Science of Basketball

There is none.

I don't think we know very much about this game.

I am not sure which has had a bigger influence on what most coaches teach, tradition, or trial and error.

Trial and error I don't really have a problem with. I think that's the most natural way for something to become more efficient. I am a big fan of evolution, and really, trial and error is exactly that. As Mike MacKay likes to say , "you always have to be innovating and improving". Good saying, it basically describes evolution.

Where I do have a problem is in the 'tradition' of coaching. I think a lot of what we teach is outdated. Let me rephrase that. I don't think we know why we teach a lot of the things that we do.

The obvious example is the two-hand chest pass. I would say at least 95% of all kids that played mini-basketball were taught this skill. Why do we teach a pass that starts in the middle of the body, takes a big step towards the target, and flicks the wrists outward as the ball is released? I'm not 100% sure. Is it because kids need that much strength to get the ball to a target? Is it because when the game was invented you couldn't stand that close to an offensive player while they tried to pass the ball? I honestly don't know.

How often do you think that a two hand chest pass is thrown in the finals of the world championship? I don't know either, that's the point.

The game is an ever-evolving entity.

That is why I have a big problem with the NBA. The NBA is a giant recycling system. The coaches are former players or former assistant coaches. All the players have coming up watching the NBA, striving to be like the NBA players. The whole system is based so much on itself that it's become a house of cards. The American NBA style of basketball has been passed by on the international stage. If you aren't constantly re-evaluating and improving what you are trying to teach and you aren't innovating new ways to get things done, you're a dinosaur, you'll be passed by.

The game doesn't care.

That's what I absolutely love about the game. If you aren't killing yourself to get it done, to get better, fine, someone else is. The game moves on. Player or coach, the game doesn't care.