Glassbackboards.com Newsletter

Badgers handily defeated Marquette on home basketball turf. Wisconsin should have a great season with added portal transfers and return of everyone from last year’s squad. Marquette handled Kansas the week prior; and will be in conference and national title contention at year’s end. Play-on tourney within the NBA is interesting and controversial with point spreads mattering. I personally am not a fan of the point spread feature; however, it is like the NFL hierarchy of rules allowing close teams to settle the playoff entries by metrics through a tie-breaking system. There is talk of finding another method to advance in the early-season NBA playoffs when wins and losses are equal. My recommendation is to give the fans a treat and have a head-to-head playoff contest between the tied teams – instead of a point differential to decide upon advancements. There are far too many variables within games to make a point differential a metric to advance in a tournament. 

Shot selection in basketball matters. The present metrics subscribed to within the NBA are that 10-foot shots are scored 40%; while 3-pointers are scored 36%. The analytics highly favor shooting three-point shots. Generally, most good teams utilize a mix of standard 2 point and depth 3-point shots. Ten percent of the total shots in the NBA are from the corner (22 feet as opposed to 23 feet 9 inches out front). The 3-point arc favors the corner by distance, openness of the shooter, and less distraction for the eye (just a simple rim). The NBA rate for sinking corner 3 pointers is nearly 40 %. Kyle Korver made nearly 60% of his corner 3s in the NBA. There is little difference in some studies of percentage of shots scored from 2-20 feet within the NBA. Mid-range jumpers are difficult – with or without defense. The mid-range jumper is a “touch” shot. Recognizing that 2 basketballs fit through the hoop rim at the same time, shooters always ponder how they miss. The author feels that it is overall court awareness; and not just technique.  Percentage of shots made clearly is different with and without a hand in the face. Thus, inability to globally sense on the offensive attack a player with an opening/better shot through a ball screen, pick, slackened defense, numbers in transition, or obvious mismatch leads to isolation and poor overall individual and team percentage shooting. All these professional trends trickle down to college, high school, AAU, and eventually to YMCA basketball. The key to high percentage shooting is court vision/awareness by individuals and teams. 

In our book, Glass Backboards – A Coast to Coast Anthology of American Basketball – we discuss the most impactful teams, players, coaches, gyms, commissioners, etc. Our “chosen” team was the 1964-65 Celtics. This was their 8th straight NBA championship with 5 players inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts (KC and Sam Jones, John Havlicek, Bill Russell, and Tom Heinsohn). The head Celtic coach Red Auerbach and sub player, John Thompson, were elected as coaches to the Hall of Fame. The Celtics defeated a strong Laker team with Jerry West 4-1 in the NBA finals. Bill Russell was the NBA MVP that year. This team was well known for tenacity, defense, rebounding and team shooting – coaching and players always moved the ball to obtain the very best shot within the confines of a 24 second clock. Transition and training were keys to winning close games. Within the context of the times, the 1964-65 Boston Celtics historically stood above the competition. 

Charles H Ripp MD