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An economic strategist is a person who can create a sustainable commercial advantage by applying innovative and quantitative ideas and systems at a sell side financial institution.
A political strategist is a multi-discipline strategist who works within political campaigns. Also known as political consulting, the political strategist will advise a campaign on a range of activities such as media, resourcing, opposition research, opinion polling and engagement strategy.
A sport strategist is a professional that performs scouting and analysis of the players involved in an upcoming competitive match. Sports strategists typically analyze film footage, organize video libraries, and recommend attacks and defensive strategies in order to capitalize on an opponents' weaknesses.
Working closely with investment managers, a principal investment strategist contributes revenue by providing principal investment analytics and alternative product structuring.
A sales strategist develops innovative trade ideas and assists in the marketing of those trades to buy side clients.
A banking strategist partners with investment bankers and capital market experts on corporate finance and capital structure analyses to identify and execute banking transactions.
A trading strategist contributes revenue to the business in which his team is embedded by developing and delivering innovative trade ideas, models and analytic systems to the trading desk.
Within the financial services industry, strategists are known as “strats”.
A military strategist develops strategies in the field of warfare with the objective of outmaneuvering their opponent.
An IT Strategist develops an IT strategy that is aligned with the business strategy to implement systems to give business processes efficiency and productivity gains and therefore a possible competitive advantage.
People who possess a strategist mindset are generally capable of doing well in any possible field due to the various traits that they own. Strategists tend to follow a career path that challenges them mentally in terms of development, and seek to work with people who are in the same caliber in terms of intelligence and competency. As it is highly likely that people with a strategist mindset tend to be more single-minded and may not be appreciative of others' effort, it is crucial for them to work in a suitable working environment.
Common careers that strategists tend to choose are:
Strategists can have a variety of backgrounds such journalism, speech writing, data analyzing, or telemarketing. People with a background of public relations or advertising can be hired as strategists because of their experience in market research and message delivery.
Carl Von Clausewitz (1780-1831) was a Prussian military theorist and strategist who was known for his originality in terms of ideas, influenced mainly by the Napoleonic war. Clausewitz most famous work was called “On War,” however it was not finished and was published posthumously.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was the prime minister of the United Kingdom and was in office from 1940 to 1945 and 1951 to 1955. Churchill was known for his leadership role during World War II. However, there were many controversial incidents, which resulted in Churchill's reputation as a strategist to waver between being known as a savior and a scapegoat. The battle of Gallipoli, which started on April 25, 1915 was one of the major setbacks in Churchill's military career, having pressed on the battle of Gallipoli resulted in the casualty of over 200,000 allied soldiers
Napoleon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769 – May 5, 1821) was a military general who later established the French empire in 1804 becoming emperor as well. Napoleon was known to be the pioneer during the French revolution. Bonaparte was in charge of leading the French army to victory during the Battle of Marengo fought on the 14th of June 1800. His strategic thinking and plans allowed the French to win despite having less in numbers and resources.
Other notable, political strategists include Roger Ailes, Bill Moyers, Bob Shrum, Ben Rhodes, Kellyanne Conway, David Plouffe, and James A. Baker III, who were more recent strategists who worked on presidential elections including those of President Donald J. Trump, Barack Obama, George H. W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton.
A strategic reserve is the reserve of a commodity or items that is held back from normal use by governments, organisations, or businesses in pursuance of a particular strategy or to cope with unexpected events.
Another definition issued by the US Department of Defense in 2005 describes a strategic reserve as follows: "An external reinforcing force which is not committed in advance to a specific Major Subordinate Command, but which can be deployed to any region for a mission decided at the time by the Major NATO Commander."
There are several national and international projects aiming to preserve the existing natural wealth and diversity in case of mass extinction or a global catastrophe. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault facility, opened in 2008, focuses on collecting duplicate samples of plant seeds from all around the world and currently contains close to 1 million different agricultural seed samples. The final storage capacity is said to be 4.5 million seed samples. Another such institution, Frozen Ark, concentrates on DNA preservation of endangered animal species for generations.
Certain countries create their own unusual strategic reserves of food or commodities they value the most, such as cotton, butter, pork, raisins or even maple syrup.
"Strategic reserve is a volume-based capacity mechanism in which a centrally established capacity is kept outside of the electricity market and is only used if the market participants do not offer enough generation to meet short-term demand."
A slasher is a basketball player who primarily drives (slashes) to the basket when on offense. They are typically a guard, but can also be a forward. A slasher is a fast and athletic player who attempts to get close to the basket for a layup, dunk or teardrop shot. This style of high-percentage two-point play is commonly referred to as slashing.
