The coach whose team was the poster team of the NBA‘s offensive explosion thinks the league needs to give defenses a chance to respond.
Before his Warriors of the Golden State faces Toronto Raptors On Friday night, Steve Kerr said the NBA had gone too far in giving advantages to offensive players.
“I think there just needs to be a general rule: no bulls allowed. Really. That’s the truth,” Kerr said. “And I could watch a tape with you and show you: a guy dribbles into a high ball screen and the defender tries to fight for (the screen) and the guy (with the ball) jumps back and the referee whistles a foul. Like, what do we do? Can you imagine calling that in the pickup game? This would start a fight. We just have to get back to (figuring out) what basketball is.
THE Kings of Sacramento broke the NBA record for scoring efficiency last year, with 118.6 points per 100 possessions. This year, five teams — the Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Milwaukee Bucks And Los Angeles Clippers – were above that threshold before Friday night’s games.
The Warriors won their fourth title during their run of four championships in seven seasons beginning in 2014-15. They had a dynamic offense, scoring 110.4 points per 100 possessions, just behind the Clippers. All but the bottom four offenses are performing more efficiently than that this year.
Beginning with its 2015 title, Golden State has ranked second, first, first, third and first in offensive rating in five consecutive seasons. Built around dynamic shooting Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and eventually Kevin Durantthe league struggled to adjust to the amount of space the Warriors created.
At the same time, NBA players such as James Harden And Trae Youngamong many, began making contact seemingly without caring about scoring a basket – simply trying to get to the free throw line.
“Let’s get players to create an advantage in order to cause a foul,” Kerr said. “But we have these exact expressions: illegal guard position. Sometimes a guy just hits the defender and the referee calls a foul on the defender. (The referee will say): “This is an illegal guard position.” The refs have to call it.
“This is how they are judged and taught. As I said, the civil servants are great. It’s just that we need to recognize what’s happening. I think it’s been about a decade where offensive players are so smart, they see what’s going on and completely manipulate the rules to let them go.
The league has made a bit of progress in recent years, including reducing the types of moves that result in shooting fouls instead of just common fouls. The league also eliminated the fault of the “tear” – when a player with the ball moves his arms unnaturally to create contact with a defender – although versions of this are still called.
Kerr pointed out that in his final season as a player, 2002-03, his San Antonio Spurs won the NBA Finals in six games against the New Jersey Nets. In this series, a team has only exceeded 90 points in a game twice.
“It was terrible. The league has great intentions and we are in a great position,” Kerr said. “But you have to constantly look forward and balance things. We have to give the defense more chances. It starts with simply not allowing offensive players and bailing them out for bulls – things they do, frankly.
Required reading
(Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
