Why team defense is fundamentally better today (GONE TECHNICAL)

[GIF REACTION]

Rule Enforced Spacing
Rule Enforced Spacing relates to the offensive floor spacing teams achieved during the Illegal Defense period (1981-2001)

1981 - Illegal Defense Guidelines put in place to increase scoring and open up the paint
Passage from Bill Simmons' (Globally known NBA analyst, well respected publically) book
[QUOTE]The new wave of coaches made defenses sophisticated enough by 1981 that [B][COLOR="Red"]the league created an

[GIF REACTION]

Shooting Encouraged Spacing
Shooting Encouraged Spacing refers to the offensive floor spreading, occurring after Illegal Defense was removed in 2001. "Encouraged" implies that it is not mandatory, or enforced, to space the floor. Whereas with Rule Enforced Spacing, failure to spread the court with accordance to the Illegal Defense Guidelines, results in a technical and eventual free throws.

2001 - Removal of Illegal Defense Guidelines
Purpose: To encourage ball movement and team play through giving defenses more freedom to defend, particularly help defense from the weak side, which was extremely restricted from 1981-2001 with the Illegal defense guideline in place

(Up coming quotes are from some of the most renowned and well respected NBA analysts and writers on the Earth today. Earning the big bucks because they are the best at what they do... Including ESPN's Henry Abbott, and Grantland's Zach Lowe)


“Getting to the hole is getting harder and harder,” says Chicago’s Carlos Boozer


“A lot of the defensive strategies you see now are a natural evolution from rule changes,” says Houston GM Daryl Morey, in reference to the league’s decision a decade ago to abandon illegal defense rules and essentially allow zone defenses. “First the defense evolved by overloading the strong side, and now the offenses are evolving to beat that.”


“The league has gotten so different today,” (Jim) Boylan says. “You just have to move the ball from one side to the other against the really good defensive teams.”

Isolation and Post up plays are much easier to defend now compared to the Illegal Defense era. Offenses have had to adjust to the modern, strong side flooding defenses, which require full court use, putting a premium on shooting ability enforced spacing (Not rule enforced spacing), passing and movement.


The league overall understands this, though some coaching staffs have been quicker than others in adjusting their systems. The percentage of offensive possessions that end with isolation plays and post-up shots has declined every season for the last five years, per Synergy Sports. In 2008-09, the year after the Celtics used a Thibodeau-designed system to create one of the stingiest defenses ever, 27 of the league’s 30 teams still finished at least 9 percent of their offensive possessions via an isolation play, according to Synergy Sports. The Magic, at 7.4 percent, were the least isolation-prone team in the league that season.3 This season, 15 teams — half the league — are below that 9 percent isolation mark, and a whopping 11 have lower isolation shares than Milwaukee’s league-low number from 2008-09. The drop in post-ups has been similar, and the numbers would seem to indicate an increase in ball movement.

Conversely, this has had an effect on the specifics of personnel scoring, not necessarily team scoring output. Elite scorer numbers are down across the board, and this is in direct effect due to advanced defenses thanks to the removal of Illegal defense. With post ups and isolation plays being able to be defended much better, more ball movement and clever schemes are required for these elite scorers to hit the box score.


Thorpe explains it best in the video, but the gist is this: In recent years more and more NBA coaches have signed up for the defensive philosophy, popularized by Tom Thibodeau since 2007-08, of "flooding ball-side box."

This is not the same as double-teaming, but it has some similarities. When the ball is on one side of the court, watch for this: Very often an extra defender sneaks over to join the action, bringing a crowd of defenders closer to the ball. It's something that became legal when the NBA began allowing zone defenses in 2001, but it took until 2008 for coaches to really figure out how to take best advantage.

That's when the big-time gunners started to disappear.

Flooding the side of the court with the ball makes everything tougher for that star scorer, starting when he makes the catch and assesses options. Driving lanes are tighter or closed off entirely. More defenders have more ability to get hands in faces. It's difficult to reach favored spots on the court, and to operate once there.


That's all happening. Stars putting up big numbers are incredibly hard to find this season compared to five years ago, but overall team scoring is down only about two points per game -- the non-star scorers must be picking up a little slack.

And as for assists, in 1985-86, the 10 players who played the longest minutes in the season's first 36 games combined for 1,308 assists. Five years ago, that number was 1,482. This year it's all the way up to 1,768.

David Thorpe

Now, when you beat that first line of defense, you’ve got four dudes very often sitting, waiting for you on ball-side …You might have three, four, even five defenders on that ball-side box. That wasn’t the case when Jordan played … You couldn’t go anywhere near a ball-side box back then. There were great teams like Chuck Daly’s Pistons and Pat Riley’s Lakers that devised “zone,” so to speak, to kind of flood the ball more, but it was nothing, Henry [Abbott of ESPN], like it is today. The teeth of the defense today is much sharper, and there’s many more teeth then there was back when Jordan played,

George Karl on how the rule changes have made post ups inefficient

“The game is getting out of balance,” says George Karl, now coaching perhaps the league’s preeminent post-up brute. “But until we figure out a way to make the post-up more efficient, we’re not going back. You just can’t win throwing the ball into the post 60 times per game.”


