How much did the Bad Boys Pistons revolutionize the NBA?

[Micku]

Well, it seems like their defense and slow pacing did. It may not be abnormal thing to claim, but I think they, along with the Bulls, revolutionize the way NBA play the game as well. They weren't really the first ones to play really good defense.

The Celtics of the 80s, the Bucks, 76ers, and the Lakers play defense. While those teams do not appear on the best of all time defensive teams of the 80s. The Pistons were the ones who were the frontrunners in the 80s.

Half of the decade when Isiah Thomas was on the team, they were actually a more offensive team. But they never went over the hump. Chuck Daly thought they needed to change their game to a more physical and defensive style. Because of their lack of offensive talent in comparison to the Celtics and Lakers, they seem like they had to go this route.

They slow down their pace, played more dirty with cheap shots and etc. They just seem to take more advantage than any other team with the rules. With their change to be a more defensive team, they won 2 straight titles. Beat the Bulls three years straight, beat the Celtics, and the showtime Lakers.

Like I said, there were other teams that played similar, but they were more the flagship of defense in the 80s which made other teams follow it to achieve the same success. You can see this article posted in 1990 with the latimes that stated how the Pistons influence the league on defense.

Scores in the 70s are popping up everywhere, teams are getting shut out for entire overtime periods and Dennis Rodman makes the All-Star Game averaging less than nine points.

What's going on here?

Defense is "in" in the NBA.

...

With the defense-minded Detroit Pistons making the NBA Finals twice and winning a title by holding teams under 100 points in 15 of 17 playoff games, the rest of the league has discovered that defense wins games and championships.

"The closer everybody gets to parity and teams feel like they have a shot at winning, theygre going to do whatever it takes to get over that hump," says Joe Dumars, a Piston sparkplug at both ends of the court. "They realize that playing defense gets you over that hump."

"In the early 80s, we knew we could outrun and outscore you," the Lakers' Magic Johnson said. "That's not the way we look at the game anymore."

"Teams have found out you can win with defense," Detroit Coach Chuck Daly said. "It gives teams with not as good offensive players a way to compete."

The Pistons are leading the league by giving up fewer than 98 points per game this season, but it's unmistakeable that defense has spread beyond the defending champions.

--Five years ago, no NBA team allowed fewer than 104 points per game. At midseason this year, 12 were giving up fewer than 104. Twelve teams gave up fewer than 110 points in 1985-86, 23 of 27 are allowing fewer than 110 this year.

...

"Detroit has created a defensive mind-set around the league, and teams copy success," Laker Coach Pat Riley said. "In the early 80s, transition defense was non-existent. When a team was running, a coach would say 'Just get back.' Now there's sophistication to defense.

"Points scored and shooting percentages have dropped and it's not because of a decline in talent, it's a rise in defense."

Johnson said defense has changed dramatically in the 11 years since he came into the NBA.

"Detroit won because of defense and once somebody wins using a style, everyone wants to use that style," Johnson said. "You can't run free through the lane. The last couple of years, you find you'll be body-checked when you do that. Bodies are bigger now."

http://articles.latimes.com/1990-03-...nse-wins-games


Not only this, but the Jordan Rules establish by Chuck Daly and the Bad Boys Pistons. Chuck Daly stated:

[quote]
"If Michael was at the point, we forced him left and doubled him. If he was on the left wing, we went immediately to a double team from the top. If he was on the right wing, we went to a slow double team. He could hurt you equally from either wing

[Micku]

As I said before, I do not think the Bulls get enough credit for how much they also revolutionize the game with their play. Their style is similar to how the Pistons did it, but less dirty. But the Pistons did started it first and was the first one to be successful out of it in the 80s despite their offensive talent level not being on par with the showtime Lakers.

The later generation of slowed the game it seemed was more influence on the Bulls half court defense that the Bulls implemented.

