One of my favorite movies is the 1994 crime film Fresh. I won’t summarize the film for you here, but the way the main character (a 12 year old black kid in New York) manipulates his situation via strategic plotting influenced by his playing of chess will always be something I appreciate. What can I say, I’m a sucker for smart characters and this kid was smart.
This isn’t a movie review, but I was thinking about chess earlier after I read Zach Lowe’s latest piece for ESPN on the Dallas Mavericks. Lowe goes into detail about how the Mavs continue to win games even though their roster has turned over by more than half and how an aging Dirk and head coach Rick Carlisle are still getting it done.
The passage which caught my eye, however, is below:
It turns out, Dallas needed a slight recalibration, rather than a total overhaul. The team traded a few pick-and-rolls for more intricate pieces of five-man basketball chess: classic Carlisle and Terry Stotts “flow” sets, with Pachulia and Nowitzki helming the elbows and a whir of on-ball and off-ball screens unfolding around them. Only three teams have set more on-ball screens, and only five have nailed opponents with more off-ball picks, per SportVU data and numbers crunched to ESPN.com by Vantage Sports…
The Mavs have collected smart players who read the game in snapshots, guys who can improvise an off-ball screening ballet and understand how to cut against the defense’s expectations. They keep you guessing all over the floor until someone breaks.
The concept of elite basketball players “playing chess” on the floor is not a new one. Back when the Lakers were coached by Phil Jackson and ran the Triangle Offense, I often talked about how Kobe, Pau, and Odom manipulated defenses via expert level understanding of how each action of the offense would impact what their opponents did to stop them.
This isn’t a new idea. The best players are typically the smartest players and the best teams are the ones who have stacked their rosters with multiple guys who are not only good athletes with elite skills, but those who can out-think foes on the fly and not only react to what the defense is giving them, but put the defense in desired positions so what it does give is what the offense wants it to.
This is the game of chess the best of the best play. This is the level these young Lakers are not at, but where they will need to get to in order to contend.
The question is, whether the Lakers actually have the players on the team who can do these things an whether they have the coach in place who can inspire it. Some of these things we already know (sorry, Byron). Some we are starting to learn as these young players show us flashes.
It’s too early to tell for sure, but I would argue Russell, with his penchant for passing and already advanced knack of being able to read plays a step ahead will be one of those guys. Clarkson and Randle have shown flashes of being able to respond to collapsing defenses with some next level reads, too. Nance seems to have a good understanding of team basketball and what it means to be a ball mover rather than a ball stopper. That is an important trait that should not be diminished.
The rest of the roster is filled with veterans who are what they are at this point of their careers. This doesn’t mean they cannot be part of a good team, but they will most likely be “finishers” of plays rather than the guys who, with the ball in the hands, see the game unfold like a series of pictures taken on your iPhone in burst-mode and respond accordingly. It’s those latter players who can take a visual of the floor, advance the game a beat, process new information, and then call on the image they just saw to make the right read who are special.
This is what the Warriors have. It’s what the Spurs have had. It’s what, as Lowe wrote above, the Mavs seem to possess some of too. The Lakers will need to get there one day too, but that likely means a fair amount of changes to the construction of their team.
Thomas Rickard says
Last night as the game between Clippers and Pistons was coming to a close, the play that ultimately made the difference was when Rivers(?) Jumped on the back of Rosen after a made free throw thus sending him to the line, after making only 1 it now became a 3 point game thus allowing the 3 pointer to send to overtime, I’m sure this has been done before but I don’t remember, it seems that this would be a great way to play the free throw game without time coming off the clock and at the same time sending a poor shooting big to the line
Vasheed says
I’d add MWP and Kelly to the list of smart players on the Lakers. MWP is just now old. Kelly showed in the D-League what he could do if his opponents were about a half step slower.
desmo says
After 24 games the Lakers are 20.5 games out of first place.
Darius Soriano says
Vasheed,
Yes, agree on Kelly and MWP. Though Ron has been a bit more shot happy as the season has progressed.
