Definitely made some good points in the video. Only thing I’d add is the shift in officiating to help with scoring. The uncalled travels and carry’s make it nearly impossible to guard these guys. You have some of the fastest, biggest and most athletic players we’ve ever seen and then to allow them extra steps or to stop and restart their dribble just makes it impossible to guard them.
That’s part of the evolution of the game. It’s not necessarily the refs fault, a lot of guys before Kobe and Mike didn’t try to find loopholes, now not only are there more loopholes being found but they’re being exploited more or better than ever before.
@@stefankilleyajones3018I ain’t calling that evolution though. At a certain point it gets ridiculous like look at Hezi’s videos. Some of the stuff he is doing is just goofy as hell
@@stefankilleyajones3018 they aren't loopholes when they are uncalled carry's and travels. A lot of very obvious ones at that. The "gather step" wasn't really brought into the NBA until 2009 and since they did that it has only gotten worse. It is the entertainment industry so I see the point of wanting the guys score more but I think there in a line where it becomes too much and in my opinion they have crossed that line. I feel if they enforced the carry and travel calls a little more it would benefit the game but it is to far gone at this point.
Not to mention traveling basically doesn't exist. It was never called as much as it should. But guys like Lebron and Harden are making a mockery of the rule on a daily basis. You can basically bunny hop down half the court without the ball leaving your hands.
It’s not even traveling anymore. They just manipulate the rules. Gather and zero steps have been mastered. Also nba rules are different than what the average person knows/plays with
@lanceyoung728 not true... in some cases sure but there are plenty cases where you can start counting steps after 3 gather steps and they still take 2-5 more steps The gather step allows for let's say a euro-step and there are plenty of times where it's way way worse not saying it never happened "before" but it's far to prevalent and out of control these days
not one mention of all the freedom of movement rules including hand checking the two clarification on the zero step and in my opinion the multiple travels that they get away with now.
Even if you go by the point he's trying to make, these players today are still not scoring as many points as the players of the 90's! The last couple of points leaders haven't even scored 2,300 points in a season
The zero step rule is clarified, even though I think its stupid. The zero step rule comes into effect when a player picks up the ball in the middle of their running stride (one foot on the ground one foot in the air) the foot on the ground is not considered their pivot foot and is instead considered their "zero step." This allows players to pick of the ball mid step, and then take 2 steps in addition to their zero step. A large majority of the gather steps to the basket you see today would be called travel before this rule was implemented.
@@ethankuchma5295 That has nothing to do with the so-called "zero step". Of course a foot that is already on the ground doesn't count against any steps you are allowed after the gather. That has been true since the dawn of time, and no "clarification" was necessary or, so far as I know, took place. The difference now is that you are now officially allowed TWO steps after the gather, and since refs tend to give the offensive player the benefit of the doubt (again, they've been doing this for a long time) they can now often get away with THREE (and a "half"). That (two steps after the gather) wasn't codified in the rules until 2007. The NBA claimed that how the game was going to be officiated wouldn't change, but they were completely wrong about that.
i cant blame defenses a lot, sure some teams suck on D, but the rules are changed in the NBA to favor offenses, because more points = more entertainment = more viewership = more $$$ i hate it
I can hardly immagine anyone changing rules so that scoring would drop. Casuals would pick forks and torches and set the civilization back to stone age. But if there are no changes to boost the defense NBA would slowly fade into obscurity as the casuals would yawn at multiple players scoring 80 each night.
So what changes do you think would legitimately improve defense with all this space and pace and 3 balls? - handchecking? In a heavy pick and roll offense that everyone runs? I doubt it. They don't play back to the basket basketball much or straight iso with no picks. - 3 sec defense in the key? This could definitely lower scoring opportunities, but its possible it would just result in more 3s. - Being able to land in the zone of the shooter? They won't change this as it exists to prevent injury. - Removing the freedom of movement rule? Perhaps... I doubt it really stops these potent offenses though. Consider this, GSW played without that rule and still had the highest rated offense. Now teams play like GSW. So what defensive rules would really make a difference today?
@coldsnap5742 Not true. The change to the illegal defense rule makes it possible to trap players like Steph and Kyrie who are otherwise unguardable. 4 things favor the offense. Step back, Euro-step, crossover and WAY better shooting. Players are flat out better today then ever. The best defenders today - think Draymond or Kawhi - are longer, bigger and better conditioned than ever before.
Well if someone is super fast and good offensively it's natural that it's difficult to defend. I mean, simply put offence is easier than defense. Defensive player has to react to everyone offensive guy does. Is just difficult to not do any mistakes against those top offensive players. Also he really have a point on pace. I remember rewatching some bulls vs jazz game where half of attacks were ppl just standing around, so little running around. Perhaps because teams didn't have so many good guys or were worse prepared physically, im not sure, but people running around way more nowadays. Everythng moving forward in sports, pretty much any sport, it's funny how people still think some team 30 years ago was better than todays top1 team. I mean they maybe had tons of talent and would be as great nowadays if they had opportunity to play and get all the good stuff players get nowadays, but fact is that overall players are just way better and faster nowadays. @coldsnap5742
The narrative that these guys are more skilled is extremely flawed. Most of these guys succ on defense borderline liabilities, they have no post game whatsoever, we have 7 footers that can’t even cracc 10 boards a game. These guys have better handles and shooting but at the expense of everything else.
Not sure it's flawed, but certainly traditional point guards, power forwards and centers had different skills so saying "more skilled" is a *misnomer* in that sense when what people really mean is that players have a higher skill level in the skills that matter. Namely shooting, passing and ball handling. Like if Aaron Gordan can score on a 6'3" guard in the post does it matter how much skill he displayed? If a Lively - Luka pick and roll results in an alley-oop does it matter whether Lively set a "good" screen? But having Harrison Barnes instead of Charles Oakley creates a whole host of problems for the defense because the increase in shooting, passing and ball handing SCALES UP to make his teammates better in a way that rebounding, screening and mid-range shooting simply doesn't. It's also worth noting that the entire reason we got to this point is because traditional power forwards actually weren't very skilled even at the skills they were supposedly good at. They couldn't take advantage of Harrison Barnes or Shane Battier guarding them in the post or on the offensive glass enough to outweigh the benefit of Banes and Battier draining open threes and driving past bigger, slower opponents on closeouts. To say nothing of how many extra points were generated by having better, smarter passing. Plus the reality of needing to be guarded 25 feet from the basket made the rebounding "skill" of the traditional fours obsolete.
I really wish there was a balance of hard nosed defense/physicality as well as great offense; in the playoffs it’s solid but I want it to be the case in the regular season too
You’ll never get that. These guys can’t and shouldn’t go 100% on both ends of the court. Fans / media have already decided the regular season doesn’t matter
@@papitomichael3317 -- i'd add that REFS aren't as quick to call physical plays. The going "100%" is a small factor. Playoffs allow more physicality. It's why Embiid and Harden are less efficient in the playoffs
@@lubo1358 Today it goes to the other direction. You can have players initiating contact and then flopping and selling it to referees for cheap free throws. It needs reining in.
So, it’s time to change the rules back to make defense count more. Flops should be technical fouls, allow hand checking, and change the rule to 5-6 in the key instead of 3 in the key.
-- Agree. With all this more skill and knowledge, let the plumbers back out the pipework. P.s. Even Luka and Jokic said it was easier to score in the NBA. P.s.s. And when the USA plays international ball, they struggle for 3 reasons: europeans play together and longer as a team, USA doesn't always send its best players, and the rules? It is way more physical. Less flopping. And definitely a bit more entertaining.
David Thompson dropped 73 on a bottom 10 defensive team when the league only had 22 teams and the Nuggets still lost that game. Kobe dropped that 81 on a bottom of the barrel defense Raptors squad in 2006. They already blew them out but it didn't stop Kobe from chucking as many shots as possible in the last few minutes of the game. David Robinson dropped his 71 against an 18th defensive rating Clippers squad and was being actively fed the ball because that was the year he wanted to get the scoring title over Shaq over petty BS. The only person of those four listed that didn't drop 70 on a crap defensive team for their era was Booker. And even then, that Celtics team was 13th in defensive rating. Let's stop pretending like a lot of high scoring individual games weren't done on teams that were garbage on defense.
A 13th ranked defense today would be dead last in past eras, bruh. It's not an opinion it's straight facts that even if teams wanted they can't play defense the same.
@@user-xt5mn4fg5g still not a great defense at the time, either. Point is, usually mid to bad defensive teams get ran through for high scoring games. It's really not all that shocking that it's happening now consider offense is on such a level it's nearly impossible to guard people. I blame officiating and a handful of players. The floppy BS needs to end for sure.
You wrote all that for what lol defense is trash just face it kid,you new era fanboys do so much damage control for your favorite players lol get a job this ain’t it
@ninjersey9476 it's not being a fan boy. It's calling out the old head knob gobblers for talking out their ass. I like defense. I'd prefer better officiating so players can actually play defense without getting called for BS fouls. But to say there's none is just stupid. Plenty of guys try their hardest. Offense nowadays is just so advanced it's difficult to keep up.
its not pace and space causing the scoring eruption is that the nba has legislated defense out of the game while also removed restrictions on the offensive player. For example the rules to protect the shooter, the rules that allow a gather step, i mean how often do you see travels and carry violations these days. Yes these rules allow more creativity, but they have unbalanced the game in favor of the offensive player. Its also players not playing hard every night which to be honest is killing the ratings, the highest skilled era of basketball also has the worst viewership in the last decade and a half. These players dont play hard they are dare i say payed to well and too pampered. Im only 30 so I wouldnt consider myself an old head just yet but the reality is these guys don't care about defense and the NBA essentially said hey thats good that you don't care.
