A Question About 90's NBA Defense

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So in the thread yesterday about everyone’s all time defensive team I noticed a pattern...90% of all the players mentioned played between 1990-1999...


At first glance I just chalked it up to nostalgia and people grabbing for the biggest most obvious names from their childhood.. I didn't want to come off as a "back in my day" type so decided to go deeper into the numbers before I posted my list...

What I found was pretty interesting...

9 of the top 10 players on the NBA all-time leading blocks list played in the 90s (yeah that was the era of dominant bigs so of course)

9 of the top 10 players on the NBA all-time leading steals list played in the 90s (Wait so the guards were beasting too?)

The top 2 lowest opponent field goal percentage for a season occurred in the 90s (yeah 90's n1ggas couldn't shoot we get it)

The top 2 lowest average opponent FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS per season occurred in the 90s (But 90's n1ggas couldn't even get clean looks to shoot either)



My first thought is the game was officiated differently. Refs swallowed their whistles and let players get much more physical (tougher)

My second thought was allowing hand checking, arm bars and man to man defense would allow most of these numbers to be inflated..

But the same rules applied in the 70s and 80's and the numbers don't equate...


What is the reasoning behind the clear individual defensive dominance of players that played in that era?
 
CrimsonTider

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gator_king said:
So in the thread yesterday about everyone’s all time defensive team I noticed a pattern...90% of all the players mentioned played between 1990-1999...


At first glance I just chalked it up to nostalgia and people grabbing for the biggest most obvious names from their childhood.. I didn't want to come off as a "back in my day" type so decided to go deeper into the numbers before I posted my list...

What I found was pretty interesting...

9 of the top 10 players on the NBA all-time leading blocks list played in the 90s (yeah that was the era of dominant bigs so of course)

9 of the top 10 players on the NBA all-time leading steals list played in the 90s (Wait so the guards were beasting too?)

The top 2 lowest opponent field goal percentage for a season occurred in the 90s (yeah 90's n1ggas couldn't shoot we get it)

The top 2 lowest average opponent FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS per season occurred in the 90s (But 90's n1ggas couldn't even get clean looks to shoot either)



My first thought is the game was officiated differently. Refs swallowed their whistles and let players get much more physical (tougher)

My second thought was allowing hand checking, arm bars and man to man defense would allow most of these numbers to be inflated..

But the same rules applied in the 70s and 80's and the numbers don't equate...


What is the reasoning behind the clear individual defensive dominance of players that played in that era?
Click to expand...
The offenses were bad in the 90s

It's much harder to play defense in today's NBA

You just can't sag off your defender in the paint and play help off ISO ball

There is so much passing and 3 point shooting in today's game that player have to gaurd larger areas
 
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Style of play was different in the 90s then in the previous 2 decades.

In the 80 it was more fluid up and down game, 90s it staggered and defenses started to matter more.

Pat Riley went from coaching showtime, to coaching slowtime with the 90s knicks.

The league changed
 
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Zone free basketball, you had to play both sides of the ball to get burn if you weren't a flat out offensive stud. The zone allows you to hide lesser defensive player's to a much greater extent. Big men are damn near allowed to just stand under the basket now, imagine if Mutumbo, Mourning, Olajuwon, D.Rob, etc were allowed to float around the rim without illegal defense being called.
 
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the biggest change that happened is that bigs just cant camp the lane without getting the violation.

another big change is that 4s and 5s of todays are much better shooters than back then, so if a big was just camping in the lane, 4s or 5s of now are capable of knocking down long range shots
 
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The Goodz said:
the biggest change that happened is that bigs just cant camp the lane without getting the violation.

another big change is that 4s and 5s of todays are much better shooters than back then, so if a big was just camping in the lane, 4s or 5s of now are capable of knocking down long range shots
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too bad big men of today aren't capable of knocking down mid range shots and jump hooks tho :francis:
 
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gator_king said:
So in the thread yesterday about everyone’s all time defensive team I noticed a pattern...90% of all the players mentioned played between 1990-1999...


At first glance I just chalked it up to nostalgia and people grabbing for the biggest most obvious names from their childhood.. I didn't want to come off as a "back in my day" type so decided to go deeper into the numbers before I posted my list...

What I found was pretty interesting...

9 of the top 10 players on the NBA all-time leading blocks list played in the 90s (yeah that was the era of dominant bigs so of course)

9 of the top 10 players on the NBA all-time leading steals list played in the 90s (Wait so the guards were beasting too?)

The top 2 lowest opponent field goal percentage for a season occurred in the 90s (yeah 90's n1ggas couldn't shoot we get it)

The top 2 lowest average opponent FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS per season occurred in the 90s (But 90's n1ggas couldn't even get clean looks to shoot either)



My first thought is the game was officiated differently. Refs swallowed their whistles and let players get much more physical (tougher)

My second thought was allowing hand checking, arm bars and man to man defense would allow most of these numbers to be inflated..

But the same rules applied in the 70s and 80's and the numbers don't equate...


What is the reasoning behind the clear individual defensive dominance of players that played in that era?
Click to expand...

Handchecking and being allowed to be physical actually makes it harder to play defense

Yes you read that correctly. Being allowes to handcheck makes it tougher to play defense.
 
FTBS

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For starters you have to consider that blocks and steals weren't official stats until 73, almost 30 years after the leagues inception. So you have guys like Wilt and Russell not even being included in the discussion. The greatness of the players has something to do with it as well. I mean you got Pip, GP, Jordan, Dream, Rodman, Mutombo, Robinson all playing at the same time. That is just special. I would also say that expansion and the shift towards a more physical, slow it down type style (which I think are related) played a big part. Think about it, you went from 23 to 29 teams in what 7 or 8 years. You had players that just flat out didn't belong in the league out there or guys who should've been bench players starting out of necessity. You can get by with effort on defense, if you don't have skills on offense you are gonna be food, especially to the all time great defenders.
 
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