In a Charlotte Observer story this morning, Bobcats coach Larry Brown tells beat writer Rick Bonnell that certain NBA rules have strangled the game's beauty. Brown most recently blew up at a replacement referee who wouldn't look him in the eye, but the coach is now putting on the pose that the game is not entertaining fans because of ... illegal defense rules?Brown tells Bonnell that the league needs to force the game into a more "up-and-down" style, to reignite flow into the sport by allowing any type of defense and moving in the three-point line. Hey, maybe he's right. I'm not opposed to a free-flowing game. But my Hypocrisy Radar is bugging out, and you can't just ignore a Hypocrisy Radar.
Brown presides over a legacy of slow-down, drag-it-out basketball. Last season, only three NBA teams played at a pace slower than the Bobcats. Brown's Pistons teams were famously slow, ranking 24th and 29th in pace in the coach's two seasons there. Brown's 76ers teams never ran, and finished in the top half of the league in pace ony once in six years. Every single one of Brown's Pacers teams finished in the bottom third of the league in pace.
If Brown wants a more "up-and-down" NBA, he'd do well to stop calling every single play from the sidelines, and to stop grinding his teams' offenses to a halt, and to give his players some freedom. When Flip Saunders took over the Pistons in 2005-06, the team's pace did not increase in comparison to the Brown Pistons. But -- with the same personnel -- the offense bloomed, jumping from 17th under Brown to 4th under Saunders. No one would argue the Pistons offense became less entertaining when Brown departed.
Brown could very well be correct than allowing all types of zone defenses would cause teams to attack more regularly, and would stop coaches (like Brown) from forcing "the right way" down their point guards' throats. But the movement needs a less hilarious advocate, I'm afraid.
(Via TrueHoop.)
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
I think are multiple people living in LB's head.
For Brown`s BobCats to be ABLE to speed up, in would be nice if he could add some legit forwards to rebound the ball. After Chandler, 7`1, they skip down to Diaw, 6`7. Be nice to have a 6`11 and a 6`9 forward on the boards. Off course, then Coach Brown would want to slow the offense to get the ball inside for them to score down low!
I like defense, I know tohers find it boring, the problem not is that a foul is called on every play. People like Kobe get half their points from free throws and it is pretty boring to watch.
you are distorting what LB is saying here, he is not focusing on the actual speed of the game or not slowing it down in terms of style of play, he is talking about a flow of a game still going up and down without fouls, the fouls and refs is what he was focusing on, that it takes out of the flow back adn forth when there are so many ticky tack calls these days on oppose to in the 90s and early, pre lebron foul era(a star they need to accomodate but he couldn't shoot)
Yes, it would be nice to get the flow going, let the young men play. But all that requires is for the teams to stop traveling, leading with the free arm, commiting techs, etc., then the referees won`t have to call the infractions if the aren`t commited. But coaches think only their team should be allowed to just play. The other team they constantly berate the officials for not making enough calls against. Which is why the league office tries to insist complaints go thru channels, within the league, not to the press. Comments are usually the we played five against eight tonight variety, pretending the refs won the game because they weren`t man enough to win for themselves. Sometimes the league lets it go, thinking maybe they meant they had no good athletes on their bench and the other team had more bench support. But teams usually aren`t man enough to admit the other team was simply better that night. I hope THIS year (fat chance) the league keeps the pressure on to play within the rules, backs the officials, replacement or otherwsie, calling the game tight all thru the regular season and playoffs, and even tighter if violence threatens, as it usually does when the league office forces officials to let infractions go, uncalled.