The worst part is that every big youtube platform that covers the NBA spins the same narrative. They say that the game has evolved and make no mention of any rules changes that make drafting scorers super important even when they cant play defense.
This would be a great argument, if I didn’t have eyes. The defense is not allowed to touch players on their way to the basket, we are living in the golden age of offensive rules, not offensive skill. We are also living in the golden age of uneducated basketball fans. The first age where fans consume far more biased propaganda like clip videos than actually watch basketball games. I bet most fans today truly believe they know more from looking at highlights and stats than from watching a game. It’s funny how all you modern day experts still don’t understand illegal defense but claim that rule change makes things so different today. The defensive 3 second rule still would allow a non shooter to space out the floor and still prevents teams from playing a traditional zone defense. I saw a call the other day that was basically the exact same call for an illegal defense in the 90s and I was shocked because I always heard this narrative about illegal defense being gone now. Yes they should get rid of the defensive 3 second rule. But they won’t because it would make scoring harder for “more skilled” players of today.
Defensive 3 seconds wouldn’t allow for a non shooting as that would be detrimental as the strongest defender or rim protector could stand in the paint the entirety of the game and also teams would just put out a three point shooting line up and force the person on a shooter and make the decision of protecting the rim or leaving a shooter
I think another big issue with the balance between offense and defense is how much the offense is allowed to get away with, while the defense is punished for slight physicality. For example, offensive players are frequently allowed to get away with carrying, and often carry as part of their hesitation to get a step on the defender. Anyone who has played basketball, especially as a ballhandler, knows how much you can do with getting a step on a defender. While I understand that their is an entertaining aspect of this to some viewers, as there are more anklebreakers and highlights, it is not fair to the balancing of the game to allow offensive players to get away with breaking the rules punishing defenders for playing physical. I think, for the sake of balancing offense and defense, the enforcement of the rules should either allow offense to continue carrying, but allow defense to play more physically or more strictly enforce carrying and keep the current punishments for defenders playing physically.
This would be a good argument' if players were trying to score inside but they aren't. Teams want to shoot threes. Not being able to touch someone driving to the rim (even though they do) means next to nothing in a league that wants to score from 3.
My eyes tell me their is a foul call and free throw shot damn near every possession. NBA doesn’t have defense anymore. This era allows offenses to do whatever they want, and defenses are very limited in what they can do.
That isn't true since teams and players aren't averaging more free throws than those from previous eras. Guys like Embiid or Harden who average 11 fts isn't anything new. MJ, Iverson and Karl Malone all averaged that for a season before in an era where free throws are more common
Fun fact: Teams today are taking 5x more threes than teams in the 90's, yet everybody that you're pretending is averaging 30-35ppg haven't even scored 2,300 points in season ever in their careers! You all are manipulating averages to pretend that this much scoring has never been seen before! Tom Chambers was scoring more points in a season than the last 3 points leaders in he NBA, The "greatest shooter of all time" has never even scored 2,400 points in a season, the all time points leader has never even scored 2,500 points in a season. Y'all live off of narratives
Isn’t that because they play less games rather than having a lower rate of scoring, also lebron scored 2478 total points in the 05-06 season missing 3 games. And steph was 25 points off that mark in the15-16 season and didn’t play 3 games while sitting out many 4th quarters. you are technically right but only by insignificant margins and while these 2 only missed 3 games many players in recent years are missing 10-20 games
@@dylanbarrett508 Exactly! You just proved my point. LeBron avg 31ppg with 2,478 points but then last year he scored 1,590 points and he avg 29ppg! PPG is supposed to summarize what you scored for the whole season, not what you scored before you stopped playing games
I think a lot of it is the lack of true big men and the rule changes for the ball handler to carry, travel, and double dribble, which makes it easier to score.
how can you even say "lack of true bigs", when ppl like Gobert, Wemby, AD, etc.. are dominating the league. Plus double dribbling, traveling, and carrying were not called out as much as you think during the dead-ball era just say you don't know ball and move tf on
Lol but like the video pointed out, strategies used with the bigs that lacked offensive skill would no longer work. Boban would've been a starter his whole career if he played in 90s, but he is practically unplayable in today's game.
@@vamoneygroup no not at all. Hakeem is not the type of big I'm talking about... Hakeem, Robinson, Shaq, Alonzo, Ewing to an extent... Would all still be great in this era just used differently. It's the guys like Longley, Ostertag, Dudley, Reeves, Tabak, Perdue, Muresan, Polynice, Bradley, MclVaine, Vaught, Lang, Ervin Johnson, Jayson Williams, Cartwright, etc Most of the other bigs in the 90s simply would be bottom of the bench bigs like Boban is... Obviously not guys like Hakeem lmao just about 90% of NBA bigs back then, but not the greats
@@Michael-vn2jj So getting rebounds is also irrelevant. 😂😂Why do I feel like I'm talking to an ai bot that never played basketball and is only spinning narratives?
For those who don’t know, most of the music tracks in his videos from before are by DJ Grumble. It looks like he’s experimenting with different music here though.
The NBA players are just so skilled that they can't medal in the world cup. Its like skill overload, like geniuss who get bored in school and fail classes. It's so next level that i cant comprehend the skill genius of these players.
What's really interesting to me is this: every old basketball player tries to blame this on the laziness/lack of character/selfishness of the current NBA players, but I'm old enough to know that the old ones ALWAYS do this, no matter what the change is. In the nineties Kareem was complaining that no one was developing a skyhook because they were all lazy and just wanted to dunk like Jordan. When the three started to dominate, the new old people said it was because they were too lazy to go inside and get physical! Here's the truth: these are the greatest basketball players in the world, and they will figure out the best way to dominate with whatever system they get handed to them. If the NBA made it illegal to dribble they would develop insane passing. If they made a four point line they would get even better at the long ball. They work with what they've got. If you don't like it, you need to change the rules. In other words, don't blame the player, blame the game.
@@lorddj9910there you go. So with that logic in mind, we would arrive to the conclusion that a huge amount of players from the 90s and 00s would probably not even make the league with their lackluster offensive skill sets. Players are significantly better offensively than they were back then. That’s just the truth.
LOW you doing incredible shit my guy teaching the youth what REALLY was going on when the old heads just wanna lie for their egos. Really beautiful to see can’t stress it enough 🥹
Hand-checking was also made illegal. You used to be able to essentially push the offensive player constantly, anywhere on the court, impeding his movement.
Whenever I hear someone say the 80s and 90s were the golden age of tough hard nose basketball I roll my eyes so fkn hard. People get gassed up by flagrant foul comps and ignore everything else. You watch a high scoring performance from mike or bird and they're just baking one man while the rest of the team is just forced to watch. There was no help defense unless it was a double that came from a good distance away. No pre rotations, no roaming defenders, none of that.
The increase in threes has been good for the game since the space it creates allows for more complex offensive tactics however because of this they also need to release some of the restrictions they previously placed on defense. I think the league has plenty of skilled defenders and some of the smartest ever but they can't defend due to the severe punishment of almost any contact
@@vamoneygroup What I mean to say is the good, talented defenders of this era- the kawhi’s, Lu Dorts, Matisse Thybulles, Paul Georges, etc. would be amazing in previous eras with the rules from back then, that what I meant. But yes, i agree, defense is dying and defenders as a whole are a dying breed. That’s why I consider Tony Allen the defensive GOAT- he played in both eras and stayed an elite defender in both.
No mention of the lack of officiating on travels, carries, etc. It’s not as back and white as you say. Most teams play the exact same way now. That’s not a “golden era” buddy.
The ability of a defender to guard a skilled player who can take three steps carrying the ball is near impossible. You add the Three Steps on the Euro and it isn’t basketball anymore
"There was questionable defence in the 80s" Is THIS your great RUclips basketball debater?!?! "Derp, there were bad movies in the 90s, so quit complaining about modern movies"?? IS THIS REAL LIFEmamma
I’m telling y’all, the things y’all think are travels aren’t most of the time man. And I guarantee 1000% y’all would hate it if they called travels more. Most people already whine enough about the influx of fouls being called. I promise y’all it’s not gonna solve what y’all think it will.
@@latrelljack8751 add in palming the ball I also didn't say anything about changing what's called today. I'm stating reasons current players aren't that much better than their predecessors. If players today had to go play a game 30/40/50 years ago they'd get called for breaking the rules 20% of the time down the floor if they didn't adjust which would allow defenses to be more effective against them
to me the carrying and the lack of physicality allowed on defense is the biggest problem with the balancing between offense and defense. Either keep the relaxed enforcement of carrying calls and allow more physical defense or maintain the strict foul calling on the defense, but also apply that same scrutiny to people carrying.@@orlandowoodson7978
@@orlandowoodson7978 that’s the worst argument I’ve ever heard. I don’t even know what to say to that. I guess I can say something stupid back. If players 30/40/50 years ago played against the complex defenses they have today cause it’s objectively true that defenses are better now than all those players back then would be ass and not in the record books. Pretty fucking stupid. What you and I did is conjure up stupid ass “what ifs.” Making a point based around a what if is always going to be mute.
I just really want to say thank you. It seems everyone either don't know or forget about Illegal Defence rules back in 90th, when they compare the game today and before.
Nope. None of that has anything to do with how players play Matador defense when somebody's driving down the lane. Every single time there is somebody there but they will just let them drive right by for a layup. It's not because the offensive player is more skilled. It's because the defensive player is less motivated. They'll just put their hands up step to the side and let the other person lay it up. It's like an All-Star game.