Slashers usually take more free-throw shots than other players due to the increased amount of contact made on them as they constantly and aggressively run towards the basket. Many different kinds of slashers gain extra free-throws by "drawing fouls", which is deliberately causing contact with a defending player. They may spend many hours working on increasing their free-throw percentage.
Many players who begin as slashers typically develop their game (especially their jump shot), as age and injuries occur, which may prevent them from being as effective as a slasher (for example, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant both developed a fadeaway jump shot as they got older).
Line defense is a strategy used in basketball. It is referred to as the "line defense" because of its formation on the court, which consists of two lines of defense. Three players at the front of the defense (at the half-court center line) and two players behind (between the center line and the team's own key). The line was the first zone concept to be used in basketball. The line defense was developed to counter the fast break plays that were being developed, and adopted, at the time. The line defense was the catalyst of the future 3-2 zone defense.
Teams started to break down the line defense when they were able to get an offensive player(s) behind the line before the defending team was able to set up the defensive line. This helped to create plays such as the fly fast break, the fast break, or the 2-Out Fast break.
A back screen is a basketball maneuver involving two players, called a cutter and a screener. The screener remains stationary on the court while the cutter moves toward the basket and attempts to use the screener to separate himself from his defender.
The screener positions himself with his back to the basket on the same side of the court as the cutter. The cutter positions himself outside of and above the screener. "Outside" implies that the cutter is closer to the sideline than the screener. "Above" implies that the cutter is closer to the midcourt line than the screener. Neither player has the ball. With the screener completely stationary, the cutter moves toward the basket and passes close enough to the screener that they almost touch shoulders. If the cut is properly made, the player defending the cutter will be disrupted by the screener (who has not moved while setting the screen) and the cutter will have an opportunity to receive a pass very near the basket.
A back-screen becomes effective when the cutter is defended very closely. An over-playing defender often has their back turned to the basket and cannot see the screen being set. Without time to adjust, the defender will collide with the screener.
The 5 man weave is a basketball drill introduced at Lindsey Wilson College, in Columbia, KY in 1991. Assistant Coach Ed Yuhas introduced the drill as a pre-season conditioning drill. The initial drill consisted of 5 players spaced evenly along the baseline, with the middle player holding the ball. On the smack of the ball players pass the ball repeatedly to the nearest player, while traveling up the court. They then run behind two players. Thus the terminology, "pass and go behind two".
Upon reaching the other end of the court the drill turns into a 3 on 2 drill, with the person who shot the layup and the last passer returning to play defense. The ballhandler amongst the group of the 3 will retreat to the other end after attacking the goal. The 2 defenders attack the single defender resulting in a 2 on 1 to the other side. These remaining 3 players then execute a 3 man weave to the far baseline.
This drill became very popular amongst high school and small college coaches throughout the south and midwest as Coach Yuhas introduced it on the summer camp circuit. He even introduced it at Coach Mike Dunleavy's Los Angeles Lakers Camp in 1992. Today the drill is used in programs of all sizes across the country.
This drill was featured in the "Hoops and Caroms International Playbook" authored by Ed Yuhas in 1992, as well "More Five-Star Basketball Drills" by Howard Garfinkel in 2003
Zone defense is a type of defense, used in team sports, which is the alternative to man-to-man defense; instead of each player guarding a corresponding player on the other team, each defensive player is given an area (a zone) to cover.
A zone defense can be used in many sports where defensive players guard players on the other team. Zone defenses and zone principles are commonly used in basketball, American football, association football, ice hockey, lacrosse, Australian rules football, netball and ultimate among others.
The names given to zone defenses start with the number of players on the front of the zone (farthest from the goal) followed by the numbers of players in the rear zones. For example, in a 2–3 zone two defenders cover areas in the top of the zone (near the top of the key) while three defenders cover areas near the baseline.
Match-up zone is a hybrid man-to-man and zone defense in which players apply man-to-man defense to whichever opposing player enters their area. John Chaney, former head coach of Temple University, is the most famous proponent of this defense. Hybrid defenses also include Box-and-one, in which four defenders are in a 2–2 zone and one defender guards a specific player on the offense. A variant of this is triangle-and-two, in which three defenders are in a 2–1 zone and two defenders guard two specific offensive players.
