We Are Witnessing The End of The NBA As We Know It

The NBA is changing and not for the better. #NBA

JJ is asking Derrick White why it’s so hard to get stops in the NBA.

The NBA has the highest offensive ratings in NBA history, even adjusted to the fast pace right now. Last year the Kings had the highest offensive rating ever at 118.6 and this season, there are 4 teams with a higher offensive rating than that. Scoring is becoming too easy.

140 point games are common place. Last week we literally had the most 150 point games in a single night.

**It almost takes away the importance of each bucket**; We have multiple 30 point scorers. 10 years ago there were only 19 20+ point scorers. Now there are 40…3.

Then JJ lists 6 recent rule changes that favor the defense and asks anyone to point out any rule changes that helped the offense.

How about for 1, Freedom of Movement?…that’s just one, there are several but first why was JJ so angry?

Perhaps the reason JJ was so passionate about this is because he believes that the players of today are better than the players of yesterday **and that’s true in an absolute sense.**

The players of today are more skilled and more talented in huge part because they got to see what the players of yesterday brought to the game and then work on that for years longer. And there’s two reasons for that. Think about Allen Iverson’s crossover. His handle was completely new in the league in the late 90s and broke so many ankles. Younger players could practice that sort of handle and make that part of their games, but the NBA also relaxed its palming officiating. Was there a rule change? No, but as Isiah Thomas said, that would usually get called a carry until it wasn’t.

The freedom of movement emphasis was brought on in 2020.

The emphasis was to call fouls on any arm hooks preventing offensive and defensive players from moving. But also, and most importantly, not letting defenders impede the path and movement of off ball offensive players. Uhh, that makes it really difficult to play defense…

The NBA was incentivizing moving off ball, specifically because now you couldn’t really get in their path, moving the game more to the Warriors style of basketball. Defenses had to adjust to no longer being able to be physical with players without the ball, relying more on team defense. And the crazy thing is, this wasn’t the only time the NBA did this, but the entire league changed in 2018.

LaMarcus Alridge said it changed the game. And he was right because the league average jumped up by 5 points a game from 106.3 to 111.2. That is the second biggest change in a single season in NBA history.

But why?

It allowed smaller, less physically imposing players, like Curry to go wherever they wanted and if you touched them, it would be a foul. Someone show me that that was changed since 2018? No? That’s right. Heck a year later Curry said “It gives perimeter guys a lot more freedom, “A lot more opportunity for creativity and obviously challenge defense in terms of schemes and how you approach that end of the floor”

And don’t forget what Luka said. It’s easier to score in the NBA than in the Euroleague and the talent is supposedly in the NBA right? Not if you handicap them defensively.

Less fouls, working more for buckets.

And that’s piece #3, the average NBA fan is getting desensitized to scoring and threes.

Offensive records being broken now don’t mean as much nor capture as much attention even though ESPN will try to stuff it down our throats.

**NBA saw viewership go down and thinks offense is the answer.** We’ve always heard that people want to watch good offense, watch the ball go through the hoop, but right now it’s a bit the opposite. The value of a bucket is low, some one averaging 20 points no longer means they are one of the best scorers even though broadcasters are still treating 20 points like it was 15 years ago.

I don’t think more talent ever gets less exciting. But I think the way the game is officiated and what the NBA chooses to focus on can make the game less exciting.

If everyone is able to make threes, it makes it less spectacular. If every team is running 5 out, it makes it normal. If everyone was a 6’ 8” 250 pound beast that can run as fast as a guard, than LeBron wouldn’t be special in the NBA, he would be average and that’s the point I’m making.

If you make rules that allow players to do previously one of one talents, then that’s not talent, that’s the NBA making things happen. And if it’s manufactured and not authentic, then it feels off, the thing you can’t put you finger on and that’s what’s happening now.