Referees let point guards flit around unfettered, but the paint remains a war zone where brutality can trump skill. Legalized zone frees help defenders to sandwich dangerous post-up threats. “The reason the post-up doesn't work anymore is that teams just front now,” Karl says. Help defenders can drift from their assignments to prevent a lob pass over that front, forcing the defense to whip the ball elsewhere.


http://i.imgur.com/c09G6c1.gif
Dwight post up to face up drive to the hoop from the low post, while Steve Nash, Kobe, MWP, and Antwan Jamison spread the court with their 3 point shooting. Jameer sags off MWP and attempts to swipe the ball from Dwight. This would be an illegal defense in the 90's because it would be considered a double, but it was not a hard double, very much slow and awarely trying to zone and cover space. Dwight finishes strong with the nifty left hook.

http://i.imgur.com/OFCH8de.gif
Blake works in the low post. The strong side and rim is spaced due to having elite 3pt shooters Chris Paul and JJ Reddick at the top of the key, and Matt Barnes in the weakside corner 3. Deandre is baseline, creating a threat with his lob ability, so his defender has to keep contact and respect his offensive threat. This allows Blake to work his way in the post and get a great spin right hand hook shot. Also, noticed how Curry is jumping back and forth, trying to softly double and annoy Blake while being ready for pass out to Paul at the 3 line. This would be considered a clear illegal defense in the Rule Enforced Spacing era.

http://i.imgur.com/gMYnoFZ.gif
Lebron ISO drives to the rim for the AND1 while he has the floor spaced with Mozgov at the top, ready for an 18 footer which he can hit well, Delly and Shump at the 3, spacing the weakside, and Thompson spacing weakside baseline with his Lob ability, similar to Deandre Jordan.

[PsychoBe]

3ball inc

[Asukal]

Not quite pauk's equal but you're getting there son. Keep on melting down, how many words btw? :lebronamazed:

[Pushxx]

3ball inc

Same person lol

[3ball]

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.................................................. .Spacing


In the picture below, weakside floor-spreaders (spacing) have drawn defenders away from the strongside.. If Noah doesn't leave #20 Mosgov and flood to the strongside, the strongside will only have 2 defenders on it.


http://i61.tinypic.com/2z7mnvm.png



Otoh, previous eras didn't have weakside floor-spreaders (spacing) drawing defenders away from the strongside, so the strongside was already flooded with all 5 defenders - there are already multiple defenders standing where today's defender would flood to:


http://i.imgur.com/wQ1ywQG.gif


Ultimately, spacing causes today's defenders to make extra rotations.. But without that spacing (previous eras), defenders are already in closer proximity and the rotations aren't necessary.

Spacing and defensive movement offset each other, which is why league-wide offensive rating (the stat measuring how hard it is to score) has been stable for 30 years.. ORtg has ranged between 105 and 108 since 1980, excluding a brief downswing from 1998-2004.. The minor shifts within that 105-108 range are due to style of play differences between the eras that affect inputs to the ORtg calculation, such as offensive rebounding rate and FT rate.

30 years of stable ORtg proves the difficulty of scoring hasn't changed, and the changes in offensive strategy (spacing) and defensive strategy (extra rotations) are offsetting - you either have extra rotations required by spacing and defensive 3 seconds (today's game), or the rotations aren't necessary because there is no spacing or defensive 3 seconds (previous eras).

[3ball]

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............................................Defens ive 3 Seconds


Notice how Duncan's defender (Pau) is reaching out and touching Duncan - Pau is making sure he remains within "armslength", as stipulated by the defensive 3 second rule.. He isn't allowed to wait under the rim, since that's 8 feet away from Duncan, and out of "armslength".. Since Pau must hug Duncan instead of waiting under the rim, Kawhi gets a wide open, uncontested dunk:


http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-01-2015/-GwNKZ.gif



Here's another example - Maurice Speights must follow Tristan Thompson to the block to stay within "armslength", which prevents him from contesting Lebron at the rim - you can see how wide the paint is on this angle (16 feet wide).


http://i.imgur.com/rW270Q6.gif



But in previous eras, defenders were allowed to stand under the rim while their man was on the block because paint-camping was legal.. With defenders camping under the rim, Kawhi would NOT have gotten a wide open dunk in previous eras:


http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-01-2015/Rc9D-4.gif

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-01-2015/mPufIB.gif


Btw, look how much defenders are sagging off their man - yet many ignoramuses think defenders in previous eras had to "follow" their man to the 3-point line - it's pure made-up lies from ignoramuses... Plain and simple... That myth is busted here (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=390392), where the rules of the game are explained.

