Gyasi Ross: Shoni Schimmel brings rez basketball to the majors

Conventional basketball is White Republican basketball—“We started off with the lead and we never want anyone to get a chance to be competitive.”

Then there’s Rez Ball. Rez Ball is predicated upon the notion that “We don’t need to maximize every single possession because we’re talented enough to score again when we get the ball back. We want the game to be competitive and not simply to hold the ball the whole game.” This is a throwback to the practice of counting coup, where you claim victory by beating them; however, you allowed them to be competitive another day.

Rez Ball is wide-open. Beautiful. Disciplined, but disciplined by Mother Nature’s rules and not by man’s structure, which makes it a war of attrition. There is an innate flow and beauty to it—high risk maneuvers, long passes, three pointers galore and, to be honest, not quite as much defense. But it’s beautiful. And natural. Colors of the wind, anyone?

So there’s conventional basketball … then there’s Shoni.