Zone defenses are common in international, college, and youth competition. In the National Basketball Association, zone defenses were prohibited until the 2001–2002 season, and most teams do not use them as a primary defensive strategy. The NBA has a defensive three-second violation rule, which makes it more difficult for teams to play zone, since such defenses usually position a player in the middle of the key to stop penetration. The Dallas Mavericks under coach Rick Carlisle are an example of an NBA team that have regularly used zone defenses.
Frank Lindley, Newton, KS High School basketball coach from 1914 to 1945, was among the first to use the zone defense and other innovations in the game and authored numerous books about basketball. He finished his career with a record of 594–118 and guided the Railroaders to ten state titles and seven second-place finishes. Jim Boeheim, coach of the Syracuse Orange men's basketball team, is famous for using a 2–3 zone that is among the best in the NCAA. His zone, which typically features athletic, disruptive, and aggressive defenders, has become a prototype for use on other teams including the United States men's national basketball team, where he has spent time as an assistant coach.
Some of the reasons for using a zone defense are:
While strategies for countering zone defenses vary and often depend on the strengths and weaknesses of both the offensive and defensive teams, there are some general principles that are typically used by offensive teams when facing a zone.
A zone defense in American football is a type of "pass coverage". See American football defensive strategy and zone blocking.
The zone defence tactic, borrowed from basketball, was introduced into Australian football in the late 1980s by Robert Walls and revolutionized the game. It was used most effectively by Essendon Football Club coach Kevin Sheedy.
Another kick-in technique is the "huddle", often used before the zone, which involves all of the players from the non-kicking team huddling together and then breaking in different directions. The kicker typically aims in whichever direction the designated target (typically the ruckman) runs in.
In ice hockey, players defend zones in the neutral zone trap and left wing lock.
In lacrosse, a zone defense is not as often as the normal man defense. It has been used effectively at the D-III level by schools such as Wesleyan University. They almost always use a 6-man “backer” zone, where they have three guys up top and three guys down low and they try to stay in their zone and not rotate as much as possible. When teams are man down, many teams employ a “box and one” zone defense, where the four outside players stay in their designated zone while the fifth player follows the ball while staying on the crease man.
Netball is a sport similar to basketball with similar strategies and tactics employed, although with seven players per team. Zone defense is one of the main defensive strategies employed by teams, along with one-on-one defense. Common variants include center-court block, box-and-two zone, diamond-and-two zone, box-out zone and split-circle zone.
Ultimate allows for a number of zone defence tactics, usually employed in poor (such as windy, rainy or snowy) conditions, to discourage long passes and slow the progress of the opposition's movement.
The Death Lineup was a lineup of smaller basketball players on the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 2014 to 2019. Developed under head coach Steve Kerr, it began during their 2014–15 run that led to an NBA championship. Unlike typical small-ball units, this group of Warriors was versatile enough to defend larger opponents, while also aiming to create mismatches on offense with their shooting and playmaking skills.
The Death Lineup was considered to be indicative of a larger overall trend in the NBA towards "positionless" basketball, where traditional position assignments and roles have less importance.
The Death Lineup ended after the 2018–19 season, when Durant left the Warriors for the Brooklyn Nets and Iguodala was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies.
After the 2018–19 season, the free agent Durant announced that he would sign with the Brooklyn Nets, while Thompson agreed to re-sign with Golden State. Eyeing a replacement for Thompson while he recovered from his injury, the Warriors traded Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies in order to free salary cap space to acquire All-Star guard D'Angelo Russell in a sign-and-trade package with Brooklyn for Durant. After Durant's and Iguodala's departures, Warriors CEO Joe Lacob announced his intention to eventually retire their numbers.
In 2019–20, the Warriors moved into their new arena, Chase Center, which includes a hallway featuring drawings of each member of the Hamptons Five. Golden State finished with a league-worst 15–50 record. Thompson missed the entire season rehabbing his injury, and Curry was limited to five games all season after breaking his left hand in October. The Warriors' season ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As for Russell, he was eventually traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for former first-overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins.
The UCLA High Post Offense is an offensive strategy in basketball, used by John Wooden, head coach at the University of California, Los Angeles. Due to UCLA's immense success under Wooden's guidance, the UCLA High Post Offense has become one of the most popular offensive tactics, and elements of it are commonly used on all levels of basketball including the NBA. Wooden sought the advice of Press Maravich, then coach of NC State, whether to implement it into his offense.
