[Thinking Basketball] The invisible hand influencing NBA plays
I don’t think there’s another content creator who adds as much depth to the game than Thinking Basketball. I’ve been watching basketball since like.. 97-98, and even I fall into patterns of “the players are just out there doing stuff” at times despite watching and hearing Thibs yell his lungs out for the past 5 years, so I appreciate this kind of content fr.
and even I fall into patterns of “the players are just out there doing stuff”
Guys are just flying around out there, they just are!
Idk if he was the first but Hoopvision68 making content for college bball and overlaying the action names (flare screen, stacked pick n roll, etc.) with arrows showing what’s about to happen was absolutely eye-opening for me, a casual fan of one college team who’s never played ball in a formal team setting.
Ben Taylor and their team are so far ahead of anyone else doing basketball analysis.
Caitlin Cooper is also fantastic
Caitlin Cooper’s analysis of the Pacers is so far above anyone else covering any other team that it’s insane. It’s honestly surprising to me that she hasn’t ended up in a front office yet, because what she can do with just publicly available video room analysis is incredible.
Him & Nate Duncan are the best
Mazzulla is so fucking filthy man, he’s COTY
Mazzulla sadly might encounter the Brad Steven’s issue. Being too young with a good team so the voters rather pick an older coach thinking Mazzulla will win it another year OR voters discredit the coach for the teams being so good due to the players, not the coach themselves.
He has a huge recency bias boost with the win against the magic on national tv that will probably help
That’s the Spolestra zone too
Honestly, not too bad of a place to be. Not like anyone cares about coty consider the history of past winners.
He has another Brad Stevens issue to overcome - Brad Stevens set him up with a really fucking good and deep team.
Crazy that the whole Ime situation worked out so well for them without skipping a beat
One of my favorite aspects of all Thinking Basketball videos is when they highlight what the coaches and players say and how it affects what happens on the court. So it’s very cool to see a whole video dedicated to it.
That said, calling sounds and communication an “invisible hand” is a kind of weird way to frame it
I do get it’s weird but it is mostly invisible to viewers.
Most people in an arena or watching on tv don’t hear or see what’s being said, they just see the result.
The concept of the “invisible hand” is about how behavior can be governed through people’s self interest without explicit instruction so it feels somewhat contradictory to use in a video about coaches telling players exactly what to do, sometimes with loud visual cues.
I understand and agree that it was trying to emphasize what’s “invisible to viewers” but I think the specific analogy is an awkward fit and brings up unnecessary connotations.
Is this a philosophy term? I’ve never heard it used like that
It’s an econ/sociology thing. Individuals just doing what’s good for themselves adds up to a big influence on the market/country. That cumulative influence is the “hand”.
I don’t think it’s an analogy at all. That is, the video maker is using “invisible hand” as a metaphorical phrase on its own, he’s not referencing economics.
In that case the phrase makes perfect sense, it only doesn’t make sense if you assume he’s alluding to the economics concept.
Ben Taylor out here reading Adam Smith or some shit tryna sound cool
Mazulla the puppet meister
I’m biased but Scottie vs the Celtics going fake for fake at the end there was my favourite example, incredibly fun interaction.
Scottie’s defensive IQ is incredible. He would have had a solid case for DPOY if not for the Alien
Great video showing how good of a coach jamahl mosely is. But reddit fans want him fired lol
This was an awesome video.
Is there a way to watch the live broadcast where you can hear the coaches / players like in this video? Where else would you be able to watch clips like this?
There is definitely a gap between coaches like Mazzulla and Lee, who are coaching all 48 minutes, even in “garbage time”, and those who don’t.
Darvin “Pockets” Ham gets a lot of criticism for his style, but there are even some “all-time great” coaches who are often just sitting on the bench silently. It makes me doubt how much of their greatness is them versus luck.
Or more so, the lack of complexity of the game in the past. Coaches of the past could afford to be quieter because the game was less complex. The same way some roleplayers today would look like superstars 30 years ago because of shooting
Joe “Adam Smith” Mazzulla
What’s next trickle down basketball where the top 1% of players splashing jump shots makes other players splash them?
Or something idk, I couldn’t really make this work whatever
I wish Thinking Basketball was around when I was a teenager. I would have saw the game moer deeply and maybe played much better in high school.
this is incredible content
Now post the one with him talking about why the 65 game rule sucks
I was hoping for some Daigneault examples but nice vid regardless.
The Thinking Basketball guys are so great, I genuinely enjoy them, but they have a pretty strong, and I think subconscious/not intentional, bias against OKC and/or Shai.
They made that video a couple years ago about OKC’s defense, and now nothing they do ever gives OKC credit. They were so happy when the Spurs gave OKC trouble for a bit there in the beginning of the season. If they have to mention Shai, it’s for like 5 seconds and then back to Wemby or Derrick White for the other 99% of the podcast lol
They mostly are nerdy in the best possible way with all the stats and analysis, but they just totally sell out for Wemby. Like “let’s just ignore Luke Kornet when looking at on/off numbers for Wemby since Kornet is serviceable. Let’s compare Wemby’s on/off numbers to the third string center, while we keep every other nba center being compared to their actual backup, look how crazy Wemby’s on/off numbers are now!” lol gave me a good laugh that day
Man, you might be right, but it’s weird to see fans of the best team acting like they don’t receive enough praise. Try not to let the media ruin the fun.
Oh I’m having a great time. My comment didn’t mention “the media” just this one specific podcast. And I gave them a lot of credit bc I do think they get a ton of things right and are really entertaining and educational compared to all the hot take stuff out there. I just wanted to share my experience. Sorry if it came across as spoiled
I’m not a Thunder fan. Ben and Cody never let a podcast episode go by without rightfully glazing Dort/Caruso/Wallace for their defense and Shai’s generational scoring efficiency. In their Thinkies Award episode last week, Thunder guys were mentioned in every category.
I personally think Chet is super overrated, but these guys way smarter than me LOVE him. So, I assume I’m wrong. Rather than griping about having to hear about Chet again, I try to understand what I’m missing.
The defensive Thinkies episode was a nice exception in some ways, but the premise of that episode was discussing what players other people had voted on, then adding who they voted for on the side. They both said they had a hard time knowing who on OKC to give credit to, so Ausar and Derrick White got their votes on several categories lol
That combined with giving equal/more credit to Alex Caruso for this regular season when he has played 18 mpg for 56 games compared to 27 mpg on 77 gp for Cason and 27 mpg and 69 gp for Dort just feels like they haven’t done their due diligence when it comes to knowing who the Thunder were this season. I wonder how many games they watched this season of the Thunder. The average non-Thunder fan might not pick up on the inconsistencies, but they stood out to me
Ben and team glaze the fuck outta OKC and GSW. all the time.
GSW? You mean like 5 seasons ago?
i don’t think you watch much of his content if you think that.
I mean they talk a lot about GSW from the past, but so does everybody. Nobody is glazing current GSW
Ben loves Golden State more than any team in the league and made many videos about them last year. He continues to make videos about Steph.
The fact that you said:
They made that video a couple years ago about OKC’s defense, and now nothing they do ever gives OKC credit
Really shows you do not follow his content. this is just blatantly wrong.