Everybody says the rules favor the offensive players can you point to the rule cuz I can give you 1 2 3 4 five six rules that in the last few years have favored the defense wait what there’s no way you’re saying this are you forgetting about 2018 when the NBA

Introduced several rules to help the offense that even Curry admitted made scoring easier you’re joking right I just named six rules that favor the defense what rule favors the offense I want to know I guess not JJ Smith what the hell was that and this line of

Thinking is exactly why the NBA is in big trouble something you might have already noticed JJ RG has been great for the NBA Community providing authentic perspectives to the unoriginal mainstream media BS but we need to understand the context of these statements and then I’m going to spell

Out all the changes the NBA has made including some rules that have led us to the predicament we’re in and the potential collapse of the NBA as we know it now but first the context what is up D that Ballers players it’s your boy MJ JJ is asking Derek white why it’s so

Hard to get stops in the NBA the NBA has the highest offensive ratings in NBA history even adjusted to the fastpac right now last year the Kings had the highest offensive rating ever at 118.7 record that won’t be broken so easily and this season there are four teams with a higher offensive rating

Than that damn scoring is becoming too easy 140 point games are a common place a few weeks ago we literally had the most 50 point games in a single night we just had another two 70o games no one even cares about 60p point games anymore man what the [ __ ] it almost takes away

The importance of each bucket we have multiple 30 point scores 10 years ago there were only 1920 plus Point per game players now there are 43 so Derek white starts saying I thing just start with me everybody just so talented JJ immediately Cuts him off and

Goes off on this rant everybody is like looking for these reasons oh it’s the refs oh it’s the rules or we could just say these are guys then JJ lists six recent rule changes that favor the defense and ask anyone to point out any rule changes

That help the offense how about for one freedom of movement that’s just one there are several but first why was JJ so angry perhaps the reason JJ was so passionate about this is because he believes that the players of today are better than the players of yesterday and

Hot take but not really that’s true in an absolute sense the play players of today are more skilled and more talented in huge part because they got to see what the players of yesterday brought to the game and then work on that for years longer and there’s two reasons for that

Think about alen Iverson’s crossover his handle was completely new in the league in the late ’90s and broke so many ankles younger players could practice that sort of handle and make that part of their games but the NBA also relaxed its ping officiated was there a rule

Change no but as Isaiah Thomas said that would usually get called to carry until all of a sudden wasn’t a recent example is Steph Curry and now every younger player is working on a jump shot meaning the players of today should be on average better at shooting than players

Of the past but the NBA also tries to move officiating to allow for exciting off key word being exciting and that’s piece number one the NBA has constantly made Rule and efficient changes to get the offensive game where it is today all to make the game more exciting the

Discussion has become about whether NBA players are just too talented now and as a result scoring had to go up and while a part of the high scoring might be that NBA players are more skilled there were also several rule changes that allowed NBA offenses to have more freedom to

Move and create space kick it back to solo here’s galinari to the corner to wide open Kevin herder the freedom of movement emphasis was brought in in 2018 and reinforced in 2020 the emphasis was to call fouls on the arm hooks preventing offensive and defensive players from moving but also and most

Importantly not L Defenders impede the path and movement of off ball offensive players Curry for um that makes it really difficult to play defense right the NBA was incentivizing moving off ball specifically because now you couldn’t really get in their path moving the game more to the Warriors St

Basketball that they had thought gave ratings defenses had to adjust to no longer being able to be physical with players without the ball relying more on team defense and the crazy thing is this wasn’t the only time the NBA did this but the entire league changed in 2018

Before the 2018 season season even started Paul Pierce even said this in anticipation it’s no surprise to me that they’re gearing everything toward the offense because I mean let’s face it offensive basketball is exciting to watch when you see teams score 115 130 points it’s exciting for a fan and just

Two months into the season in 2018 people were saying you can’t stop NBA offenses can’t contain them because the rule changes and that playing defense is an untenable situation LaMarcus Aldridge said it changed the game and he was right because the league average jumped up by Five Points a game from 106.3 to

111.2 that is the second biggest change in a single season in NBA history but why did it help it allowed smaller less physically imposing players like Curry to go wherever they wanted and if you touch them it would be a foul essentially allowed players to focus more on their skills and physicality and

Create an NBA where that is more value it’s kind of like when you’re making a player in 2K and you put all your attributes in shooting and handling and not really much on physicality now someone show me that that rule was changed since 2018 no that’s right heck

