The ULE publishes a book on myths and false beliefs in basketball

In his words, Laso confesses that “any text I read, any movie I watch, conversation… leads me to basketball, I can’t help it”, and remembers that he has been a player and a coach, although he thinks the latter is more difficult. He also talks about the statistics, which curiously are not ‘the truth’ for him because “they reflect important situations to assess, it would be missing more, but sometimes they are not definitive.”

On the contrary, for Laso the data “are key”, and he points out that “when you want to transmit something to a player, the real data is indisputable”. For all these reasons, he concludes by stating that the book “shows many situations that go beyond the pure statistics that we all see, to improve and assess the skills of a team.”

Singular moments that remain in memory

In the introduction, the authors point out that in the memory of basketball fans “many unique moments that have occurred during matches, both in national and international competitions, remain stored”. Some situations are always more striking due to the impact they have, either because of the importance of the competition or because of the influence they had on the result.

This is the starting point of this book, the reflection and analysis of various situations, perceptions, beliefs or biases that are held on different issues related to performance in basketball, «and not only in specific actions like the ones we have commented on previously , but also how science can help banish or reaffirm some myths or beliefs that exist in basketball.

The ins and outs of basketball

Some of the topics that are addressed are as curious as whether men’s and women’s basketball are different, if a game is one or four in one, the importance or not of playing at home, when to call a timeout, or if it is appropriate to force fouls in the final moments.

The publication has dimensions of 150 x 210 mm, and is offered in rustic sewn binding, with 111 pages, at the price of 10 euros. It can be purchased at various bookstores, and through the website of the Publications Service of the University of León through the following LINK and from regular distributors.