In 2007, Jeff Van Gundy and first-year assistant general manager Daryl Morey collaborated on a joint project to mold Morey’s data-driven approach with Van Gundy’s seasoned pragmatism. The task was simple and the implications were obvious. They wanted to know which Van Gundy play calls performed the best.
Two-thirds of the way through the project, Morey took a peek and discovered that the play at the top of the list was unfamiliar to him. Confused, he asked Van Gundy what it was called.
“[He said] ‘It’s called random. That’s when the play breaks down, and we just set a random screen.’” Morey recalled during a 2014 Sloan Sports Analytics panel. “So I was like, ‘Well, that might tell us something right there.’ Our best play is ‘Random.’”
Neither man believed that “something” was to have no offensive structure at all. Still, the data was sending a powerful message with wide-ranging implications that few grasped in 2007, more understood in 2014, and almost everyone in the game takes for granted in 2022. The best way to score isn’t to diagram an elaborate sequence that beats a set defense. It’s to sew and exploit chaos. To play instead of calling a play. To be “random.”
That discovery has become the ethos that defines every single modern NBA team. Instead of stopping to script a path through a set defense, they keep the game moving in an attempt to bypass it entirely. The goal is to run Van Gundy’s deadly “Random” play as often as possible.
“2007年，杰夫·范甘迪与菜鸟助理总经理达里尔·莫雷合作开展了一个联合项目，旨在将莫雷的数据驱动方法与范甘迪的成熟务实相结合。任务看似简单，但其意义不言而喻。他们想了解范甘迪的哪些战术呼叫表现最佳。项目进行到三分之二时，莫雷偶然发现排名靠前的战术对他来说很陌生。他感到困惑，便问范甘迪这叫什么。“他说：‘这叫“随机战术”（Random）。当战术陷入僵局时，我们就设置一个随机掩护。’”莫雷在2014年斯隆体育分析论坛上回忆道。“我当时就想：‘这可能就在告诉我们一些东西。我们最好的战术是“随机战术”。’”没有人相信“随机战术”意味着完全没有进攻结构。然而，数据传递出了一条具有广泛影响的有力信息——2007年几乎无人理解，2014年更多人开始理解，到了2022年，几乎所有业内人士都已习以为常。【得分的最佳方式并非设计一套能破解固定防守的复杂战术序列，而是制造并利用混乱。是打球而非执行既定战术】是“随机应变”。这一发现已成为定义每支现代NBA球队理念的核心。他们不再停下脚步去规划突破固定防守的路径，而是努力保持比赛节奏以彻底绕过它。目标是尽可能多地执行范甘迪那致命的“随机战术”。”以上这个段落出自一本介绍NBA三分革命的书的第五章（Our Best Play Is “Random），这篇文章点出一个很重要的观点，即，现在的NBA球员在比赛中更多的是依靠自己的判断和决策来完成比赛，而非每一个回合都执行一套特定的战术，或由教练布置一个专门的战术来完成。教练只有在关键回合才会布置特有战术，而其他时间，基本上都是靠球员在场上的阅读和决策来完成。
我对这一章的理解是，现在教练员临场执教的方式并非通过布置某个战术来完成，他需要做的，更像是时机和人选的把握者，在合适的时间派上合适的人。时机和人选通常都很重要。可是如果没有合适人选的时候，只单独强调时机，意义在哪呢？把执教的能力拆成一个暂停，一次布置，一个换人，是否是合适的呢？
大家有兴趣可以自行去读这本书，应该还是很知名的一部作品，我也只是偶然翻到这一章，正好因为是提到火箭，所以才扫了一眼的。我并不真的理解如何执教，所以只好通过读其他专家的作品来丰富自己的见识和理解吧。
休斯顿火箭
