Today's game has unbelievable spacing

[3ball]

They were USUALLY, but not all the time, [COLOR="Red"]following[/COLOR] their own men

^^^ Not true... When an offensive player in today's game is outside the paint (including behind the 3-point line), his defender can sag off an unlimited amount - [COLOR="Navy"]except when the paint gets in the way[/COLOR]... And as the diagram shows, almost nowhere on the 3-point arc can a defender sag off and not eventually meet the paint - when the defender meets the paint, they can dip into the paint for 3 seconds... This is the same as previous eras - defenders could sag off into adjacent zones, which included being allowed to dip into the paint for 3 seconds when sagging off 3-point shooters.

Additionally, when sagging off corner/sideline 3-point shooters, previous era defenders could paint-camp "with no time limits" in the "outside" lane, which is the outer partition running up the sides of the paint, shown above.. This is seen in footage - defenders routinely paint-camped in the outside lane.. Today's defenders can't do this - they have 3 seconds in the "outside" lane, just like they do in the inside lane.

Given this disadvantage in sagging off on corner/sideline 3-point shooters, today's defender has less freedom in sagging off shooters than previous eras... The only scenario where today's defenders can sag off their man MORE than previous eras is with flooding, where the defender floods from outside the paint on one side, to outside the paint on the other side.. Flooding is the only extra freedom today's defenders have with regards to playing AWAY from their man.

unlike today, [COLOR="Red"]you couldn't position a big or any defender in a space to defend a space[/COLOR] (the very definition of a zone) without defending a man.

This is false inside the paint.. Defenders in previous eras could paint-camp when their man was within 3 feet of either side of the paint, which means a defender could stand under the rim while their man was 8 feet away on the block, or 12 feet away below the FT line.. [COLOR="Navy"]That would constitute guarding a space.[/COLOR]

Today's defender can't do that - they must stand right next to their man in both cases to fulfill the "armslength" requirement.

Unlike the aforementioned zone qualities of paint-camping, "armslength" is the exact opposite of a zone - infact, "armslength" is the strictest defense possible outside of having defenders stand shoulder-to-shoulder.. Nonetheless, this strict, no-zone policy governs today's defenders in the most important area of the floor: the paint.

There were of course many hard double teams, but tbf to the modern game, this is different to what they do today (as in with [COLOR="red"]floods[/COLOR]).

[COLOR="Navy"]The flooding tactic merely attempts to make today's concentration of strongside defenders equivalent to the un-spaced courts of previous eras.[/COLOR]

Also, if big men could still paint-camp under the rim (while out of "armslength" of their man), that would be preferable to today's flooding, which requires the big man to leave the rim unprotected and contest guards outside the paint - extra rotations are necessary since the weakside is left a man down.

Paint camping has ALWAYS been a more equitable way to defend the court, since it doesn't leave the rim unprotected or require big men to contest guards on the perimeter, nor does it leave the weakside a man down or require extra rotations.

There's no doubt that half court defenses were more packed in during the 80s, but there was more man to man defenses as well. [COLOR="Red"]Defenses were on the move[/COLOR] when they encountered motion offenses

In today's game, defenders are more spread out and must cover more ground, so they're on the move more than previous eras - they must recover to 3-point shooters and come OFF shooters to help in the paint, which defenders in previous eras didn't have to do.

Also, today's defenders are more spread out and therefore must move more when the ball is swung - this is a physical fact.. This "on the move" idea is another myth you guys created just like the "clearout era" myth that I've debunked.

Ultimately, we have a stat that measures how hard it is to score.. It's called league-wide offensive rating (ORtg) and it's been stable for 30 years.. It's ranged between 105 and 108 since 1980, excluding a brief downswing from 1998-2004.. The minor shifts within that 105-108 range are due to style of play differences between the eras that affect inputs to the ORtg calculation, such as offensive rebounding rate and FT rate.

30 years of stable ORtg proves the difficulty of scoring hasn't changed, and the changes in offensive strategy (spacing) and defensive strategy (extra rotations) are offsetting - you either have extra rotations required by spacing and defensive 3 seconds (today's game), or the rotations aren't necessary because there is no spacing or defensive 3 seconds (previous eras).

[3ball]

without Pippen and Grant, it's highly likely Bulls don't beat the Knicks or make the Finals.

[COLOR="Navy"]Do you realize that MJ is the only guy that has EVER shot well at the high volumes required to carry teams (i.e. Lebron's 27 fga in 2015 playoffs and 33 fga in Finals)??... Therefore, MJ is the only guy with a chance to actually win when a team needs to be carried, like the 2015 Finals. [/COLOR]

MJ didn't shoot well against the Knicks in 1993, but that was an anomaly.. For MJ's playoff career, he averaged 25.1 fga on 49% - no one else comes close to this high volume and efficiency.

The stats show the effects of MJ's volume - he did exactly what the other wings did, but just MORE OF IT.. His efficiency was the same as other wings, but he simply produced far more at that efficiency.. So imagine Lebron and Kobe DOING MORE - that's MJ:


Per 100 Possession stats in playoffs:

JORDAN:[COLOR="White"].[/COLOR] 43.3 pts.. 2.2 oreb.. 6.1 dreb.. 7.4 ast.. 4.0 tov.. 2.7 stl.. 1.1 blk.. [COLOR="blue"]32.5 fga.. 118 ORtg.. 56.8 ts[/COLOR]
LEBRON:[COLOR="White"].[/COLOR] 36.5 pts.. 2.0 oreb.. 9.3 dreb.. 8.6 ast.. 4.5 tov.. 2.2 stl.. 1.2 blk.. 26.8 fga.. 114 ORtg.. 56.5 ts
DURANT:[COLOR="White"].[/COLOR] 35.8 pts.. 1.2 oreb.. 9.1 dreb.. 4.8 ast.. 4.1 tov.. 1.4 stl.. 1.5 blk.. 25.8 fga.. 114 ORtg.. 58.3 ts
KOBE:[COLOR="White"].....[/COLOR] 34.7 pts.. 1.4 oreb.. 5.5 dreb.. 6.4 ast.. 4.0 tov.. 1.9 stl.. 0.9 blk.. 27.7 fga.. 110 ORtg.. 54.1 ts
WADE:[COLOR="White"]....[/COLOR] 32.2 pts.. 2.0 oreb.. 5.4 dreb.. 7.1 ast.. 4.8 tov.. 2.3 stl.. 1.4 blk.. 24.5 fga.. 108 ORtg.. 55.4 ts