Loading ...From Billy Witz of the New York Times via Ballhype:
Tex Winter is not a soccer guy, either, but he, too, knows plenty about fundamentals. Winter, an 86-year-old consultant for the Lakers who has served alongside Coach Phil Jackson for years, sees the congruency between his triangle offense and the triangular formations that are fundamental to soccer. Jackson’s teams have used the triangle strategy to win a combined nine N.B.A. titles in Chicago and Los Angeles.
“Soccer is a lot like basketball,” Winter said. “It’s a game of geometry. Spacing, distances, direct lines — they operate on these angles and reverse sides of the court with the ball, just as we would in the triangle. Not being a soccer coach, I can’t really address it with intelligence, but a lot of the concepts are similar.”
Foot skills, naturally, apply well to basketball. Nash once said that when he began to play basketball after years of playing soccer, it almost felt unfair to be able to use his hands. Hakeem Olajuwon, who will go into the Basketball Hall of Fame this year, has credited soccer during his days growing up in Nigeria for his exemplary footwork in the post. [Read]
(Hat tip: Tom Ziller of AOL Fanhouse)