A year later Curry said it gives perimeter guys a lot more freedom a lot more opportunity for creativity and obviously challenge defense in terms of schemes and how you approach the end of the floor a lot more ways to challenge the defense because you can create create more offensive schemes sounds a

Lot like what’s happening right now with the defenses struggling to keep up those rule changes that JJ Ray conveniently forgot about were literally called freedom of movement now I could pull a JJ Stephen A Smith and just yell you forget about the freedom of movement changes that introduced four changes in

Officiating huh I mean that is preposterous but screaming does not get the point across but here’s an interesting Point made by Ricky Rubio that during the playoffs the refs might allow more grabbing and holding making it harder and I think that’s true playoff basketball is officiated differently scoring is no longer easier

And specifically the freedom of movement emphasis while still applicable will lose a lot more steam but can we check for that yeah you remember how there are teams right now having the highest offensive rating in NBA history well if we look at the highest offensive ratings

Of teams in the playoffs with a minimum of two Series played the top 10 does have teams from 2020 onwards but also teams from different erors like several different Phoenix Suns teams and if we expand to the top 25 we see a mix from different erors meaning high scoring

From the regular season hasn’t fully taken over in the playoffs don’t get any ideas NBA so if the only reason that scoring is an all-time highest talent that should follow in the playoffs but the NBA has a lot of influence more than you would think this process has been

Happening for years or did we conveniently forget that to shape a new narrative Monty Williams spelled it out the best going back to 1994 when he played in the league he said if you went to a rack to dunk the ball or laid up you got laid out that wasn’t appealing

To the fans so the league figured out a way to create more space on the floor and this process has been going on for years the progression that JJ R is also conveniently forgetting that led to this point but I want to address the recent rule changes reck said before getting

Into what even the NBA is overlooking let’s break down those supposed six rule changes that were made in the defense’s favor if you noce almost all of them had something to do with calling less fouls specifically new ways offenses had found to draw fouls mainly because all these

Fouls were slowing the pace of the game not by possession but in real life watch time taking away from what was considered exciting no one wanted to see horen shoot 20 free throws a game by hooking Defenders are what in’s name are you doing Paul George had

Enough the NBA could have stopped the shenanigans earlier but they wait till other players start doing it besides Harden like Trey young in the 2021 playoffs even JJ’s comments who are usually supporting him or roasting him the Only Rule change that actually changed something older was jumping into

Defenders to draw fouls and that’s one real win for a defense it still hasn’t taken away the main reason for the Spurt of offense and that’s piece number two the NBA has been changing the league in a certain direction for the past 20 years I feel like the state the NBA

Community is in rewards clickbait misinformation in the community that I fell in love with is disappearing so if you like real conversations subscribe and fight with me you know how players flip screens at the last second yeah you couldn’t do that in the 80s that’s an offensive foul and now

Screeners can lean into the player initiate contact and it’s normal or how about when the screener rolls to the basket taking his Defender with him what about traveling cuz this was a travel in the80s before the gather step was actually accepted and now we got Euros spin moves and legit travels not getting

Called anymore that is Blasphemous and oh yeah handles you are supposed to have your hand on top of the ball but now every player CBS the ball sh dismisses what Jordan poool does every night would be considered a war crime in the90s heck with Shay Curry Trey pretty much

Everyone these were never official rule changes it was a change in officiating and what was considered acceptable made to improve the offense a we occurring theme but there’s one that happened within the past 20 years that changed everything in the 20045 season the league was in a weird place Michael

Jordan had retired and scoring had dropped quite a bit so much so that there were concerns that the NBA was getting a little slow maybe they were right and in the 2004 NBA Finals the Pistons were able to body and impact Kobe’s pth to the basket Mark Cuban saw

This and after the finals talked with the league to see if they could steer the game in a certain direction to make it again more exciting and in the summer of 2004 hand checking was completely removed and it changed the entire style of play if you look at the MVPs before

The rule change it was predominantly Bigs like Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett but right after rule change we saw the rise of Steve Nash who went backto back MVPs why’ that help so much forget the claims of physicality that you usually ignore anyway I think it was best

