Doctor MJ wrote:OldSchoolNoBull wrote:
So, not to take anything away from how good Nash was, but I do want to push back a little against that guy's tweet - I'm weary of giving any individual credit for "inventing" the modern game or for changing the game from what it was until the early 00s to what it is now. I've seen Nash and Steph and Mike D'Antoni given this type of credit over the years and I just think there's more to it.
The fact is, the way the game has changed over the last 20 years is not some kind of natural evolution, nor is it the result of one genius player or coach coming along and changing everything. It was a business decision the league made. Straight up, they made a series of rule changes in the early 00s, in an era when ratings were slipping due to the game having become very defensive and slow and due to the Dream Team generation retiring, with the expressed intent of opening up offenses in order to boost the game's popularity. That's what happened. They legalized zone defenses and implemented the defensive three-second rule in 2001 and eliminated hand-checking in 2004(incidentally right as Nash was joining Phoenix and 7SOL was getting underway), for these reasons, and there were people who weren't happy about it at the time. The game would not have been able to evolve the way it has since then without those rule changes. It is not a coincidence that the "modern" era of the league is usually said to start around 2005. Again, this is not to in any way argue against Nash or Steph as players, but I'm not sure they'd have been able to what they've done without the rule changes. I just think we need to remember that before giving any individual credit for changing the game.
Having said all that, if I was to give credit to any one individual, it would be Don Nelson. He was decades ahead of his time. He was D'Antoni before D'Antoni. He was using point forwards and small-ball and run-and-gun offenses in the 80s and 90s. So out there were his offenses that they were seen as a novelty in those years - "Nellyball!" - fun to watch but you can't win playing like that, was the thought(and it may have been correct prior to the rule changes). Now, the current NBA is all of his dreams realized. The phrase "run and gun" isn't really even used anymore because the whole league is run and gun now. And also, who did Nash break out under before going to Phoenix? Don Nelson. And who guided the Warriors' front office to select Steph Curry in 2009 as one of the last significant acts of his NBA career? Don Nelson. (Also worth nothing that it was Nelson who selected Dirk in 1998, another very modern player, for the Mavs.)
Yeah, I'm high on Nelson.
So, I'm going to push back on your push back here a bit, but to be clear, I do respect the history you're bringing in and I also chafe at the idea that Nash "invented" pace & space basketball.
Key points for me:
a. While there were indeed rule changes made in the early '00s intended to increase the pace and give more freedom of motion, and those rule changes are a part of the "pace & space revolution" equation...they're a very small part in the grand scheme of things.
First because the key rule change came in 1980 with the addition of the 3 point shot. That was the essential ingredient, and it's my assessment that the only reason we didn't see a pace & space revolution in the '80s is because those with the power to make it happen lacked the vision and courage. I don't want to act to dismissive of these folks because they did know quite a lot about basketball at the time, and those who were running teams knew things I still don't know...but they also "knew" some things that just weren't true.
This is how it goes with paradigm shifts. It's not a pace & space thing, you'll see it in the precursor to any paradigm shift, and most certainly in scientific revolutions which of course is where the notion of paradigm shifts came from. When it comes to the 3, we can point to specific reasons why some amount of delay was necessary between its inception in 1980 and the time when it came to dominate the sport...but there's absolutely no reason that it needed to take decades. It could have been much, much faster.
b. I am so confident in asserting that the 2000s rule changes were a small part of the shift, because we know that the truly big acceleration came not immediately after their addition, but in fact a decade plus later. I think it's critical to understand that if a rule change doesn't immediately result in "the big shift", then we need to look closer to the big shift to understand what really did the trick.
In pace & space, it really had everything to do with teams breaking through and winning titles with this approach. Those breakthrough teams were heavily influenced by the pace & space Suns...but the league didn't really follow suit until the emulators broke through. I would suggest this would have happened in the '00s if the Suns had won a title and then continued to be a serious threat afterward. And this absolutely could have happened, but for reasons worth discussing - in another post if desired - it didn't.
c. Nelson wasn't D'Antoni before D'Antoni, though it's understandable you see it that way. In reality Mike D'Antoni was on this trend BEFORE 1980 because he was playing Europe. His brother Dan - a basketball coach - has told the story of Mike talking to him from Europe and emphasizing that the 3-point shot was working surprisingly well in his league, and that it seemed the way forward.
So D'Antoni was basically playing this way before the shot ever came to the NBA, and was known for pushing the style of play further after he retired as a player from Olimpia Milano and becoming the coach of Olimpia Milano in 1990. From there, at every stop along the way D'Antoni's been making the team's he joins shoot a lot more 3's.
Hence, while Nelson had NBA effect before D'Antoni, this absolutely wasn't a situation where D'Antoni was inspired by Nelson to do this. It was already his philosophy before Nelson even had the opportunity to try it.
d.. Nelson wasn't even the most 3-forward coach in the NBA in the '80s. That would be Rick Pitino. For perspective here, in '88-89, here are the relevant 3PA rates:
Knicks (Pitino) .151
Warriors (Nelson) .079
League Average .074
Recall that Nelson had access to perimeter scorers, and most notably Chris Mullin, one of the great shooters from the era. Between the two teams, here's the Top 4 guys by 3PA:
1. Trent Tucker (NYK) 296
2. Johnny Newman (NYK) 287
3. Mark Jackson (NYK) 240
4. Gerald Wilkins (NYK) 172
So yeah, while Nelson can claim to have NBA influence before D'Antoni or Pitino, he didn't really grasp the potential of the 3 to anywhere near the degree of those other guys.
In general, I'd see D'Antoni & Pitino as true 3-point zealots, while Nelson was more of a mad scientist willing to try a whole bunch of weird ideas but never really staying the course and taking things to their logical conclusion. Doesn't necessarily make those other guys better coaches of course - Nelson clearly has a greater NBA coaching career than Pitino at the very least - I think it's important not to be under the impression that Nelson was typically way out in front of everyone else on 3's.
e. "Who did Nash break out under? Don Nelson." Ah, but key thing:
Who pushed for Nash to get drafted in Phoenix? Donnie Nelson, then working for the Suns.
Who pushed for Dallas to acquire Nash? Donnie Nelson, then working for the Mavs.
Who pushed to kill of illegal defense to encourage pace in the NBA? Jerry Colangelo.
Who re-acquired Nash for Phoenix? Bryan Colangelo working with father Jerry.
Don had a role to play here, but the key people involved with championing Nash were all in Phoenix in 1996, and these things weren't a coincidence. There were people in the Suns front office during Nash's initial run there who were adamant that the franchise was making a mistake in choosing the more established Jason Kidd over Nash, and Nash maintained relationships in Phoenix after that - including playing pick-up ball there in the summer for years.
Jerry Colangelo saw a way forward for basketball, and the avatar of that way forward was Steve Nash...who instinctively played in this way in pick-up games.