But the team that he scored 81 against was a terrible defensive team. Being in a more defensive-minded era does not mean that you are always facing good-to-great defenses.
Great vid bro. You can definitely see that great 90s-00s defenders got replaced with great 3pt shooters of the 2010s and beyond and the 1 or 2 3pt specialists of the 90s-00s got replaced by 1 or 2 defensive specialists due to rule changes and team needs. But the lack of travel and carry calling has gone wild
The only thing, I think the golden era of scoring has nothing to do with talent nor athleticism, but absurd help from silverman settings up rules to make it impossible to have a low scoring game
No shot is inherently inefficient. Shot selection doesn't exist in a vacuum like casual fans, and stat analysts think it does. What makes a shot efficient, or inefficient depends on the defense, and the shooter. It's that simple. That's term "inefficient" is a term that analytics has taken and ran with over the years perverting the term, and it's application to the game. A long 2-pointer can be more efficient than a contested 3-pointer. It can even be more efficient than an open 3-pointer if a guy is more comfortable with that shot a little closer to the basket. It depends on the shooter and the look. Mid-range shots are extremely important because they make a defender have to defend the entire court, not just the 3-point line, or the paint. If you're hitting the 3 ball, and a defender adjusts, you can fake the 3, and pull up from the mid-range. Unless you have the time to conciously adjust to get your feet behind the 3-point line, you shouldn't even be focusing on where you are shooting from, you should be focused on the quality of the look you are getting to shoot the ball. A long 2-pointer might be the shot you need if the help defense is deeper in the paint cutting you off from the basket. That's the game of basketball, not analytics. The reason the mid-range was so important before 2014 is because the paint was usually pretty clogged, and having a good pull up jumpshot was a necessity for that reason. 6 ft PG's weren't just getting into the paint at will without taking the chance of getting blocked, stripped, or bodied up by a defender that was much bigger and stronger than they were. Now smaller guys are dribbling the ball at will in and out of the paint face up without contact, and without ever having to have their back to the basket, and unless they get stripped or blocked, they are free to move however they wish entering the paint face up. There is more defense in 2k11 and 2k12 than there is in today's game.
I love nba but this be one of my gripes bc they handicap defense and make it just about scoring and I hate that bc nobody can ever get a stop bc they scared of fouling and if u blow on them they gonna get a call like it makes the game nasty to me I love offense too but I am a defense guy too I love seeing players get stops but defense can’t be played how it’s supposed to be
There are definitely some annoying things in the game now, like offensive players getting to initiate a bit too much contact, and a lot of moving screens. But I think a lot of these things are on the margins. Right now teams are scoring about 115.9 ppg on average. In the peak of the 80's when pace was similar to how it is now they scored 110.8 ppg. They scored 110 while taking next to no 3's, Not running as many on ball screens as they do now, Not doing as much match-up hunting as they do now, and running lineups with more defense stoppers with little offensive ability on the floor at once then they do now (Having 2 offensive liabilities on the floor at once for extra defense and/or rebounding is basically dead now). Give 80's teams the level of 3 point shooting, spacing, and offensive focused lineups of today's teams and they would be at least at 114 a game at least if not 115+, even with the reduced number of free throws that comes with taking more outside shots. And that would be without changing much of anything else. They would still have hand-checking and all but scoring would still be up significantly. Physicallity is kind of secondary here. Defenses are just being put at a big disadvantage to start with, and even with more physicality this would still be the highest scoring era since the 60's just because of the above mentioned factors. There is a bit more physicality in the playoffs (along with the worst defenses just being eliminated by default) but teams are only scoring about 1 points per 100 possessions less in the postseason over the last few years. Physicality can only change so much here. Scoring overall goes down a bit more (about 3-4 ppg) than that due to a slower pace but the overall quality of the offenses is about the same. The biggest changes are pace, space, Getting rid of double big line-ups focused on rebounding and adding more shooting instead, and analytics affecting play-calling. All those things would get us to pretty much what we are seeing now either way. Defenses in the past weren't constantly put in situations where they had there choice of going one on one with the best scorers on the planet or giving up an open 3 nearly as often back in the day. Even with illegal defense rules spacing was a lot worse back in the day than it is now.
the biggest illusion of the 3pt shot is that every team cant shoot 3's at a clip to make much of a difference in offensive use . every team doesnt have two of the greatest shooters ever on the same team . plus its use has ruined ball I.Q. creating poor or bad shots just to jack up a 3.
Players travel and carry all the time now which affects one's ability to score. An extra step gives a ball handler a huge advantage. Also, defense isn't allowed to be played now.
What about defensive 3 seconds!!! That is HUGE in limiting defenders and would shed points like crazy if implemented. Perimeter defenders were never the real threat. It's that 2nd and 3rd defender once you get past the first one!
I totally forgot about illegal defense! I was a shame to see a defender wasted on someone who would never be a treat but i'd rather see that balanced scoring than 40% shots from 3 pt
Beautiful LOW. I always love how intricate you get on these breakdowns dating all the way back to your evolution of the point guard video but this is some more magnificent work. A little nasty but brilliant nonetheless. You forgot to mention the fact that now players can do what was considered traveling, carrying, and offensive fouls from the 2000s and back. In that way the officiating favors the offensive player now. This makes the offensive player look even more skilled because he’s getting away with Harlem Globe Trotter shit. But honestly this is one of your videos I’ll watch multiple times. Teach Marz how to do this shit man. Yall two are goats. On and P.S. if Ticket is banned/suspended from PC can you just start pulling up there? We need that. I would probably agree that he needed to go but you can’t replace him with just Domo and Jalen lmao no offense. You Marz Chill and Pirate are a Dream Team.
Terrible defense, a lack of defensive effort, extreme spacing, bad shot selection in transition, more shot chucking overall, less half-court offense, less contact, moving screens, traveling being legalized, carrying being legalized, and so much more. That's the reason why the game has seen a scoring explosion, and it's has nothing to do with players being more skilled. Just look at the types of players who are having these crazy scoring games. Is Luka at the level of an MJ, Kobe, Bird, or Wilt? Is Luka even Steph Curry? Of course not, and Luka is probably the best of the bunch when it comes to the Guards who have scored 60+ over the last months. The rest of these Guards on that list wouldn't even start in the 2,000's, or the 1990's. I don't even think Luka would would be a superstar in those era's. If there wasn't something wrong, why hasn't these scoring explosions been happening over the last 10 years? A lot of the best players from the last 15 years are still playing at a high level, and none of them are scoring 60 or 70 points over the years. Instead it's these guys who are second, or third tier superstars. I can see Embiid, Giannis, or Jokic having a crazy stat game against a terrible mismatch, but these guards doing this stuff exposes the issue with the modern NBA. They certainly aren't bigger, stronger, or faster, so it must be something else.
Another video defending the "optimized" offensive skills of today's players, but doesn't mention the ridiculous amount of leniency they get when it comes to movement, carrying the ball and traveling. Don't get me wrong, this was a very well made video with great data... No arguments that today's players shoot better and have a ton of talent--BUT, they're still inflated numbers. There never needed to be any type of rule allowing for a "gather step" in the past... Allen Iverson's crossover REALLY pushed the envelope when it came to carrying... And everything is so spaced out, that is easier for players to get a head of steam to get to the rim. And the video brings up a good point that defense DOES still exist; it's just handcuffed to such a ridiculous degree that it's barely worth putting effort into. How many times do i gotta watch someone like trae, LeBron, harden go cry to the refs for little fouls? It's frustrating. It's like watching them play on easy mode. And frankly, it's disrespectful to the players of the past. All these watered down stats that are supposed to be compared to the all time greats..? 😒 People comparing Lukas 73 to other high scoring games, but not caring about any other stats like rebounds, steals, etc. Just hard to watch.
I don’t see how you can argue that defense still exists in todays game when from 94 to 04 there were 11 games where a team scored 140+ points. 7 of those 11 games went to overtime. Meanwhile from this season alone, there have been 57 games where teams scored 140+ pts and only 10 of those games went to Overtime. With that in mind, try to convince me that scoring isn't any easier in this era. This season, you saw multiple instances where a player drops 60 pts and they lose. In the 2000s, dropping 60 pts was pretty much a guaranteed win as teams were 9-0 when a player on their team dropped 60 pts. This season there are atleast 16 players averaging 25 pts a game. In the early 2000s, there wasn’t even 16 players who averaged 20 pts a game. You also have more guys shooting over 40 percent from 3 such as Kat and KD. But regardless of what "experts" like JJ Reddick, or LOW say, their opinions on the subject don’t matter when you have the NBA Commissioner Adam Silver flat out admitting that he legislates the rules to allow for more scoring as he thinks that makes for exciting basketball. The Freedom Of Movement rule is one rule change I can think that essentially handcuffs the defense. That and other rule changes like eliminating hand checking in 04. I know there is some gonna be someone reading this saying "You're overrating hand checking". Try doing dribble moves like a crossover when someone is hand checking you. It ain't the main rule change that has impacted defense, but its certainly worth mentioning. You also have teams attempting 35 3pt shots a game and that tends to skew towards inflated scores. I am also aware that defensive minded teams like the Knicks exist, but they are an outlier when the average NBA team has the defensive effort that is equivalent to the all star game and the game becomes a glorified shootaround or horse. 7 of the top scoring offenses ever are from this season. While LOW likes to mention the pace of play, its not as big of a deal as he makes it out to be. Whilst its true that the 7 seconds or less Phoenix Suns would technically be the slowest paced team in Todays NBA, thats only one part of a problem. The viewership of the league has also been steadily declining with the explosion of scoring in Todays game, so there needs to be a proper balance. However I doubt Adam Silver would have the foresight to see whats wrong and fix the problem. That interview he had with Kevin Garnett pretty much tells you everything you need to know regarding where he wants the game to go
More talents, better talents in highschools, better training, better coaching staff, spent more time training in off season instead of working side-jobs or partying like in the 90s, better spacing, better tactics, billions of data from the past games NBA is the only place where the old heads keep on hating the new generations. In other sports and place old players appreciate and motivate the next generations.
