Steve Kerr grew a goatee, wrote bad words on his shoes while dealing with confidence issues (Ball Don’t Lie)

It's no secret that top-tier professional athletes must be confident to succeed. In a league where every player is very talented, slight edges make a big difference. It's a cliche to say that the team that wants it more wins, but it's usually true that the more focused, more confident team will win in the NBA. Last week, Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated wrote a piece on Golden State Warriors center Andris Biedrins's major confidence issues . The story was enough to inspire David Aldridge of NBA.com to delve deeper into the mental aspects of playing in the NBA (via Marcel Mutoni ). Former NBA sharpshooter and TNT analyst Steve Kerr had much to say, including his own methods of psyching himself up: