How David Beats Goliath

[Good News]

No offense taken if you need to move this to Off Topic, Royal. But since the board is slow and the gist of this article made me think about the tools we now have at our disposal, I think it's pertinent.

I guess what I'm saying is that we all see the guys that HCGM is bringing in and how different they are from a physical/athletic standpoint that they've seen in the past - am I the only one that would LOVE to see some full court pressure with this new level of athlete?

I guess I'm specifically thinking of Manigault here, but it applies to others as well.

Anyway - if you like this type of stuff, Malcolm Gladwell has written some pretty good books. I've always been a Pitino fan, and thought the section about him and his teams' style of practice was interesting.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all

[The Mad Hatter]

Re: How David Beats Goliath

No offense taken if you need to move this to Off Topic, Royal. But since the board is slow and the gist of this article made me think about the tools we now have at our disposal, I think it's pertinent.

I guess what I'm saying is that we all see the guys that HCGM is bringing in and how different they are from a physical/athletic standpoint that they've seen in the past - am I the only one that would LOVE to see some full court pressure with this new level of athlete?

I guess I'm specifically thinking of Manigault here, but it applies to others as well.

Anyway - if you like this type of stuff, Malcolm Gladwell has written some pretty good books. I've always been a Pitino fan, and thought the section about him and his teams' style of practice was interesting.



http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...urrentPage=all

I had already read this article and from a sports standpoint or a broader one, it really is an excellent read.

[wu_shizzle]

Awesome, well worth the read.

A great life lesson, for a Saturday morning.

I didn't know much about Pitino before this article, but I have a new found respect for the man.

[Shox21]

That WAS a good read.

[Snapshot9]

That was a good read. I play a sport where I often recommend that novice players to read, 'The Art of War', by Sun Tzu, one of the foremost strategists who has ever lived.

Being small physically when growing up, I liked sports, and was always confronted with how could I compete against bigger kids in various sports.,
and basketball was one of those sports. So, for me, I was always David going up against a Goliath.

[Aargh]

I played a bit of PG, which mostly means I was short and didn't shoot real well.

I did find one rebounding technique that worked pretty well. I'm surprised I've never seen it used much.

I noticed that the big guys, who could grab rebounds, could get them higher than I could jump and reach. That method wasn't going to work for me. I also noticed that they always came back down after grabbing the rebound.

I just jumped up when they were coming down and put my hand on the bottom of the ball between their hands. Between them coming down and me going up, the ball popped out of their hands about every time.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

more from gladwell

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090513/part1

and bill simmons

[tw805]

Doesn't the article presuppose that you have enough horses to keep up that pace for an entire game? At some point, if the press can't recover when broken, it leads to serious hemorrhaging on the defensive end.

[The Mad Hatter]

Doesn't the article presuppose that you have enough horses to keep up that pace for an entire game? At some point, if the press can't recover when broken, it leads to serious hemorrhaging on the defensive end.

The author doesn't say that the press is infallible. In fact, he agrees with the premise that here are ways to wear down and beat a press. His point is that taking an unconventional approach is the best way for a less talented team or group to beat a more talented team or group.

As an underdog, you might not have the horses to keep in up for a full game, but it still gives you a better chance than trying to win the "conventional" way.

[im4wsu]

Our own Ralph Miller used if not devised the full court pressure after every possession. Has anyone read the book or viewed the DVD?

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ralph_Miller

[BostonWu]

The book Spanning the Game is a good quick read. The most interesting thing is the top 5 lists included at the end of the book in which he categorizes top players and teams based upon different criteria from high school to D1. Ironically I'm preparing to sell it in a garage sale this weekend. If anyone is interested in reading it send me a PM and I'll pull out of the garage sale rubble.

[im4wsu]

I gave the wrong url. Here is the one I meant to reference:

http://www.powerbasketball.com/051217.html

[tw805]

Doesn't the article presuppose that you have enough horses to keep up that pace for an entire game? At some point, if the press can't recover when broken, it leads to serious hemorrhaging on the defensive end.

The author doesn't say that the press is infallible. In fact, he agrees with the premise that here are ways to wear down and beat a press. His point is that taking an unconventional approach is the best way for a less talented team or group to beat a more talented team or group.

As an underdog, you might not have the horses to keep in up for a full game, but it still gives you a better chance than trying to win the "conventional" way.

Fair enough. I just thought the article presented the press as some sort of obvious solution to a mismatch. As if every college basketball coach in America just missed it. I doubt it.

To use his Lawrence and the Bedouins example, Guy of Lusignan attempted a nearly identical tactic of unexpected desert attack against the exponentially larger army of Saladin during the early third crusade. The heat and lack of water lead to the decimation of his entire army. No mention of that in the article, though. Sometimes unconventional tactics work. Often, the increased risk leads to an earlier demise.

[Dan]

I played a bit of PG, which mostly means I was short and didn't shoot real well.

So were you more of a Craig Steven or KC Hunt type? Could you guard a statue?

[Ricardo del Rio]

I played a bit of PG, which mostly means I was short and didn't shoot real well.

So were you more of a Craig Steven or KC Hunt type? Could you guard a statue?

Reggie Smithson