The extra step that would be called in the past is generating tons of points, also you can't even use your fore arm to defend , some times guys just let of the offensive player cause its gonna be a foul, so the only option is send help, then it's just kick the ball out to the shooter, so everyone is basically playing the same way
11:46 "even when they use a competent defender" So YOU ADMIT most of the Hawks' defenders are INCOMPETENT?!??!!? Pleae name their BEST defender... fucking "competent"; JESUS WEPT!!
Its crazy to think about how they would take those long ass 2 pointers because in my mind even before the 3 ball got prioritized I would’ve been like shittt… 3 is better than 2 and it’s not even that much farther than a long ass mid range for 2 points 😭 you might as well try and go to the free throw line
Spot on. More space, more pace, more possessions, more 3s = more points and makes it harder to defend. The solution might be to remove the 3 point shot. Not the 3 point line, but make all shots worth the same value. Then teams will rather play for the highest % shot rather than the highest value shot.
Maybe they should implement the rule " whenever defense is deflecting the pass or forcing the ball out of bounds, attacking team loses 5 seconds on the shot clock, but the number that remains on the shot clock cant be less than 1 second" . That way defense will try to play agressive to disrupt the flow of attack and contest passing lanes.
Great vid and perfectly said! Defense hasn't gotten worse (enabling zone defense has created significant increases in creativity, which like LOW points out, initially led to a drop in scoring), offense has simply gotten too good. We need rule changes to even the field - hand checking should help, eliminating defensive three seconds would be great, and moving the 3pt line back (making the shot less efficient and therefore encouraging greater scoring diversity) could be possible too.
They just nostalgic and want see fights til their favorite players get hurt then mad. LIKe People saying Green shouldnt habr contestef Klay in the finals and said hurt Klay. Yet Green didnt touch him hard and he landed wrong
I’d add a rule where ANY time the ball goes out of bounds, possession is awarded to the team that was on defense. If it was scramble and no team was really “possessing”, it goes back to the “who touched it last” rule. Jose Alvarado type players get a big buff. The defense is rewarded more for being proactive and aggressive. That’s a rule I think could work in an impactful and positive way and that doesn’t really piss anyone off too much in the long run.
That's an interesting idea that I have never thought of in the context of a 5v5 game. Whenever I play 1v1s, this is usually how I play, as the defender in a 1v1 is at such a disadvantage that they should be rewarded for making a stop.
It’s the LeBron James era. If the guy at the top walks up the court instead of running back to get on defense, then the other stars will do the same. If the guy at the top load manages, then the other stars will do the same. If the guy at the top doesn’t take the All-Star Game seriously, then the other stars will do the same. If the guy at the top rejects the Slam Dunk contest, then Ja Morant and Zion Williamson will reject the Slam Dunk contest. It’s consistent thought out everything in the league. 👀
It’s still the lebron era? Dam what legend has had an era for this long😭yall mfs be trying to throw these shots at lebron when u really complimenting him tbh claiming it’s still his era in his 21st season😭and Lebron averaged 76 games per season in his first 17 years and didn’t start missing a lot of games in consecutive seasons until his 18th season so yall just be making up narratives
How can you attribute any of that to lebron? Load management and all-star games are impacted based on the insane contracts and money they now make. Regular season has lost some value due to the ultimate goal being….. the chip. And why would they risk an injury and all that money on an exhibition game or regular season games knowing full well you’ll make it to the playoffs? It’s about the money and keeping that generational wealth. If you’ve got an issue with people not playing hurt, then you’re a clown person who treats these players like animals in a zoo and not real people with futures to worry about. The same people saying “load management is bs and weak” are the same people clowning on embiid and co for being injury prone. When they injure themselves because they didn’t rest and recover properly. There have always been lazy defenders in every era, just like there have allways been active, engaged defenders. And lebron could never do dunk contest spec dunks 🤣
you shouldn’t be forced to do the dunk contest or participate in something you don’t wanna do, i think it’s fine that ja and zion don’t wanna do the dunk contest
It's not just bad defense. It is what the offense is allowed to do compared to the defense. Seem like everybody talking about Hand checking as the soul reason for bad defense, but it's a lot more than that imo. 1. The euro use to be a travel 2. carrying ball isnt called at all. 3. the gather step was a travel, still is imo. 4. players are allowed to move freely through the paint area without being touched or bumped -- think is called freedom of movement rule. 5. player has to jump straight up to block the ball. Any forwarded lean is a foul, even if it's very minimal. 6. 5 second under the basket rule against bigs 7. Can only take charges outside of the line, was different back then. I think all of this combined plays a role in bad def
The long 2 was frustrating. I remember KG being one foot in front of the 3 line and Always making them. I'd be mad and wish he could take 1 step back and get an extra point
A lot of people in these comments straight up just didn’t watch the video 💀
How many more times can we watch the same video?!?!
Word. Most people just read the headline and make assumptions, shit alot of y’all can’t read either tbh and y’all comprehension skills are lacking!
we’ve seen this video before, too many small basketball youtubers now 😂
I watched the whole video and I'm not sure why people are trying to pretend like defenses still exist
@@paxtonpickett3456did low lie in the video? Or did he miss something? I honestly just curious to know how defense doesn’t exist
Jxmyhighroller made a video about scoring highs, and essentially every star player’s best scoring game came against a bottom tier defensive team 😂
Exactly
No shit!
Obviously that would happen
Kobe outscored the entire mavs team in 3 quarters. The same mavs team that was top 10 on defense, and a top 3 team in the west at the time
Even Kobe's 81 Points came against a bottom tier defensive team so what's your point?
Damn I didn’t know dame dropped 70 in 03 I gotta check the history book😂😂😂
Bro did, just let him pull out his PS2 memory card
Just seen this
I looked at that too 😂
Then I was like ahhhh 2023
Definitely made some good points in the video. Only thing I’d add is the shift in officiating to help with scoring. The uncalled travels and carry’s make it nearly impossible to guard these guys. You have some of the fastest, biggest and most athletic players we’ve ever seen and then to allow them extra steps or to stop and restart their dribble just makes it impossible to guard them.
Thats what bothers me
That’s part of the evolution of the game. It’s not necessarily the refs fault, a lot of guys before Kobe and Mike didn’t try to find loopholes, now not only are there more loopholes being found but they’re being exploited more or better than ever before.
@@stefankilleyajones3018I ain’t calling that evolution though. At a certain point it gets ridiculous like look at Hezi’s videos. Some of the stuff he is doing is just goofy as hell
@@stefankilleyajones3018 they aren't loopholes when they are uncalled carry's and travels. A lot of very obvious ones at that. The "gather step" wasn't really brought into the NBA until 2009 and since they did that it has only gotten worse. It is the entertainment industry so I see the point of wanting the guys score more but I think there in a line where it becomes too much and in my opinion they have crossed that line. I feel if they enforced the carry and travel calls a little more it would benefit the game but it is to far gone at this point.
Not to mention traveling basically doesn't exist. It was never called as much as it should. But guys like Lebron and Harden are making a mockery of the rule on a daily basis. You can basically bunny hop down half the court without the ball leaving your hands.
That "double step back" is atrocious
It’s not even traveling anymore. They just manipulate the rules. Gather and zero steps have been mastered. Also nba rules are different than what the average person knows/plays with
@lanceyoung728 not true... in some cases sure but there are plenty cases where you can start counting steps after 3 gather steps and they still take 2-5 more steps
The gather step allows for let's say a euro-step and there are plenty of times where it's way way worse not saying it never happened "before" but it's far to prevalent and out of control these days
@@sirsir108missed travel calls are
more rare than ever go watch a game
@@sirsir108that's the real problem all these carrying and travel
not one mention of all the freedom of movement rules including hand checking the two clarification on the zero step and in my opinion the multiple travels that they get away with now.
Even if you go by the point he's trying to make, these players today are still not scoring as many points as the players of the 90's! The last couple of points leaders haven't even scored 2,300 points in a season
Offense is unnoficiated. Refs only oficiate defense. Thats the core of the NBA problem, and none of these dumbasses talk about it.
The zero step rule is clarified, even though I think its stupid. The zero step rule comes into effect when a player picks up the ball in the middle of their running stride (one foot on the ground one foot in the air) the foot on the ground is not considered their pivot foot and is instead considered their "zero step." This allows players to pick of the ball mid step, and then take 2 steps in addition to their zero step. A large majority of the gather steps to the basket you see today would be called travel before this rule was implemented.
@@ethankuchma5295 that's considered a travel for most of basketball history
@@ethankuchma5295 That has nothing to do with the so-called "zero step". Of course a foot that is already on the ground doesn't count against any steps you are allowed after the gather. That has been true since the dawn of time, and no "clarification" was necessary or, so far as I know, took place. The difference now is that you are now officially allowed TWO steps after the gather, and since refs tend to give the offensive player the benefit of the doubt (again, they've been doing this for a long time) they can now often get away with THREE (and a "half"). That (two steps after the gather) wasn't codified in the rules until 2007. The NBA claimed that how the game was going to be officiated wouldn't change, but they were completely wrong about that.
