David Blatt remembers hall-of-famer Pete Carril and explains legendary Princeton offense

Uygar Karaca
Collaborator
2022-08-18 15:36
Credit: LaPresse - Scanpix
Credit LaPresse - Scanpix

The basketball world mourns for the hall-of-fame coach Pete Carril, who invented one of the most ingenious and influential yet, still mysterious offensive schemes of the entire history of the game: the Princeton offense.

The renowned coach led the Princeton Tigers to 13 Ivy League titles as well as 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament during his 29 years at the helm.

He also worked as an assistant coach from 1996 to 2006 with the Sacramento Kings, during the heydays of the franchise furnished with players like Chris Weber, Peja Stojakovic, and Vlade Divac.

But beyond that, Carril brought a big vision for many of his colleagues and future generations about how to punch above your weight.

The scheme was itself a 'Great Leveller' for the game and provided hope for underdogs who do not have the best rosters filled with superstars at their disposal.

As it was well known, one of the most famous proponents and implementers of the Princeton Offense was David Blatt, who was himself a student of Carril and captain at Princeton between 1977 and 1981.

The rest of the story is more familiar to the followers of the game as Blatt became one of the most decorated head coaches of all time, winning EuroLeague in 2014, EuroCup in 2018, EuroBasket in 2007, EuroChallenge in 2005, and in addition, various domestic leagues and cups in Israel, Italy, and Russia. 

Blatt's brilliancy was not restricted to the European level as he also led the Cavaliers to the NBA finals in 2016. The Olympic bronze with Russia in London 2012 has a different place, too. 

The Israeli-American coach, who returned to action with his new position as an advisor in Maccabi this summer, kindly answered our questions regarding his former coach, Pete Carril.

As a student-athlete, he made his major in English literature and it is no wonder why Blatt appeals to a famous writer to describe the much-respected coach Carril. 

"There is a well-known writer called Damon Runyan in the literature," Blatt refers.

"The characters in his stories were of a particular type and coach Carril was one of those characters. He came from a very humble working-class background in Reading, Pennsylvania, which is a steel town back in the heydays of steel in the US," Blatt recalled.

"He worked hard to become a head coach of a high-level academic institution as Princeton. This college was known for some of the wealthier people who came to study there and some great academic minds as well.

It was unusual that a figure like Carril find himself coaching in that type of environment. And yet, he fit so well because of his very advanced intellectual style and plays," Blatt continued.

How would coach Blatt describe the system? Some actions discernably indicate the presence of Princeton offense like the backdoor cut but it is not that simple. 

"Pete Carril wrote a book 'When The Smart Take From the Strong'. It is strongly recommended," coach Blatt reminded.

"That title is the essence of the Princeton offense. It utilizes the physical abilities of its competitors to push them to play out of control and out of balance. It takes advantage of its overly aggressive style by passing and cutting, screening in such a way that, renders their strengths much less effective," Blatt explained.

"I just remember coach Carril saying over and over again: 'Give yourself up. When overplayed you cut backdoor, free the next guy.' In today's basketball, it is a very common fact that players are usually setting themselves free by using a screen. In the Princeton days, you would cut and set the next guy free," coach Blatt continued.

But are there still many teams in the US or Europe who utilizes this kind of rigid, albeit liberating offensive system as the main scheme? 

"The Princeton Offense ultimately became very famous and was copied by many. But none of them did quite as well as Carril did. Certainly, it was a type of basketball that was very much respected and appreciated primarily because of his basketball intellect," David Blatt notes.

"On some days I've seen it at the college level in the US, which is pretty close to its purest form and even some NBA teams used it like the New Jersey Nets and the Sacramento Kings, where Carril himself was an assistant and used a lot of the elements of that offense. But still, not in its entirety," said Blatt

"Yes, elements of Princeton offense are used occasionally. But very few of any in Europe played pure Princeton offense. So if someone tells you that 'This team plays Princeton offense,' it is not true.

Some teams do use the elements of it just as I did but no one uses it by and large. They run certain actions that there are from these specific Princeton-based sets. But these are not the examples of Princeton offense in its purest form," Blatt explained.

Coach, it is also usually pronounced that you instilled quite a bit of part of the essence into Maccabi. For example, the famous title run in 2014. Many saw the Maccabi team is unlikely to reach Final Four, let alone win it but your smart team literally takes from the strong ones. Is the Princeton offense still a valid coin in today's basketball modernity? 

"We used a great bit of it, that is very true. But even before that, the Maccabi offensive transition became that popular in Europe and had elements of the Princeton offense, where the roots go back to 2000. Certainly, in great part, it did not resemble in its purest form the Princeton offense," Blatt recalled. 

"It is really hard to implement the system nowadays. That is why you don't see it in a lot of professional teams because the player/coach turnover is so great high at this level. The system improves the players' own quality in their role of being team players, not focusing on their development at the individual level," Blatt clarified.

"To truly develop a good sense and ability to run the classic Princeton offense, you need time together as a group. You need time for individuals to learn how to become perfect and efficient in that," the coach concluded. 

It goes without saying that basketball is much more meaningful when good players meet with wise coaches, who have innovative and progressive ideas about the game.

Just like Tex Winter's Triangle Offense, neither Pete Carril nor his great gift to today's basketball, the Princeton Offense could be forgotten.

These basketball minds will always live in the memories and their ideas will always find new forms in the imagination of people who are involved in basketball.



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