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Sunday, May 29, 2022

Sport and Medicine: How Basketball Offense and Kidney Disease Are Alike

Analogies are everywhere. When one organ works poorly, it impacts others. When one player struggles, it impacts the whole team. 

Kidneys regulate 'hydration', metabolic balance, and produce a hormone, erythropoietin, that stimulates red blood cell production. If we are 'dehydrated' they absorb more fluid to try to correct this. 

Kidney 'failure' classifies in three ways: 

Prerenal (inadequate blood flow such as dehydration, low blood pressure or blood loss)

Intrarenal (instrinsic kidney diseases, toxins/poisons, infection, etc.)

Postrenal (obstruction - prostate, stone disease, tumors blocking urine flow)

Basketball shares similar offensive dysfunctions. This allows us to analyze the phases where offenses struggle or fail. Examine where our offense is breaking down in possessions.

Pre-shot (spacing, player and ball circulation, passing, selfishness, turnovers)

Shooter related (shot selection - range/openness/balance, shooter skill, consistency/rushing)

Post-shot -  offensive rebounding

Implications: 

  • "Spacing is offense and offense is spacing." 
  • A game of passing and cutting...
  • The quickest path to better shooting is better shot selection. 
  • There is no substitute for skill growth.
  • Second and third shots are higher points/possession generators.

Lagniappe (something extra). "The main thing is the main thing." What is your main thing? As a developmental (middle school) coach, I focused on player development, which covers a lot of ground. Make every day about player development. 


Side-step three is a vital skill in today's game. 


Lagniappe 2. Need better athletes? Basketball Manitoba shares ideas to improve footwork, balance, and maneuvering speed.