I was faced with another contradiction the other day. We were at a AAU youth tournament and I was watching the game scheduled before ours. The difference in approach could not be more stark - particularly in this area: passing.
Both teams were fairly equal in talent and size, it should have been a competitive game. But it wasn't. And it all came down to passing. One team was very fundamentally "sound". They made great jumpstops and passed the ball hard with two hands, they liked the overhead pass to skip the ball from one side of the floor to the other, and they were patient.
The other team was passing after jumping, throwing weaker one hand passes, and hardly threw any skip passes (I can't remember if they threw even one skip pass).
Guess which team won? Not only won, but won easily?
Yes, the second one. And it came down to this: they passed the ball faster by throwing one-handed passes, they made passes that led to scores by challenging defenses, and I don't recall even one jumpstop the entire game. They were constantly challenging and taking the game to their opponent. Somewhere along the way a coach taught them that a good pass is one that leads to a score.
Both teams were fairly equal in talent and size, it should have been a competitive game. But it wasn't. And it all came down to passing. One team was very fundamentally "sound". They made great jumpstops and passed the ball hard with two hands, they liked the overhead pass to skip the ball from one side of the floor to the other, and they were patient.
The other team was passing after jumping, throwing weaker one hand passes, and hardly threw any skip passes (I can't remember if they threw even one skip pass).
Guess which team won? Not only won, but won easily?
Yes, the second one. And it came down to this: they passed the ball faster by throwing one-handed passes, they made passes that led to scores by challenging defenses, and I don't recall even one jumpstop the entire game. They were constantly challenging and taking the game to their opponent. Somewhere along the way a coach taught them that a good pass is one that leads to a score.
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