ace3g
10-16-2012, 12:29 PM
A Whole New Ballgame
What is the next innovation in the NBA?
Analysts for the NBA are perpetually jealous of their NFL counterparts, who always seem to be writing about some new on-field tactic — The Spread, The Wildcat — that resonates with fans because of how obviously visible it is. The NBA is always innovating, but the innovations tend to be subtler and of less interest to casual fans. How many people understood what a Tom Thibodeau defense was as it swept from Boston and out across the league? Smart fans are starting to understand the importance of the corner 3, but those fans constitute a small minority, and that innovation is done.
This is one reason fans go crazy when the Sports Guy writes about the possibility of an NBA team pressing, something no team has done on anything like a full-time basis since the Rick Pitino Celtics — a team that in 1997-98 forced the most turnovers, per possession, of any team in the 3-point era while nonetheless floundering on both ends. Fans can see a press in a way they can't really see the Spurs working for corner 3s, or the Bulls' defense overloading the strong side of the floor.
Sources around the league think the NBA is immune to the most gimmicky innovations. Teams are too talented to be fooled, and in a macro sense, they're close enough in talent level that there are no massive night-to-night underdogs who might tilt the scales by going way out of the box. Also: No innovation is ever going to change the fact that a top-10 player is the most important ingredient in team success.
We'll also learn a lot about stamina and player health, though that's a long way away. But here's one example, via sources familiar with the data: After Manu Ginobili broke a bone in his left hand early last season, the Spurs' camera data indicated that the other four starters were suddenly expending more energy — spending more time running at peak speeds — with Danny Green in Ginobili's place. Think about the implications of something like that, for both on-court strategy and training schedules. The Spurs' general substitution patterns last season were a bit different than the typical NBA team's, with Gregg Popovich removing more of his starters earlier than most coaches do.
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8509901/what-next-trend-sweep-nba
But as Lowe notes, the practical application of such information could be game-changing. Particularly by fine-tuning it with other forms of technology — perhaps like the harnesses Spurs players have been wearing under their practice jerseys during training camp.
The Spurs, not surprisingly, have yet to say what function the harnesses serve. (As you might have heard, they tend to be secretive about these things.)
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2012/10/16/spurs-expend-more-energy-without-ginobili/
What is the next innovation in the NBA?
Analysts for the NBA are perpetually jealous of their NFL counterparts, who always seem to be writing about some new on-field tactic — The Spread, The Wildcat — that resonates with fans because of how obviously visible it is. The NBA is always innovating, but the innovations tend to be subtler and of less interest to casual fans. How many people understood what a Tom Thibodeau defense was as it swept from Boston and out across the league? Smart fans are starting to understand the importance of the corner 3, but those fans constitute a small minority, and that innovation is done.
This is one reason fans go crazy when the Sports Guy writes about the possibility of an NBA team pressing, something no team has done on anything like a full-time basis since the Rick Pitino Celtics — a team that in 1997-98 forced the most turnovers, per possession, of any team in the 3-point era while nonetheless floundering on both ends. Fans can see a press in a way they can't really see the Spurs working for corner 3s, or the Bulls' defense overloading the strong side of the floor.
Sources around the league think the NBA is immune to the most gimmicky innovations. Teams are too talented to be fooled, and in a macro sense, they're close enough in talent level that there are no massive night-to-night underdogs who might tilt the scales by going way out of the box. Also: No innovation is ever going to change the fact that a top-10 player is the most important ingredient in team success.
We'll also learn a lot about stamina and player health, though that's a long way away. But here's one example, via sources familiar with the data: After Manu Ginobili broke a bone in his left hand early last season, the Spurs' camera data indicated that the other four starters were suddenly expending more energy — spending more time running at peak speeds — with Danny Green in Ginobili's place. Think about the implications of something like that, for both on-court strategy and training schedules. The Spurs' general substitution patterns last season were a bit different than the typical NBA team's, with Gregg Popovich removing more of his starters earlier than most coaches do.
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8509901/what-next-trend-sweep-nba
But as Lowe notes, the practical application of such information could be game-changing. Particularly by fine-tuning it with other forms of technology — perhaps like the harnesses Spurs players have been wearing under their practice jerseys during training camp.
The Spurs, not surprisingly, have yet to say what function the harnesses serve. (As you might have heard, they tend to be secretive about these things.)
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2012/10/16/spurs-expend-more-energy-without-ginobili/