Ryoga Hibiki wrote:I think people are confusing two different things, in this thread and in the general discussion:
- this move is not a travel in the NBA. There is an interpretation that is consistently applied. Giannis gathered only when he did put two hands of the ball, then it's two steps. For the same reason, Harden is not travelling when he makes his 5 steps stepback
- it looks awful and against the spirit of the game, as some guys managed to exploit the carrying rules. This should be addressed
except it is. Two hands on the ball isn't necessary for a "gather". As soon as a player has control of the ball where he can no longer dribble but can pass or shoot it's considered a gather. At 7 seconds with the majority of his hand under the ball and him no longer able to dribble again legally (well, in this laughable league they can because they don't call palming) he begins his gather, followed by quick gather step then three steps. It's a travel
All step side and back threes are travels as well. Maybe not according to the rules but certainly the spirit of the rules as the two steps allowed were always meant for layups or shots while going towards or parallel to the basket.
When zoomers make fun of past eras and them being plumbers it's because those players played by a completely different and enforced set of rules. You can't put any part of your hand on the lower half of the ball which is why you never saw crossovers back then and even dribbling with two hands was risking things because you'd inevitably go side to side and invite a carry call. Iverson and his illegal crossover changed the game. The idiots that ran the league decided with all the low-scoring games they needed more freedom of movement.
In the early 00s they began allowing illegal moving screens at the top of the key which Golden State used to free up their shooters and negate other teams slow lumbering centers. Within a few years every team was using it to get their "more skilled and more athletic" stars isolated on centers which of course was a major mismatch. But not an insurmountable mismatch. Because slow-lumbering centers were being replaced by longer better athletes. So the NBA began allowing off arm/hand push offs.
Here's how the NBA has been for the past 15 years or so:
An illegal moving screen is set which gets a scorer isolated on a center or white wing/guard
The scorer then threatens a shot with a carry which gets the defender braced to contest only for the carry to allow the scorer to drive which puts the defender on their heels needing to recover. If the defender is too far off the scorer will utilize the step back travel to create the space to shoot the three or long jumper. If the defender doesn't bite, prevents the shot and stays on their hip the scorer is allowed to then push off (chicken wing) to create space on the way to the basket at which point he'll either score, the defender laughably gets called for that contact or when help defenders collapses it leaves an easy pass out to the wide open shooter for three. Rinse and repeat a few dozen times and that's what an NBA game amounts to now. So boring.
It's literally impossible to defend when offensive players have all of these advantages. And they NEED all these advantages because while the top players from today aren't better athletes than the top players from before, there are MORE of them. Teams are longer 1-15 and those players 1-15 are more athletic. So overall longer and more athletic players but unfortunately the court didn't change. It's still the same size. All this length and athleticism essentially shrunk the court. This is why towards the end of MJ and the Bulls in the late 90s it wasn't uncommon for games to be scored in the 70s and 80s and THAT sucked as much as too much offense does.
It was ugly no doubt and something had to be done. One or two minor tweaks would have sufficed. But they went overboard and now it's just as ugly except with no defense and all offense.
Fixing this would be simple. No more stepback threes and no more illegal moving screens. You can still allow less egregious carries but make scorers go at their wing/guard counterparts instead of forwards and centers. I want to see Kobe vs Lebron not Lebron vs Valanciunas. I think it would ignite the competitiveness again. Watching these scorers play with their food against scrubs is weak. It reminds me of that play in the playoffs years ago when Luka made that game winning shot against the Clippers. He was being guarded by a 6'2" guard after a switch instead of Kawhi or George. Just pathetic. That's not what fans want to see. We want the best versus the best.
