Greg Anthony on the offensive explosion in the NBA: “A lot of the old heads and guys from different eras like to talk about how much easier it is. But the reality is these guys are shooting the basketball and playing the game in spots that we’ve never played in before”
by TheRealPdGaming
26 Comments
Nostalgia a hell of a drug
Cole feeding his dad lines for the NBATV pregame show.
Officiating is only part of the reason. Biggest ones are the spacing and the rise of international scouting
There is a decent argument that all of the top 4 guys this year are international players. Atleast 4 out of like the top 6. We got another goat level prospect coming in next year from France too
Wonder why they are shooting the basketball so well
Two things can be true.
I don’t care what anyone says. This generation is soft and the league is getting worse.
Real basketball is the days of Stackhouse averaging 29 on 24 shots, big men spacing spotting up the top of the key and 100-85 game scores.
I wonder why the people who keep complaining about how the league is soft keep watching it. If something makes me that miserable I simply don’t watch. Idk
Comparing eras are dumb when different sets of rules were used
The scoring just got better and teams are able to get more shots up tbh. If scoring went down the old guys would still be talking about how much better they were than the new players.
I like to see stubborn old heads who keeps saying modern NBA is soft to defend Giannis, LeBron, Kawhi, Zion, or Embiid. Or defend and chase perimeter players and get hit screen after screen for consecutive possessions.
I mean things have changed from when I first started watching but I think it’s for the better. We get a better quality of basketball and see less injuries as a result. I not basing that off of any stats I’ve seen or anything it just seems that way to me. For example Load Management. We never saw that back in the 80s. Opposing players would have clowned it as fear back then. But it’s normalized now and I think it helps extend careers for some guys.
This is a great clip. Thanks for sharing
Spaceing creates offense
A little of A and a little of B. Because just like offensive players have improved then defensive should have done the same.
NBA should give back defense some free reign like they had in the early 2000s Pistons years. Game is a balance and I’m sure many would agree that right now it is too skewed for the offense.
Coaching is also very different a decade ago.
Giannis won’t probably be allowed to have the ball in his hands for more than a couple of dribbles. Joel would probably only get passes when he’s in the post. And Jokic won’t be allowed to facilitate in the top of the 3ptline.
Curry obviously revolutionized the offensive spacing but I think the “big guy with guard skills” archetype was also influenced by Lebron and KD.
Just like how Curry opened up the coaching to add offense around 3pts; Coaches and training staff are now allowing and developing tall guys with an all-around skill set instead of just limiting them in the post.
Not just shooting, but dribbling, the euro-step, pull ups. All of those things barely existed in the past.
Kids practice all of those things a lot more now days. Not only that, but the sport has become more popular, so more people play it and develop more versatile skills to stand out.
Look at people pre-90s, most dribble the ball in straight line down the middle, no cross overs or step backs.
I am sure if the old heads and their teammates developed their skills they may have been competent, but the reality is the profile of the players back then were just big burly men and the go to play was post turn around from 15 ft for everybody.
I just watched Mitchell and Thomas on nba tv say it’s a defensive scheme issue and if people were cooking back in the old days they may get knocked out the next time they drove the lane.
Good luck scheming against some of these teams with all the space. Happy that Greg Anthony is saying it.
I will say that Dallas probably is one of the teams that schemes but it is mostly doubling and scrambling and that only works because of their slow pace.
Great take and insightful.
Bashing the old heads? Here’s an upvote from us all.
Offense friendly rules, better spacing, more optimized offensive strategy and higher pace.
It’s not complicated…. but no one should pretend that the rules aren’t a major factor. It’s clear in the data that freedom of movement (or whatever they called it) resulted in a big spike in ORTG
Even in the 00’s, point guards were heralded as pass-first playmakers. Now, you don’t even get much playing time unless you have some sort of shooting/scoring threat.
Defenses have to deal with a much larger, strategically spaced-out area. Offenses are just so much more tactical and efficient, and the average shooter is tiers above the average shooter from past times.
It’s a combo.
Players are much better shooters across the board than before, less so at the top and moreso in that everyone can shoot.
But the rules changes are substantial and real.
I like Greg. He’s old enough to know. Young enough to know.
Refreshing
I think players are more skilled these days but that’s based on evolution, technology, and learning from what came before. Players know better how to be better these days. It’s why humans tend to continue to live longer also (from the past). I’m sure all the players 25-40 years ago would adapt to this NBA and be able to do all the same things.
Everyone practicing shooting now.
The only good pull up shot back then was when you get open.
Now players practicing step backs, side hops, shots through traffic, off the escape dribble.
Few dudes drilled hitting off balance shots. Now that’s the standard.
This also means better space for driving the lanes (that has been true ever since the emergence of the modern NBA) but the game has turned into 5 out mismatch hunting for a drive and kick game, especially in the playoffs.