## 4 Discussion  
The aim of this study was to assess the associations between DSI and sprint, jump and CoD performance in highly trained basketball players and to determine the differences between the physical performance of athletes in different DSI groups (low, medium and high DSI groups). Correlation analysis showed weak to moderate associations between IMPT  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Variable**} & **High DSI** & **Middle DSI** & **Low DSI** & & **Hedges \({}^{\prime}\)g** & & **ANOVA** \\  & **Mean \(\pm\) SD** & **Mean \(\pm\) SD** & **Mean \(\pm\) SD** & **a** & **b** & **c** & **F** & \(p\)** \\ \hline IMPT & 2320 \(\pm\) 419 & 2350 \(\pm\) 319 & 3001 \(\pm\) 359 & \(-\)0.08 & \(-\)1.66 \({}^{\star}\) & \(-\)1.93 \({}^{\star}\)  
peak force and horizontal jump, lateral jump and curvilinear sprint, showing that maximal strength is likely one of the determinants of these abilities. No significant correlations were found between CMJ peak force and performance variables, while weak correlations were observed between the DSI and lateral jump, linear sprint and CoD deficit. Furthermore, our results showed that the low DSI group had the highest IMTP peak force, while the high DSI group had the highest CMJ peak force. The low DSI group showed better performance in vertical, horizontal and lateral jumps and also tended to exhibit better performance in the drop jump and curvilinear sprint tests than other groups. Linear sprints tended to be the best in the high DSI group, while all groups were aligned in CoD speed. The novel findings of this study are the weak negative correlations between IMTP peak force and curvilinear sprint and weak-to-moderate correlations with lateral jumps, suggesting that strength ability might be important for basketball-specific sprint performance and the efficiency of lateral movements. Interestingly, this study did not observe significant associations between CoD ability and strength, although lower limb strength is reported to be one of the most important determinants of CoD ability [6]. Nevertheless, it must be mentioned that the CoDD variable showed poor absolute reliability (CV = 13.08-14.66%). Furthermore, a previous study also showed moderate associations between squat isometric peak force and CoD ability [16]. The lack of associations in the present study could be explained by the fact that the IMTP is not an isolated measure for lower limb strength but also challenges grip and core strength. Furthermore, negative associations between the DSI and lateral jumping suggest that lower DSI values indicate better lateral jumping ability, while negative associations between DSI and linear sprint suggest that a higher DSI score indicates superior sprint ability. Based on this, it seems that being strength-oriented is important for the ability to move in lateral directions, while being oriented towards ballistic force production is better for developing high sprint speeds in basketball players. Lastly, positive associations between the DSI and CoD deficit suggest that lower DSI scores indicate better CoD ability, supporting the importance of strength for CoD performance. This finding is consistent with the previous literature [16]. However, this must be further discussed in terms of DSI components. Since lower DSI values may reflect higher isometric peak force for the same ballistic peak force, the above correlations between the DSI and multi-directional jumping may be due to correlations between isometric peak force and jumps. The low DSI group showed superior performance in jumps in all directions and tended to exhibit better performance in the drop jump (g = 0.36-0.40) and curvilinear sprint (g = 0.16-0.83) tests. Similar results have been reported in the literature in relation to jumping performance [30,31], showing that lower DSI values might be better for basketball players' physical performance, especially considering the importance of lateral movements, CoD and jumping capabilities [3,18].