[Jameerthefear]

3ball exposed. Another win for the Lebron fam

[3ball]

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..........................................Hand-checking



Here's real hand-checking - it's harder to get off jumpers and drive against this kind of defense:


http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/11-13-2015/p8lMrn.gif



The defense Curry faces is like flag football by comparison - no touch, hands-off, league-mandated space between players on perimeter:


http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-03-2015/TgIP3N.gif



Also, hand-checking was MOST prevalent and effective during the act of driving, like the gifs below (these are fouls in today's game):


https://media.giphy.com/media/TJPk9OncuzZoQ/giphy.gif

https://media.giphy.com/media/t99KQtLZZeVS8/giphy.gif

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/8-02-2015/p6jsvL.gif



Compare to Steph Curry driving the lane against Lebron, UNTOUCHED AND UNFETTERED - I almost feel sorry for Lebron - he can't lay a finger on Curry - he's helpless:


https://media.giphy.com/media/jTvD0KKh8KCgo/giphy.gif


NO COMPARISON
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[Mr. Jabbar]

Compare to Steph Curry driving the lane against Lebron, UNTOUCHED AND UNFETTERED - I almost feel sorry for Lebron - he can't lay a finger on Curry - he's helpless:


https://media.giphy.com/media/jTvD0KKh8KCgo/giphy.gif


NO COMPARISON
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currys quick hesitation and lebron took the hook line and sinker :lol

[24-Inch_Chrome]

Wow, GIF sure seems to know his stuff. I mean, I'm not willing to read through massive blocks of text but he sure isn't a 3ball-esque ****** so he definitely has more credibility.

[3ball]

currys quick hesitation and lebron took the hook line and sinker :lol
true, but previous era defenders would be able to reach out to forearm or hand-check Curry WHILE HE'S DRIVING, which would slow him down - but Lebron couldn't do that because it's a foul.

I'll find you many gifs of MJ driving in the exact same spot with the defender RIDING him the whole way... Actually, I already did in the previous post..

Hand-checking was MOST prevalent and effective during the act of driving, like the gifs show above.

[feyki]

Julius Erving and ABA culture increased NBA's offensive freedoms . Illegal defence was part of that increase too .

Before 1955 NBA has 0.80 per possesion ratings . Mikan work on guards and offensive freedoms and "how we make better b-ball" . And 1955-1963 era has 0.87-88 per poss ratings .

1964 to 1978 NBA has 0.95-0.96 per poss ratings . And ABA effect came the NBA .

1979-1983 NBA was transition period to adapt the more freedom on offence .

1984-1997 era is most offensive freedom era of nba history (actually with 2008-2011 era) .

NBA has toughness again in between 98 to 2004 . And hand checking rules came , biggest increase on offensive rating in one year ( 2004 - 102.9 to 2005 - 106.1 ) .

[Blue&Orange]

Today you can't even put your hands up in the perimeter, if you do, the player with the ball will throw his arms against your hand and it's a shooting foul, it's ridiculous but it's the truth.

Today you can't even jump to contest in the perimeter, if you do, the player with the ball will jump towards you, throw the ball in the air and it's a shooting foul, it's ridiculous but it's the truth.

Forget about hand checking, just being close puts you in danger. :lol

But today you can't use your off arm to blatantly push the defender out of the way, and nothing happens, it's ridiculous but it's the truth.


There isn't enough cherry picked gifs in the world that can change the truth.

Today is harder to score? Off course it is, shitty era, shitty players that need to be carried to the basket by absolutely disgraceful reffing rules.

[GIF REACTION]

If by ABA effect you mean the 1979 Handchecking ban, 1981 Illegal Defense Guidelines introduction, and the 3pt line... Then you'd be right.

The 2003-2004 to 2004-2005 jump was a reinterpretation of handcheck laws, AND religious calling of defensive 3 seconds. They called these two things extremely tight until around the 2008 Celtics showed up, and won with a defensive brand of basketball, which set the tone of what wins in the NBA. Ref interpretations soon follow suite. Handchecking is no called alot today

[StephHamann]

OP spot on, even superstars can't score against elaborate defenses of today.

02:15 James Driving Layup Shot: Missed

01:33 James Free Throw 1 of 2 Missed

01:33 James Free Throw 2 of 2 Missed

00:49.8 James Jump Shot: Missed

00:20.3 James Free Throw 1 of 2 (25 PTS) Made

00:20.3 James Free Throw 2 of 2 Missed

00:12.7 James 3pt Shot: Missed

[jstern]

3Ball is very hated, but he wins this one.

[GIF REACTION]

3Ball is very hated, but he wins this one.
Lmao

I've got quotes/snippets from the best analysts, coaches and players

He's got a couple cherry picked GIFs and his own analysis

No quotes from any analysts today, no coaches today

I WIN.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Add Jordan into the mix of players that LeBron fans are scared of. :oldlol:

3ball got these inbreds scrambling, posting misused gifs one after the other.

[diamenz]

tldr

today's paint defense is shit. boy'z league.