King Kaufman's Sports Daily

Behold the dazzling strategic wisdom of NBA coaches, as captured by TV microphones: "Keep rebounding!"

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April 28, 2008 | I've been saying for ages that sound is the next frontier in televised sports, and in the last few years the various networks have slowly started to bring viewers into a few of the hundreds of conversations that go on within a given sporting event.

For some reason, TNT calls its "sounds of the game" bit "Inside Trax." For ABC it's "Wired." The main thing both networks do with the sound feature in their NBA coverage is listen in on timeout huddles.

Not so long ago NBA games played out as mostly silent events beyond atmospheric noise, but we've now reached the point where the talk in an NBA huddle is routine television fare. That's a good thing -- more information is always welcome -- but Sunday I found myself sort of pining for the good old days of wondering what pearls of basketball wisdom NBA coaches were dropping on their guys in those meetings.

I mean, I used to really wish I could catch a snippet of what went on in those huddles. NBA coaches are among the best coaches in the world, and NBA players are absolutely the best players in the world. And here you have them meeting in the heat of the action, and the coach is laying it down, sometimes diagramming on a white board.

What could he be saying to the best players in the world that they don't already know? This must be gold-plated hoops genius, dispensed more than a dozen times a game, and for years we missed every last diamond-studded word of it.

Now, for a few years, we've been hearing not every word, but a few highlights per televised game. It's possible we're missing out on some genius-level skull sessions because the TV networks are being extra careful not to broadcast deep-strategy conversations. They've said as much when some coaches objected to a general edict to wear microphones earlier this season.

It doesn't feel that way, though. There's a lot of space between hardcore inside-hoops strategery and "Come on, fellas!" But the needle never moves off "Come on, fellas!"

Here are some of the gems from Sunday's games:

"We've got plenty of time, plenty of time ... Stay solid. Keep rebounding!"
-- Avery Johnson, Dallas Mavericks

"Can't stop playing, guys. You run back, missed a layup, can't stop. Everybody's got to get back."
-- Byron Scott, New Orleans Hornets

"We're just beating ourselves right now. We've just got to slow down, show a little patience."
-- Flip Saunders, Detroit Pistons

"We've had great energy. You guys having fun yet? Hey, listen. It's hustle plays, and it's just playing basketball."
-- Saunders

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