I think it's all becoming quite clear to me that when the NBA introduced allowing zone defenses, it wasn't because they thought it would teach guys to pass and shoot better - but to cover a rule range that was going to give offenses a massive superiority. Defensive 3 seconds. Because now a defender can't stay in the paint for more then 3 seconds without guarding someone - that effectively means you can't run any kind of true zone defense. Sure you can double team, but the paint is now forced to be unclogged which gives pentrators and cutters huge advantages. I haven't seen so many offensively players get into the paint for easy buckets ever or as many offensive rebounds.....anyone notice this as well?
If you go back far enough, yes, I've seen just as many players get to the lane and grab offensive boards. I don't remember it clearly, but didn't the NBA allow zone defenses just so they would legislate what was already happening on a regular basis? Kind of like dropping the facade of having only 12 players on a team plus 3 "injured" non-active players. Teams weren't playing zone defenses all the time or anything, but certain teams bent the rule to such an extent that the rule became a joke (like Bernie Bickerstaff's Seattle Supersonics).
If they got rid of the 3 second rule, Yao would become a monster on the defensive end. Now he spends half his time guarding his man, and the other half counting down from 3 so he can stick a foot outside the paint. Stupid.
if you are guarding someone, you can stay in the paint for longer then 3 seconds even if that player is not in the paint.
The rule change doesn't give offenses an advantage, but rather gives defenses more options. Pretty much anything that was legal before the change is still legal, meaning, straight man to man defense. What are defensive 3 second violations today would have been illegal defense violations before the change, i.e. standing in the middle of the paint without guarding anyone. But now you can double a man without the ball as long as you are within arms length, and you can still contribute to clogging the paint as long as you jump out of the paint every 3 seconds. In the past it was illegal to front and back a post man before he caught the ball if the 2nd defender's man was above the freethrow line. So in essence, it gives coaches another way to try to stop the big man. The rule change is more anti-post-player than anything. It's definately not anti-defense.
Exactamundo! It is another in a long list of rule changes designed to make the game more guard oriented.
What KeepKenny said. In the old rules, it would have been illegal if you weren't guarding anyone for more than 3 seconds ANYWHERE in your own half court, not just in the paint. I don't see how that gives the offense more advantage than before. In fact, the defensive 3-second is a compromise to avoid full-fledge zone. If anything, it is EASIER for defenses to clog up the middle than in the past. In the past, it was easy to unclog the paint. You just get all your players standing outside of the 3pt line. The opponent would have to come out and guard you or they would be called for illegal defense. IIRC, the ditching of the illegal defense rule was due to the inordinate amount of ISO offense in the 90s. Teams just placed 4 players on the weak side far away from the ball. The defense would be forced to clear out to that side of the court and let one player (the most talented offensive player, of course) go 1-on-1 on the other side. That was ugly and boring basketball. I for one am glad that they changed the rule. What makes penetration easier now is the stupid ticky-tack calls on perimeter defenders. I guess that's to compensate for the lack of 1-on-1 opportunities due to the rule change.
While it might be anti-post i think it's anti-defense because we're seeing so much more scoring in the paint.
i wish i could create a time machine and derail the innovator of the zoning schemes here is an article from 2001 on the rule changes: http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2001/apr01/apr16/1_mon/news3monday.html
Read what Easy said. The reason for so much more paint scoring is that they got rid of hand checking. Now you can't even look at a perimeter guy funny without getting called for a foul.
It's probably because of the hand-checking, which others have mentioned, or the crack-down on hard fouls. There's no reason to be scared to drive anymore.
Rudy T said something like allowing zones is like saying there's not enough scoring in football so let's only allow 3 downs. I believe under the old rules, you could be up to 15 feet away from the person you were "guarding", and it was legal. I'm not sure if that's the case now.
