Monday, September 16, 2019

Basketball - Fast Five Plus: Basketball and Football



Few approach the genius of George Carlin. But I'll share basketball and football comparisons. 

 1. Toughness, there is no substitute. Jay Bilas' Toughness book and essay are the seminal work on basketball toughness. Teams own both individual and collective toughness. Bilas rejects the Fugazi Tough Guy standard (chest thumping) and shares the nitty gritty, the attention to detail toughness leading success. Toughness standsas his legacy contribution. No toughness, no W's. 

 Football players don't walk away from the sport. At best, they limp away. Not many exit at the top without broken bodies, maybe Jim Brown and Barry Sanders. Basketballers take more than an occasional ibuprofen...and that's not always safe, a contributor to kidney failure in NBA players. 

 2. The quarterback must excel at decision-making and accuracy. Too many guys with "big arms" think they'll fit the ball into breadbox-sized spaces against the NFL cheetahs. Three out of four NFL games are lost, not won. Think Patriots-Falcons, 28-3. Point guards live the same fantasy. The Magics and Stocktons fall in love with easy. Find your road runners on the break or Paint Monsters who finish. Great players play in space, not in traffic.

 Basketball isn't necessarily different. Coach Knight's The Power of Negative Thinking gives legions of examples of winning by avoiding error. Kevin Eastman's Why the Best Are the Best shares how the Celtics won a finals game despite allowing 32 points through defensive mistakes against the Lakers. 

3. Win the blocking and tackling battles. You might say screening is basketball's blocking. Rebounding is the basketball corollary. As for tackling, contain the ball. The combination of great athletes and skill make ball containment harder than ever. Help on the dribbler and you uncover perimeter assassins. Rebound well and contain the ball and you have chances at more possessions...and success.

 4. Value the ball. Take care of the ball. "The ball is gold." Turnovers kill coaches in both sports. Study the why and how of mistakes. Held balls and forced shots (shot turnovers) are hidden turnovers. Bad footwork and passes to the wrong players in the wrong situations generate travels. Playing in traffic, failing to pass away from defenders, and not shortening the pass are all recipes for passing turnovers. Young players don't get that.


"If you are here, it's because you have a fervent, unequivocal belief in teamwork." 

 5. "One band, one sound." Attention to detail demands everyone on the same page. Failure to finish cuts, not setting up cuts, and not knowing and reading options destroy scoring chances. Pete Carril remarked, "The quality of the pass directly impacts the quality of the shot." Today's lagniappe shows that perfectly. 

 Lagniappe: Chris Oliver with some Puerto Rico magic...
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