Explained by Kenny The Jet Smith because there’s no hand cheing when he comes and I come here and I don’t like it now I can come back I can set you up I can throw it between my legs then I can go into my move so now I don’t like I get

To an area to pull I all I have to have is a pullback dribble to get to a spot to shoot the ball and the era that we kind of grew up in when you make your move and the hand is there and you try

To reset the hand is still on you so you’re not allowed to look the NBA wanted to emphas size perimeter play and with one rule change they did we all talk about the development of players or how the game has gone softer let’s get clear the NBA as an organization is

Pulling the strings in David Stern’s time as head commissioner he took into consideration what the players and owners said and made decisions that would lead to better ratings players and teams are adjusting to rules and coming up with whatever works but don’t just take my word for it Executives have said

These same thing and all these smaller changes have been geared to improving perimeter play improving offense hopefully leading to better ratings the few rules aimed to help defense that JJ said was more to continue the flow of the game and a by product was helping defenses but not in the ways other rules

Drastically changed the game but you see there’s a problem a trap that the NBA fell for something that the Euroleague knew and avoided but to understand we should look look at the 2021 Team USA basketball team remember how we lost to Nigeria well during the game we had

Stars like Lillard ktie Tatum but almost all of them were surprised by the this account forget the hard and hooking just normal drives to hoop had Stars looking for a foul and they struggled to get open because Defenders could actually use their hands and the funny thing is

That style of basketball is what viewers want and don’t forget what Lucas said it’s easier to score in the NBA than in the Euro league and the talent is supposedly in the NBA right now if you handicap them defensively less fouls working for more buckets and that’s

Piece number three the average NBA fan is getting desensitized to scoring and thrs offensive records being broken now don’t mean as much nor capture as much attention even though ESPN will try to stuff it down our throats nbsr viewership go down and thinks offense is the answer we’ve always heard that

People want to watch good offense watch the ball go through the hoop exciting threes but right now it’s a bit of the opposite the value of a bucket is low someone averaging 20 points no longer means they are one of the best scorers even though broadcasters are so tring 20

Points like it was 15 years ago and I think a point made by Kenny Martin and Gilbert is actually resonates does the modern NBA have an issue with too many teams trying to play the same way yes you’re doing analytics on the two three fourth best Shooters in the league on

One team and you’re going to structure what they’re doing shooting 30 403s when you looking at Talent you exclude certain kind of players now you can’t tell me there’s not another 7 fo2 290 lb kid out here that’s dominant and you overlooking him because oh you can’t

Shoot threes everybody think well I can go get me another step no you can’t everybody different let’s play the game like you’re supposed to be every team is morphing into a version of The Warriors trying to have four potentially five Shooters to create a ton of space with

The rule changes it’s made it possible for nearly every team to do that with whatever Personnel they have and that’s what people are saying now I don’t think more Talent ever gets less exciting I remember watching 2016 step being like wao now that’s something insane but I

Think the way the game is officiated and what they NBA chooses to emphasize can make the game less excess if everyone is able to make threes it makes it less spectacular but that’s talent if every team is running five out it makes it normalized if everyone was a 68 250 lb

Beast that can run as fast as a guard then LeBron wouldn’t even be special in the NBA he would be average and that’s the point I’m making if you make rule changes to guide the game to allow players to do previously oneofone talents then it’s not just Talent that’s

Leading to scoring it’s literally the NBA and when it’s manufactured and not authentic that’s where you feel that bit of weirdness that you just can’t put your finger on and that’s what the NBA is on right now so JJ rck why I point out an important recent rule change the

Culmination of all the other changes have also l a point where defenses are handicapped more and more giving them some of their rights back doesn’t begin to even equal out the rule and officiating changes in the past 10 years let alone since the beginning of the

2000s and now it’s time to fight back and curb the offense a bit to appreciate the game more the olden of kha goes to an OG my girl samita whose Warriors are going through it right now thanks for the all day support and if you want to

Know about the actual worst team in NBA history not the Pistons there’s a video right here and if he still here you real want to comment no so I it’s your boy MJ we Out