A Holmesian Gambit
The Sherlock Holmes Basketball Universe occupies the mind more than it should
It’s been said that Sherlock Holmes is the most-adapted character in literary history. There are probably several reasons for this—his wit, his intellect, the violin as the foremost instrument for the intellectual elite, and his well-known penchant for being a smack addict come to mind.
Holmes has many qualities that make up the worst basketball players—breaking plays, playing isolated hero ball, the rumored aforementioned drug issues, agitating teammates through his behavior. He also has the sort of singular vision that makes a coach swoon, the ability to think three and four moves ahead and see where a play is going and find order when things devolve into chaos. It’s tantalizing; the potential allows him second, third and fourth chances and plenty of excuses flow for his many shortcomings.
If James Harden got hooked on crank, it might look a lot like this.
A team of Holmes’ would not be dominant; there would be too many conflicts of personality and an inevitable five-game slide brought on by laudanum and Bach. This team would also probably show occasional flashes of the kind of singular brilliance that makes basketball beautiful and frustrating. What if a team of Emoni Bates’ doing incredible highlight shit in a series of 99-97 games? What if, indeed.
The problem (if you can call it that) is figuring which iteration of Holmes would fill out a lineup. We’d probably play a little small-ball, rely on our smarts and intensity and being two steps ahead at all times.