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Michael Lewis showed that big-league baseball coaches and general managers are nearly all idiots (or at least were until he wrote his book exposing them, at whi
by ecuzzillo 17y ago
Michael Lewis showed that big-league baseball coaches and general managers are nearly all idiots (or at least were until he wrote his book exposing them, at which point a few non-idiots got hired, but most idiots kept their jobs), so it's not necessarily totally implausible that NBA coaches are all idiots.
Out of curiosity, since I don't know anything about basketball, how do you beat a full-court press, and why isn't it a good idea to at least try to stop people from getting down the court?
- jsomers 17y agoLike Gladwell points out, you have to be extremely well-conditioned to press for a whole game. It takes a lot out of you. So it could be counter-productive if your team isn't in excellent shape, because a poorly executed press (say, if your team is tired) makes it easy for the offense to just blow by you and hit layups. That said, a team of good ball-handlers can beat a strong press if they stay calm and pass well. Patience and poise. (Which is probably why the press is so effective in younger leagues: players at that age get frantic under pressure and just don't have the dexterity/skill to keep the ball under control)
- johnnybgoode 17y agoNBA coaches could all be idiots, but my point is that this article doesn't show it. One way to think of a full-court press is as a way of spreading resources thinly. You can beat it by handling and passing the ball well. On a thinly defended court, this leads to a lot of easy baskets because there's so much open space.