By InsideHoops.com

InsideHoops.com met with Danny Manning during the Pistons-Nets series to discuss some NBA changes that Manning has seen in his time. The interview was recorded before game 3 of the series (which lasted 4 games), and was about NBA play in general, not this specific series. An InsideHoops.com exclusive.

InsideHoops.com: Over your career, what have been some of the biggest changes in this game, on the court? They brought the zone in, they've done a number of things.

Danny Manning: Changed the three-point line...

InsideHoops.com: Back and forth.

Danny Manning: Yeah... They've changed the style of play. The league is not as physical as it used to be. It's more of a finesse league. I'm a finesse player, but some of the rules are in place now are almost on the opposite ends of the spectrum as from when I first came in in like 1989, 88; taking away the hand-checking and some of the other physical play. But I mean, then again, there's selective officiating also.

InsideHoops.com: Depending on how good the guy is?

Danny Manning: And who the guy is, sometimes. I remember coming into the league, and if you were a rookie, chances were you weren't going to get a fair shake. That's just how it was. That's changed a little bit... naw, it's changed a lot.

InsideHoops.com: How, depending on who the rookie is?

Danny Manning: I don't know if that's what they're saying, but that's what it seems like. And also, how the game's officiated in general. It's just different. Sometimes you see calls being made on one end that aren't made on the other end, and that's for both teams.

InsideHoops.com: For the media, having the benefit of replays obviously helps, but sometimes you see a guy go by a defender and it doesn't look like he was touched, and you wonder...

Danny Manning: Yeah, you wonder! You wonder a lot. But, that's a different story altogether. That's a totally different story altogether.

InsideHoops.com: As for hand-checking rules, there are different ways to look at it. One is that, to make the game more fun to watch, not allowing it will result in guys driving more successfully, resulting in more exciting finishes to plays...

Danny Manning: College basketball is more physical than the NBA, as far as guarding the dribbler.

InsideHoops.com: That's crazy.

Danny Manning: There you go (laughs). That says it all. Those are the rules they want us to play by, so those are the rules you have to play by.