The UCLA High Post offense can be run to both sides of the court, and has a variety of options or "reads". It is a near relative of Tex Winter's triangle offense, featuring a three-man triangle game on the strong side and a two-man game on the weak side. Its strengths include simplicity, superb offensive rebounding coverage, a weak-side attack, consistent spacing, flexibility based on personnel and the ability to penetrate the defense. However, due to the presence of a strong-side high-low-wing triangle formation, the ability to penetrate with the dribble is highly limited.
The four corners offense, technically four corner stall, is an offensive strategy for stalling in basketball. Four players stand in the corners of the offensive half-court while the fifth dribbles the ball in the middle. Most of the time the point guard stays in the middle, but the middle player would periodically switch, temporarily, with one of the corner players. It was a strategy that was used in college basketball before the shot clock was instituted.
The team running the offense typically would seek to score, but only on extremely safe shots. The players in the corners might try to make backdoor cuts, or the point guard could drive the lane.
Even if the team wanted to hold the ball until the end of the game, some such strategy was necessary since the rules did not (and still do not) let a player hold the ball for more than five seconds while closely guarded. So some mechanism to facilitate safe passes would be needed, which the four corners provided. There were other slowdown strategies, but the four corners was the most well known.
It was most frequently used to retain a lead by holding on to the ball until the clock ran out. The trailing team would be forced to spread their defense in hopes of getting a steal, which often allowed easy drives to the basket. Sometimes it was used throughout the game to reduce the number of possessions in hopes of getting an upset against a stronger team.
The "5 seconds closely guarded" rule was originally introduced partly to prevent stalling, and other rule changes were made to the college rules through the 1970s in hopes of eliminating stalling without using a shot clock as the National Basketball Association had since the 1954–55 season. (Thus, the four corners has always been a strategy of high school and college basketball.) There was a perception that the NBA shot clock did not allow time to work the ball to get a good shot, and that it would reduce the opportunity for varied styles of play.
The offense was created by head coach (Neal Baisi of WV Tech fame in the mid-1950s) John McClendon, and popularized (at the Div.1 level) by longtime University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill head coach Dean Smith in the early 1960s. He used it to great effect under point guard Phil Ford; it was during his career that some writers referred to the offense as the "Ford Corners."
However, by the 1980s, fans were fed up. In the nationally televised 1982 ACC championship game between the University of North Carolina Tar Heels and the University of Virginia Cavaliers, UNC held the ball for roughly the last seven minutes of the second half to nurse a small lead, eventually winning 47–45. This style of offense was so distinctive that a local restaurant-bar in Chapel Hill, NC, was called Four Corners in homage to Smith, a local hero.
The next year, the ACC and other conferences introduced a shot clock experimentally, along with a three-point line to force the defense to spread out. In 1985, the National Collegiate Athletic Association adopted a shot clock nationally and added the 3-pointer a year later.
On February 21, 2015 the Tar Heels, coached by Smith protege Roy Williams, successfully ran the offense on the opening possession against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as a tribute to the recently deceased Smith.
The dribble drive motion is an offensive strategy in basketball, developed by former Pepperdine head coach Vance Walberg during his time as a California high school coach and at Fresno City College.
The offense was popularized at the major college level by John Calipari while at The University of Memphis, and was sometimes called the "Memphis Attack". Originally called 'AASAA' by Walberg (for "Attack, Attack, Skip, Attack, Attack"), the offense is also sometimes known as the 'Walberg offense' or abbreviated to DDM, and has been described as "Princeton on steroids".
The offense focuses on spreading the offensive players in the half court, so that helping on dribble penetration or skips becomes difficult for the defense, because the help will leave an offensive player open without any defenders near him. As an example a guard can drive through the defensive gaps for a layup or dunk, or pass out to the perimeter if the defense collapses onto him.
Like most motion-type offenses the Dribble Drive is predicated on reading the defense rather than set plays, as it relies on the speed and decision making of its players. "I feel we're teaching kids how to play basketball instead of how to run plays" says Walberg of the offense. Coaches that rely upon the offense have said that they do most of their coaching work in practices rather than games. However, the offense contains a lot of initial entry sets, which are used as starting-out points. The sets serve as a way to get the defense different looks, a way to feature a certain player, or exploit a defensive weakness.
In 1997 Vance Walberg developed the offense, which he named the AASAA, meaning "Attack-Attack-Skip-Attack-Attack", while coaching at Clovis West High School in Fresno, California. Walberg adopted the offense to take advantage of the skills of his point guard Chris Hernandez, later the starting point guard at Stanford. After several years of tweaking the system, he took it with him to Fresno City College, where he coached from 2002–2006.
