Thinking Basketball: When the solution doesn’t address the problem (the Load Management debate)

Remote

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Jim_Halpert_Smiling_Through_Blinds.jpg
 

Remote

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Good video. The pace and style had drastically changed since the 90’s but people don’t want to acknowledge that.
Absolutely.
The important part is also how they tracked what he called “hard plants”.

People need to know that simply looking at games played is ignoring much of the context around the toll these games take on the body.

As it turns out, 82 games in 1986 don’t have the same impact on the body as 82 games in 2026.

It’s not a matter of simply looking at pace. That helps. But it is deeper than that.
 

KillerPups

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nba need to go away from this star driven system. i feel like the good teams with good coaches and good systems can win with or without their star. Thunder, Celtics, Nuggets, spurs, and Pistons all missed major players and stilll put out a good product this year.

I know we want to see the star shine but ultimately we want our team to win.
 

Remote

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nba need to go away from this star driven system. i feel like the good teams with good coaches and good systems can win with or without their star. Thunder, Celtics, Nuggets, spurs, and Pistons all missed major players and stilll put out a good product this year.

I know we want to see the star shine but ultimately we want our team to win.
There will always be stars because there will always be elite/charismatic players.

The problem with the NBA is that fans are obsessed with the past. Literally no other sports league’s fans do this where they call today’s players soft or not as great as MJ/Kobe/whoever from some past era.

Barry Bonds was great. He’s not a topic of conversation in 2026.

Wayne Gretzky was the greatest hockey player maybe ever. Aside from his goals record being broken, nobody is bringing him up to tear down Connor McDavid in 2026.

And in the NFL, nobody is bashing Justin Jefferson for not being Jerry Rice.

NBA fans are miserable today because everyone isn’t standing around while 1 player hogs the ball in isolation for 15 seconds to make a fadeaway. Or because competitive balance makes it nearly impossible to win 6 championships in 8 years. But mostly they’re miserable because they can’t let go of the past.

And this manifests itself in all these tv segments and podcasts and threads where they criticize guys for not playing every game, not holding opponents to 57 points, not dunking over some lanky Shawn Bradley white boy.
 

Nigerianwonder

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Cac in this video doesn't look like he ever played an organized sport or even picked up a basketball but talking like he know more than hall of fame players. Basketball is much less physical today then in the past. Shooting 3's is easier than driving to the lane.
 

Bigblackted4

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Cac in this video doesn't look like he ever played an organized sport or even picked up a basketball but talking like he know more than hall of fame players. Basketball is much less physical today then in the past. Shooting 3's is easier than driving to the lane.
Take one aspect of the game and avoid others. Even threes have a reaction because players now have to close out 5-8 extra feet which means they run more. There are way more perimeter screens which means more contact. Some of the greatest coaches ever never played at a high level so the notion you need to have played to analyze is nonsense
 

Remote

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Cac in this video doesn't look like he ever played an organized sport or even picked up a basketball but talking like he know more than hall of fame players. Basketball is much less physical today then in the past. Shooting 3's is easier than driving to the lane.
Angelo Dundee never won a boxing match in his life.

Pretty sure he knew more about that sport than probably any boxer alive right now.

You don’t have to play a sport to understand it.
 

Nigerianwonder

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Take one aspect of the game and avoid others. Even threes have a reaction because players now have to close out 5-8 extra feet which means they run more. There are way more perimeter screens which means more contact. Some of the greatest coaches ever never played at a high level so the notion you need to have played to analyze is nonsense

Angelo Dundee never won a boxing match in his life.

Pretty sure he knew more about that sport than probably any boxer alive right now.

You don’t have to play a sport to understand it.

You can analyze all you want. What you can't do is discredit the experience of people who have actually done what you are trying to analyze. If you never dunked a basketball, you cannot tell me what its like or how difficult it is to dunk a basketball. You can describe it. you can analyze it. But you cant tell me what dunk is harder to do cause I'm the one doing the dunking. As someone who has played ball at a high level, I'm telling you driving to the lane was always more dangerous and risky for injury over shooting a 3 pointer and playing the perimeter.

And until you have stepped on a court with D1 talent or NBA talent nothing can prepare you for the speed and pace of the game. It looks slow on tv and from the sidelines. There is no amount of data that does it justice for when you are on the court. Trainers and coaches can speak as trainers and coaches.. They cannot speak FOR players or as players.
 

In The Zone '98

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You can analyze all you want. What you can't do is discredit the experience of people who have actually done what you are trying to analyze. If you never dunked a basketball, you cannot tell me what its like or how difficult it is to dunk a basketball. You can describe it. you can analyze it. But you cant tell me what dunk is harder to do cause I'm the one doing the dunking. As someone who has played ball at a high level, I'm telling you driving to the lane was always more dangerous and risky for injury over shooting a 3 pointer and playing the perimeter.

And until you have stepped on a court with D1 talent or NBA talent nothing can prepare you for the speed and pace of the game. It looks slow on tv and from the sidelines. There is no amount of data that does it justice for when you are on the court. Trainers and coaches can speak as trainers and coaches.. They cannot speak FOR players or as players.

Plenty of dudes who have played have podcasts. And suck at explaining/analyzing hoops
 

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You can analyze all you want. What you can't do is discredit the experience of people who have actually done what you are trying to analyze. If you never dunked a basketball, you cannot tell me what its like or how difficult it is to dunk a basketball. You can describe it. you can analyze it. But you cant tell me what dunk is harder to do cause I'm the one doing the dunking. As someone who has played ball at a high level, I'm telling you driving to the lane was always more dangerous and risky for injury over shooting a 3 pointer and playing the perimeter.

And until you have stepped on a court with D1 talent or NBA talent nothing can prepare you for the speed and pace of the game. It looks slow on tv and from the sidelines. There is no amount of data that does it justice for when you are on the court.
We can absolutely discredit the experience of some players because doing something doesn’t always mean you understand it on a deeper level.

A basketball player might know how to shoot a basketball. It doesn’t mean he knows how to construct a roster. Or coach others. Or heal players. Or train players. Or weigh the risk vs reward of certain strategies or actions.

If you played basketball in 1995 when it was a largely stationary game, you might not be qualified to talk about the physical demands of chasing Steph Curry around the basket for 36 minutes a night.
 

Bigblackted4

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You can analyze all you want. What you can't do is discredit the experience of people who have actually done what you are trying to analyze. If you never dunked a basketball, you cannot tell me what its like or how difficult it is to dunk a basketball. You can describe it. you can analyze it. But you cant tell me what dunk is harder to do cause I'm the one doing the dunking. As someone who has played ball at a high level, I'm telling you driving to the lane was always more dangerous and risky for injury over shooting a 3 pointer and playing the perimeter.

And until you have stepped on a court with D1 talent or NBA talent nothing can prepare you for the speed and pace of the game. It looks slow on tv and from the sidelines. There is no amount of data that does it justice for when you are on the court. Trainers and coaches can speak as trainers and coaches.. They cannot speak FOR players or as players.
Well using your example, how can a player that played in past eras truly analyze this era if he hasn’t played in this era at a high level. See how dumb that sounds
 

Bigblackted4

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Plenty of dudes who have played have podcasts. And suck at explaining/analyzing hoops
To even piggy back on this, my homeboy got a scholarship in football to play for Ohio State, I had never seen this man watch a game of football. He legit played off full instinct and could not tell you in depth what goes on in a game.
 
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