NBA analysis

Tactics · 4 min read

Why spacing, not scoring, decides modern basketball

The three-point line did not simply add points. It rearranged where players are allowed to stand, and everything a modern offence does follows from that.

Postseason · 3 min read

Playoff defence is a different sport

A seven-game series lets a defence study one opponent until it finds the thing that opponent cannot do. That is why regular-season offence rarely survives contact with spring.

Coaching · 3 min read

The modern head coach is a manager of attention, not a play-caller

Most possessions are not decided by a diagrammed set. They are decided by where a coach has trained ten eyes to look, and that is a harder job to see from the stands.

Rebounding · 3 min read

Rebounding is a positioning problem long before it is a jumping problem

The highlight is always the leap. The rebound was usually decided two seconds earlier, by a body that got where it needed to be first.

Transition · 3 min read

Transition offense starts on the defensive end, not the fast break

The fastest points in basketball are earned before the ball changes hands, in the decisions a team makes about the shot it is about to give up.

Officiating · 3 min read

What referees are actually optimizing for, and why fans misread it

A whistle is not a verdict on justice. It is a judgment, made in real time, about which mistake is more costly to let stand — and that framing explains most complaints about consistency.

Roster construction · 3 min read

Why two-star rosters keep outperforming three-star ones

A roster is a budget of shots, minutes and shot-creation responsibility. Past a certain point, adding another elite scorer does not add value, it subtracts it from someone else.

Pace · 3 min read

Pace is a strategic choice, not a fixed team personality

Commentators talk about pace as though it were temperament. It is closer to a lever a coaching staff pulls deliberately, possession by possession, based on who they have and who they are facing.