While at dinner with Memphis coach John Calipari in October, 2003, he described the basic principles of the offense. John Calipari would implement the offense for the 2005–2006 season at Memphis, for which it is sometimes known as the "Memphis Attack" offense. After he implemented the offense, Calipari took the Memphis Tigers to great success. His teams made 3 consecutive Elite Eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, and made it to the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game in 2008. That same season, Calipari's Tigers set an NCAA single-season record for most victories, with 38, though this season would later be expunged from the record books per imposed sanctions on Memphis.
In 2012 Calipari's Kentucky Wildcats won the NCAA Championship utilizing the Dribble Drive offense.
By the 2007–2008 basketball season, at least 224 junior high, high school, college, and professional teams were using some form of the Dribble drive motion.
During the 2012-2013 NBA Season the Denver Nuggets led by coach George Karl implemented a version of the dribble drive offense behind point guards Ty Lawson and Andre Miller, leading them to the highest ranked offense in the NBA by points scored, and the 3rd Seed in the Western Conference, while winning a franchise best 57 games.
Filipino coach Chot Reyes has used the dribble-drive motion offense for his Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters team of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), which has resulted in his team winning four PBA championships. In his Philippines men's national basketball team stint, Reyes also used the dribble-drive offense, also proving to be effective in the international level, where the Philippines placed second in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship and qualified for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
A continuity offense is one of two main categories of basketball offenses, the other being motion offense. Continuity offenses are characterized by a pattern of movement, cuts, screens and passes which eventually leads back to the starting formation. At this point the pattern of movement is repeated, hence the name continuity offense. The best-known continuity offenses are the shuffle offense, flex offense, wheel offense and John Wooden's UCLA High Post Offense.
A full-court press is a basketball term for a defensive style in which the defense applies pressure to the offensive team the entire length of the court before and after the inbound pass. Pressure may be applied man-to-man, or via a zone press using a zone defense. Some presses attempt to deny the initial inbounds pass and trap ball handlers either in the backcourt or at midcourt.
Defenses not employing a full-court press generally allow the offensive team to get halfway down the court (a half-court press) or near the basket before applying strong defensive pressure.
Effective press breaks employ quick passing more often than dribbling to advance the ball up the floor. Short, quick passes are less prone to turnovers than either long passes or dribbling. Another effective way to break a man-to-man press is to pass to the center. Most presses keep a "last man back" (usually the center) whose job is to disrupt a potential fast break resulting from the press; this may leave the offensive center unguarded and able to receive a pass near midcourt or near the basket for an easy score.
In the 1950s, the full-court press style of play was invented by John McLendon, an American basketball coach who is recognized as the first African American basketball coach at a predominantly white university and the first African American head coach in any professional sport. McLendon is often not credited because he invented it within the African American college league. Due to segregation, African American teams could only compete against other African American teams. For years, his style of play went unnoticed by white society and later was called unrefined until white coaches adopted it . McLendon's contributions to the game of basketball also include an increase in tempo and the four corners offense.
Gene Johnson, head coach at Wichita University (now called Wichita State University) is credited with creating the full court press.
In the 1960s, Hobbs High School, New Mexico boys' basketball coach Ralph Tasker began using a man-to-man pressure defense from baseline to baseline, buzzer to buzzer. This defensive strategy resulted in numerous turnovers and scoring opportunities for his teams. The 1969-70 Hobbs Eagles team scored 100 points or higher in 14 consecutive games, a national record held for 40 years. Tasker's teams set the New Mexico scoring record for most points scored in a game with 170 points against Carlsbad High in 1970 and with 176 points against Roswell High in 1978, and scored above 150 points in three games in 1981.
Arkansas's coach Nolan Richardson observed and adopted Tasker's up-tempo pressure defense while coaching at the high school level. He called his version of full court pressure "40 minutes of Hell." VCU's former coach Shaka Smart calls his form of full court pressure "Wreaking Havoc" or "Havoc Ball".
The Serbian coach Đorđe Andrijašević was the first one to use this technique in Europe. His zone press was an adapted and improved version of Gene Johnson's full-court press. He used it for the first-time with French team JA Vichy in 1965. This defensive style was then reproduced by other French squads and quickly became popular in other European leagues.
The flex is a type of continuity offense, similar to (and in fact derived from) the earlier shuffle offense.
Gonzaga University runs a modified version of the simplistic flex offense. The University of Maryland ran a modified version of the flex offense under previous head coach Gary Williams. Maryland's prior offense attempted to run a version of the flex offense that allowed for closer shots at the basket, and was less focused on obtaining open perimeter jump shots. Boston College under Coach Al Skinner also ran the flex; the BC version was very compact, creating an extremely physical game and limiting a team's ability to help because of how collapsed the floor is.