Remember when Lillard put up 71in NBA for blazers in 2003 at 13years old😅
i cant blame defenses a lot, sure some teams suck on D, but the rules are changed in the NBA to favor offenses, because more points = more entertainment = more viewership = more $$$
i hate it
I can hardly immagine anyone changing rules so that scoring would drop. Casuals would pick forks and torches and set the civilization back to stone age. But if there are no changes to boost the defense NBA would slowly fade into obscurity as the casuals would yawn at multiple players scoring 80 each night.
Soccer has tons of casuals with like 3 goals a game. Basketball will be fine with more defense
These lofty mavens who speak dismissively of “casuals” are so impressed with themselves. 😂🤡
Casuals don't even watch full games so the ratings are destined to crash, they are already getting beat by women college basketball.
So what changes do you think would legitimately improve defense with all this space and pace and 3 balls?
- handchecking? In a heavy pick and roll offense that everyone runs? I doubt it. They don't play back to the basket basketball much or straight iso with no picks.
- 3 sec defense in the key? This could definitely lower scoring opportunities, but its possible it would just result in more 3s.
- Being able to land in the zone of the shooter? They won't change this as it exists to prevent injury.
- Removing the freedom of movement rule? Perhaps... I doubt it really stops these potent offenses though. Consider this, GSW played without that rule and still had the highest rated offense. Now teams play like GSW.
So what defensive rules would really make a difference today?
If simply putting more effort on defense was all a team needed to do to win, teams would be doing that
@coldsnap5742 Not true. The change to the illegal defense rule makes it possible to trap players like Steph and Kyrie who are otherwise unguardable. 4 things favor the offense. Step back, Euro-step, crossover and WAY better shooting. Players are flat out better today then ever. The best defenders today - think Draymond or Kawhi - are longer, bigger and better conditioned than ever before.
Well if someone is super fast and good offensively it's natural that it's difficult to defend. I mean, simply put offence is easier than defense. Defensive player has to react to everyone offensive guy does. Is just difficult to not do any mistakes against those top offensive players. Also he really have a point on pace. I remember rewatching some bulls vs jazz game where half of attacks were ppl just standing around, so little running around. Perhaps because teams didn't have so many good guys or were worse prepared physically, im not sure, but people running around way more nowadays.
Everythng moving forward in sports, pretty much any sport, it's funny how people still think some team 30 years ago was better than todays top1 team. I mean they maybe had tons of talent and would be as great nowadays if they had opportunity to play and get all the good stuff players get nowadays, but fact is that overall players are just way better and faster nowadays. @coldsnap5742
Typo at 0:38 wit Dame. Love the vids LOW
Nah Dame dropped 70 points 9 years before he was drafted. It’s why he’s the Goat.
The narrative that these guys are more skilled is extremely flawed. Most of these guys succ on defense borderline liabilities, they have no post game whatsoever, we have 7 footers that can’t even cracc 10 boards a game. These guys have better handles and shooting but at the expense of everything else.
Luka= great post game, elite footwork, strong. Pretty sure he'd be dominant in any era
Not sure it's flawed, but certainly traditional point guards, power forwards and centers had different skills so saying "more skilled" is a *misnomer* in that sense when what people really mean is that players have a higher skill level in the skills that matter. Namely shooting, passing and ball handling.
Like if Aaron Gordan can score on a 6'3" guard in the post does it matter how much skill he displayed? If a Lively - Luka pick and roll results in an alley-oop does it matter whether Lively set a "good" screen?
But having Harrison Barnes instead of Charles Oakley creates a whole host of problems for the defense because the increase in shooting, passing and ball handing SCALES UP to make his teammates better in a way that rebounding, screening and mid-range shooting simply doesn't.
It's also worth noting that the entire reason we got to this point is because traditional power forwards actually weren't very skilled even at the skills they were supposedly good at. They couldn't take advantage of Harrison Barnes or Shane Battier guarding them in the post or on the offensive glass enough to outweigh the benefit of Banes and Battier draining open threes and driving past bigger, slower opponents on closeouts. To say nothing of how many extra points were generated by having better, smarter passing. Plus the reality of needing to be guarded 25 feet from the basket made the rebounding "skill" of the traditional fours obsolete.
Luka's skillset thrives in Fiba as well so I don't think your argument holds well
You dont need those skills in todays NBA. Not an old head player can shoot anywhere near as efficient and as volumous as the current NBA players.
@@Adj8llk 100% thats the definition of generational.
I really wish there was a balance of hard nosed defense/physicality as well as great offense; in the playoffs it’s solid but I want it to be the case in the regular season too
You’ll never get that. These guys can’t and shouldn’t go 100% on both ends of the court. Fans / media have already decided the regular season doesn’t matter
@@papitomichael3317 -- i'd add that REFS aren't as quick to call physical plays. The going "100%" is a small factor. Playoffs allow more physicality. It's why Embiid and Harden are less efficient in the playoffs
All this scoring will drop if NBA simply gets rid of the ridiculous 012 step dribbling rule and moving screen.
The reality is that hard nosed defense is just fouling the offensive player and getting away with it.
@@lubo1358 Today it goes to the other direction. You can have players initiating contact and then flopping and selling it to referees for cheap free throws. It needs reining in.
So, it’s time to change the rules back to make defense count more.
Flops should be technical fouls, allow hand checking, and change the rule to 5-6 in the key instead of 3 in the key.
-- Agree. With all this more skill and knowledge, let the plumbers back out the pipework.
P.s. Even Luka and Jokic said it was easier to score in the NBA.
P.s.s. And when the USA plays international ball, they struggle for 3 reasons: europeans play together and longer as a team, USA doesn't always send its best players, and the rules? It is way more physical. Less flopping. And definitely a bit more entertaining.
Bald corrupt jew Adam SIlver will never allow it,
And most importantly call All the carry and traveling going on
@@lebarbosa9778 THAT TOO!!!
@@lebarbosa9778 players would revolt. its way more fun for guys like steph curry and luka with the current rules.
David Thompson dropped 73 on a bottom 10 defensive team when the league only had 22 teams and the Nuggets still lost that game. Kobe dropped that 81 on a bottom of the barrel defense Raptors squad in 2006. They already blew them out but it didn't stop Kobe from chucking as many shots as possible in the last few minutes of the game. David Robinson dropped his 71 against an 18th defensive rating Clippers squad and was being actively fed the ball because that was the year he wanted to get the scoring title over Shaq over petty BS. The only person of those four listed that didn't drop 70 on a crap defensive team for their era was Booker. And even then, that Celtics team was 13th in defensive rating.
Let's stop pretending like a lot of high scoring individual games weren't done on teams that were garbage on defense.
A 13th ranked defense today would be dead last in past eras, bruh. It's not an opinion it's straight facts that even if teams wanted they can't play defense the same.
@@user-xt5mn4fg5g still not a great defense at the time, either. Point is, usually mid to bad defensive teams get ran through for high scoring games. It's really not all that shocking that it's happening now consider offense is on such a level it's nearly impossible to guard people. I blame officiating and a handful of players. The floppy BS needs to end for sure.
Also Booker was scoring in garbage time.
You wrote all that for what lol defense is trash just face it kid,you new era fanboys do so much damage control for your favorite players lol get a job this ain’t it
@ninjersey9476 it's not being a fan boy. It's calling out the old head knob gobblers for talking out their ass. I like defense. I'd prefer better officiating so players can actually play defense without getting called for BS fouls. But to say there's none is just stupid. Plenty of guys try their hardest. Offense nowadays is just so advanced it's difficult to keep up.
its not pace and space causing the scoring eruption is that the nba has legislated defense out of the game while also removed restrictions on the offensive player. For example the rules to protect the shooter, the rules that allow a gather step, i mean how often do you see travels and carry violations these days. Yes these rules allow more creativity, but they have unbalanced the game in favor of the offensive player. Its also players not playing hard every night which to be honest is killing the ratings, the highest skilled era of basketball also has the worst viewership in the last decade and a half. These players dont play hard they are dare i say payed to well and too pampered. Im only 30 so I wouldnt consider myself an old head just yet but the reality is these guys don't care about defense and the NBA essentially said hey thats good that you don't care.
blame fiba for gather step
The worst part is that every big youtube platform that covers the NBA spins the same narrative. They say that the game has evolved and make no mention of any rules changes that make drafting scorers super important even when they cant play defense.
@@vamoneygroupthats literally what he did in this video
@@wonstar5363 exactly. It's almost like he just read from an ESPN script.
This video is great evidence for how impressive Kobe’s scoring feats were playing in the hardest scoring era to and probably will ever exist
Never seen that idea of illegal defense manipulation before.
Totally a great point.
Good job sir
Been subbed for like 8 years now.
He's pushing a narrative and left alot out
It says dame dropped 71 in 2003 💀💀
This would be a great argument, if I didn’t have eyes. The defense is not allowed to touch players on their way to the basket, we are living in the golden age of offensive rules, not offensive skill. We are also living in the golden age of uneducated basketball fans. The first age where fans consume far more biased propaganda like clip videos than actually watch basketball games. I bet most fans today truly believe they know more from looking at highlights and stats than from watching a game.
It’s funny how all you modern day experts still don’t understand illegal defense but claim that rule change makes things so different today. The defensive 3 second rule still would allow a non shooter to space out the floor and still prevents teams from playing a traditional zone defense. I saw a call the other day that was basically the exact same call for an illegal defense in the 90s and I was shocked because I always heard this narrative about illegal defense being gone now.
Yes they should get rid of the defensive 3 second rule. But they won’t because it would make scoring harder for “more skilled” players of today.
