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Saturday, October 26, 2024

Basketball: Coaching Analogy

Analogy helps drive progress, invention (e.g. flight), imagination. 

"Analogy is a kind of similarity in which the same system of relations holds across different setsof elements. Analogies thus capture parallels across different situations. The elements that belong to the two situations need not be similar, but the relations that hold the systems together must be alike. However, as discussed below, analogical processing is easier if some concrete features are also shared."

Bandwidth. To solve bigger coaching problems, acquire additional bandwidth. "He lacks the bandwidth to fix that." 

Velcro. Want tighter defensive pressure. Maybe covering a player like a glove or Velcro is the answer. 

Boomerang. UCONN women ran "Boomerang with Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck with Stewart the finisher. 

Be on the same page. In school teachers get everyone on the same page of a book. If players aren't problems follow. 

Gravity and escape velocity. Space travel requires "escape velocity" to overcome gravity. Program mediocrity can require escape velocity to become upper echelon teams. That can require coaching, players, or both. 

"All hat and no cattle." Big talk and no action gets expressed in different ways. The Red Sox promised a "full throttle" off-season and delivered nothing. 

Wyoming saying, "Talk less, say more." We used to joke in the Navy that a meeting would cram five minutes of information into an hour meeting. Brian McCormick says, "No lines, no laps, no lectures," at practice. 

Marathon session. Any type of gathering, lecture, or practice can go on 'forever'. If our playbook requires marathon sessions to digest, it needs revision and shortening. 

Work of art. A team or individual performance gets described as 'virtuoso' or work of art. That might imply both quality and duration of production. DaVinci's Mona Lisa was under construction over 16 years. 

Hub and spokes. Some organizations are decentralized and others operate with a parent (mother ship?) and satellites. Organization occurs in different ways including 'vertical integration' such as youth programs. 

Hitting a home run. Coaches want their programs to succeed with peak performances like a home run or grand slam in baseball or a 'sixer' in cricket. 

Put the roller skates on him. In dating parlance, women discard or throw overboard a guy with a roller skate analogy. We can separate someone from an organization in the same way. 

Moving the goalposts. Everyone wants to succeed. Sometimes people 'move the goalposts' to change the definition of success. A team has a poor record but claims success by redefining success. 

Lipstick on a pig. Effect 'superficial' rather than real change by putting lipstick on a pig. You still have a pig. 

Out of the Park. A successful project gets hit out of the park, similar to a home run. 

Spread your wings. Experimenting, 'leaving the nest', or 'moving up in class' can all be considered as 'spreading your wings'.  

Grass is greener. Keeping players 'home' becomes difficult amidst recruiting or 'poaching' at every level. With NIL the grass may literally be greener. 

Lightning strikes. A major upset or surprising defeat could both result from a lightning strike, also known as an Act of God. 

Frozen out. With limited supply (think musical chairs), some players or teams get 'frozen out' from selection for a team or playoffs. Did Jaylen Brown get frozen out (or blacklisted) by Nike? 

Full court press. When we give maximum effort strategically, it's the full court press, or perhaps the 'hard sell'. 

Verbal deception. "Your Jedi Mind Tricks won't work on me." A variety of sources try to feed us tales about players, coaches, or teams. 

Torches and pitchforks. Everyone won't be a fan. Coaches may feel that an angry mob is after us. Sometimes a whole community can rise up with 'torches and pitchforks' or 'brickbats' or 'tar and feathering'. Early in his UNC career, Dean Smith was figuratively hung in effigy. 

The more 'encyclopedic' our knowledge, the better our communication craft. One of my 'pet peeves' is coaches constantly lowering expectations or 'lowering the bar'.

Lagniappe. What's the DNA of our program? You saw that...  

Lagniappe 2. Don't give people a chance to make excuses. 

Lagniappe 3. Hurley-ball. 

AI Minute : ChatGPT comparison, basketball and political science

1. Transition Defense and Policy Reaction

  • Basketball: Transition defense requires players to move quickly from offense to defense, adapting to prevent an opponent's fast break.
  • Politics: Governments often need to pivot rapidly to address crises or unexpected events. A quick response, like in natural disaster relief or economic downturns, can prevent further destabilization, similar to how a fast transition defense can prevent an easy basket.

2. Offensive Rebounds and Public Opinion

  • Basketball: After a missed shot, going for an offensive rebound gives a team another chance to score.
  • Politics: Politicians often "rebound" from failures by adjusting their approach or messaging, aiming to gain public support for a second chance. Just as grabbing an offensive board can reset a play, changing tactics can help leaders regain favor.

3. Isolation Play and Political Maneuvering

  • Basketball: Isolation plays let a skilled player work one-on-one to exploit weaknesses in their defender.
  • Politics: Politicians or interest groups may maneuver alone, leveraging their position or resources to gain an advantage or sway decisions, similar to isolation plays. Both require recognizing when working alone may yield better outcomes.

4. Shot Clock Pressure and Political Deadlines

  • Basketball: Teams have limited time to take a shot, creating urgency and sometimes rushed decisions.
  • Politics: Political deadlines, like budget approvals or passing critical legislation, create pressure to act quickly. Decisions under time constraints in both basketball and politics may lead to strategic risks or unrefined outcomes.

5. Zone Defense and Coalition Building

  • Basketball: A zone defense covers areas rather than marking players, requiring coordination and trust to fill gaps.
  • Politics: Coalitions often resemble a zone, with various groups covering specific interests to address a broader goal. Just as players in a zone must rely on each other, coalition members must trust that allies will represent shared interests effectively.

6. Foul Trouble and Scandal Management

  • Basketball: Players with too many fouls risk sitting out, impacting their play style and the team’s strategy.
  • Politics: Politicians embroiled in scandals or ethical controversies often face similar challenges. They may limit public appearances or take a lower profile to avoid “fouling out” of their position. In both cases, managing risk becomes key to remaining in the game.

 

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