Variations of the flex include the 5 man flex, utilizing all 5 players in the cutting and screening action and the 4 man flex, which utilizes 4 players. Since this offense is classified as a continuity offense, in which players repeat specific actions, some teams will build in options within the offense to keep defenses from anticipating a particular cut or screen.
This strategy has also sometimes been employed against other prolific scoring guards. The Jordan Rules were an instrumental aspect of the rivalry between the "Bad Boys" Pistons and Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This style of defense limited players including Jordan from entering the paint and was carried out by Dennis Rodman and Bill Laimbeer.
This strategy was later used by the New York Knicks from 1992 to 1998. However, the Knicks were not as successful as Detroit in containing Jordan and the Bulls. Jordan faced New York in the NBA Playoffs in 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1996. The Bulls eliminated the Knicks and captured NBA titles in all four of those seasons.
In an interview with "Sports Illustrated", then Detroit Pistons coach Chuck Daly described the Jordan Rules as:
When doing an ESPN "30 for 30", Joe Dumars said that,
In basketball, small ball is a style of play that sacrifices height, physical strength and low post offense/defense in favor of a lineup of smaller players for speed, agility and increased scoring (often from the three-point line). It is closely tied to the concepts of pace and space, which pushes the speed of the offense and spreads out the defense with extra shooters on the court. Many small ball lineups feature a non-traditional center who offers skills that are not normally found from players at that position.
Teams often move a physically dominant player who would typically play the small forward position into the power forward position. Examples of players who have been used in this role include Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, and LeBron James. That individual would play alongside either a traditional power forward (shifted into the center position), or alongside a center.
While the style of play does have advantages, there are several disadvantages. The addition of speed and agility comes at the cost of strength and height; the lack of traditional "big men" can make it more difficult to guard the space under the basket while on defense and can also prevent the team from having a low-post offensive threat when attacking. Rebounding is often sacrificed; for example, in the 2012–13 season, the Miami Heat, playing small ball, had the most wins during the season, but were the worst team in the NBA in rebounding.
The Golden State Warriors in 2014–15 used small ball to a greater extent in the NBA Finals than any prior champion, swapping out big man Andrew Bogut from the starting lineup for Andre Iguodala, who would eventually be named the Finals MVP. The Warriors small lineup came to be known as the Death Lineup. The Warriors have attained a historic level of success, winning three NBA titles and setting the NBA wins record during the period from 2014-2017. The success of the Warriors' small ball lineups has caused some analysts to consider small ball to be the future of basketball, eschewing traditional lineups in favor of a brand of "positionless" basketball that allows teams to play small.
The triangle offense is an offensive strategy used in basketball. Its basic ideas were initially established by Hall of Fame coach Sam Barry at the University of Southern California. His system was further developed by former Houston Rockets and Kansas State University basketball head coach Tex Winter, who played for Barry in the late 1940s. Winter later served as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls in the 1980s and 1990s and for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2000s, mostly under head coach Phil Jackson.
The system's most important feature is the sideline triangle created by the center, who stands at the low post, the forward at the wing, and the guard at the corner. The team's other guard stands at the top of the key and the weak-side forward is on the weak-side high post—together forming the "two-man game". The goal of the offense is to fill those five spots, which creates good spacing between players and allows each one to pass to four teammates. Every pass and cut has a purpose and everything is dictated by the defense.
It has been claimed that the triangle offense is the optimal way for five players to space the floor on the basketball court.
The offense starts when a guard passes to the wing and cuts to the strong-side corner. The triangle is created from a post player on the strong-side block, the strong-side corner, and the extended strong-side wing, who gains possession on the first pass. The desired initial option in the offense is to pass to the strong-side post player on the block who is in good scoring position. From there the player has the options of looking to score or pass to one of the perimeter players who are exchanging from strong-side corner and wing, a dive cut down the lane, or the opposite wing flashing to the top of the key which initiates another common option known as the "pinch post".
If the strong-side wing-to-guard pass is not possible, the third option is for the weak-side forward to flash to the strong-side elbow, take the pass, and cut to the basket on the trademark backdoor play of the offense. Meanwhile, the wing and corner guard exchange on a down screen. The forward with the ball can pass to the cutting guard or to the corner guard coming off the wing's screen. If nothing's available, he can shoot the basketball himself.