Free Thrown Attempts down 5.3 attempts per game league wide after all-star break.

[JeffS17]

Joe Dumars on January 31st:

"We’re going to see offensive eruptions with this kind of pace and the amount of 3s people shoot. But there’s no push here at the league office from me or anyone else that we want to see a certain score. I left that Boston-Denver game saying, ‘wow, great game.’ That’s what fans want. Fans want to leave a game or watch a game and at the end say, ‘that was incredible.’ The score is secondary to that. Fans just want to see great games."

Since then, we've seen games be more physical, less ticky tacky calls, and lower FTAs per game and lower scores.  So a lot of the reason our defense seems to "look better" recently is because the refs have been shifting their calls a bit.  Our offense certainly looks worse too, and this is one reason why (makes Trae that much more important imo).  I see this shift, if it lasts, as a very good thing for us.  The league has gotten to the point where any bum ass PG can generate huge offensive numbers, which makes Trae relatively less valuable.  So I hope this second half of the year allowing defense continues into next season.

Also: would love to see offensive ratings before and after the all-star break if someone knows how to pull that data.

[RedDawg#8]

Agree with everything said and truthfully, the refs are finally starting to call games the way they promised they would with the rule changes. What we actually saw was them target specific players like Trae and Harden to swallow their whistle, but allow the same BS foul baiting from everyone else, and to your point, it made it appear that Trae was not as valuable because you were seeing good players get rewarded with superstar treatment from the refs.

When the game is called or not called evenly, you see true talent rise to the top of the heap. The NBA has to stop being reactionary and political and decide what kind of product do they actually want. You give awards for defensive POY and All Defense team, but you don’t let all players actually defend. You allow Smart and Pat Bev to hand check but Dre can’t breathe on a player. Something has to give.

Establish a rule and call it that way. No exceptions for reputation or stardom. If a guy can score, he will figure it out. If a player can truly defend he will adjust.

[NBASupes]

Trae relentless at his drives so he will always get calls but its a lot of players getting calls that don't deserve it

[Gray Mule]

Well, Duh!  What did we expect?? Trae is out!!

[Atlantaholic]

Ratings have been going downhill. The NBA must be wakin up to the fact that the style of play that they have been pushing has not been "fun" like they assumed in theory it would be. 

[KB21]

6 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

Ratings have been going downhill. The NBA must be wakin up to the fact that the style of play that they have been pushing has not been "fun" like they assumed in theory it would be. 

The ratings decline has less to do with the style of play and more to do with the fact that some are tired of having political issues shoved down their throats.  

[AHF]

11 minutes ago, KB21 said:

The ratings decline has less to do with the style of play and more to do with the fact that some are tired of having political issues shoved down their throats.  

I'm very skeptical of this.  Political issues have been part of many forms of entertainment forever.  The top grossing movies of 2023 either had or were all accused of having political themes and/or overtly pc elements (can't be much more overt about feminist messaging than Barbie).  Biggest movie so far in 2024 is primarily about exploring power structures and political themes (Dune) and obviously based on a book that was also primarily about politics/political themes.  In 2022, both Avatar and Top Gun Maverick had obvious political messaging / themes in them.

My own take is that quality entertainment does well regardless of politics.  Low quality entertainment does poorly regardless of politics.  There are segments of the population that will boycott something because of politics but most of the population just wants a good story, good game, etc.

I'd also say that the NBA ranks pretty low on the political theater side of things compared to other mediums and that political theater has probably been more helpful than harmful over its history in sports.  (Think about all the pro-military / pro-America marketing tools we've seen over the years incorporated into sports obviously with a desire to leverage that political messaging for more ticket sales.)

I'd also point out that the NBA is doing much better than general TV in terms of ratings.  Primetime TV has declined a lot more than the NBA.

The big challenge for both of these is that there are more alternatives than ever and how do you capture people's attention when they can be focusing that attention on so many other things?

[macdaddy]

The way they were calling the game combined with the way it's played now made it so on any given night a team could win by 30 or lose by 30 no matter how good the team was.  Points are exciting until it just becomes a playground game.   

[JayBirdHawk]

3 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

The way they were calling the game combined with the way it's played now made it so on any given night a team could win by 30 or lose by 30 no matter how good the team was.  Points are exciting until it just becomes a playground game.   

The Allstar game was really awful. That triggered a lot of this. 

[KB21]

Not sure why some want to go back to the slow paced days of the 1980s where you throw the ball into the post, watch the post player take 10 seconds to back his guy down, only to throw up a shot with seconds left on the clock.  The style that Quin wants to run, that Bud runs...etc....is very exciting.  I'd much rather see the 5 out, heavy ball movement motion style offense with high level pick and roll plays than the crap Mike Woodson used to do.  

[AHF]

2 hours ago, KB21 said:

Not sure why some want to go back to the slow paced days of the 1980s where you throw the ball into the post, watch the post player take 10 seconds to back his guy down, only to throw up a shot with seconds left on the clock.  The style that Quin wants to run, that Bud runs...etc....is very exciting.  I'd much rather see the 5 out, heavy ball movement motion style offense with high level pick and roll plays than the crap Mike Woodson used to do.  

