Basketball Coaches Preach Different Styles

One area that’s important to examine and understand is the role coaches play in college and pro basketball. This is an often overlooked aspect of the game can influence winning and losing, straight up and against the spread. A competent coach is not going to take a team with marginal talent deep into the NBA playoffs or March Madness. Talent is essential, but a good coach can add to that talent, especially defensively, and even imprint his style on the team.

For instance, Iowa State was a run-and-gun team last season, averaging 77 ppg. That's why they went 18-10 over the total. However, a new coach took over this season in Greg McDermott. The former Northern Illinois coach had a reputation for tough defensive teams, and he has brought that same style to the Cyclones. Iowa State is averaging just 68 ppg this season, but the defense is far better. In fact, they began this season 3-0 under the total with the new coach. Yes, they’re not the run-and-gun team we saw last season.

Good coaches can bring organization, team-oriented play and defense to the table, three key ingredients to getting the most out of a team. The Houston Rockets were 25-16 over the total giving up 94 ppg on the road the year before Jeff Van Gundy came on board. Van Gundy used a slow-down approach while with the Knicks, often slowing things to a crawl, and his Houston teams have been similar. The Rockets are currently allowing just 90 ppg, best in the NBA.

Coaches play a huge roll in a team’s style of play. The Bulls are 6-3 under the total the last nine games, playing an aggressive style of defense under head coach Scott Skiles. The Wizards, on the other hand, haven’t cared about defense the last two seasons, preferring to run with their young shooters. Washington is 17-10 over the total this season.

When Shaq and Kobe Bryant teamed up in Los Angeles, many people forget that the Lakers were flops in the playoffs from 1997-99, going 1-12 straight up in their final playoff series each year. It wasn’t until Phil Jackson arrived that the Lakers turned the corner and won three straight titles. Anyone who watched the Lakers when Del Harris and Kurt Rambis were the coaches saw that L.A. had not clue about defense. Their offense was outstanding, but they were lazy at boxing out and failed to rotate and put pressure on defense. Jackson’s ability to teach defense was the missing link the Lakers needed.

So make sure you examine coaches and their history with other teams to identify what styles they like to play. That can help over and under with totals.

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