Which is Tougher Defense on the NBA the 90's era or today?

[ArCkz]

---

Klaro kaau pag 90s... mas grabe to before kung e compare karon.

It has something to do with the NBA rules. Ila g strict karon compared sauna.

[spdoubleoky05]

karon oi. .

[rushofools]

kung physicality, mas grabe jud sauna. pero kung sa defensive schemes, mas maayo ang karon na panahon...

[rushofools]

sa physicality, mas grabe jud sauna. pero kung sa defensive schemes, mas maayo ang karon na panahon...

[ick]

Here's my opinion:

Back in the 90's man-to-man defense was at its most physical where you can literally grab the offensive player by his waist and not get called for the foul thereby impeding the players progress towards the hoop. However, this is a misconception since the quicker players of that era (Jordan, Thomas, Tim Hardaway, etc.) would always beat their man to the basket by using their quickness, no amount of grabbing can stop these guys because by the time they make their explosive first step the defensive player would be left in the dust, and by then, grabbing somebody from behind would obviously be called a foul.

Grabbing and holding is very effective in off-ball situations (see Reggie Miller going thru the screens) but it is still allowed in the NBA today. What the NBA has curtailed is the excessive holding and shoving of an offensive player carrying the ball not when you don't have the ball.

Fast forward, Although today's game is less physical than the past decades, it has become more cerebral and limiting for the offensive player to make his shot. Basically, if you want to become a good scorer now, you have to be a good jumpshooter and creative, or the team's system allows you to dominate the ball (and when I say dominate meaning from the time the ball is carried over to the front court they always have it in their hands already) more often than any other time (see LeBron in Cleveland, Chris Paul, Gilbert Arenas in Washington, etc.). Also, getting transition baskets helps pad the stats as more and more teams value the running game more than ever.

What the NBA teams face every night is basically zone defenses. No coach will ever tell you that the only way to destroy a zone is through penetration but instead they would tell you to get your jumpshot going or go break it with passing. This is obvious because the zone tries to guard the space on the floor where it has the highest percentage to make a bucket--the painted area. Since it guards space, a help or secondary defender would always be availabla at the right time some offensive player penetrates to the basket, basically just waiting there to draw the charge. Whereas, in the 90's you either guard your man or double team aggresively with the intent of double teaming--the defensive player just can't get caught in between decision making since it would be called an ILLEGAL defense violation. No guarding of space is allowed. Offensive teams would take advantage of this defensive liabilty by using almost all the time the isolation play on one side of the floor or pounding it to the big guy down low with single defensive coverage resulting into a stagnant offense where ball movement was a rarity. The game became boring, yes, but very effective. Hence, the NBA made changes allowed zone defenses so we can see more ball movement rather than one-on-one plays down low. But the NBA was also mindful of the effectiveness of the zone defenses that is why they limited the physical defensive advantages of the defender, no more holding, grabbing, and bumping people off. Imagine if the NBA allowed Zone defenses and the physical defense of the 80's and 90's.

Plus, you put into the equation the myriad defensive schemes of today's NBA made possible by allowing the zone defenses. My point is, it is much harder for an NBA player to score nowadays since he must be very skilled to do it in today's NBA notwithstanding that players are much quicker and more athetic than ever before as teams draft for athletes and not skill. Thus, in the 90's physical man-to-man defense was much harder and more punishing but today's NBA defense is much harder to score at.

[Queen Mojitos]

the 90's era no doubt hehe XD

[footlose]

Larry Brown said MJ would ave 50 in this soft era.

.

Ron Artest claimed that if he defended Jordan in his prime, that Michael Jordan "would drop 50 on me".

Bruce Bowen stated that Michael Jordan was the hardest player he ever had to defend. Just think about that for a second, Bruce Bowen didn't even face MJ in MJ's prime.

During a 2007 L.A. Lakers pre-season broadcast, Phil Jackson was asked how he thought Michael Jordan would perform today, Phil said: "Michael would average 45 with these rules."

"You can't even touch a guy now," says Charlotte coach Larry Brown. "The college game is much more physical than our game. I always tease Michael [Jordan], if he played today, he'd average 50."

“The history book inspires them to be some of the best,” said Jordan. “Rules have changed to help them. I could have averaged 50 points today!”

source

The NBA "Zone" era - The basketball encyclopedia



if MJ can ave. 45 to 50 in todays game.. then that means.. weak ang era karon.


Phil Jackson and Larry Brown considers this era as a weak era...

[dbrain23]

its was more physical in the 90's era than today. players can get away with a lot of the fouls that are being called today.

[ick]

Larry Brown said MJ would ave 50 in this soft era.

.

Ron Artest claimed that if he defended Jordan in his prime, that Michael Jordan "would drop 50 on me".

Bruce Bowen stated that Michael Jordan was the hardest player he ever had to defend. Just think about that for a second, Bruce Bowen didn't even face MJ in MJ's prime.

During a 2007 L.A. Lakers pre-season broadcast, Phil Jackson was asked how he thought Michael Jordan would perform today, Phil said: "Michael would average 45 with these rules."

"You can't even touch a guy now," says Charlotte coach Larry Brown. "The college game is much more physical than our game. I always tease Michael [Jordan], if he played today, he'd average 50."

“The history book inspires them to be some of the best,” said Jordan. “Rules have changed to help them. I could have averaged 50 points today!”

source

The NBA "Zone" era - The basketball encyclopedia



if MJ can ave. 45 to 50 in todays game.. then that means.. weak ang era karon.


Phil Jackson and Larry Brown considers this era as a weak era...

I really don't know about that. Yes, they are most likely right because they are the ones who had first hand experience and knowledge about the NBA game. But I think they were just saying it in a casual way. I think most of what they meant was about the physicality of the defense being allowed back then. They were actually quoted before the vaunted Boston man-zone defense was built or when a few of the NBA teams were actually using the zone defenses to their defensive systems.

Now, zone defenses are pretty staple to any NBA teams defense because it is very effective. Larry Brown's Detroit Pistons were a very good defensive team because it had excellent physical specimens on the defensive end of the floor with the likes of Ben Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, and a young Rasheed Wallace. Also, Phil jackson and Larry Brown (even with a collegiate background) abhors zone defenses and as much as possible stays away from it. This is also the reason why there are new breed of coaches who are getting the chance to show their new defensive concepts, schemes, and philosophies. The game is really changing for the good and not bad as they thought back then.

But don't quote me on this as this is just my opinion to get the beers flowing.

[ick]

The NBA "Zone" era - The basketball encyclopedia

What this article failed to answer is how these guys listed in the article faired against the top defensive teams in that year and where and how they scored against them. The stats he threw in there is just the general average of all NBA teams. There are just far too may weak defensive teams than good or superior defensive teams. It would tremendously affect the averages with this mediocre teams stats included. I would somehow would like to see somebody pile up the stats of the top players of this generation against the Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons, etc.

And MJ would always get his anytime, anyday, regardless of any era, I'm just not sure he would get to a 100 though.