Quote:
Originally Posted by SxSnts9
I think in terms of all professional sports leagues there is very little evidence to point that someone is 'clutch'. As I said the people who crumble under pressure will fall off in high school, college, minors/developmental leagues, etc.
Also, the situations that most people usually assign a 'clutch factor' to are so rare that it's almost always too small of a sample size to matter. Plus, to be fair, if you played well enough during non-'clutch' situations throughout the game you shouldn't need to come through in that 'clutch' situation in the first place. Give me a team of the best overall players any day over a team of 'clutch' guys.
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It's a very small effect in baseball. These statements just plain aren't true for basketball or football. Basketball players who can create their own shots and/or shoot quickly *absolutely* are at a premium. Guys can and do score during the regular season off of teams that aren't as good defensively or (frankly) aren't trying as hard, but then in the last couple minutes of games or throughout the playoffs the situations become very different.
https://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes....ermine-clutch/
The list of the best clutch players is *kind of* the list of the best (offensive) players because being able to create your own shot and come off screens consistently is a valuable skill no matter how much time is left in the game, but there are also guys who find ways to fill the box score by collecting garbage (nothing against that; in many respects, 2 points scored with 4 minutes to go in the 1st are as important as 2 scored with 3 minutes to go in the 4th) who just aren't going to see those scoring opportunities when the game is on the line. And probably a bigger deal is that it becomes a *lot* harder to deliver the ball to most players in the post later in the game. You look at that list and you see that the only big man in the top 10 in O rating was Dirk Nowitzki, a 4/5 who shot well from all over the court and who could create his own shot off the dribble.
Again, I'd really prefer people stop trying to bring in the "oh, clutch means mental toughness" thing because I at least agree that it's not a good basis for it, the stuff I'm bringing in has nothing to do with mental toughness, and to a great degree it's arguing in bad faith.