FanPost

Fouling out - player problem vs scheme problem


I tend to get mad at a player when they foul out, but listening to Pistons Pulse, Locked On Pistons, and The Bun and Cardigan Show during this year's preseason, they frequently discussed the Pistons challenges with their current defensive scheme (specifically, their commitment to a "switch everything" scheme). At least one of these guys (sorry, I'm not sure who) brought up the possibility of an unsuitable defensive scheme contributing to the reasons a player might foul out.

That's a brand new concept to me! I'm not a sophisticated basketball analyst, so I never realized there could be a relationship between defensive scheme and a player's propensity to foul. That was fascinating new information to me, and it kept coming to mind when I saw players foul during preseason. Was it the "fault" of the player or the scheme?

So I ask a favor of Omari, Bryce, Ku, James, Nicolas, and all the sophisticated commenters on this site: whenever a player fouls out, I'd really appreciate your thoughts on how much the player was playing in an unsuitable scheme vs. just being bone-headed or perhaps was simply overmatched (or whatever other reason you think they might have fouled out). If you have a podcast, I'll probably hear it, and if you comment frequently, there's a solid chance I'll see it as well. I for one will find your analysis here very interesting, and I suspect others will, too.

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