ZONES: Which Team Benefitted Most by the Rule Change?

which team benefitted most....Probably Phoenix moreso than Dallas.

Dallas has a little bit better on the Ball defense at the swing positions and the game has become the ultimate swing player's game. Big man are almost always useless now. Shaq and Yao can be bested by Boris Diaw.

 

phony suns

 

On the other hand, Elton Brand has been the most dominant player in that series, and he's a traditional big guy.

 

Why would allowing teams to play zone help Phoenix's offense?

 

Brand is not really that traditional. He’s an undersized power forward whose offense now comes primarily from face-up jumpers. Teams that have jumpshooting big men and a guard oriented offense (Detroit, Dallas, Phoenix, etc.) have all benefited most from rule changes.

 

Jazzholes. Their so white and euro that they can't guard anyone straight up. Kirilenko isn't half the defender he is w/out the zone imo.

 

It's not even a real zone defense...

 

If a statement like this were aimed at a black group, how many on this board would be offended?

 

I can't decide which is more offensive - the racial steretyping or the fact you used 'their' in place of the correct 'they're'.

 

i cant stand the suns more than the rest becuase of the changes of the rules. they, along with others, should be kissing sterns feet for giving them some advantages. give them credit for finding the right guys for the rules though...

if the suns couldnt zone or put 2/3 guys on yao most of the game, the suns would have no answer at all...of course with every other team in the league as well. i got tired of seeing it after the all star break.

i really dont get why they changed it either. has it been that beneficial? was their complaints throughout the league about illegal defense calls? it aggrevates me

 

They changed it to stop Shaq. Pure and simple. Shaq was owning people and no one could stop him (aside from the pure Hack-A-Shaq), so they changed the rules to make it possible to stop Shaq.

 

People love to do cross-sport comparisons, and while they usually aren't valid, here it seems especially fitting to call the Suns the Indianapolis Colts of the NBA, in the way that they score extremely quickly, and have benefitted tremendously from the rule changes; the Colts from the constraints placed on defensive backs, and the Suns on the way that the NBA has allowed free double teaming on the post, excessive physicality whenever the players have their backs to the basket, and the removal of the hand-check and the allowal of the moving pick (read Bill Simmons' extremely good analysis of how the Suns exploit the play, along with a friendly jab at Yao Ming, and the rather disgusting irony of Dallas exploiting the moving pick that Mark Cuban screamed about and the "point of emphasis" that cost us that Dallas series. Be sure to email Bill with your comments about that particular irony, and get it posted in a future mailbag; he loves the city of Houston, remember?). The only difference is that Indy has the "Peyton Manning Face," and PHX has got the "Steve Nash Hair," a proven anti-choking device (not counting any h-airballs).

The Clippers and Lakers both attacked Phoenix the way we should have during the regular season; attack the post constantly, make open 3s (Smush Parker, who must have hired Rafer's shooting coach, is the only reason we don't have an LA/LA matchup right now), and instead of being afraid of the fast break, crash the boards mercilessly. The way to beat Phoenix is to get your 2 points consistently inside, not settle for the 3 pointer except to keep them from doubling the post when he doesn't have the ball, and rotate quickly to cover the 3s; the reason we got torched was because we didn't have the athletes to rotate properly on D, shooters to force the Suns to play honest defense, and young legs to be agressive on the boards. When you send four guys back on defense after the shot and still get beat for fast break points, you're just not athletic enough. You can't hope to outscore the Suns from 3 point range, just as you can't outscore the Colts in the air. Instead, you have to pound it inside, field a fast and smart defense to limit the quarterback/point guard's options, and hope you can score enough and weather the inevitable flurry of quick scores.

That being said, elite offensive players can sometimes make up for the deficiencies of a lousy team when they get going, whether it's T-Mac for the Rockets, Berkman for the Astros, or Bush for the . . . Saints.

 

The fact that they are calling alot of touch fouls on the perimeter has helped lebron alot, not that he needs it. Now you have a guy the size of karl malone getting to the basket anytime he wants because no one can put a body on him on the perimeter. That's just plain sick.