Kobe, Lebron, Phil, and Innovation

If you are a basketball fan, you may have wondered why the Lakers and the Celtics have been so much more successful than most other franchises in the NBA.  If you're not a fan of either of these teams, then their success has probably been annoying, but if you like either of them, then perhaps you can't resist a smug feeling of satisfaction knowing how many titles these teams have won over the years.But why are they so much better than the others?Part of the explanation is provided by science, and in this case I am also referring to Science, the bi-weekly magazine from the American Academy for the Advancement of Science.  In the November 11, 2011 issue there's a short piece that describes research conducted by an Arizona State University biologist and a mathematician, who were studying the behavior of ant colonies to understand how worker ants coordinate their activities.  A typical nest of ants may consists of thousands of individuals, far too many for effective study; the researchers then turned to a study of professional basketball games as a proxy for ant behavior (which may be vaguely insulting to some NBA players if taken the wrong way).The specific topic of study was how the ball was passed between players.  Teams generally rely on one of two strategies of play. Some rely on a point guard as the player to distribute the ball to all teammates, so the ball tends to be passed from point guard to a player, and then back to the point guard and on to another player, etc.  Other teams use more complex passing strategies, such as the triangle offense perfected by coach Phil Jackson, who led the Chicago Bulls to many championships before moving on to coach the Lakers.In the triangle offense, the route the ball will take is less predictable, making it more difficult to defend.Kobe Bryant may be a great player, but his career has benefitted enormously from his good fortune to be on the Lakers and playing in Phil Jackson's complex and innovative offense; Lebron James may be an equally great player, but during his many tedious years in Cleveland the Cavaliers ran the most deadly dull, one dimensional, simplistic offense, an entirely predictable and sluggish plod of a thing.Kobe will owe a great deal of his legacy, then, to innovation and unpredictability; Lebron's legacy will be more slender due to the lack of innovation displayed by the coaches he played for.  What type of offense are they going to run in Miami this season?Science does indeed inform the NBA, like it does most other aspects of our world.(The article is available online, but regrettably you have to pay for it.) 

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Speaking of Science Magazine, one of the suggestions we have often made is that innovative thinkers should read books and particularly magazines that are outside of their field of expertise, and should change topics now and then, perhaps yearly, to gain insights from other fields and disciplines.  Science Magazine is a particularly good source of information for non-scientists, because it illustrates very well the technical and not-so-technical aspects of scientific research across all of its many disciplines.  In the same issue as the article mentioned above I also found interesting (and non-technical) pieces on water pollution in China, brain simulation software and some controversies surrounding it; and a very detailed and well written piece on science funding provided by the US Federal government, and the challenges faced in these times of government budget shortages and ideological disputes about the role of science in politics, religion, and society.This, in addition to many articles of a highly technical nature.  Highly recommended.