Defensive 3 seconds wouldn’t allow for a non shooting as that would be detrimental as the strongest defender or rim protector could stand in the paint the entirety of the game and also teams would just put out a three point shooting line up and force the person on a shooter and make the decision of protecting the rim or leaving a shooter
I think another big issue with the balance between offense and defense is how much the offense is allowed to get away with, while the defense is punished for slight physicality. For example, offensive players are frequently allowed to get away with carrying, and often carry as part of their hesitation to get a step on the defender. Anyone who has played basketball, especially as a ballhandler, knows how much you can do with getting a step on a defender. While I understand that their is an entertaining aspect of this to some viewers, as there are more anklebreakers and highlights, it is not fair to the balancing of the game to allow offensive players to get away with breaking the rules punishing defenders for playing physical. I think, for the sake of balancing offense and defense, the enforcement of the rules should either allow offense to continue carrying, but allow defense to play more physically or more strictly enforce carrying and keep the current punishments for defenders playing physically.
This would be a good argument' if players were trying to score inside but they aren't. Teams want to shoot threes. Not being able to touch someone driving to the rim (even though they do) means next to nothing in a league that wants to score from 3.
@@clauzelmoutima6490 yes this exactly this.
My eyes tell me their is a foul call and free throw shot damn near every possession. NBA doesn’t have defense anymore. This era allows offenses to do whatever they want, and defenses are very limited in what they can do.
That isn't true since teams and players aren't averaging more free throws than those from previous eras. Guys like Embiid or Harden who average 11 fts isn't anything new. MJ, Iverson and Karl Malone all averaged that for a season before in an era where free throws are more common
@@shamwaw336What's the most common shot in today's NBA?
@@stevanchez1122 On average? Easily the 3pt shot. The other half of their shots are at the basket or at least 10ft from the basket
@@shamwaw336 What's the least fouled shot in basketball?
@@stevanchez1122 long 2pt shots since that's what most teams are willing to give up after a pick and roll
Fun fact: Teams today are taking 5x more threes than teams in the 90's, yet everybody that you're pretending is averaging 30-35ppg haven't even scored 2,300 points in season ever in their careers! You all are manipulating averages to pretend that this much scoring has never been seen before! Tom Chambers was scoring more points in a season than the last 3 points leaders in he NBA, The "greatest shooter of all time" has never even scored 2,400 points in a season, the all time points leader has never even scored 2,500 points in a season. Y'all live off of narratives
Facts!!1 preach!! and this why i do not subscribe to these woke channels.
Isn’t that because they play less games rather than having a lower rate of scoring, also lebron scored 2478 total points in the 05-06 season missing 3 games. And steph was 25 points off that mark in the15-16 season and didn’t play 3 games while sitting out many 4th quarters.
you are technically right but only by insignificant margins and while these 2 only missed 3 games many players in recent years are missing 10-20 games
Nobodies pretending they’re averaging 30-35 they’re actually averaging that you just don’t know how averages work
James harden also dropped 2300 points in a shortened season. Just thought you should know
@@dylanbarrett508 Exactly! You just proved my point. LeBron avg 31ppg with 2,478 points but then last year he scored 1,590 points and he avg 29ppg! PPG is supposed to summarize what you scored for the whole season, not what you scored before you stopped playing games
I think a lot of it is the lack of true big men and the rule changes for the ball handler to carry, travel, and double dribble, which makes it easier to score.
how can you even say "lack of true bigs", when ppl like Gobert, Wemby, AD, etc.. are dominating the league. Plus double dribbling, traveling, and carrying were not called out as much as you think during the dead-ball era just say you don't know ball and move tf on
Lol but like the video pointed out, strategies used with the bigs that lacked offensive skill would no longer work.
Boban would've been a starter his whole career if he played in 90s, but he is practically unplayable in today's game.
@@Michael-vn2jjnow is that true just because the video said it?😂😂 Olajuwon is a bum because the league has evolved?😂😂
@@vamoneygroup no not at all. Hakeem is not the type of big I'm talking about...
Hakeem, Robinson, Shaq, Alonzo, Ewing to an extent... Would all still be great in this era just used differently.
It's the guys like Longley, Ostertag, Dudley, Reeves, Tabak, Perdue, Muresan, Polynice, Bradley, MclVaine, Vaught, Lang, Ervin Johnson, Jayson Williams, Cartwright, etc
Most of the other bigs in the 90s simply would be bottom of the bench bigs like Boban is... Obviously not guys like Hakeem lmao just about 90% of NBA bigs back then, but not the greats
@@Michael-vn2jj So getting rebounds is also irrelevant. 😂😂Why do I feel like I'm talking to an ai bot that never played basketball and is only spinning narratives?
Illegal defense wasn’t called nearly as much as people want you to believe
Exactly lmaoo
Because teams were living with watching two players play 1 on 1 back to the basket basketball
Hand checking was the most called foul on the 90’s
irrelevant, the fear of it was at the very least a deterrent
@@MineShackleyou get it
Damian Lillard scored his 71 points in 2003 😂 typo goes crazy ngl
Thanks for elaborating for the old heads. They seem not to understand today's game and I don't think they want to understand either.
THIS!!!!! They don’t want to actually learn why. I think it’s just best for their ego to say that people don’t play defense
😂 stop the tap dancing for your favorite players lol they playing 2k on rookie mode with the rules,80s 90s early 2000s was hall of fame difficulty
You casuals brainwashed by glittery things lol looks pretty and all but it’s cheap asf
@@Ninjersey1 Not even close but sure buddy. 😂
😅Sorry, defense guy here. I was a shot blocking menace because of how good it felt especially using my hops against talker players. Defense is key!
For those who don’t know, most of the music tracks in his videos from before are by DJ Grumble.
It looks like he’s experimenting with different music here though.
The NBA players are just so skilled that they can't medal in the world cup. Its like skill overload, like geniuss who get bored in school and fail classes. It's so next level that i cant comprehend the skill genius of these players.
Great vid low need more of these
Legend Of Eating
They got me feeling like im akademiks... wrong video, my fault.
😭😭😭😭😭😂 banger
Feeling like ak is hazardous to your health
What's really interesting to me is this: every old basketball player tries to blame this on the laziness/lack of character/selfishness of the current NBA players, but I'm old enough to know that the old ones ALWAYS do this, no matter what the change is. In the nineties Kareem was complaining that no one was developing a skyhook because they were all lazy and just wanted to dunk like Jordan. When the three started to dominate, the new old people said it was because they were too lazy to go inside and get physical!
Here's the truth: these are the greatest basketball players in the world, and they will figure out the best way to dominate with whatever system they get handed to them. If the NBA made it illegal to dribble they would develop insane passing. If they made a four point line they would get even better at the long ball. They work with what they've got. If you don't like it, you need to change the rules. In other words, don't blame the player, blame the game.
So basically, offense is just great and greater today than ever before
Cause the rules heavily favor offense now
@@lorddj9910 then why do guys like simmons and poole struggle to score?
@@johnmarkson1998 because they’re not that good?!
So basically you a victim to the nba brainwashing program lol everything that glitter ain’t gold kid
@@lorddj9910there you go. So with that logic in mind, we would arrive to the conclusion that a huge amount of players from the 90s and 00s would probably not even make the league with their lackluster offensive skill sets. Players are significantly better offensively than they were back then. That’s just the truth.
LOW you doing incredible shit my guy teaching the youth what REALLY was going on when the old heads just wanna lie for their egos. Really beautiful to see can’t stress it enough 🥹
Young guys lying for their egos is no better than old guys lying for their egos.
Defense is slick dying out I’m watching some games where so many times a possession it’s literally a lay up line wit a chair in the paint lol
And people can show u that in the 80s they doin same
Hand-checking was also made illegal. You used to be able to essentially push the offensive player constantly, anywhere on the court, impeding his movement.
this is honestly a perfect video that explains why the scoring is at such a high compared to prior eras, good work Low
Educating the masses . Context matters so much
It always blows my mind how little people talk about illegal defense when comparing eras.
Whenever I hear someone say the 80s and 90s were the golden age of tough hard nose basketball I roll my eyes so fkn hard. People get gassed up by flagrant foul comps and ignore everything else. You watch a high scoring performance from mike or bird and they're just baking one man while the rest of the team is just forced to watch. There was no help defense unless it was a double that came from a good distance away. No pre rotations, no roaming defenders, none of that.
Exactly
You two are obviously ai bots😂. You generate these comments on every nba video where people criticize lack of defense
@@vamoneygroup beep boop 🤖
The you can’t play defense era.
You can just nobody does.
The increase in threes has been good for the game since the space it creates allows for more complex offensive tactics however because of this they also need to release some of the restrictions they previously placed on defense. I think the league has plenty of skilled defenders and some of the smartest ever but they can't defend due to the severe punishment of almost any contact
Good for the game in what way. The ratings literally cant be lower.
@@vamoneygroup for the reason I already stated
@@vamoneygrouphonestly, defenders are more talented then ever, just like the offense, but they can’t get anything away with these rules
@@justropesu3546 these are the worse defenders perhaps in NBA's history
@@vamoneygroup What I mean to say is the good, talented defenders of this era- the kawhi’s, Lu Dorts, Matisse Thybulles, Paul Georges, etc. would be amazing in previous eras with the rules from back then, that what I meant. But yes, i agree, defense is dying and defenders as a whole are a dying breed. That’s why I consider Tony Allen the defensive GOAT- he played in both eras and stayed an elite defender in both.
LOW NEVER MISSES DAWG. NEVER. STAY SPITTING STRAIGHT FACTS😮💨😮💨😮💨
You can't really play defense anymore. There's no way a slow, unathletic player like luka should be dominate like that
Dame went crazy in 03
The reason is simple, now days rules have bias for offence and todays level of professionalism is much higher, people train much more than in the past
No mention of the lack of officiating on travels, carries, etc.
