why isn't the zone defense used more in the NBA?

[Inspector Jihad]

any particular reason?

 

[Syringer]

Tradition? Illegal defense used to be called on zones, but only recently did they remove that rule.

 

[Mermaidman]

Too many good outside shooters.

 

[dbk]

I feel like only sh!tty defensive teams use zone defense in the NBA, ie. Bucks, Suns, Bobcats.

 

[Mermaidman]

Originally posted by: ornament
I feel like only sh!tty defensive teams use zone defense in the NBA, ie. Bucks, Suns, Bobcats.

Dallas

 

[homercles337]

NBA teams should have a bench that is deep enough for M2M for the whole game.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

i think teams only use it to throw off the offense once in a while. I do remember t-mac complaining about it when it was reintroduced.

 

[PoPPeR]

oh man

it's hard enough making a nba player play a simple straight man on man defense and you want them to play zone?

How the heck are they going to dunk the ball if they're playing zone defense?!?!

Yeah but what the above posters said... i don't think it works out that well

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: PoPPeR
oh man

it's hard enough making a nba player play a simple straight man on man defense and you want them to play zone?

How the heck are they going to dunk the ball if they're playing zone defense?!?!

Yeah but what the above posters said... i don't think it works out that well

 

[JS80]

because this isn't college anymore

 

[newnameman]

Originally posted by: Mermaidman

Originally posted by: ornament
I feel like only sh!tty defensive teams use zone defense in the NBA, ie. Bucks, Suns, Bobcats.

Dallas

Pistons

 

[PokerGuy]

Actually, the weakness of the zone is generally that there are gaps in the zone. In college, most players are not good enough shooters to take consistent advantage of those gaps in the zone. In the NBA, even the worst shooters will shoot well enough to cause problems with the zone. That's why teams use it on occasion, not all the time.

 

[iamme]

this season's detroit pistons have played LOTS of zone defense. flip saunders is a well known advocate of playing zone sporadically to throw off the opponents. he wanted to do it last season with, but he met resistance from a team that prided itself on man-to-man defensive success. most notably, ben wallace wasn't thrilled about it.

this season, flip's called for the pistons to run a zone several times per game. sometimes switching back and forth within a few plays of each other.

personally, if you have the talent and the basketball IQ, i think it's a fantastic way to screw up the opponent.

 

[PokerGuy]

Indeed it can be a great way to mess up an opponent, but only when used in certain situations. You can't go long stretches playing zone, or you're going to get killed in the NBA.

 

[HamSupLo]

only pussies play zone defense

 

[Thraxen]

They don't defense in the NBA anyway.

 

[50cent1228]

Originally posted by: HamSupLo
only pussies play zone defense

i second tthat

 

[miniMUNCH]

Originally posted by: Syringer
Tradition? Illegal defense used to be called on zones, but only recently did they remove that rule.

Why no zone D? Because you cannot play effective zoneD without a big man camping in the key and the there is a "defensive 3 seconds" violation (FT + ball out of bounds).

Defensive 3 seconds will hopefully be phased out in a couple of years.

 

[ponyo]

More zone will be used in the NBA. Not too many pure shooters are left in the NBA so it's a good defense to play against the slash and go style of the modern NBA.

In the old days, zones were illegal and plus you would have got killed by the great shooters. Pure shooters are now a dying breed in the NBA just like the big men.

NBA is no longer fun to watch.

 

[Rock Hydra]

Originally posted by: Mermaidman
Too many good outside shooters.

3-2 defense?

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: Naustica
More zone will be used in the NBA. Not too many pure shooters are left in the NBA so it's a good defense to play against the slash and go style of the modern NBA.

In the old days, zones were illegal and plus you would have got killed by the great shooters. Pure shooters are now a dying breed in the NBA just like the big men.

NBA is no longer fun to watch.

lol...what garbage

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: miniMUNCH

Originally posted by: Syringer
Tradition? Illegal defense used to be called on zones, but only recently did they remove that rule.

Why no zone D? Because you cannot play effective zoneD without a big man camping in the key and the there is a "defensive 3 seconds" violation (FT + ball out of bounds).

Defensive 3 seconds will hopefully be phased out in a couple of years.

defensive 3 secs can be avoided by having the center move around from one side of the paint to the other.

 

[miniMUNCH]

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad

Originally posted by: miniMUNCH

Originally posted by: Syringer
Tradition? Illegal defense used to be called on zones, but only recently did they remove that rule.

Why no zone D? Because you cannot play effective zoneD without a big man camping in the key and the there is a "defensive 3 seconds" violation (FT + ball out of bounds).

Defensive 3 seconds will hopefully be phased out in a couple of years.

defensive 3 secs can be avoided by having the center move around from one side of the paint to the other.

The center in a 2-3 or 1-3-1, or both bigs in a 3-2, have get completely out of key every three seconds. Avoiding "defensive 3 seconds" makes D's open up the key artificially for inside offensive scoring. Basically, the rule inhibits optimal positioning of defenders in zone defense schemes, and M2M in some cases.

That makes it 2-3 times more difficult to properly defend the key, particularly against cuts and low post screens, which is the entire point of classic zone defense... the defensive 3 seconds is a stupid rule which was designed to keep "dunk ball" alive in the NBA. The defensive 3 seconds also hurts the ability of teams to play good help defense in M2M.