RealGM

It was a bit ago but looking back on the little schroeder vs durant drama about nba lacking tactics or "high IQ" one has to wonder what exactly does that entail?

Like to put it in practical X's and O's terms what do people actually believe nba is lacking in this

Cause in all honestly my impression is that more often than not people use those terms "IQ", "teamwork", "system" and similar ones kinda like buzzwords

When a fiba or college team is praised with these words it usually seems like is more praising them for unrelated thinghs like playing slower or shooting less 3's or posting up more (depending on the particular case)

Is in your opinion any truth to the sentiment?

it's just something people say to justify watching a less talented version of the sport.

clearlynotjesse wrote:it's just something people say to justify watching a less talented version of the sport.

It is just maybe quite possible that some prefer the more team-oriented nature of play in Europe.

falcolombardi wrote:It was a bit ago but looking back on the little schroeder vs durant drama about nba lacking tactics or "high IQ" one has to wonder what exactly does that entail?

Like to put it in practical X's and O's terms what do people actually believe nba is lacking in this

Cause in all honestly my impression is that more often than not people use those terms "IQ", "teamwork", "system" and similar ones kinda like buzzwords

When a fiba or college team is praised with these words it usually seems like is more praising them for unrelated thinghs like playing slower or shooting less 3's or posting up more (depending on the particular case)

Is in your opinion any truth to the sentiment?

So I'm not necessarily going to agree or disagree to the specific premise, but just speaking on a few things here:

1. Innovation has had a tendency to percolate up from college & Europe in recent decades with the 3 point shot being the most clear example.

2. In Europe the reason is pretty clear: They had the 3 before the NBA, and started making progress with it earlier. They didn't invent the 3 of course, the US did, but the NBA itself took longer than other pro leagues to really embrace it.

3. With regards to college specifically, that doesn't mean that college has more innovation in general than the NBA - I think major college programs are often intensely un-innovative focusing just on recruiting the top players and then using creativity to try to fit those players together as best as possible. But fringier programs were doing stuff with pace & space long before we were using the term "pace & space".

4. And I think you could think of the NBA in some ways as an extension of this. You're working with extreme talents and for the most part building around them rather than forcing a path of innovation.

5. Let's be real here: KD is a reasonable target for all of this because he's become the face of "I'm just going to go to a new team where I can just go out there and ball rather than listening to these coaches". It worked out once in Golden State because it was already working without him, but everywhere else, what we've seen is a whole dumber than unified coaching strategy.

6. Finally, as I know others have mentioned, Team USA is the ultimate example of working with talent rather than tactics, to the point where people actually thought it was a conspiracy when they added an A-list role player (White) over a C-list star (Brown). Like, when Team USA actually tries to be strategically smart, actual Americans think it must be a conspiracy.