Red Auerbach's 57 Strategies ( A Note for the Basketball Fanatics {Especially the Boston Celtics Fans} )

Many years ago, an associate who is a Boston Celtics basketball fanatic, gave us  this interesting book from the great Arnold "Red" Auerbach.  It is titled "Basketball for the Player, the Fan and the Coach." 

On page 189,  the book lists  "57 Strategic Moves," which Auerbach prefaces with this disclaimer: "How many of these you consider ethical or unethical depends entirely on your organization. I am merely listing them as things that can happen." Among the possible moves are:

• When a player notices an official's indecision as to an out-of-bounds ball, he should run over and pick it up with the full confidence that it is his.
• If the opposing team has a high scorer, keep reminding the other players of their uselessness because the scorer takes all the shots.
• Grabbing or pulling the pants or shirt of the opponent can be very aggravating.
• When the other team is given possession of the ball from an official's decision, don't throw the ball directly to an opponent. The ball should be thrown rather slowly to the official. This will give your men time to get set on defense.
• Place the scorer's and timer's table near your bench.
• Wait until the other team has started warming up and then request their basket. This request must be honored away from home.
• Faking injuries is used for many reasons . . . 
• Some players may agitate their opponents by incessant chatter, refusing to talk to them at all, or even ridicule

From our experience, gaining the subtle advantage of creating strategic momentum is the essence of these tactics.. Maintaining the strategic momentum throughout the game is the tangible key to a imtegral victory.

Scripting this category of plays in your gameplan is easy. Preparing the principals to implement it, is the challenge.

 "Whenever there is pressure to win on any coach or team you will find men deviating from what is considered the way of good sportsmanship. It is up to the player himself to decide what is 'dirty' and what is 'tricky.' " - Red Auerbach

Comments From The Compass Desk

Some of our associates who have coached competitive basketball and other sports, explained to us on the variations of these deceits and tricks of one-upmanship and how they are implemented in certain situations.  It is up to the coach and the enlightened referees to prevent these tactics from being a distraction

Becoming prepared and being  aware of these possibilities from the practice  session to the end of the game are the keys to preventing your competitor from implementing this unethical approach..

Click here for other unique strategic rules that you could use for certain competitive situations.. 

In summary, the grand objective of the mentioned tactics is to gain any tactical advantage from the "warming up" session of the game to the final seconds of the game by misdirecting the competitor's attention from the actual game.   ...  Conceptually, successful strategists have always try to prevail over their competition with the least amount of effort while flying under the competition's radar. ... Realistically, someone usually have suffered some level of abrasion.  ... Achieving this plateau of minimum effort, means that one must learn how to assess their competition strategically. 

Win if you can, lose if you must, but never let your competition prevail over you through unethical subversion.

Compass Rule

Where the attention goes, the energy flows.   Always protect your energy.

Side note 

This book sold over 600,000 copies, not counting the Russian, Polish and Italian editions.

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