The NBA is allowing hand checking

[Handlez]

Bring back hand checking.

We'll see how good these guys really are.

Unfortunately, it's not actually back. Watch SGA vs Dallas...he was allowed to push off.

Luka was ridden like a rented mule with no calls.

Depends on the player and agenda.

[DonaldSanders]

The NBA never stopped allowing handchecking. Go back to 2016 and see Curry and LeBron being handchecked.

Yep, it's been allowed in the playoffs, especially as the stakes go up.

[homecourtloss]

The NBA never stopped allowing handchecking. Go back to 2016 and see Curry and LeBron being handchecked.

Yep, it's been allowed in the playoffs, especially as the stakes go up.

Grabbing with two hands is allowed in the playoffs. During the regular season hand checks all the time and people can easily see it even in any highlights packages. If anyone goes to a game, then they can really see it every possession.

[Forbes]

I’ve been asking for this forever and look at how much everyone is enjoying the games.

Handchecking allows ANY defender to keep up with their man.

They haven’t truly allowed it yet.

Why is that a good thing? Shouldn't defense be about skill, fundamentals, agility, timing, IQ, stuff like that? If there is a hack that let's bad defenders easily be effective, that's not a positive.

It’s good because you can basically put a body on the defender without being called for a foul. Whereas these past couple years, you can’t even touch a defender. Getting physical with the defender when they try to drive is a huge help as opposed not being able to touch them. Thats what I mean when I say it allows any defender to keep up with their man.

Fact is you still need effort and everything else you listed. Not like horrible defenders are going to become good. It’s just more situational help and not having a player be a cone. If there’s no effort most cones will stay a cone

[bledredwine]

That's what drove me nuts about watching the 00s and especially beyond.

Just watch highlights and actually be mindful of the resistance that the offender faces.
It's a lot harder to score when the defender can actually give resistance back and doesn't have
to shadow/follow you to the rim.

[SlimShady83]

It's about time you'll see It more so next season

[Got Nuffin]

Derek Harper was probably the best at it, and was the poster child used when they banned it. Pippen singlehandedly ruined the Pacers offense in the playoffs one year when the strategy was to have him guard Mark Jackson, picking him up in the backcourt forcing Mark Jackson to turn his back while Pippen hand checked him in the backcourt. That slowed their offense to a crawl. Jackson struggled just to bring the ball up the floor.

All of those sub-par Ewing-era Knicks point guards like Doc Rivers, Chris Childs, Greg Anthony, Charlie Ward (and Harper was in there too) seemed like they were in the league simply because they were strong little dudes who were great at putting hands on you. They were notorious for it, and god knows they were terrible at everything else related to basketball

You think Harper was bad at basketball? Lol

Harper was good at basketball but one of his main selling points was about how strong he was and how if he put hands on you as a ball-handler (hand-check), you were not going anywhere. Put him in a league where you can't touch the guy, and his value becomes very different.

[SelfishPlayer]

1997, no hand checking.

Watch on YouTube

[dc]

The NBA never stopped allowing handchecking. Go back to 2016 and see Curry and LeBron being handchecked.

Yep, it's been allowed in the playoffs, especially as the stakes go up.

Watch any game where Curry plays the Celts and you'll conclude handchecking is still around.

I remember a game in 2015 or 2016 where Avery Bradley probably fouled out about 3 times guarding Curry. I think he eventually did foul out, but here were like a bazillion things he did could've been called for fouls and weren't.

[jc23]

I’ve been asking for this forever and look at how much everyone is enjoying the games.

Handchecking allows ANY defender to keep up with their man.

They haven’t truly allowed it yet.

Why is that a good thing? Shouldn't defense be about skill, fundamentals, agility, timing, IQ, stuff like that? If there is a hack that let's bad defenders easily be effective, that's not a positive.

game already heavily favors the offensive player; hand checking brings balance.

[docholliday99]

I think the league should allow some perimeter hand checking, should remove the 3 sec defensive violation, allow fiba goaltending rules and ffs, would a ref call a carry once in awhile

[turnaroundJ]

there is still no blatant grabbing and there never has been. but neutrally positioned armbar has ALWAYS been used. it's just more blatant in the playoffs when everyone is playing so intensely.

[DonaldSanders]

The NBA never stopped allowing handchecking. Go back to 2016 and see Curry and LeBron being handchecked.

Yep, it's been allowed in the playoffs, especially as the stakes go up.

Watch any game where Curry plays the Celts and you'll conclude handchecking is still around.

I remember a game in 2015 or 2016 where Avery Bradley probably fouled out about 3 times guarding Curry. I think he eventually did foul out, but here were like a bazillion things he did could've been called for fouls and weren't.

Absolutely. I watched Curry get played with just as hard 80s/90s defense as anyone wants to claim and in 2022 with almost no calls and he still dominated. And yet people would still claim "the NBA needs to bring back hand-checking to stop the 3P shot" -- just comedy. Some of these people I wonder if they even watch playoff games, or if they just post on RealGM while yelling at clouds. Regular season has been soft, prior to this season's post All-Star break. But we've been seeing physicality, including hand-checking, in the playoffs.

