The most important rule changes in NBA history

[B]1981 - Illegal Defense Guidelines put in place to [COLOR="Red"]increase scoring and open up the paint[/COLOR][/B]
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 “illegal defense” rule to open up the paint[/COLOR][/B]. Here’s how referee Ed Rush explained it to SI: “We were becoming a jump-shot league, so we went to the coaches and said, ‘You’ve screwed the game with all your great defenses. Now fix it.’ And they did. The new rule will open up the middle and give the great players room to move. People like Julius Erving and David Thompson who used to beat their own defensive man and then still have to pull up for a jump shot because they were being double-teamed, should have an extra four or five feet to move around in. And that’s all those guys need.”[/QUOTE]

Effect:
1979 league average offensive rating: 103.8

1981-82
• Zone defense rules clarified with new rules for Illegal Defensive Alignments.
a. Weak side defenders may come in the pro lane (16’), but not in the college lane (12’) for more than three seconds.
b. Defender on post player is allowed in defensive three-second area (A post player is any player adjacent to paint area).
c. Player without ball may not be double-teamed from weak side.
d. Offensive player above foul line and inside circle must be played by defender inside dotted line.
e. If offensive player is above the top of the circle, defender must come to a position above foul line.
f. Defender on cutter must follow the cutter, switch, or double-team the ball.

1982: League average offensive rating 106.9

[B]2001 - Removal of Illegal Defense Guidelines[/B]
Purpose: [B]To encourage ball movement and team play through giving defenses more freedom to defend, [COLOR="Red"]particularly help defense from the weak side[/COLOR][/B], 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)

[QUOTE]“Getting to the hole is getting harder and harder,” says [B]Chicago’s Carlos Boozer[/B][/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]“A lot of the defensive strategies you see now are a natural evolution from rule changes,” says [B]Houston GM Daryl Morey[/B], 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.”[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]“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.”[/QUOTE]

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.

[QUOTE]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.[/QUOTE]

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.

[QUOTE]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, [B]but it took until [COLOR="Red"]2008[/COLOR] for coaches to really figure out how to take best advantage.[/B]

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.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]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 [B]1,768[/B].[/QUOTE]

David Thorpe
[QUOTE]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,[/QUOTE]

George Karl on how the rule changes have made post ups inefficient
[QUOTE]“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.”[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]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. [B]“The reason the post-up doesn't work anymore is that teams just front now,”[/B] 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.[/QUOTE]

2004 - Hand-check reinterpretation

The first meaningful post in GIF REACTION's ISH career :applause:

Handchecking is not as big a deal as made out to be

It has been a topic of rule change since the 70's

The original hand checking rules were made in 1979, and further modified in the 80's and 90's

It still occurs in the game today

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Z7BfkquvU[/url]

And that's why I appreciate college bball.

College bball = basketball in its pure form.

NBA = all about the "show". National Basketball Entertainment.

The 2005 handchecking rules were also a HUGE change.
In 2006 you had like 50 guys averaging 30-ppg while in 2004 it was like.... 2 guys.

[QUOTE=ShaqTwizzle]The 2005 handchecking rules were also a HUGE change.
In 2006 you had like 50 guys averaging 30-ppg while in 2004 it was like.... 2 guys.[/QUOTE]

There were 3 in 2006 and 1 in 2007.

[QUOTE=ShaqTwizzle]The 2005 handchecking rules were also a HUGE change.
In 2006 you had like 50 guys averaging 30-ppg while in 2004 it was like.... 2 guys.[/QUOTE]
It's funny, because the actual hand check rule was made after the 2003-2004 NBA finals. Yet everyone wants to mention 2006, and not the 2004-2005 season which was the first season after the hand check reinterpretation.

[B]1988[/B]
1. Michael Jordan*-CHI 35.0
2. Dominique Wilkins*-ATL 30.7
3. Larry Bird*-BOS 29.9
4. Charles Barkley*-PHI 28.3
5. Karl Malone*-UTA 27.7
6. Clyde Drexler*-POR 27.0
7. Dale Ellis-SEA 25.8
8. Mark Aguirre-DAL 25.1
9. Alex English*-DEN 25.0
10. Hakeem Olajuwon*-HOU 22.8
11. Kevin McHale*-BOS 22.6
12. Byron Scott-LAL 21.7
13. Reggie Theus-SAC 21.6
14. Xavier McDaniel-SEA 21.4
15. Terry Cummings-MIL 21.3
16. Otis Thorpe-SAC 20.8
17. Jeff Malone-WSB 20.5
18. Tom Chambers-SEA 20.4
19. Moses Malone*-WSB 20.3
20. Patrick Ewing*-NYK 20.2

[B]2006[/B]
1. Kobe Bryant-LAL 35.4
2. Allen Iverson-PHI 33.0
3. LeBron James-CLE 31.4
4. Gilbert Arenas-WAS 29.3
5. Dwyane Wade-MIA 27.2
6. Paul Pierce-BOS 26.8
7. Dirk Nowitzki-DAL 26.6
8. Carmelo Anthony-DEN 26.5
9. Michael Redd-MIL 25.4
10. Ray Allen-SEA 25.1
11. Elton Brand-LAC 24.7
12. Vince Carter-NJN 24.2
13. Jason Richardson-GSW 23.2
14. Chris Bosh-TOR 22.5
15. Shawn Marion-PHO 21.8
16. Kevin Garnett-MIN 21.8
17. Mike Bibby-SAC 21.1
18. Antawn Jamison-WAS 20.5
19. Pau Gasol-MEM 20.4
20. Mike James-TOR 20.3

Look here.
Compared 2004 against 2006.

2004 *year before the rule changes
2006 *year when the new changes really sunk in

[QUOTE]
[B]2004[/B]
1. 28
2. 24
3. 24
4. 23.9
5. 22.9
6. 22.8
7. 22.5
8. 22.3
9. 21.8
10. 21.7

[B]2006[/B]
1. 35.4
2. 33.0
3. 31.4
4. 29.3
5. 27.2
6. 26.8
7. 26.6
8. 26.5
9. 25.4
10. 25.1[/QUOTE]

Pretty dramatic difference.
#10 in 2006 would be #2 in 2004.

Lmao. OP finally realizing that the Kings are hot garbage, so now he's making history threads. Bravo! :applause:

2000-2004 is the greatest defensive era in history, IMO

probably the BEST combination of pace/ppg/drtg

why 2006?

If your argument is that it is referee interpretation, then I can argue that 2006 was a one off year, and ever since then elite scoring numbers have decreased significantly to where we have a lack of 25+PPG scorers

And strongside floods didn't really occur until 2008

Either way, the impact of handchecking reinterpretations of 2004 is very overblown, and the freedom it provided on the perimeter, was nullified by the effect getting rid of illegal defense had. This is a commonly excepted notion among the elite NBA writers like Zach Lowe or Henry Abbott or David Thorpe.

One of the GOAT ISH posts:applause: . Waiting for 3balls arrival

[QUOTE=LikeABosh]One of the GOAT ISH posts:applause: . Waiting for 3balls arrival[/QUOTE]
No, we don't need 20 pages of Jordan YouTube clips.

3ball!....3ball!....3ball!....3ball!....

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