College and NBA basketball

[Dawgcap]

The game is terrible. No inside presence. No plays. Pass around the perimeter, shoot a 3 or drive to basket. I miss the days of post play and defense

 

[Dawgcap]

Damn I miss the 80s and 90s

 

[mstateglfr]

The game is terrible. No inside presence. No plays. Pass around the perimeter, shoot a 3 or drive to basket. I miss the days of post play and defense

The 2 man game is a MASSIVE part of nba play, yet you ignore or don't recognize it exists.
There is constant shifting and screening to overload defenses with the ultimate goal of finding the inevitable open man. Passing is out of this world by players who just a decade or two ago would have never had that skill.

Its a different game than 20nand 30 years ago for sure.

 

[Dawgcap]

I agree but in the past you fed the post. The game was inside out. It’s not that way now. The talent is tremendous today but the 3-12 ft game is gone. No battles underneath

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Memphis was one of the last teams that played inside out with a slower pace and played defense. Problem with that now is you’ve got to be elite on defense to slow the pace down enough to keep up, otherwise you’ll get torched on the perimeter. It’s just a different game and the players have become insanely good at shooting from the outside.

And there’s still defense being played despite the scoring. It’s just elite shooting makes the defense look bad.

 

[Shamoan]

Instead of must-watch intensity, the nba opted for a score happy game that is foul happy and significantly slanted towards offensive teams. Boring...no thanks.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

The NBA didn’t opt to it, it just developed over time. And yes the physical part of the game is different from the 80s and 90s but it’s certainly better than the dogshit basketball played in the 00s. That was just painful to watch.

 

[mstateglfr]

I agree but in the past you fed the post. The game was inside out. It’s not that way now. The talent is tremendous today but the 3-12 ft game is gone. No battles underneath

The 3-12' game is anything but gone, based on actual stats. Well, the 10-12' game is mostly gone, but that's because its in a range that is quite inefficient.
The 3-10' game though is alive and well, its just not what you describe.

- the 2 man game results in a **** ton(thats a stat) of finishing in the paint. Lobs from the pg with finishes by the big or the big dragging defenders away and creating seams for the pg to finish. Both are in the paint.
- Ayton, Capella, Drummond, Gobert, Tristan Thompson, Steven Adams, and Nurkic all average over 10 touches in the paint per game. These are all main rotation players with an average of over 30mpg, so primary offense is being run through the paint still.
- teams still work the ball in to collapse the D and have it kicked out to the open man. Its how a lot of the record number ifn3pt shots are taken, actually. Overloading one side of the court and reversing is just as effective though.
- basketball in the 80s and 90s was close to wrestling, it was so physical. The holding, checking, guiding, etc were all fouls that for whatever reason weren't called. It made for slug it out basketball and it made for ignoring the rules of contact. I dont know why that style is longed for, and I chuckle when people complain thst rules are ignored now(as if thats new).

Now there are guys like Embid and KAT who are only getting 5-7 touches in the paint and you would assume it would be more based on size and official position on the court, but they are also all stars by doing what they are doing, so it clearly works for their teams to not have them plant themselves on the block every possession.

If you long for big man battles, rewatch old Big East games between Pitt and Gtown where Hibbert and Aaron Gray would slowly plod up and down the court back and forth. I remember seeing them in the NBA together 12 years ago and it was the same damn thing. Hibbert went from all star to being traded, cut, and expendable relatively quickly. His game didn't evolve as teams moved to more statistically efficient systems.

 

[mstateglfr]

Instead of must-watch intensity, the nba opted for a score happy game that is foul happy and significantly slanted towards offensive teams. Boring...no thanks.

All this boils down to complaining that the NBA now calls fouls instead of ignoring the wrestling matches thst used to take place inside the overall game.