Please, NBA, Forget about the Zone

The "Basketball for Thought" is a commentary by Kris Gardner.

January 2001

It's almost time for the NBA's All - Star break. This season the break promises to be a bit more important than previous years. Members of the NBA's Board of Governors are going to sit down and discuss ways to improve the flow of the game as well as the overall product of the game. Some ideas to boost scoring which will be discussed are: 4 on 4 basketball; allowing any type of defenses (i.e. zones) to be played; widening the free throw lane; shortening the 24 - second shot clock; etc. I commend the NBA for at least recognizing the game has a problem; but, some, if not all, of the suggestions are just ridiculous.

I'm past the point of nausea for all the times I hear coaches and announcers alike say the reason for the dearth of scoring is because of "great defense". Give me a break! Great defense is not the reason players miss WIDE OPEN jump shots. Great defense is not the reason the mid range jump shot is non-existent. Great defense is not the reason players can't make at least 75 percent of their free throws. (On a side note, some statisticians actually credit teams for their opponents poor foul shooting -- Free Throw Defense Against! What the hell is that?!) I will acknowledge coaches, players, and teams are placing more emphasis on defense; however, if the games no longer have any flow and continuity combined with an ever increasing inability to shoot the ball, it's past time to acknowledge bad offense instead of heaping praise on great defense.

As far as the NBA thinking about allowing zone defenses, trash that idea now! Today's game already lacks ball and player movement which means zones would further erode any hopes of players driving to the basket. Look at the college game. Far too many college teams attack zones by passing the ball around the perimeter instead of penetrating the seams in the zone causing the zone to collapse. NBA teams would attack zones in the same manner which means more and more perimeter shots would be taken (and missed).

On the NBA's floating around the idea of allowing zone defenses, Pistons' head coach George Irvine said, "Put this in capital letters and underline it -- it would ruin the game. Kill it. Destroy it. Get the picture?The NBA sometimes asks coaches what we'd like to see done in the league to improve things." I was asked a few years ago for input.

"I've got one simple answer: Leave the game alone and try enforcing the rules that are there now."

Phoenix Suns' chairman Jerry Colangelo recently told The Arizona Republic, "You have to give credit to the coaches, because every time the rules are changed they are forever finding ways to circumvent them or push them to the limit. If we have a more free-flowing game, where teams push the ball up the court and rely less on the halfcourt, all those things - scoring, percentages - go up."

"We need to take a look at our game, that's all. We need to take a hard look at the rules, experiment with some things and then take some logical, constructive steps. I hope there are a lot of people in our league who will buy into it, because I'm a strong believer that something has to be done. All the stats and the history you want are there. We need to juice up our game."

Jerry is correct. The game does need to be "juiced". However, no one knows how to give the game the boost it so sorely needs. There are many different ways to win in basketball. Unfortunately, many teams are playing the same basic (2 man offense) style: throw the ball in the post; wait for the double team; pass the ball out to the perimeter; swing the ball around to the open man; take the shot.

Of course another philosophy is also prevalent: isolations. The Houston Rockets run numerous isolations every game because head coach Rudy Tomjanovich believes the isos are the best way for his team to maximize their abilities. Fans say the isos are boring to watch; however, when Hakeem Olajuwon was dominating the NBA, the drop it down low approach was boring, too; but, it produced back to back championships. Michael Jordan ran isos in Chicago out of the vaunted "Triangle Offense"; but, no one complained when the Bulls won six championships in eight years.

Teams don't run enough in transition. Players don't move enough in half court sets. The "give and go" has been a proven success since the dawn of the game; but, it's hardly utilized.

Instead of adopting new rules, the league needs to hold mandatory sessions on fundamentals like shooting, rebounding, passing and ball and player movement.