tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294027382541511287.post256376877358468879..comments2011-06-15T19:53:45.835-07:00Comments on X’s & O’s of Basketball: Thinking About Defensive Situations with Ben Howlandbruchuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993300702207463671noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294027382541511287.post-20644705353136739612009-09-24T21:35:10.417-07:002009-09-24T21:35:10.417-07:00Well said....Well said....bruchuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14993300702207463671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294027382541511287.post-42228172213183222262009-09-24T06:37:51.608-07:002009-09-24T06:37:51.608-07:00I like Coach Howland's focus. Too many coaches...I like Coach Howland's focus. Too many coaches I see out there valuing the turnover as the single best outcome of a defensive possession. What I learned from Dean Oliver's book "Basketball on Paper" (Oliver is now on staff with the Denver Nuggets as their analytics guy) is that there are Four Factors of winning (applicable to the offensive end as well):<br />1) eFG% (i.e. (FG + .5*3FG) / FGA);<br />2) ORB% (i.e. TmORB / (TmORB + OppDRB);<br />3) TO% (i.e. percentage of possessions resulting in a turnover);<br />4) FTR ( FT / FGA).<br /><br />I think Howland's system seems to focus on contesting shots and forcing misses as its first priority while leaving great rebounding position to attain that second goal. I'm sure they force a good number of turnovers due to the heavy ball pressure they apply, but I don't think they need to force a lot of them as long as they're attaining their goals of owning the boards and contesting shots heavily.<br /><br />I know some guys love the idea of the turnover and creating them by trapping and then running all over the place trying to rotate and good for them if they can make that work, but I think with slower teams or ones that just aren't that good at forcing turnovers (for whatever reason(s)) this is the kind of defense I'd prefer. I think it protects the board far better and doesn't get you caught in a whole bunch of mismatches.<br /><br />Odd that guys who try to hype their own version of defensive paradigms talk about how many steals they get (in a game played at an extremely high pace, which means "lots of possessions") but never seem to mention how they do on the boards or how often they put their opponents on the line. I'm a nihilist in that regard: all I care about at the end of the day is how many points per possession I'm giving up. And I think Howland has come up with a system where he's going to attain that goal of limiting opponents to that low number of points per possession.<br /><br />Best part about it from a coaching perspective is that it doesn't rely on flashy Xs and Os: just common fundamentals, team play, hard work and support for your teammates. And when teams really buy into that and work hard to get those done, I believe in this system they're going to be successful on the defensive end and they're going to have a lot of fun doing it.Blake Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08892935630385126023noreply@blogger.com