Total Pageviews

Friday, September 12, 2025

Can We Be a Basketball "Original" in a Copycat Sport?

What makes a team "unique" in a sport that lends itself to a wide variety of styles and actions? 

Offensively, Pete Carril-era "Princeton" had a difference-making offense. As popular as it was, it hasn't translated at the professional level. 

Tex Winters' "Triangle Offense" won about half of NBA titles (11) during its run. A better argument is that powerhouse franchises led by Michael Jordan (six titles) and Kobe and Shaq (five) were more responsible. 

Although John Wooden's "2-2-1 press" certainly influenced UCLA dynasty, any claim of unique diminishes the impact of Alcindor (Abdul-Jabbar), Bill Walton, and a cavalcade of stars. The 1970 team with Steve Patterson at center (after Alcindor's departure) might have been unique during Wooden's tenure. Patterson was "only" 6'9" and his 17 points and 11 rebounds helped UCLA defeat Jacksonville and Artis Gilmore. 

I asked ChatGPT Plus for suggestions:

Coaches and players constantly borrow what works elsewhere. But “original” does exist, and it usually shows up in a few ways:

1. Strategic Innovation

  • New systems or wrinkles. Dean Smith’s “Four Corners” offense, Mike D’Antoni’s “Seven Seconds or Less,” or Don Nelson’s “point forward” concept all broke molds.

  • Even a small twist (e.g., the “short roll” pass off pick-and-roll) can feel original when it reshapes how teams attack.

2. Role Redefinition

  • Players changing what’s possible. Magic Johnson as a 6’9” point guard, Steph Curry stretching the floor to 30 feet, Nikola Jokić blending post play with point-guard passing — these are “original” because they made the game rethink positions.

  • “Positionless basketball” itself started as original thinking and became mainstream.

3. Cultural / Leadership Models

  • Wooden’s Pyramid of Success wasn’t just about basketball — it gave his teams a framework no one else had.

  • Gregg Popovich’s culture of international scouting and empowerment of players (e.g., Manu Ginóbili’s freewheeling style) made originality less about X’s and O’s and more about how a team functioned.

4. Aesthetic Expression

  • Creativity in how a player plays: Pete Maravich’s flair, Jason Williams’ no-look passes, Kyrie Irving’s handle, Jokic’s water-polo passes.

  • These don’t reinvent basketball but feel “original” because they’re unique signatures, not just imitations.

5. Timing and Courage

  • Often, what seems “original” is simply doing the right thing before everyone else is ready to copy it.

  • Think: adopting the three-point shot aggressively in the 1980s, or embracing analytics-driven shot selection in the 2000s.

👉 In short, “original” in basketball doesn’t mean inventing something never seen before — it’s often a new synthesis, or someone daring enough to push an idea further than anyone else. 

  • Originality doesn't equate to successful or appropriate. Watch some high school programs build their offense around three-point shooting when they lack high-level talent capable of shotmaking. 
  • Originality such as "The System" still requires a roster of players capable of functioning within its parameters. 
  • There's an argument to be made that a return to roots - defense, rebounding, and toughness - helped Kelvin Sampson return Houston to basketball prominence
  • Legendary Pete Newell cautioned coaches about attempting to reproduce systems they played under noting that it often results in a "poor copy of the original." 
Lagniappe. "He called the second two strikes, delivered when the victim was facedown on the ground, overkill and testified that in his experience overkill was equated with an emotional context." - Michael Connelly in The Fifth Witness. Teams sometimes respond to real or perceived slights with overkill. "What goes around comes around" or FAFO. 

Lagniappe 2. Late game play. 

Posted by at