All of the rules changes didn't stopped the pacing from slowing down until 2004-05 when the Suns also revolutionize the game in a way again, but not exactly the way it was in the 80s. But the fans may have notice the offense isn't what it used to be and the league still tried to increase the static offensive flow:

The success of the Bad Boy Pistons and Riley's Knicks inadvertently spawned a wave of defensive teams, which slowed games down, limited possessions and pulled the clutch-and-shove routine with elite offensive players. And worst of all, fast breaks went the way of tight shorts, Converse high-tops and wispy mustaches -- teams weren't running enough, and when they did run, their open-floor instincts were so rusty they ended up looking like a bunch of middle-aged guys floundering in a Tuesday night pickup game.

...

The whole mind-set needed to change. For me, the low point happened after Game 3 of the Detroit-Boston conference semifinals in 2002: I still remember leaving the Fleet Center after a hideous 66-64 Celtics win, slinking from the building with everyone else, feeling mortified that the sport had been bastardized to that degree. We were supposed to celebrate ... that? Really? When the Americans crapped the bed in Athens two summers later, embarrassed by less talented countries who understood the value of the slash-and-kick game and moving without the ball, that was another seminal moment. We were headed in the wrong direction. That much was clear.

...

But that's not that answer. After two depressing playoff seasons (2003 and 2004) sent casual fans scurrying away, the league made a conscious decision to change the overall mentality of the game itself. And this wasn't like Lorne Michaels running an occasional "SNL Digital Short" to make it seem like "Saturday Night Live" was still hip; this was an honest effort by the NBA to change the dynamic of games and make them more appealing to watch. Here's how they did it:

1. They sped up the game by giving teams only eight seconds to get the ball over midcourt and resetting the shot clock to 14 seconds in certain situations (after a foul, a kicked ball, an illegal defense, and so on).

2. They started whistling players for the shoving/grabbing/clutching/mugging crap that had been plaguing the league since the Riley/Daly days (I still think Riley should serve some prison time though).

3. They cracked down on flagrant fouls -- almost too much, actually -- allowing players to attack the rim without worrying about being splattered against the basket support.

4. They relaxed the illegal defense rules, allowing smaller teams to use soft zones and to double-team scoring threats more easily (also allowing teams to play more scorers at the same time, since they couldn't be as much of a liability defensively).

5. Referees were ordered to allow moving picks as long as the player setting the pick didn't stick a knee out to trip the defender.

The last one was an unannounced, under-the-table rule change that Team Stern will deny in public to the death, much like Marcellus and Butch always will deny what happened in Maynard's basement with Zed and the Gimp. But it happened. I have more than 200 games on DVD, including just about every relevant game from 1984 to 2004, and players were never allowed to set moving picks before last season. They had to approach the dribbler, come to a full stop, and remain still as the dribbler made his move. Watch an old Jazz game some time -- remember how Stockton and Malone were considered the masters of the pick-and-roll? Well, the Mailman held those picks every time. He never moved. If he did, they whistled him.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...simmons/060517


Nowadays, some people think that the defense on the perimeter is too soft.

But going all the way back to the late 80s and early 90s, the Pistons were the ones who started it all. Even though they had the personal to do it, the league didn't exactly want what they did to be the norm. The league started to change because of the success of their style. The rules changed a lot for the league to increase scoring and eliminate that style of defense and pacing that they started.

So, were the Pistons the basic blueprint of why the NBA is the way it is now? Why the league have more halfcourt sets, more focus defense, but less physical play?

[AlphaWolf24]

"Detroit has created a defensive mind-set around the league, and teams copy success," Laker Coach Pat Riley said. "In the early 80s, transition defense was non-existent. When a team was running, a coach would say 'Just get back.' Now there's sophistication to defense.

"Points scored and shooting percentages have dropped and it's not because of a decline in talent, it's a rise in defense."

this.....

The Pisons ability to play suc a stretched out defense, abiliy to close on shooters and shut down faster paced teams.....it set trend for the NBA.

defense today is played much better then it was in previous era's

[Micku]

this.....

The Pisons ability to play suc a stretched out defense, abiliy to close on shooters and shut down faster paced teams.....it set trend for the NBA.

defense today is played much better then it was in previous era's

In a way yeah. Defense have better help than back then, and there is more of a focus on defense.The league tried to eliminate this style as I posted before. Doc Rivers thought you couldn't play defense by the time he retired because of the limited physical contact.

Tho if you ask the 70s players, they'll probably say the same thing.