.

The bulletin board measures several atypical defensive stats and plays such as Charges Taken, Deflections, and Opponent Shot Contest Percentage. It's all an incentive-system to motivate players to do the little things that help teams win:

Wizards star guard John Wall leads the team in terms of hustle. He's taken a team-high 22 charges on the year, and also has a team-high 342 deflections on the year.