The No-Stats All-Star →
Michael Lewis (author of Moneyball), writes in the NYTimes about Shane Battier, an undervalued NBA player. Battier focuses on process - he optimizes his game for events he wants with the highest probability. Example:
The ideal outcome, from the Rockets’ statistical point of view, is for Bryant to dribble left and pull up for an 18-foot jump shot; force that to happen often enough and you have to be satisfied with your night. “If he has 40 points on 40 shots, I can live with that,” Battier says. “My job is not to keep him from scoring points but to make him as inefficient as possible.”So he tries to force Kobe into zones where the odds of him succeeding are lowest. Not focusing on uncontrollable outcomes is a zen approach, one that I also wrote about two days ago.