And I say this as someone who watches old games in the off-season all the time. I'm a big Jordan and Magic fan, people just forgot and don't go back and watch.

[Lalouie]

I know they relaxed the whistle but that is crazy to me.

For those that don't know the history, hand checking is one of the most diabolical defensive tactics known to man. Allowing a guy to put his hand on the offensive player can shut down driving completely if a defender is strong enough. You use correct hand placement, leverage and small one inch open hand jabs to stop a players momentum before it can start. It used to be a defensive specialist archetype in the NBA. Every team had to have one and the best on ball defenders were always hand check artists.

It was why teams couldn't just clear and iso back in the day and had to run systems with classic system PG's like Stockton, Magic and Isiah. When they banned it an entire generation of defensive players basically became obsolete and we're out of the league within 12-18 months.

Now it's back. That's wild.

and how awesome is that!!!

so like now you know what the difference is when us "oldtimers"(player included) tell you what was back in the day.
stop yer cryin' stop yer whinin'

[Sakkreth]

The problem is perimeter players are treated like they are playing a different sport. There are exceptions ofc, which is also a problem.

[K N U C K L E S]

Like who?

Derek Harper was probably the best at it, and was the poster child used when they banned it. Pippen singlehandedly ruined the Pacers offense in the playoffs one year when the strategy was to have him guard Mark Jackson, picking him up in the backcourt forcing Mark Jackson to turn his back while Pippen hand checked him in the backcourt. That slowed their offense to a crawl. Jackson struggled just to bring the ball up the floor.

All of those sub-par Ewing-era Knicks point guards like Doc Rivers, Chris Childs, Greg Anthony, Charlie Ward (and Harper was in there too) seemed like they were in the league simply because they were strong little dudes who were great at putting hands on you. They were notorious for it, and god knows they were terrible at everything else related to basketball

Does this mean we'll see those 92-87 Heat Knicks basketball games again? I miss that. Wasn't it Pat Riley's fault that the NBA overhauled the defensive rules 20 years ago? He came up with a scheme when he was with the Knicks, brought it to the Heat, then I guess the rest of the league copied it and it made the league defense-centric, which of course the league hated. Maybe we'll see Pat Riley defense again?

Here's an article about what Pat Riley did: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1650268-a-tribute-to-pat-riley-and-his-lasting-impact-in-the-nba

[bledredwine]

You’ll really know if you’re seeing allowed hand checking when you notice resistance against defender. What made hand checking so challenging to deal with was that you can provide ample resistance when someone is backing you down. If you watch old highlights and are mindful of that, you’ll see it right away.

There has been more defense in the playoffs, which has been a relief. I haven’t noticed legit handchecking. I’d love that though.

[bledredwine]

Yep, it's been allowed in the playoffs, especially as the stakes go up.

Watch any game where Curry plays the Celts and you'll conclude handchecking is still around.

I remember a game in 2015 or 2016 where Avery Bradley probably fouled out about 3 times guarding Curry. I think he eventually did foul out, but here were like a bazillion things he did could've been called for fouls and weren't.

Absolutely. I watched Curry get played with just as hard 80s/90s defense as anyone wants to claim and in 2022 with almost no calls and he still dominated. And yet people would still claim "the NBA needs to bring back hand-checking to stop the 3P shot" -- just comedy. Some of these people I wonder if they even watch playoff games, or if they just post on RealGM while yelling at clouds. Regular season has been soft, prior to this season's post All-Star break. But we've been seeing physicality, including hand-checking, in the playoffs.

And I say this as someone who watches old games in the off-season all the time. I'm a big Jordan and Magic fan, people just forgot and don't go back and watch.

https://youtu.be/GivsQwwiDDs?si=ftnm9bu1Uv3oTtsD

What does Hubie Brown know about basketball, right? Dismissing handchecking as negligible is stubborn and ignorant. It’s not a coincidence that scoring leaders went from mostly bigs to mostly perimeter players as the rules were implemented.

And it’s not just handchecking. It’s the three second violation, and it’s basically accepted by now since so many international players including
Giannis Luka Jokic have said it’s easier to score in the NBA. They wanted to open the game for accessible scoring, and that’s exactly what they did. Saying anything else is just denying the obvious with bias. Otherwise, explain the purpose of those rules and how they wouldn’t impact scoring.

[dhsilv2]

They should have never disallowed hand checking to begin with TBH.

I remember around early to mid '00s is when they really enforced calling fouls on hand checking, right? That was weird. Kinda softened up the defense around the league.

It was banned after the 1978 season for whatever the history is worth...

[dhsilv2]

an entire generation of defensive players basically became obsolete and we're out of the league within 12-18 months.

Like who?

You really want me to try to remember defensive specialists from 1994?

That doesn't seem like a big ask, especially since by 94 hand checking had officially been banned for over a decade.