Post#110 » by TheSecretWeapon » Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:54 pm
Monte: Part of the reason for that is the disgraceful job done by "analysts" and "experts." I'm not the first to note this, but football announcers and commentators have no problem discussing in pretty specific terms what a team is trying to do on certain plays. I've seen Jaworski break down Peyton Manning beating a cover 2. I suspect many casual fans could tell you the broad principles of a Cover 2 defense, for example, and where it's typically vulnerable. I think many fans could give you the basic concept of a West Coast offense.
We look at football as a kind of animated chess match orchestrated by the head coaches. Not so with basketball.
For me, one of the best remedies for this was talking to the people involved -- coaches, players, scouts, execs. That's not an option for most -- I was lucky enough to get press passes for awhile so I had an excuse to talk hoop with folks in the NBA. Many were more than happy to talk details when asked about it. They...umm...really love the game and know a lot about it.
One of the most enjoyable hoop conversations I've ever had was with a Wizards' assistant back when I was doing my defensive tracking project. This particular guy was remarkably receptive to the data I'd collected. He'd acknowledge that what I'd collected was valid and worthwhile, then go through the various things they'd tried to address it. The part that was most fun was probaby an hour into the conversation. When I sorta realized that everyone else had gone home. That it was just the two of us there drawing stuff up on the white board and talking about why the defense was so bad.
Other ways to get edumucated and see more of the game.
1) Read. There are oodles of coaching books that actually delve into the Xs and Os. There's some good stuff on the Internets that at least give the broad brush strokes of offensive systems. Find articles written by top coaches for coaching journals. Study all of it. Learn how the offenses -- even at their most basic -- are supposed to work.
2) Don't watch the ball. Most of the strategic stuff happens away from the ball. Watch where players move. Watch where screens are set and who's coming off them. Eventually, you'll start to see patterns, and then you'll start seeing variations on those patterns. Especially if...
3)...You do some tracking while you're watching. I did detailed tracking of the Wizards' defense for the better part of 3 seasons. Some of the tracking was more detailed than others. When I was tracking the team's defense by an array of factors (including offensive play type -- recording whether the offense attacked with screen/roll vs. pin-downs vs. hand-off vs. post-up, etc., etc.) I learned a HUGE amount. I'd watch an offense come down and score with a particular play. Then I'd see a defensive adjustment. Then the offense would run the same play, but with a variation. And the defense would adjust again. And so on. But here's the thing -- IT WAS EXTRAORDINARILY RARE FOR THE ANNOUNCERS TO MENTION EVEN ONE OF THOSE ADJUSTMENTS.
That tracking might have been part of the reason the conversation I mentioned earlier was so much fun. I'd already picked up all their defensive calls. I could ask why they gave up so many wide-open baseline jumpers when they were in Shark. Why ball handlers got to the hoop so easily when they were in Fish. And so on.
4) Learn about advanced stats and what they tell us about the game. This isn't the same thing as understanding Xs and Os and coaching adjustments, but in the broadest terms, advanced stats help provide a logical way to examine what's going on out there. We know, for example, that the single most important thing for an NBA defense to do is to lower opponent shooting percentages. Based on that one stat, we can then look at a team's performance in that area and examine a coach's defensive strategy. Does what they're doing lower opponent shooting?
Similarly, we can use advanced stats to look at an array of player performance indices to see if they're actually doing a good job at what they're being asked to do. When combined with detailed viewing (scouting, tracking, note-taking), advanced stats can be illuminating.
But, realistically speaking, for most folks, it's not worth the work. I don't think most fans really care all that much about the strategy behind the game (even if understanding it better would make it more fun). They don't care to learn about the stats, the systems, etc. It's a lot easier to use the stuff they learned when they played ball for a couple years in high school than it is to...you know...study the game. Even if stuff that worked in high school is completely wrong for the NBA. Even if that high school stuff is simplistic (of necessity) compared to what they do at the pro level.
Just as a quick example -- pressing, trying to turn the other team over, and trying to steal the ball are often effective at the high school level, but are usually a waste of time in the NBA. That's because NBA teams usually have a minimum of 3-4 competent ball handlers on the floor at the same time. Plus, the other guys are experienced enough to be trusted to run to a spot on the floor and make a simple pass to an open teammate. And, by the time they're in the NBA, these guys have seen every press variation anyway, and already know exactly how to beat it.
The stupid thing about the announcers is this -- basketball is a simpler strategically than football. It's easier to explain. Biggest issue is probably that the game flows in hoops while there are breaks between plays in football. But still.
"A lot of what we call talent is the desire to practice."
-- Malcolm Gladwell
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