I have been watching the basketball played at the Olympics and at the worlds last year and I have found that I enjoy it much better than a typical NBA game. The international teams play a brand of basketball that is fun to watch. They play more as a team, whereas the NBA has turned into a focus on one or 2 players. I think the US Olympic committee knew what they were doing when they put this team together, I think they saw an opportunity for the young stars in the NBA to learn how to play the game the right way. The International game reminds me of very good college ball, and that is much more entertaining to watch to me. Anyone else enjoying International ball more than the NBA? DD
It's the same difference between watching college or watching pros. NCAA rules are much closer to FIBA rules thn the NBA. I prefer pro, in basketball, but college in football. Either way its sort of an apples and oranges thing. I like them all.
Nothing to do with the rules, everything to do with the players. I do like the trapezoid lane though, opens up space inside.
How is the NBA not team oriented when a team oriented team just won the championship? The great thing about the NBA (over FIBA and all sports) is there is a team and individual aspect. It's the only sport in the world where you need a good team to win, but a great PLAYER can catapault you to amazing success. McGrady didn't win in Orlando because he didn't have the pieces around him, but he'll probably win in Houston with the right system and another big-time player. That's an exciting thing, when you get great teams made up of great players playing the NBA. It's time for a universal rule change in FIBA and NBA. Make the lane wider, allows for point guards to create more and big men need more skill than just being big. You can't camp out in the pain. MOVE BACK THE 3PT LINE! The world has talent, it's time they proved it. Don't have the same 3pt. line as the women do. Move it back to NBA standards. Make the game longer and give the fans more bang for the buck. 48 minute game, please. Decide on which sized ball (The FIBA ball is an inch bigger, circumference-wise). Outlaw the zone. Teams should have to play good TEAM D, that means rotations, switches, the whole 9 yards. Players should not be one-dimensional (just a good shooter, just a big body so he can rebound and sore). Make a guy who can shoot long range but not guard a guy one-on-one not be able to dominate the game (like what happened for Lithuania and Italy when they played the US). If the NBA played by these rules, we would be worshipping Dell Curry, Allan Houston, and Steve Kerr and not MJ and Kobe. If you can't defend, you shouldn't be able to dominate a game. No zone. Also outlaw isolation plays until the final 2 minutes of a game. If a player wants to take over then, let him. Until then, you must play team oriented offense. Make the court NBA length (better fast breaks) and make universal rules (the FIBA and NBA have different timeout, subs, and basic rules like offensive goaltending). Once this was done, the game of basketball could truly be played universally anywhere on the globe.
Big, The court is the same length. The 3 pt line is 22 feet all the way around, in the NBA it is 22 feet at the sides and 23'9" at the top. What is wrong with a zone defense? Make people have to learn to beat it. The NBA has become too one dimensional, it is nice to see ball where players move without the ball, set picks, roll to the hole, and pass to the open man. DD
There have been teams like that in the NBA. The Utah Jazz come to mind. The Jazz were a boring team to watch that never won anything except for Midwest Division Titles. They were beaten twice by the greatest one-on-one player in the history of basketball. The Kings play a motion-type offense predicated on picks and movement without the ball. They never won anything. They were beat out twice by probably the league's best one-on-one players. It's nice to see team-oriented offense, sure. It's also nice to see spectacular drives to the hoop (Is there anyone who would argue that Jordan was the most popular player in league history?). Take your pick, I guess. Or just accept that basketball is basketball, and sit back and enjoy it regardless.
The FIBA 3 pt. line is 20'6". NBA courts are a little more than 2 feet longer and less than an inch wider.
I'll split the difference and say I like Sacramento Kings-style basketball. Seriously though, I just like all basketball.
I hate to watch NBA basetball when they kick the ball inside, let two players go one on one and rest of 8 players all standing on the other side of court watching. And they will do it over and over again all game long. It is super boring and pathetic. Thanks for the zone defense, I don't see that crap too often in last two seasons.
I like the NBA style but the 80's style the most when you couldn't physically beat a team into submission on defense. The Riley Knicks ruined basketball forever. They let players get away with too much on defense these days.
Believe it or not the bad boys still had scores well withing the 100's where as the knicks were the ones who started the grind it out games. In the 94 season the rockets scored well into the 100's during the playoffs until they met the knicks. The scores of that series seldomly got out of the 80's. Riley ruined it for all nba fans.
In four seasons under Pat Riley, the New York Knicks averaged 100ppg (Well, 99.95, to be exact)... They had scoring ability, and they weren't just thugs. They were a very smart basketball team.
I don't think there's really one coach who started the whole "slow it down and play hard-nosed defense" approach. Riley certainly did some of it with the Knicks, but much more so with the Heat, where they had mediocre talent alongside Mourning/Hardaway. The first Rockets championship team was quite a half-court team with a boring style. Of course, Mike Fratello was the worst at this, slowing the tempo of the game down to a crawl while with the Cavs. As for the style of basketball, I definitely prefer the passing-oriented system that college/international games use. That said, the way the Rockets have constructed its roster with Yao/T-Mac/role-players, we're much better suited for iso and pick&rolls that tend to feature one or two players.
Ive found the international games remind me alot of NBA basketball when I first started to follow it. Players were not only athletic, but they could all shoot the ball so well. The game was played at a faster pace, more player movement around the court and everyone gets involved.
