Interesting quote from Bill Simmons book on the purpose of Illegal Defense

[DonDadda59]

[COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]Be I an angel? Nae. I am but [COLOR="Yellow"]MAN[/COLOR].[/COLOR]


[COLOR="Red"]SLAYED[/COLOR] demon.

This is what you hyped up?

I already addressed this garbage in many of your recycled past threads. All the fear that some players/coaches had turned out to be unfounded because the rule changes were EXPLICITLY made to make scoring, particularly perimeter scoring, easier. And that's exactly what happened.

Check the $tats- from '01-'14, the league as a whole is scoring more (95 PPG to 101 PPG) on higher percentages on similar paces. And players who came up during the 'illegal defense' era saw their individual scoring sky rocket once the NBA completely eliminated handchecking.

So all the doomsday prophecies were proven to be ridiculous and unfounded by what actually happened in reality.

And just to address Beckley Mason (who? ):

[B]"Jordan would have to ball futuristic just to maintain his 1989 scoring levels against the evolved, more sophisticated defenses and slower offensive pace of today

[GIF REACTION]

Defenses are SUPERIOR today

The numbers don't really show it, because Offenses as well, are SUPERIOR today

All the top basketball analysts/minds, from Zach Lowe to Henry Abbott to David Thorpe agree with me

[warriorfan]

Defenses are SUPERIOR today

The numbers don't really show it, because Offenses as well, are SUPERIOR today

All the top basketball analysts/minds, from Zach Lowe to Henry Abbott to David Thorpe agree with me

The rule changes made it easier to score.

[GIF REACTION]

How?

[DonDadda59]

Defenses are SUPERIOR today

The numbers don't really show it, because Offenses as well, are SUPERIOR today

All the top basketball analysts/minds, from Zach Lowe to Henry Abbott to David Thorpe agree with me

So as soon as the NBA EXPLICITLY makes rule changes to make scoring easier, open up the game, free up perimeter players... team and individual scoring rises across the board even though pace remained the same... But defense is better, but we can't tell because offenses are better.

Story checks out.

[GIF REACTION]

That never happened though lol

[DonDadda59]

That never happened though lol

What didn't you mark ass trick?

[GIF REACTION]

The aforementioned abolition of the

[3ball]

Prior to the 2005 season, the NBA now started to attempt to curtail hand-checking and call defensive three-seconds.

These were put in place to “open up the game,” but did they work?

Hell yeah they worked - league-wide ORtg went from the 102.1 - 105.0 range that was from 1998-2004, and increased to the 106 - 108 range from 2005 to the present, which is the same level it had been in the 80's.

From just 2004 to 2005, the first year the rules to "open up the game" were introduced, league-wide ORtg instantly increased from 102.9 to 106.1, which is the largest increase since the inception of the 3-point line in 1980.

[GIF REACTION]

Offensive rating increased because offensive tactics got better.

This is clearly a no brainer lads

After the 2001 illegal defense removal, defenses got better and better and it took offenses awhile to catch up

[DonDadda59]

Jesus, now you've taken to posting misguided opinion pieces by nameless bloggers? SomeActionJackson?

Bottom line- NBA teams were scoring 95 PPG in 2001, by 2014 it was 101 PPG on higher %s across the board. eFG% has been at record levels since 2010. Perimeter players with limited skills are among league leaders in PPG.

I dare you to show me another decade stretch in NBA History where scoring WENT UP league wide. The trend since the merger had been lower paces, lower scoring as years went by. All of a sudden that trend is reversed following the rule changes of the early to mid 00s and teams/players are scoring more on similar paces... but defense improved?

C'mon son.

Offensive rating increased because offensive tactics got better.

This is clearly a no brainer lads

After the 2001 illegal defense removal, defenses got better and better and it took offenses awhile to catch up

So which is it- did defenses improve or did offenses get better?

Your theory seems to be that both occurred... meaning that offenses have surpassed defenses since numbers across the board are higher than they were pre rule changes.

But please, keep digging.

[GIF REACTION]

Limited skills?

We have never seen an era of basketball with so many players that can shoot, pass, rebound all in one as well as they do now

[warriorfan]

[DonDadda59]

Limited skills?

We have never seen an era of basketball with so many players that can shoot, pass, rebound all in one as well as they do now

Bullshit. The only innovation that has come along since the pre rule changes era is 7 footers chucking 3s. Pre-injury Grant Hill was a far more skilled version of LeBron but he never came close to winning a scoring title in the 90s. If he was drafted today, he would tear this soft league to shreds. And this isn't hyperbole, we saw it happen- guys like Kobe and Iverson who were drafted in the mid 90s, whose scoring skyrocketed a decade later following the rule changes.

But I guess their offensive ability improved to counter the advanced defense like everyone else/every team in the league.

[GIF REACTION]

Wrap this one up for another win in my books

Chalk this one up for another W in the column

Illegal defense era basketball was low quality. Defenses were poor, limited by the Illegal defense guidelines, the best only the brightest coaches could come up with were phantom/beta lite zones that pale into comparison with today's ones. Classic example is Seattle in 96'... We saw how Jordan responded to that sort of defense... Imagine the full force... Oh wait we did see it.... Some pretty inefficient seasons in Washington

The defense just got so good so fast, that offenses HAD to evolve. HAD to get better. Simpleton 90's style gameplans wouldn't work no more. You've seen the pinnacle of this with The GSW in 2015. A modern marvel of tactical excellence.