Monday, August 11, 2014

Why I love basketball

From Phil Jackson's latest book -- "Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success" -- comes the reasons for his marriage to basketball: "what I liked about basketball was how interconnected everything was. The game was a complex dance of moves and countermoves that made it much more alive than the other sports I played. In addition, basketball demanded a high level of synergy. To succeed, you need to rely upon everybody else on the floor, not just yourself. That gave the sport a transcendent beauty that I found deeply satisfying..."

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Then there was this Eric Musselman tweet: "“Basketball can serve as a metaphor for ultimate cooperation...where the dictates of community prevail over selfish impulses.”- Bill Bradley


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Adding my two cents: when five become one and an actual team beats a group of more talented individuals, there's nothing else in the world of sports more satisfying to view or experience. 

You can have the flamboyant dunk: give me the steal and/or the heads up outlet pass that led to the flush.

So who will be the first prospect to send coaches a highlight defensive tape, one with nary a blocked shot but loaded with staying in defensive position, feet moving while heading off direct penetration, fighting through and over screens and not looping under...

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