[ IMAGES: Images ON turn off | ACCOUNT: User Status is LOCKED why? ]

How to fix the NBA if you don't like the way it's currently played
Author Thread
Chandler
Posts: 25985
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 11/26/2015
Member: #6197

4/16/2019  5:12 PM

At present more and more teams are designing their offense to launch record numbers of 3s or drive to the rim. This coupled with the rules prohibiting what used to be good defense has turned the game into a glorified game of Horse IMO. You can have a dominant player like Giannis or Harden or Lebron drive to the rim for a high percentage shot at the rim, and if double teamed kick out a pass for the equivalent of a fast break with 3 defenders trying to defend 4 shooters spaced around the 3 point line.

The root of this "problem" is that there is an intrinsic mathematical advantage to this strategy. One has a roughly 20% advantage on each shot compared to a midrange shot. For example consider rough numbers to illustrate the point: 40% x3 (three point shot from a good shooter), or 60% x2 (layup) or 75%x1x2 (FTs for fould on missed layup) meaning somewhere between 1.2 and 1.5 pts expected on a possession. This is contrast to roughly 1 point expected on a possesion for a midrange shot (50% x 2). In addition, this approach further favors teams that take more shots over the course of the game (both from a statistical sense, and from strategy if you believe racing up the court makes it tougher for the defense to align properly). So any rationale actor would continue to have his team race up the court and launch 3 pointer or drive for layups all game long
If you like that style of play then there's no need to change anything.

However, if you prefer older style of play consider the following. Imagine if the 3 point line was more of a gamble rather than an intrinsic advantage. To do this, all that's needed it to alter scoring

A three point shot becomes worth 5 points, and a typical bucket is worth 4 points. In this situation the expected points per possession are roughly equal (2 points per possession) In this case there is no intrinsic advantage. it becomes more of a gamble for example if you need to catch up, or perhaps to try and pull away.

Alternatively, you could turn on the 3 point shot only later in the shot clock, e.g., last 5 or 6 seconds. This would reduce the number of possessions in the game mitigating the scoring advantage some from a statistical sense, plus make the defensive strategy more interesting.

IMO we need to do something

(5)(5)
AUTOADVERT
Allanfan20
Posts: 35947
Alba Posts: 50
Joined: 1/16/2004
Member: #542
USA
4/16/2019  6:30 PM
Or remove the 3 point line all together but that would cause the NBA to lose most fan interest. At least from the casual fans.

I think it’s a matter of players simply not practicing the mid range game enough. Mid range shots should be very efficient.

That basically went poof the day Kobe retired.

“Whenever I’m about to do something, I think ‘Would an idiot do that?’ and if they would, I do NOT do that thing.”- Dwight Schrute
arkrud
Posts: 32217
Alba Posts: 7
Joined: 8/31/2005
Member: #995
USA
4/16/2019  11:43 PM    LAST EDITED: 4/16/2019  11:44 PM
Or like that:
Score first 1-8 sec 1/2 points
Score 8-16 sec 2/3 points
Score last 16-24 sec 3/4 points...
So teams can score fast and get less points, in the middle of possession and get usual score, or late and get bonus.
This will reduce the value of fast break and increase the value of defense over all 24 seconds.
A lot of strategies can be created based on this system.
Defense should became more of a focus.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Hamlet
franco12
Posts: 33184
Alba Posts: 4
Joined: 2/19/2004
Member: #599
USA
4/17/2019  8:01 AM
if we're dreaming, I've thought the players have become too big and too fast for the court they play on. I'd make the court a bit bigger.

And then look to add perhaps a 4pt line, and then maybe make everything outside the box worth 3pts?

I don't know that the game is broken.

jrodmc
Posts: 32927
Alba Posts: 50
Joined: 11/24/2004
Member: #805
USA
4/17/2019  8:33 AM
Randomly moving baskets.

Or replace the NBA with Slamball!

knicks180nyc
Posts: 20037
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 2/2/2019
Member: #8733

4/17/2019  9:10 AM
call an illegal formation technical when more then 2 players are standing behind the three point line. just force more player movement. it would definitely cause a guy like james harden to have to change his game slightly because he wouldn't have as much space if multiple players had to stay inside the three point line.

also fouls behind the three point line should only be one free throw if they miss. play would be a lot more physical.