DieTryin says
Well considering that you need both the right players AND a competent coach it’s fair to say that compared to Dallas we are in better shape with the former than the latter. This is not news of course.
But after listening to Mitch’s comments today post Byron sit down I am acutely concerned that the problems go well beyond coaching. Mitch talked about how hard it is for a rookie to earn minutes in the NBA. Stating that there were 70 players (ostensibly similarly situated to our rookies) who can’t get playing time at all. This is PR whitewash of the highest order.
DAR & JR are the #7 and #2 picks respectively on a BAD team. Common sense dictates that they play not because they should be “given” anything but because it is in the best long term interests of the franchise to see what they can do and develop them if they show themselves capable.
Instead we have seen the likes of Lou Williams closing games often to very poor effect. Bottom line it appears that no coaching change is going to be made before season end. And the more I hear Mitch &’Byron rationalize what can not be reasonably rationalized I become increasingly concerned that Byrion may well be back for next season. The lack of accountability for the direction of the franchise this season is very disheartening. Not convicnced that Jeannie will take appropriate action.
I’m sorry to have such a grim outlook but the stark differences in how the Mav’s responded to the loss of Jordan this summer and how the Laker’s are handling their adversity do little to inspire confidence. But if the true chess move here is to protect our first round pick then at least that is a strategy but one that I have grave doubts about. The only saving grace is that our current players will try hard to win as many games as they can but those rooting for “the tank” can rest easy knowing that we have the perfect coach to lead the race to the bottom.
Drrayeye says
For the fan, the Lakers consist of players and coaches visible during games. To FBG fanatics that can extend to supporting coaches, the entire 15 player roster, d league, and the management elite, but not with total clarity.
In reality, the Lakers consist of two teams: 1. the players, coaches, and direct support. 2. Management. To be successful, both of those teams must work closely together even as they work at cross purposes to related goals: winning games and ultimately winning championships.
The misfortune of the Lakers is near total disarray in both teams at the same time. The team that we see loses nearly every game. The other team appears to lack a coherent plan.
Where do we go from here?
rr says
Dallas is 14-11 with a PYTH record of 13-12, and they are 14th in ORTG. Looking at some players, Deron Williams is doing a bit better than he did last year, and Zaza Pachulia’s numbers have spiked at age 31. Lowe seems to presume that will hold up because of Carlisle’s system, and maybe it will. Wesley Matthews is to this point doing a lot worse than he was doing in Portland. That may be due to the injury.
The article has some interesting details about Dallas’ operation (Carlisle gives IPad tests to players with video; some guys like them but Nowitzki blows them off. Nowitzki uses all of Cuban’s new conditioning gadgets, supposedly).
As I said a few days ago, I think the Lakers were trying to be like Dallas in 2013-14, but it didn’t work out. Nowitzki is actually two months older than Kobe is but has been able to stay on the floor and hold his value and that, combined with his willingness to play for relatively little money, has made a big difference, as has, most likely, Carlisle’s coaching. But even so, Dallas has been stuck in the exact same place since letting Tyson Chandler walk: they need to sign a star in FA.
One thing to keep an eye on: Dwight Howard can opt out of his deal in Houston and he would fit in Dallas.
matt says
Mitch interview “byron is doing a good job, we didn’t expect to compete, pick 1 2 3 are protected, we will have alot of room for free agents next year “
matt says
Oh yeah, as per rhe last thread every free agent your saying the lakers missed out on were restricted free agents
dockliver says
Man, FRESH is such an underrated movie.. Sean Nelson plays it just right and Sam Jackson and Esposito are perfect as character actors. And damn, the way the film treats Chucky, who’s like the living embodiment of hip hop swag, is so damn ballsy for a script in that era. That scene at the railroad tracks was so good even Big Pun had to sample it for his first record. I’m convinced Pun took his name after watching that scene.
Oh and N’Bushe Wright who plays Fresh’s sister used to be my neighbor when I lived in West Hollywood. Goodness sakes alive what a beautiful woman.. it was those eyes of hers. She could say so much without saying anything. No wonder they put her in multi million dollar movies. For some reason I don’t think her husband liked me very much tho.