Programming note: Starting next week I’ll post on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of Mondays and Thursdays…
Summary (TL;DR)
I’ve started some writing that may turn into a book. I’m going to document the process.
My latest video breakdown shows how Larry Bird was an elite team defender.
Michael Lewis’ piece, from 2008, on Shane Battier (and how we understand, or don’t understand the game), is a must-read.
Out of the Blue might be my favorite song by The Band. Here’s a cover.
Writing Corner
One, I’ve started outlining a potential book. It would be a basketball book, non-fiction.
I plan to post about my writing process and, if I get there, the self-publishing process.
Next week I’ll start a series titled “How to Outline Effectively.” I was an English teacher, after all…
Two, this writing advice from James Altucher is gold:
For any plot: find something intensely dark and sad and find the one vein of love in it. This is good for both non-fiction and fiction.
The Greatness of Larry Bird (on Defense!)
New video breakdown is up, the greatness of Larry Bird, on defense no less, as seen through the end of the classic 1981 Game 7, Philadelphia at Boston…
The No-Stats All-Star
Did you ever read Michael Lewis’ piece on Shane Battier? It’s a classic.
I re-read it recently for some writing I’m doing about Michael Jordan (I think Jordan might be a tad bit overrated as a defender).
Lewis gets at some of what I’m trying to get at, which is seeing the game behind the game:
Here we have a basketball mystery: a player is widely regarded inside the N.B.A. as, at best, a replaceable cog in a machine driven by superstars. And yet every team he has ever played on has acquired some magical ability to win.
A few weeks ago I wrote about Kelly Oubre Jr. (The Ballad of Kelly Oubre Jr.), and the competing incentives he faced, almost certainly not consciously, on a three-on-two fast break. I wrote:
In the NBA, stats are what gets you paid.
In particular, points per game is what gets you paid.
You know what doesn’t get you paid? Passing to a teammate who passes to a teammate.
There are no hockey assists in the NBA.
“Everybody needs money. That’s why they call it money,” is the quote from the David Mamet film Heist, one of the great non sequiturs of all-time.
Lewis gets at what I was writing about:
It is in basketball… where the player, in his play, faces choices between maximizing his own perceived self-interest and winning. The choices are sufficiently complex that there is a fair chance he doesn’t fully grasp that he is making them.
It’s a must-read.
Music for Today
Out of the Blue by The Band.
I can’t find a version online but here is a beautiful cover:
Have a great day out there in the sim…
Benbo
Social Media