Nalod
Posts: 68623
Alba Posts: 154
Joined: 12/24/2003
Member: #508
USA
4/17/2019  10:28 AM
Folks like dunks. We got lots of dunks.
Movement without the ball opens up with outside three threat.
Zone defense is part of the culprit (is there one?) if a team can shoot from the outside it defeats the zone.
Why penalize teams that can shoot? Is this the problem? Players are too good at shooting?
How are the ratings? Popularity of the game? Global expansion. Its all pretty good. Blame MDA and GSW for refining the system that PHil said would not produce. With exceptional talent it does.
Gone are the mammoth big men and instead teams can win "small". Bigger men with fundamentals are now taking over. Isn't that the evolution we all wanted?
Zion is a new breed. Not sure if this is the future or there are that many physical specimens like him to populate.
Do we want to go back to the Smash mouth "Bad boys" days? it was fun but they were hard to watch. Some of the Knick-Heat games were low scoring games we loved because it involved the knicks but it was turning off new fans. The malice in the palace was the accumulative result despite the rule changes prior.
The game got too physical? I like hand checking but I also get why they did away with it.
4 pt shots under 5 min left in a game? would require more man to man defense. Not sure blow outs are a problem.
Raise the basket? Not sure that's a great idea for many reasons. need to keep it standard at all age levels.
If the skill levels are so high, wasn't it just a few years ago we were complaining talent was diluted with so many teams?
yet we have more international players and a full minor league system in development.
Maybe the talent is so good across the board we are not getting outlier freaks at same rate we used to.
Is the draft really week or is Zion that much above the rest they pale in his shadow?
How does Lebron have only 4 regular season MVP awards? We take that talent for granted. How did Jordan have only 5?
They set a high standard.
We might have fewer stars in the league now but the talent levels are better than ever. If I am right the stats are more even across the board, thus fewer players stand out.
jskinny35
Posts: 21464
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 6/27/2005
Member: #928
USA
4/17/2019  11:18 AM
I don't think we should change anything, aside from occasional shifts in officiating emphasis. If the players outgrow the game or master it - time to make another game... Not like all of the sudden we have tall players - they are simply improving which is the point of the game. In the 90s you had a few deadeye sharpshooters - more in the 2000s and more today. Modifying a game because some players increased their skill is unfair - this isn't NBA Jam
Knixkik
Posts: 34890
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 7/24/2001
Member: #11
USA
4/17/2019  12:41 PM
I would add a 4pt line. Either way, our Knicks will still be hunting for contested midrange shots and wonder why they are losing so much.
Chandler
Posts: 25985
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 11/26/2015
Member: #6197

4/17/2019  12:55 PM
I don't see why it's thought of as unfair

In poker if you count cards you have a mathematical edge. It doesn't mean you will win every hand, or any given hand. Instead it means that mathematically speaking if you have a large enough pot (which one can calculate) and you play enough hands eventually you can grind it out and expect to make money with a high degree of certainty

That's what current teams are doing when (like the Nets) they race up the court and take the first decent 3 they can. If they do that enough, they're playing the odds; there's a mathematical edge to that style. And of course players will adapt their skills accordingly to leverage that edge as much as they can, and teams will design their plays to likewise leverage that advantage

If we don't change we'll see more and more mimicry of the nets, bucks, rockets etc.

If one likes that style great, but if you don't it won't change unless somehow the rules do. Every sport changes rules for a variety of reasons including to accommodate fan preferences (e.g., proposed pitch clock in baseball; change to rally scoring in volleyball (for those who follow that great sport)

(5)(5)
Chandler
Posts: 25985
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 11/26/2015
Member: #6197

4/17/2019  12:59 PM
Knixkik wrote:I would add a 4pt line. Either way, our Knicks will still be hunting for contested midrange shots and wonder why they are losing so much.

that might exacerbate the problem if players can still hit at a high enough percentage (e.g., anything over 25%)

Years ago people were decrying dunks and some were proposing to raise the basket height. Red Auerbach argued however that would just incentive teams to go for still taller players and that if people thought dunking was an unfair shot the solution was to lower the basket so everyone could dunk.

(5)(5)
smackeddog
Posts: 38386
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 3/30/2005
Member: #883
4/17/2019  3:27 PM
Don’t care about 3 point line, just let them play defense again
knicks1248
Posts: 42059
Alba Posts: 1
Joined: 2/3/2004
Member: #582
4/17/2019  3:36 PM
smackeddog wrote:Don’t care about 3 point line, just let them play defense again

A lot of dudes would be out of the NBA if that turly mattered

ES
How to fix the NBA if you don't like the way it's currently played

©2001-2012 ultimateknicks.comm All rights reserved. About Us.
This site is not affiliated with the NY Knicks or the National Basketball Association in any way.
You may visit the official NY Knicks web site by clicking here.

All times (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time.

Terms of Use and Privacy Policy