I think there is a sweet spot between those two.  No need to reinstate the grabs, etc. that were allowed before hand checking rules or to go back to banning zones, etc.  What I've found offensive (pun intended) is that the NBA moved to the point where the offensive initiates the contact, etc. and gets rewarded for that.  A reasonable amount of contact should be just fine and when the offensive player initiates it they should not be rewarded for it.  If you fake a guy into the air and unnaturally jump into him then you are a moron and don't deserve a call.  If you fake the guy into the air and he crashes into you on his own then absolutely give the call.  There used to be much more of a difference between those.

As an aside, I also do not want to see us go back to Woody iso ball.  Never thought that was effective in the post-season or particularly appealing to watch.

[NBASupes]

28 minutes ago, AHF said:

I think there is a sweet spot between those two.  No need to reinstate the grabs, etc. that were allowed before hand checking rules or to go back to banning zones, etc.  What I've found offensive (pun intended) is that the NBA moved to the point where the offensive initiates the contact, etc. and gets rewarded for that.  A reasonable amount of contact should be just fine and when the offensive player initiates it they should not be rewarded for it.  If you fake a guy into the air and unnaturally jump into him then you are a moron and don't deserve a call.  If you fake the guy into the air and he crashes into you on his own then absolutely give the call.  There used to be much more of a difference between those.

As an aside, I also do not want to see us go back to Woody iso ball.  Never thought that was effective in the post-season or particularly appealing to watch.

80s pace was fast. What's the difference today is offensive rating. Offenses are better than ever 

[AHF]

8 hours ago, NBASupes said:

80s pace was fast. What's the difference today is offensive rating. Offenses are better than ever 

The rules are also very different which really allow for little men to dominate in a way they couldn’t back then.  The Bad Boy Pistons would foul out in about 10 minutes in today’s game.  I get why the competition committee may be pushing back to strike a different balance than what we have seen.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

 

 

So the refs made an arbitrary decision to do this? The ref influence on games is a big deal!

[Gray Mule]

BOMBS AWAY!!

Usually, whatever you concentrate on and play for is what you become good at. 

In days of old, a team makes a 3-point shot.  So what!  Continue to pound the ball inside.

Today, a team scores inside.  So what!  Next time, let's get that three-ball going.

Makes a world of difference, doesn't it.  

[Spud2nique]

25 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

 

 

 

So the refs made an arbitrary decision to do this? The ref influence on games is a big deal!

The variable keeps shifting. Like wtf, call it right! Don’t try to manipulate the system just call it like it is! 
 

ps Clint was getting murdered out there last night. CALL THE FOUL. You can’t ignore fouls now because a memo has been passed from the league that’s lame.

[Spud2nique]

10 minutes ago, Gray Mule said:

three-ball going.

I’m starting to hate this aspect of the game. It’s taking away from the fabric of true basketball . Back in the day it was a luxury to have a player hit 2 or 3 threes in a game or a team hitting 5-8 threes total.

Now, I watch the same thing over and over. It’s pick n roll or pick and pop and everyone flares out to the 3, including nowadays the big dude.

Don’t get me wrong I like the fact that the big man has developed the three but can be just get back to some authentic old school basketball where anything goes and you never know what’s coming as opposed to the same general offenses by all the teams in the league.

 

I miss the old days gramps  

.. HEY… HEY SON WHAT R U DOIN???? THAT’S MY LAWN AND MY SPECIAL LADY MAKES ME MOW IT A LOT!!!!  

[Spud2nique]

[kg01]

9 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

The variable keeps shifting. Like wtf, call it right! Don’t try to manipulate the system just call it like it is! 
 

ps Clint was getting murdered out there last night. CALL THE FOUL. You can’t ignore fouls now because a memo has been passed from the league that’s lame.

If they think Capela is "hunting for fouls" then they're plain idiots.

As you say, there's no need to manipulate the game to 'send a message'.  Just call the game!

If there's a foul, call it.  Any 'emphasis' that determines Capela, of all people, needs to be punished for foul-baiting is trash.  And, make no mistake, that's what was happening last night.  Ridiculous! 

[aali34]

Wonder why the NBA hasn't thought of ways to balance out the high number of three's taken. If it's statistically more favorable to shoot quick, semi contested three's then attacking the basket or scoring in the post, you have to find ways to incentivize doing the former or reduce the value of the latter.

Defense losing it's shine dilutes the intensity of the sport for die hards. There used to be anticipation for certain matchups just to watch how defensive players would try to shut down stars. That doesn't get marketed anymore.

I wonder what it is, Adam Silver wants. 

The one negative that comes with analytics powered business is that everything has become optimized to the point its lost it's flavor. The fact that we aren't perfect is the spice that adds pop to things. Social Media is designed to drain you brain dry, ad campaigns are so thorough and have bled almost everywhere, everyone is a data point. Feels souless to a degree.