I can no longer find the new NBA rule changes for illegal defense. NBA.COM still has the old rules, and most all sites link to that. It is outdated from 1997. I was hoping to find the actual rules like the olds ones at NBA.COM, not a simplified media description. thx
I saw an interview with Rod Thorn where his entire explanation of the illegal defense changes was basically "it no longer applies to the strong side". That was it. ------------------ I use smilies and I LOL -- I'm your worst nightmare.
The following two are about as specific as I could find. All the other hits I've gotten return some generic statement which is what you don't want. http://www.nba.com/news/rule_modifications.html From Rod Thorn's own "mouth" : http://www.insidestuff.com/news/thorn_new_rules.html From their definition, it seems as if the old illegal defense rules still apply except for players being defended on the strong side. And in that case it almost seems as you can play whatever defense you want. ------------------ I use smilies and I LOL -- I'm your worst nightmare.
thx ya know what i'm after. Does a defender on the strong side have to be guarding someone? Stern implies, no, in every quote I've read from him. But, the refs on the court seem to ruling otherwise. Is the rule what Stern says, or do you have to guarding someone (not necessarily the ball--which in itself is new).
From http://www.nba.com/news/rule_modifications.html: No illegal defense guidelines will apply to a player who is defending an offensive player who is positioned on the strong side of the court. Sounds to me like you have to actually be defending a player. You can't just be standing on the strong side. Unless I'm completely crazy, I'm SURE I've seen stong side illegal D violations called. I'm pretty sure I saw one or two last night. Don't quote me on that...
Did they just change the rule to allow you to doubleteam a player w/o the ball on the strong side? There's something more significant than that to the new rule, right?
double-teaming someone without the ball is still significant. Two guys on Shaq for instance. But yeah, I thought Stern was saying you could stand anywhere on the strong-side, for instance allowing a center to stand on the strong side low post during a two shakes. I don't see that being allowed by what we see in the games.
What am I not getting here? If you're defending an offensive player, you can't be called for illegal anyway, right? I thought it's when you're not defending a specific player, but rather an area of the court, that you get called. ------------------ I use smilies and I LOL -- I'm your worst nightmare.
Before this rule change (? maybe ?) you couldn't doubleteam a player unless that player had the ball.
and maybe now you CAN defend a "ball-less" player, but only the strong side. So you could doubleteam Shaq on the strong side before the pass into the post.
I actually sent email to NBA.com on 12/4 asking them to update their rules section. They sent me back a nice form letter: "We appreciate you pointing this out to us. It will be passed on to the appropriate department for review." I'm not holding my breath. Here are the relevant old rules from nba.com: f. A defender may cross from the "weakside" to the "strongside" only to (1) aggressively double-team the ball, or (2) to pick up a man who is open because of a double-team on the ball. The defender may not rotate toward a double-team until the ball is released on a pass. g. An offensive player may not be double-teamed by a "weakside" defender, if he does not have the ball in his possession. h. An offensive player who has the ball in his possession may be aggressively double-teamed by defenders from anywhere on the floor. There is no time limit that a double-team must remain established. i. If a defender goes from a "weakside" to "strongside" for the purpose of establishing a double-team, he must follow a direct path to the ball. Why can't we figure out the freaking rules for our favorite sport? I pay $2000 for tickets and I can't even find the damn rules?
