Thinking Basketball - Softcover

Taylor, Ben

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1532968175 ISBN 13: 9781532968174

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

Synopsis

Are top scorers really the most valuable players? Are games decided in the final few minutes? Does the team with the best player usually win? Thinking Basketball challenges a number of common beliefs about the game by taking a deep dive into the patterns and history of the NBA. Explore how certain myths arose while using our own cognition as a window into the game's popular narratives. New basketball concepts are introduced, such as power plays, portability and why the best player shouldn't always shoot. Discover how the box score can be misleading, why "closers" are overrated and how the outcome of a game fundamentally alters our memory. Behavioral economics, traffic paradoxes and other metaphors highlight this thought-provoking insight into the NBA and our own thinking. A must-read for any basketball fan -- you'll never view the sport, and maybe the world, the same again.

About this title

About the Author

Ben Taylor is the founder of backpicks.com, which focuses on the "cognition of sports," primarily through the lens of basketball. His work in sports analytics has been used on basketball-reference.com and on websites like ESPN, Sports Illustrated and the Wall Street Journal. He holds a B.S. in Cognitive Science from UCLA and an M.S. in Human Factors from Bentley University. At UCLA, he covered basketball and football for the Daily Bruin and hosted a sports show on UCLA Radio. In 2009, he covered the Los Angeles Lakers for the Los Angeles Times blog.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1532968175
• ISBN 13: 9781532968174
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 180