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Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Basketball Icebergs

"As they say in my profession, by then the Titanic had already left the dock. The iceberg was out there waiting." - Michael Connelly in The Lincoln Lawyer

Every business, sport, and person has potential icebergs in its path. An iceberg is the element that sinks us. Our job is to identify and to avoid them.  

A business may face icebergs in logistics, competition, or macroeconomics. Basketball programs have legions of icebergs:

  • Player acquisition (internal recruiting, external competition)
  • Player development
  • Culture
  • Offense (spacing, shot selection, execution, turnovers)
  • Defense (ball containment, help and recovery, rebounding, fouls)
  • Conversion (particularly into transition defense)
  • Decision-making
Coaches navigate intragame issues, critically manageable ones


"Control what you can control." Against superior talent, there is no "puncher's chance." The best option, even with a shot clock is to adjust the game tempo to shorten the game. At some point, if trailing, you may need to play faster. 

Strategy means presuming you have a team which could win in different ways - winning with speed, pounding the ball inside, perimeter scoring. Some teams can play multiple defenses proficiently which creates problems for some opponents. 

If a player has in-game problems with fouls or a bad matchup, substitution or changing matchups are alternatives. 

Sometimes coaches figuratively have to "apply the jockey's whip" and ask players for more focus, more toughness, more effort. That's works better with more established teams. Young, inexperienced teams may still be learning how to win. 

Lagniappe. Analytics have changed the pro game. Do not naively believe that works for younger players. 

Lagniappe 2. Culture matters. How you implement it will differ.  


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