It’s not as back and white as you say. Most teams play the exact same way now. That’s not a “golden era” buddy.
The ability of a defender to guard a skilled player who can take three steps carrying the ball is near impossible. You add the Three Steps on the Euro and it isn’t basketball anymore
They really destroyed the beautiful game of basketball......for 6 extra ppg. Smh disgusting.
"There was questionable defence in the 80s"
Is THIS your great RUclips basketball debater?!?!
"Derp, there were bad movies in the 90s, so quit complaining about modern movies"??
IS THIS REAL LIFEmamma
No mention of traveling calls, illegal screens, or better regular season scheduling?
I’m telling y’all, the things y’all think are travels aren’t most of the time man. And I guarantee 1000% y’all would hate it if they called travels more. Most people already whine enough about the influx of fouls being called. I promise y’all it’s not gonna solve what y’all think it will.
@@latrelljack8751 add in palming the ball
I also didn't say anything about changing what's called today. I'm stating reasons current players aren't that much better than their predecessors. If players today had to go play a game 30/40/50 years ago they'd get called for breaking the rules 20% of the time down the floor if they didn't adjust which would allow defenses to be more effective against them
to me the carrying and the lack of physicality allowed on defense is the biggest problem with the balancing between offense and defense. Either keep the relaxed enforcement of carrying calls and allow more physical defense or maintain the strict foul calling on the defense, but also apply that same scrutiny to people carrying.@@orlandowoodson7978
@@orlandowoodson7978naww y’all handles just wasn’t like that!😂 y’all was back to the basket with ball at the 3pt line💀
@@orlandowoodson7978 that’s the worst argument I’ve ever heard. I don’t even know what to say to that. I guess I can say something stupid back. If players 30/40/50 years ago played against the complex defenses they have today cause it’s objectively true that defenses are better now than all those players back then would be ass and not in the record books. Pretty fucking stupid. What you and I did is conjure up stupid ass “what ifs.” Making a point based around a what if is always going to be mute.
I feel like low made perfect points that people just don’t want to hear
I just really want to say thank you. It seems everyone either don't know or forget about Illegal Defence rules back in 90th, when they compare the game today and before.
Nope. None of that has anything to do with how players play Matador defense when somebody's driving down the lane. Every single time there is somebody there but they will just let them drive right by for a layup. It's not because the offensive player is more skilled. It's because the defensive player is less motivated. They'll just put their hands up step to the side and let the other person lay it up. It's like an All-Star game.
This just proves how much more impressive kobes 81 point game is he scored 81 in an era where it was x 2 harder to score.
But the team that he scored 81 against was a terrible defensive team. Being in a more defensive-minded era does not mean that you are always facing good-to-great defenses.
@@urbaindelva7869 ur right
0:38 it’s crazy dames been in the league since 2003 and that he dropped 71 in his rookie year man. His career is almost as old as me
Can we appreciate how much more frequently Low is posting on RUclips, been making my month so much better
I don’t know. Can they?
Need to add rule that forbids flopping like in soccer. Still happens a lot in soccer but imagine what it would be like if you didn’t risk a yellow.
if jordan had this much freedom to play basketball he would drop 70 each night.
Great vid bro. You can definitely see that great 90s-00s defenders got replaced with great 3pt shooters of the 2010s and beyond and the 1 or 2 3pt specialists of the 90s-00s got replaced by 1 or 2 defensive specialists due to rule changes and team needs. But the lack of travel and carry calling has gone wild
0:38 Lillard’s longevity in the game is crazy and should be as talked about as much as we talk about lebron’s if we are being honest.
He's been scoring 70 before bron was in the league
We gotta change the goat tier list now
The only thing, I think the golden era of scoring has nothing to do with talent nor athleticism, but absurd help from silverman settings up rules to make it impossible to have a low scoring game
February 2003 for Dame Lillard is crazy. Dame was 13 getting buckets like that?
No shot is inherently inefficient. Shot selection doesn't exist in a vacuum like casual fans, and stat analysts think it does. What makes a shot efficient, or inefficient depends on the defense, and the shooter. It's that simple. That's term "inefficient" is a term that analytics has taken and ran with over the years perverting the term, and it's application to the game. A long 2-pointer can be more efficient than a contested 3-pointer. It can even be more efficient than an open 3-pointer if a guy is more comfortable with that shot a little closer to the basket. It depends on the shooter and the look. Mid-range shots are extremely important because they make a defender have to defend the entire court, not just the 3-point line, or the paint. If you're hitting the 3 ball, and a defender adjusts, you can fake the 3, and pull up from the mid-range. Unless you have the time to conciously adjust to get your feet behind the 3-point line, you shouldn't even be focusing on where you are shooting from, you should be focused on the quality of the look you are getting to shoot the ball. A long 2-pointer might be the shot you need if the help defense is deeper in the paint cutting you off from the basket. That's the game of basketball, not analytics. The reason the mid-range was so important before 2014 is because the paint was usually pretty clogged, and having a good pull up jumpshot was a necessity for that reason. 6 ft PG's weren't just getting into the paint at will without taking the chance of getting blocked, stripped, or bodied up by a defender that was much bigger and stronger than they were. Now smaller guys are dribbling the ball at will in and out of the paint face up without contact, and without ever having to have their back to the basket, and unless they get stripped or blocked, they are free to move however they wish entering the paint face up. There is more defense in 2k11 and 2k12 than there is in today's game.
I love nba but this be one of my gripes bc they handicap defense and make it just about scoring and I hate that bc nobody can ever get a stop bc they scared of fouling and if u blow on them they gonna get a call like it makes the game nasty to me I love offense too but I am a defense guy too I love seeing players get stops but defense can’t be played how it’s supposed to be
I’ve seen so many 40 point games this year I’ve become numb to them like it’s nothing
That man dame been in the league since 2003 ig now😂
There are definitely some annoying things in the game now, like offensive players getting to initiate a bit too much contact, and a lot of moving screens. But I think a lot of these things are on the margins.
Right now teams are scoring about 115.9 ppg on average. In the peak of the 80's when pace was similar to how it is now they scored 110.8 ppg. They scored 110 while taking next to no 3's, Not running as many on ball screens as they do now, Not doing as much match-up hunting as they do now, and running lineups with more defense stoppers with little offensive ability on the floor at once then they do now (Having 2 offensive liabilities on the floor at once for extra defense and/or rebounding is basically dead now). Give 80's teams the level of 3 point shooting, spacing, and offensive focused lineups of today's teams and they would be at least at 114 a game at least if not 115+, even with the reduced number of free throws that comes with taking more outside shots. And that would be without changing much of anything else. They would still have hand-checking and all but scoring would still be up significantly. Physicallity is kind of secondary here. Defenses are just being put at a big disadvantage to start with, and even with more physicality this would still be the highest scoring era since the 60's just because of the above mentioned factors.
There is a bit more physicality in the playoffs (along with the worst defenses just being eliminated by default) but teams are only scoring about 1 points per 100 possessions less in the postseason over the last few years. Physicality can only change so much here. Scoring overall goes down a bit more (about 3-4 ppg) than that due to a slower pace but the overall quality of the offenses is about the same.
The biggest changes are pace, space, Getting rid of double big line-ups focused on rebounding and adding more shooting instead, and analytics affecting play-calling. All those things would get us to pretty much what we are seeing now either way. Defenses in the past weren't constantly put in situations where they had there choice of going one on one with the best scorers on the planet or giving up an open 3 nearly as often back in the day. Even with illegal defense rules spacing was a lot worse back in the day than it is now.
Feel like an underrated aspect of specifically the big scoring nights is that they're all happening in January.
Great video. I appreciate you doing such thorough research to get this point across. Offense is just bussin right now lol
the biggest illusion of the 3pt shot is that every team cant shoot 3's at a clip to make much of a difference in offensive use . every team doesnt have two of the greatest shooters ever on the same team . plus its use has ruined ball I.Q. creating poor or bad shots just to jack up a 3.
Players travel and carry all the time now which affects one's ability to score. An extra step gives a ball handler a huge advantage. Also, defense isn't allowed to be played now.
Damn Dame played in ‘03 😂 (Chill chat I know it’s an honest mistake)
What about defensive 3 seconds!!! That is HUGE in limiting defenders and would shed points like crazy if implemented.
Perimeter defenders were never the real threat. It's that 2nd and 3rd defender once you get past the first one!
I totally forgot about illegal defense!
I was a shame to see a defender wasted on someone who would never be a treat but i'd rather see that balanced scoring than 40% shots from 3 pt
Beautiful LOW. I always love how intricate you get on these breakdowns dating all the way back to your evolution of the point guard video but this is some more magnificent work. A little nasty but brilliant nonetheless. You forgot to mention the fact that now players can do what was considered traveling, carrying, and offensive fouls from the 2000s and back. In that way the officiating favors the offensive player now. This makes the offensive player look even more skilled because he’s getting away with Harlem Globe Trotter shit. But honestly this is one of your videos I’ll watch multiple times. Teach Marz how to do this shit man. Yall two are goats.
On and P.S. if Ticket is banned/suspended from PC can you just start pulling up there? We need that. I would probably agree that he needed to go but you can’t replace him with just Domo and Jalen lmao no offense. You Marz Chill and Pirate are a Dream Team.
