The Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, and Phoenix Suns have been the best teams in the Association so far this year. Can the success be attribute to mostly running motion offenses or are other factors at play? Recently, Phoenix has been using this “diamond set” often, signalled by Mike D’Antoni, in addition to their transition and pick and roll games. The “diamond set” gives Steve Nash some options by setting ballscreens (do not go under the screen — the Timberwolves hedged with Kevin Garnett, an excellent option for teams with athletic seven foot tall players). Detroit has their Circle Play …
Basketball on Paper (or on your PC)
I was researching a small essay that I was going to write regarding the efficiency of Chris Bosh, Tim Duncan, Chauncey Billups, Steve Nash, and Tony Parker and found an interesting article which concisely summarises the recent work in basketball statistics that we (coaches) are attempting to incorporate into the game. Just as the technical analyst would argue that a stock’s price reflects all possible information, the statistician would claim that a player’s contribution to the team’s winning percentage can be entirely distilled into numbers. I disagree — stats can be tremendously helpful when used intelligently but must eventually take …
Why Do We Coach?
Paul J. Meyer once said: “You never work for someone else. The truth is someone is paying you to work for yourself.” Someone recently suggested that coaching for the purposes of self-actualisation was possibly selfish. In the end, don’t all humans choose their actions in order to satisfy a need (physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation)? Even those employed in an altruistic occupation do so because helping others meets their belonging, esteem, or self-actualisation needs. The suggestion was made with a somewhat negative connotation. I couldn’t disagree more. People are free to act as they wish and no one can …
New Coke
I finished a coaching journal in four months. Usually, the journals take a little longer to fill out. It seems like I really have a lot of ideas at the moment. All dressed up and nowhere to go, so to speak. You can fall into a bit of a trap when you’re constrained to a wholly theoretical framework. I have confidence in these ideas, but I would like to see them on the court. Reality checks can be swift and harsh. For all I know, what I’ve been creating the last three months is the basketball equivalent of New Coke. …