High Basketball IQ
With the return of the NBA after the lockout and the free preview of NBA league pass, I have been watching a lot of basketball. Normally, I would only get to see the nationally televised games and the Warriors games but with the League Pass, I get to see every game. This is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. It's good in that I get to see games and teams that I would normally never see. It is bad because I get to hear announcers that I would normally never hear.
I have always ripped on the Warriors play by play announcer, Bob Fitzgerald. He comes off as a company man way too often. He has managed to tone it down a bit recently but you can still tell that he is desperately suckling at Joe Lacob's teet. Well, he might be suckling but compared to the announcers for some of the other teams that I have seen lately, they must be nympho maniac sex slaves to their team's management. They will argue every call that goes against their team and try to convince people watching that their players never make a mistake. They will praise even the most routine plays. They will scrutinize the opposing team's every move and give undue credit to their team as often as possible. It's down right disgusting. I have had to watch some games on mute to actually enjoy the game.
One of the things that has bothered me over this past week of watching NBA games is how the announcers will use the the term "High Basketball I.Q." to refer to a players ability to know what to do on the basketball court. This is total bull$h!t. Basketball is a simple game. You don't have to be a genius to play it. If you learn the basic fundamentals of the game, the only thing left is to hone those skills to a higher level. The game itself is not complicated at all. In fact, I can explain basketball and most every sport using just one word; position. It's all about where you are in relationship to the opposing players. For example, the easiest shot in basketball is the layup when a player can get as close to the basket as possible without the interference of a defensive player. How is this done? It's done by positioning yourself in the right spot. If you force the defense out of position, you have an advantage and the ability to get into a superior position. If you get the ball into the middle of the lane, the defense is forced to collapse to prevent an easy shot. Players get out of position defensively and leave open shooters on the outside.
It works the same with football. If a receiver gets behind the defense, the quarterback can make the pass over the defense to the open receiver for a touchdown. In soccer, they created a rule to keep players from taking advantage of position and making it too easy to score called the Off Sides rule. A player is not allowed to be behind the defense and receive a pass. He must be parallel or behind the defense when a pass is made. They specifically made a rule for this because they know it is all about position.
You might argue that there were great basketball minds like Phil Jackson that came up with the triangle offense and it's many different possibilities and you would be right. But I would argue that the many different possibilities of the triangle offense are all basically the same. The idea is to get the defense out of position so that the offense can take advantage. There are hundreds of different plays that can be run from the triangle but all rely on the same basic principle.
Let's get back to the "High Basketball I.Q." cliche. I have heard it been said so many times recently and it usually refers to a player that is not living up to his potential. A player is not producing statistical numbers that are common in basketball such as points, rebounds, assists or steals but the announcers come up with the "High Basketball I.Q." moniker to convince the audience that the player is contributing in a way that cannot be measured. The idea is to give fans hope that the player that the team has invested so much in isn't a total wash up and that team management hasn't made a huge mistake. It's just another way of lying to the audience to give them a false sense of hope.
My request to NBA announcers is this: Please treat the viewers with respect and present the game in an unbiased and honest way. Praise a player or the team when they do something right and don't be afraid to chastise them when they do something wrong. You spoil the game when you do otherwise and you treat the fans as though they are idiots who don't know the game. Considering the lockout drama disenchanted all the casual fans and only the die hard fans are watching basketball right now, you don't need to put on a show. Call the game as a fan of basketball itself and not as a fan of the team that is writing your paychecks.
Comments