What happens if Adam Silver bans the Zone Defense again?
- Thread starter Beerus
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Depends on what you mean. The pace of the game was faster then but the speed of the players wasn't nearly the same. The superstars were always amazing athletes, across eras, but the average NBA player is so much more athletic and quick than they used to be.
It's easy to make sure you're fundamentally sound when you don't got a 6'8 dude closing out on you like a bolt of lightning.
It's why you see guys like Chris Andersen knocking down threes when given sufficient time to square up.
Field Marshall Bradley
Veteran
The difference in athleticism between the 80s and now gets overrated. Athleticism does not equate to skill set. Its the reason why a team like the Spurs are always in the hunt for a ring.......
The only difference is you have guys off the bench that are long and athletic compared to the 80s.......But as far as the starting 5, I think its only a marginal increase in overall athleticism.....
The Spurs have plenty of very athletic and skilled players plus one of the greatest coaches of all time.
I didn't say athleticism was the end-all be-all but the speed of the game is entirely different than it used to be and it's a lot easier to keep your form in check when you don't got super athletic and long players in your face.
If you put someone like Javale McGee or Andre Drummond back on the 80s, they'd look like Prime Shaq.
Field Marshall Bradley
Veteran
Dude....You gots to be joking....You're talking about the era of big men.....Javele McGee can't dominate in this era where there are no big men...He would be a journeyman at best....Conversely, I can place Kevin Willis in this current gen, and he'd average 22 and 10 easily......
Dude, this isn't an era of no big men, this is an era where big men don't typically have offenses ran through them because of the changes in defense and the rule changes that happened after Shaq broke the game.
It's why great one on one post play big men are having trouble leading teams ( Cousins, Jefferson, Horford, Lopez).
It's very easy to deny entry passes, hard doubles come much quicker, average centers tend to be able to jump or have incredible length that make it hard to shoot over, etc.
McGee would make life hell off athletic gifts alone. Even Hakeem was like "Javale is off the charts talented with his gifts".
The league is more focused on perimeter dominance now and the most valuable big men aren't scoring bigs but ones that are typically defensive game changers who are fairly consistent at finishing the attempts they get (Dwight, Noah, Hibbert, Duncan, Davis, etc)
Field Marshall Bradley
Veteran
You're not gonna run the offense through a big man in this era because of one, they don't have the skillset to play with their back to the basket and two, entry passes get denied off poor guard play and when a center doesn't position himself for the ball properly.
The fact that you had to reach with Lopez and Horford says it all.....
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SwagKingKong
All Star
Dallas did use a zone in 2011.
Hand checking was removed in 04-05, the zone was made legal in 01-02.
Anyway, Silver isn't dumb, he''s not going to allow hand checking. There's a reason why they removed it in the first place. In 03-04, Garnett, yes, the defensive minded Garnett lead the league in total scoring and finished 2nd in the run for the scoring title, at 24.2 ppg. In comparison, it would have him tied for 6th place in this years league.
Commisioners love high scorers and hand checking allows that.
And the zone isn't going anywhere either.. NBA wants the game to stay perimeter orientated and the zone allows that.. its why they also brought the def. 3 seconds into the game. They dont want the Hakeem, D-Rob, Ewing, Shaq types to feast inside, they want perimeter stars. Its really that simple. Also, it makes alot of sense to have the zone legal considering the rest of the world use it and it can be an effective way to slow teams down.
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If they remove zones, all Bron has to do is get past his defender and score like Jordan.
I want arggue against that, but if that was dudes point why bring up Curry in the very next sentence. He's probably the most fundamentally sound guard in the game. Why would handchecking slow him down. shyt makes no sense.
malbaker86
Gators
Duncan could play for another 5 years at the level he's playing at now. Same with Kobe.
Yeah, most if not all teams are using the benefits of a zone without really running a set, most teams are basically running a box & 1 if you really look at, the PG is defending the ball while everyone else is sinking down and basically 1 step outside the paint. You got all sorts of shading and doubling without the ball that you couldn't do in the illegal defense era mostly because everyone is smart enough to take advantage of the zone rules.
Tony D'Amato
It's all about the inches
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The Kang couldn't handle the physicality of the old nba.
Bron actually bleeds, so you know them soft palms on Jordan ain't shyt compared to punches to the face. 