Monday, March 31, 2008
Crying Shame
Time to go completely out-of-the-box for just one post. The Salt Lake Tribune writes about the loss of the mid-range jumper in college basketball.
I always preferred the Bob Knight approach to the three-pointer. Have one great three point shooter and a great post man, the defense has to flex, and the jumper is open all night long. The three also makes a great fake to set up the closer and therefore more probable jumper. Fake, dribble, swish - what a rhythm.
It makes me wonder -is efficiency the enemy of beauty, or is beauty really relative and we can view the efficient as beautiful? The three is more efficient - it is a jumper and a half. Shooting 20% from the three-point line is the same as 30% in the wings. The three opens up the middle and makes room for the drive - makes your front line therefore much more effective. In many ways the game is more exciting that way. But it somehow lacks poetry.
It also lacks teamwork. The jumper demands the screen; it should be shot behind one. A three often comes off a scrape on the opposite side of the floor, or a simple head-fake during positioning. And that is where I really miss the jumper. There is poetry in the timing and grace of the shot itself, but there is poetic dance in the interplay of the team to set the shot up.
Find some film of the 1987 National Champion Indiana Hoosiers - coached by Bob Knight and lead by perhaps the greatest jump shooter in history - Steve Alford. Almost every Alford jumper was a 5-man ballet that began when the ball was inbounded on the opposite end of the floor.
When I think about that, I wonder if this post is really as outside-the-box for this blog as it appears.
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It's apparent on the recruiting trail. It's detectable on the scouting reports. It's noticeable on the highlights.I never, ever, have had one, but there is nothing prettier than a jumper. The greatest basketball movie ever made - Hoosiers - has one enormous flaw. At the time of the actual events on which the movie was based, the game was defined by the jumper - they played modern ball in the movie.
The midrange game has become a lost art in college basketball. Although a few players still embrace the beauty of a pull-up jumper, most take a feast or famine approach to offense - either drive straight to the basket or step behind the three-point line and let it fly.
"A guy who can play off the dribble, bounce and score without having to get all the way to the rim is hard to find," said Utah men's basketball coach Jim Boylen. "If you find one of those, you better try and get one."
Much of the decline in the midrange game is attributed to the infatuation with the three-pointer. The shot many coaches term "the great equalizer" often helps smaller programs contend with some of the big boys.
I always preferred the Bob Knight approach to the three-pointer. Have one great three point shooter and a great post man, the defense has to flex, and the jumper is open all night long. The three also makes a great fake to set up the closer and therefore more probable jumper. Fake, dribble, swish - what a rhythm.
It makes me wonder -is efficiency the enemy of beauty, or is beauty really relative and we can view the efficient as beautiful? The three is more efficient - it is a jumper and a half. Shooting 20% from the three-point line is the same as 30% in the wings. The three opens up the middle and makes room for the drive - makes your front line therefore much more effective. In many ways the game is more exciting that way. But it somehow lacks poetry.
It also lacks teamwork. The jumper demands the screen; it should be shot behind one. A three often comes off a scrape on the opposite side of the floor, or a simple head-fake during positioning. And that is where I really miss the jumper. There is poetry in the timing and grace of the shot itself, but there is poetic dance in the interplay of the team to set the shot up.
Find some film of the 1987 National Champion Indiana Hoosiers - coached by Bob Knight and lead by perhaps the greatest jump shooter in history - Steve Alford. Almost every Alford jumper was a 5-man ballet that began when the ball was inbounded on the opposite end of the floor.
When I think about that, I wonder if this post is really as outside-the-box for this blog as it appears.
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