I think that the NBA is a showcase of individual talent and creativeness. Since the advent of the zone defense, I think that those two qualities have been taken away from the game. For instance, if teams would have zoned up on Jordan in his prime time, I don't think Jordan would have had as great an impact as he did. Don't get me wrong, he still would be the best player ever, but the zone has taken away a lot from the game. I hate the zone. I think that if we did take the zone away, the Rockets would be one of the beneficiaries. I'm also a mavs hater. I don't see them winning 50 games in a season without the zone.
you have it mixed up. The league did not allow zone. The league eliminated arbitrary rules of illegal defense. Those rules were unenforceable, as teams stretched them and streched them. The league did not add zone defense. The league got rid of the arbitrariness of illegal d. less rules is always better, imo, as seen in one of the best constant motion games ever invented....Ultimate Frisbee. That was invented as the sport with "No Rules," just objectives. Every constant motion sport should strive for less rules. Let the players evolve it on their own.
Have you ever watched Tracy McGrady play? Zone defense doesn't stop him. The truly great ones are not affected by such things.
Others think the game ought to exemplify team play. Its true, the zone defense takes out the individual talent. Allen Iverson said that he felt the zone was made in order to stop him. Others think it was made to stop Shaq. You could go either way, individual talent or team play. Me, I must admit that I enjoy watching the Sacramento Kings play more than any other team I've seen. Its just great team basketball so I'm glad the zone has been put in to put more teamplay. At the moment, I dont think you've seen the effects of putting the zone into the league. I think the league is still getting used to it and it'll take some time for everyone to adjust. Although perimeter shooting is down, I think teams will be focusing on shooting more and passing the ball when facing the zone defense. This is a good question I wanted to ask myself. So what do the rest of ya'll think of the zone?
Don't get rid of the zone. Then the Rockets will go back to having Mobley dribble for 20 seconds while the rest of the team stands on the other side of the court. Then he will finally jack up a shot right before the shot clock runs out. Boy, isn't that fun to watch?
While I do believe the Zone was implemented to get rid of all the illegal defense calls/non-calls, a lot of it has to do with the players' lack of ability to actually play defense, or just plain lack of will. Zone wouldn't be much of an issue if these millionaires would some how learn how to shoot a mid-range jumpshot.
I think the NBA should get rid of the zone defense, simply because it's funnier to watch man to man defense because then you get those one on one matchups which is so fun to watch!
The problem with the NBA is that too many players think like you. The NBA is NOT "a showcase of individual talent and creativeness." The NBA should be the highest level of basketball, which is the greatest individual talents working together as teams to win games.
If players could pass and shoot the zone would be ineffective. Teams need to bring in some shooters to bust the zone. Then things will open up inside. I went to the final four this year and the teams were scoring a lot of points and it was fun to watch. The zone does not reduce scoring, lack of skills does. If you want to see athletic dunks have the players get out on the break and run instead of dribbling up the court so they can go one on one. The NBA sucks right now and the zone will help it out in the long run. It hurts now because teams are still filled with athletic players that can not pass and shoot. It will take a couple of years before things get better.
The NBA finals was great basketball, but in most of our hearts, I think we'd all like to see more scoring and more entertainment. We want one on one matchups. We want dunks and fast breaks. We want basket after basket. The NBA needs to find a solution and I'm not really sure what it is. Some players still make the game look easy. So it's hard to explain why scoring is so down. Maybe shot attempts are down. Who knows. Something has to change.
I've never much followed college ball, for the simple reason that I'm more interested in following players that will be around for a while... the prospect of cheering for a guy that'll be gone in four years or less (probably less if he's good enough to want to watch) just never enticed me heavily. While there isn't really any trading going on, this prospect leaves all those teams in a state of flux, arguably even more so than NBA teams... It's no wonder that many of us cheer for players rather than teams nowadays... after all, even if your favorite player isn't suddenly traded or realeased, a team is rarely the same from one season to the next. The nitty-gritty guys at the end of the bench keep moving around. It wasn't that long ago that playing for one team for an entire career was not a rare thing... So what has all this got to do with zone defenses, right? Do I hear someone screaming for me to stop prattling ? David Stern, marketing genius that he is, was always encouraging rules that limited the offensive player. He wanted more scoring more action. He marketed a player's scoring average rather than his team's record, and it worked. The problem is that now we have a bunch of Jordan clones who are more interested in individual glory than team ball. The reason many people find college ball more compelling... it has more of a team concept to it. I heartily agree that the Kings are the most interesting team to watch in the league simply because they pass the damn ball. Frankly, I remember shuddering at the thought of watching Celtics vs. Sixers (Pierce vs. Iverson). I nevered turned the game on, because the previous few times had bored me to tears. There were spectacular plays made, but the Celtics, for the most part, were busy launching treys and Iverson was busy shooting 40%. Who cares? It's only recently that these youngsters who grew up idolizing Michael Jordan -- Jordan wannabees, if you will -- have reached the league. When the quality of play began suffering, the league finally introduced a measure that would force more ball movement -- removal of illegal defense rules. But there's a big problem with that, too: we're going to have to wait awhile for everyone to adjust. If anything, I think this stupid "3 second defensive violation" rule is the thing that needs to be abolished. Adding that rule removed half the point of a zone anyway -- camping a 7-footer in the lane. Now there's a rule that would force people to work on their jump-shots. And one last rule change I'd like the NBA to consider... adopt the International leagues' key, the trapezoidal one that's wider near the basket. Along with that, make it narrower near the top... it might stop teams from running so many wing isolations.
