Michael Lewis showed that big-league baseball coaches and general managers are nearly all idiots (or at least were until he wrote his book exposing them, at which point a few non-idiots got hired, but most idiots kept their jobs), so it's not necessarily totally implausible that NBA coaches are all idiots.
Out of curiosity, since I don't know anything about basketball, how do you beat a full-court press, and why isn't it a good idea to at least try to stop people from getting down the court?
Like Gladwell points out, you have to be extremely well-conditioned to press for a whole game. It takes a lot out of you. So it could be counter-productive if your team isn't in excellent shape, because a poorly executed press (say, if your team is tired) makes it easy for the offense to just blow by you and hit layups.
That said, a team of good ball-handlers can beat a strong press if they stay calm and pass well. Patience and poise.
(Which is probably why the press is so effective in younger leagues: players at that age get frantic under pressure and just don't have the dexterity/skill to keep the ball under control)
NBA coaches could all be idiots, but my point is that this article doesn't show it.
One way to think of a full-court press is as a way of spreading resources thinly. You can beat it by handling and passing the ball well. On a thinly defended court, this leads to a lot of easy baskets because there's so much open space.
Out of curiosity, since I don't know anything about basketball, how do you beat a full-court press, and why isn't it a good idea to at least try to stop people from getting down the court?