Re: Zone Defenses

[Jim Meninno <jim_meninno@hotmail.com>]

>From: Bob Miller <bob@pointofchoice.com>
>
>Also, the "rules" for zone defenses changed sometime back (led by
>a committee headed by Don Nelson... I don't remember when exactly this 
>was... in the 80s?). These new rules defined "illegal" defense (such as 
>defender off the ball can't be in the paint, no double-teaming guy without 
>the ball, etc.). The reason given was that defenders off the ball were 
>clogging the lane in anticipation of helping out. The problem, as I see it, 
>with these rules is that they allowed "trapping," which, as anyone knows, 
>is simply a type of zone defense (double-team ball, others "rotate"-- they 
>are no longer defending one-on-one an assigned player... or even Pitino's 
>full-court press, a classic 1-2-1-1 zone defense). IMO, this has really
>bogged down scoring in the league and led to godawful offensive schemes 
>(Barkley pounds, everyone stands, Barkley double-teamed, passes out for the 
>three, yawn).

No question, any trapping, switching defense is for all intents and purposes 
a zone defense.  It just happens to live within the letter of the illegal 
defense rules.  No doubt if zones were allowed there would be a lot fewer 
wide open shots because of late rotations.  I'm not at all convinced that it 
is the right thing to do, because it might make it extremely difficult for 
teams to score in the half court.  But, that might just convince teams that 
it is preferable to push the ball up and score before the defense gets set.  
Probably the best course would be to simply tighten up on a lot of calls, 
like the grabbing, pushing and holding.  Then they might also be able to 
call some offensive violations like travelling and carrying once in a while.

So, out of curiosity, does anyone know what the penalty was for playing a 
zone defense before the current illegal defense rules came in.  Ie. it 
wasn't always one warning followed by technical fouls, was it?

Jim


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