Terrible defense, a lack of defensive effort, extreme spacing, bad shot selection in transition, more shot chucking overall, less half-court offense, less contact, moving screens, traveling being legalized, carrying being legalized, and so much more. That's the reason why the game has seen a scoring explosion, and it's has nothing to do with players being more skilled. Just look at the types of players who are having these crazy scoring games. Is Luka at the level of an MJ, Kobe, Bird, or Wilt? Is Luka even Steph Curry? Of course not, and Luka is probably the best of the bunch when it comes to the Guards who have scored 60+ over the last months. The rest of these Guards on that list wouldn't even start in the 2,000's, or the 1990's. I don't even think Luka would would be a superstar in those era's. If there wasn't something wrong, why hasn't these scoring explosions been happening over the last 10 years? A lot of the best players from the last 15 years are still playing at a high level, and none of them are scoring 60 or 70 points over the years. Instead it's these guys who are second, or third tier superstars. I can see Embiid, Giannis, or Jokic having a crazy stat game against a terrible mismatch, but these guards doing this stuff exposes the issue with the modern NBA. They certainly aren't bigger, stronger, or faster, so it must be something else.
Luka is insanely skilled and would dominate any era.
How skilled would they be in the 90s rules?
Another video defending the "optimized" offensive skills of today's players, but doesn't mention the ridiculous amount of leniency they get when it comes to movement, carrying the ball and traveling. Don't get me wrong, this was a very well made video with great data... No arguments that today's players shoot better and have a ton of talent--BUT, they're still inflated numbers.
There never needed to be any type of rule allowing for a "gather step" in the past... Allen Iverson's crossover REALLY pushed the envelope when it came to carrying... And everything is so spaced out, that is easier for players to get a head of steam to get to the rim. And the video brings up a good point that defense DOES still exist; it's just handcuffed to such a ridiculous degree that it's barely worth putting effort into. How many times do i gotta watch someone like trae, LeBron, harden go cry to the refs for little fouls?
It's frustrating. It's like watching them play on easy mode. And frankly, it's disrespectful to the players of the past. All these watered down stats that are supposed to be compared to the all time greats..? 😒 People comparing Lukas 73 to other high scoring games, but not caring about any other stats like rebounds, steals, etc. Just hard to watch.
the future generations of sports media and fans are not going to respect this era of basketball.
I don’t see how you can argue that defense still exists in todays game when from 94 to 04 there were 11 games where a team scored 140+ points. 7 of those 11 games went to overtime. Meanwhile from this season alone, there have been 57 games where teams scored 140+ pts and only 10 of those games went to Overtime. With that in mind, try to convince me that scoring isn't any easier in this era.
This season, you saw multiple instances where a player drops 60 pts and they lose. In the 2000s, dropping 60 pts was pretty much a guaranteed win as teams were 9-0 when a player on their team dropped 60 pts.
This season there are atleast 16 players averaging 25 pts a game. In the early 2000s, there wasn’t even 16 players who averaged 20 pts a game.
You also have more guys shooting over 40 percent from 3 such as Kat and KD.
But regardless of what "experts" like JJ Reddick, or LOW say, their opinions on the subject don’t matter when you have the NBA Commissioner Adam Silver flat out admitting that he legislates the rules to allow for more scoring as he thinks that makes for exciting basketball. The Freedom Of Movement rule is one rule change I can think that essentially handcuffs the defense.
That and other rule changes like eliminating hand checking in 04. I know there is some gonna be someone reading this saying "You're overrating hand checking". Try doing dribble moves like a crossover when someone is hand checking you. It ain't the main rule change that has impacted defense, but its certainly worth mentioning.
You also have teams attempting 35 3pt shots a game and that tends to skew towards inflated scores.
I am also aware that defensive minded teams like the Knicks exist, but they are an outlier when the average NBA team has the defensive effort that is equivalent to the all star game and the game becomes a glorified shootaround or horse. 7 of the top scoring offenses ever are from this season.
While LOW likes to mention the pace of play, its not as big of a deal as he makes it out to be. Whilst its true that the 7 seconds or less Phoenix Suns would technically be the slowest paced team in Todays NBA, thats only one part of a problem.
The viewership of the league has also been steadily declining with the explosion of scoring in Todays game, so there needs to be a proper balance. However I doubt Adam Silver would have the foresight to see whats wrong and fix the problem. That interview he had with Kevin Garnett pretty much tells you everything you need to know regarding where he wants the game to go
low key one of the best breakdowns ive seen, specifically on such a media senistive topic
More talents, better talents in highschools, better training, better coaching staff, spent more time training in off season instead of working side-jobs or partying like in the 90s, better spacing, better tactics, billions of data from the past games
NBA is the only place where the old heads keep on hating the new generations.
In other sports and place old players appreciate and motivate the next generations.
Exactly
The extra step that would be called in the past is generating tons of points, also you can't even use your fore arm to defend , some times guys just let of the offensive player cause its gonna be a foul, so the only option is send help, then it's just kick the ball out to the shooter, so everyone is basically playing the same way
dom, low, and swish dropping on the same day, with the latter two on similar topics, is blessing my timeline
Man, great explanation. Finally somebody said it. I hope one day we can have zone and hand check, so we can watch real basketball
11:46 "even when they use a competent defender"
So YOU ADMIT most of the Hawks' defenders are INCOMPETENT?!??!!?
Pleae name their BEST defender... fucking "competent"; JESUS WEPT!!
Its crazy to think about how they would take those long ass 2 pointers because in my mind even before the 3 ball got prioritized I would’ve been like shittt… 3 is better than 2 and it’s not even that much farther than a long ass mid range for 2 points 😭 you might as well try and go to the free throw line
Spot on.
More space, more pace, more possessions, more 3s = more points and makes it harder to defend.
The solution might be to remove the 3 point shot. Not the 3 point line, but make all shots worth the same value. Then teams will rather play for the highest % shot rather than the highest value shot.
Maybe they should implement the rule " whenever defense is deflecting the pass or forcing the ball out of bounds, attacking team loses 5 seconds on the shot clock, but the number that remains on the shot clock cant be less than 1 second" . That way defense will try to play agressive to disrupt the flow of attack and contest passing lanes.
Great vid and perfectly said! Defense hasn't gotten worse (enabling zone defense has created significant increases in creativity, which like LOW points out, initially led to a drop in scoring), offense has simply gotten too good. We need rule changes to even the field - hand checking should help, eliminating defensive three seconds would be great, and moving the 3pt line back (making the shot less efficient and therefore encouraging greater scoring diversity) could be possible too.
They just nostalgic and want see fights til their favorite players get hurt then mad. LIKe People saying Green shouldnt habr contestef Klay in the finals and said hurt Klay. Yet Green didnt touch him hard and he landed wrong
Defense has gotten worse
I’d add a rule where ANY time the ball goes out of bounds, possession is awarded to the team that was on defense. If it was scramble and no team was really “possessing”, it goes back to the “who touched it last” rule. Jose Alvarado type players get a big buff. The defense is rewarded more for being proactive and aggressive. That’s a rule I think could work in an impactful and positive way and that doesn’t really piss anyone off too much in the long run.
That's an interesting idea that I have never thought of in the context of a 5v5 game. Whenever I play 1v1s, this is usually how I play, as the defender in a 1v1 is at such a disadvantage that they should be rewarded for making a stop.
It’s the LeBron James era. If the guy at the top walks up the court instead of running back to get on defense, then the other stars will do the same. If the guy at the top load manages, then the other stars will do the same. If the guy at the top doesn’t take the All-Star Game seriously, then the other stars will do the same. If the guy at the top rejects the Slam Dunk contest, then Ja Morant and Zion Williamson will reject the Slam Dunk contest. It’s consistent thought out everything in the league. 👀
lebron influence so crazy thats goat status right there
It’s still the lebron era? Dam what legend has had an era for this long😭yall mfs be trying to throw these shots at lebron when u really complimenting him tbh claiming it’s still his era in his 21st season😭and Lebron averaged 76 games per season in his first 17 years and didn’t start missing a lot of games in consecutive seasons until his 18th season so yall just be making up narratives
How can you attribute any of that to lebron? Load management and all-star games are impacted based on the insane contracts and money they now make. Regular season has lost some value due to the ultimate goal being….. the chip. And why would they risk an injury and all that money on an exhibition game or regular season games knowing full well you’ll make it to the playoffs? It’s about the money and keeping that generational wealth. If you’ve got an issue with people not playing hurt, then you’re a clown person who treats these players like animals in a zoo and not real people with futures to worry about. The same people saying “load management is bs and weak” are the same people clowning on embiid and co for being injury prone. When they injure themselves because they didn’t rest and recover properly. There have always been lazy defenders in every era, just like there have allways been active, engaged defenders. And lebron could never do dunk contest spec dunks 🤣
you shouldn’t be forced to do the dunk contest or participate in something you don’t wanna do, i think it’s fine that ja and zion don’t wanna do the dunk contest
How you tied all that to Bron is crazy…he’s really rent free in a lot of yall heads
Ok, but can we start calling travels and offensive fouls again?
The reason imo is that refs don't allow teams to play defense
Damian Lillard scored 71 in 2003?
Lillard been him
It's not just bad defense. It is what the offense is allowed to do compared to the defense. Seem like everybody talking about Hand checking as the soul reason for bad defense, but it's a lot more than that imo.
1. The euro use to be a travel
2. carrying ball isnt called at all.
3. the gather step was a travel, still is imo.
4. players are allowed to move freely through the paint area without being touched or bumped -- think is called freedom of movement rule.
5. player has to jump straight up to block the ball. Any forwarded lean is a foul, even if it's very minimal.
6. 5 second under the basket rule against bigs
7. Can only take charges outside of the line, was different back then.
I think all of this combined plays a role in bad def
The long 2 was frustrating. I remember KG being one foot in front of the 3 line and Always making them. I'd be mad and wish he could take 1 step back and get an extra point
That is why we cannot compare eras. Diff rules..diff outcomes.