Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on release

[Smallville102001]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

“Political stuff” has nothing to do with it. Ratings were in the gutter for years before that. MJ’s last finals is still the highest rated ever. What does that tell you. Fans have been saying for years that the non physical/non competitive gameplay is why they tuned out. Who wants to watch grown men flopping mid air in Oscar worthy performances to draw fouls cause they were breathed on too hard, or delaying games for 30 minutes to cry to refs. Far as I’m concerned, all the talent in the world can’t overcome rules designed to let any normie drop 30 a night with no problem. No hand checks, stupid 3 second paint rules on defense so softies can drive into wide open paint without a bruise or having to navigate around 7 footers clogging your path like before. It’s not exciting when everyone is behind the three point line and there’s no big “boss” to have to “beat” in order to score in the paint. True talent can’t be gauged with the offensive favoring coddling the league has now. Nor when defense is a forgotten art and considered non essential (how many guys today are considered amongst best in league when their defense is amongst worst of all time).

The “politics” thing is a cop out to further an opposing agenda. It’s about the game. Has been for years. Look at any comment section in the last decade+. Writing’s been on the wall. Who wants to watch 2 hours of wide open or step back threes? It’s boring, like Pop said. I still watch full old school games all the time. New games I just catch the highlights. It’s no wonder today’s pre teens who direct where 2K goes are uninterested in the nuances of actual basketball.

lol politics play a big role for sure. There are a lot of reason but I would say like half of it is likely politics. I believe ratings in 2020 went way down compared to just 2019 when things got way more political. We are now in a world where like unless you go off the grid you cant not hear about politics and Entertainment is supposed to be a time to have fun and just get away from real world issues for a few hours that will still be there later. I love sports and even how political things are makes me almost want to turn it off at times. There are a lot of people I have heard and people I have known who said they stopped watching because of how political its gotten.

I also think the rule changes/refs have made it worse. NFL with ruffing the passer and illegal man down filed has favored the offensive side of the ball too much and made a ruff game more soft. With nba flopping and like not basketball like plays resulting in foul shots has made nba worse. I blame the flopping on Divac has he was really the first player to do it, and did it all the time, and got calls when he did it. If players can trick refs into getting a call why would they not do it? If NBA refs didn't suck and where not stupid enough to fall for it guys wouldn't do it. I hate hate the clear path foul role because it's just another rule that helps the offensive side of the ball. Also its gotten to the point where you can not foul a guy to like take away a layup because anything that is hard enough to take away a layup could be called a flagrant foul. So clear path foul is just like another way you cant take away a layup.

Load management is also really stupid and soft. If a player is health they should play. Load management makes zero sense and could cost you home court advantage something that is important. The game was more physical in the 90s and guys didn't load management back then and on top of that guys are playing less minutes now days. I can remember when the top guys would play like 40-41 minutes a game. Now its like 36-37. Also Allstar break is longer and teams play less back to backs. Some people say well pace of play is higher now then it was in like early 2000's or 90s but its still slower than pace of play was in like the 80s and guys where not load management then either. So guys are getting more time between games and also playing less per game and yet they now need to sit out games for no reason lol.

If I could do 3 things it would be bring back hand checking. Not let guys load management. Load management hurts because now you have some games where you have some many guys resting that now you are not getting to see star players playing. if its a bad team that has 1 star and they set out now there is like no reason to watch the game. Also make it so it's harder to get a flagrant foul has its crazy how soft the league has gotten with flagrant fouls. Trying to compare different periods and guys stats and such is hard for several reasons has a result too. Now days the rules favored the offensive side of the ball making it easier to score, but guys are also playing less minutes, and that takes a little bit of scoring chances away. Also FG % is important I mean if you can have a guy who gets 20 on 50% or a guy who gets 20 but on 40% you would off course take the 50% guy. With the rule chances it should make it easier to have a higher fg% but at the same time everyone shooting so many 3pt shots also hurts your fg %

[AIRJ23]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

lol politics play a big role for sure. There are a lot of reason but I would say like half of it is likely politics. I believe ratings in 2020 went way down compared to just 2019 when things got way more political. We are now in a world where like unless you go off the grid you cant not hear about politics and Entertainment is supposed to be a time to have fun and just get away from real world issues for a few hours that will still be there later. I love sports and even how political things are makes me almost want to turn it off at times. There are a lot of people I have heard and people I have known who said they stopped watching because of how political its gotten.

I also think the rule changes/refs have made it worse. NFL with ruffing the passer and illegal man down filed has favored the offensive side of the ball too much and made a ruff game more soft. With nba flopping and like not basketball like plays resulting in foul shots has made nba worse. I blame the flopping on Divac has he was really the first player to do it, and did it all the time, and got calls when he did it. If players can trick refs into getting a call why would they not do it? If NBA refs didn't suck and where not stupid enough to fall for it guys wouldn't do it. I hate hate the clear path foul role because it's just another rule that helps the offensive side of the ball. Also its gotten to the point where you can not foul a guy to like take away a layup because anything that is hard enough to take away a layup could be called a flagrant foul. So clear path foul is just like another way you cant take away a layup.

Load management is also really stupid and soft. If a player is health they should play. Load management makes zero sense and could cost you home court advantage something that is important. The game was more physical in the 90s and guys didn't load management back then and on top of that guys are playing less minutes now days. I can remember when the top guys would play like 40-41 minutes a game. Now its like 36-37. Also Allstar break is longer and teams play less back to backs. Some people say well pace of play is higher now then it was in like early 2000's or 90s but its still slower than pace of play was in like the 80s and guys where not load management then either. So guys are getting more time between games and also playing less per game and yet they now need to sit out games for no reason lol.

If I could do 3 things it would be bring back hand checking. Not let guys load management. Load management hurts because now you have some games where you have some many guys resting that now you are not getting to see star players playing. if its a bad team that has 1 star and they set out now there is like no reason to watch the game. Also make it so it's harder to get a flagrant foul has its crazy how soft the league has gotten with flagrant fouls. Trying to compare different periods and guys stats and such is hard for several reasons has a result too. Now days the rules favored the offensive side of the ball making it easier to score, but guys are also playing less minutes, and that takes a little bit of scoring chances away. Also FG % is important I mean if you can have a guy who gets 20 on 50% or a guy who gets 20 but on 40% you would off course take the 50% guy. With the rule chances it should make it easier to have a higher fg% but at the same time everyone shooting so many 3pt shots also hurts your fg %

I agree with the basketball stuff, and yeah load management is another soft joke meant to coddle players. These dudes have load management, play less minutes, take nights off, have far more luxurious (read: not team bonding) travel arrangements yet get injured at record rate. Oh and that’s while playing in a league currently less physical than golf. It’s weak. When you condition a spoiled culture, you condition soft players who shatter like glass.

But no, politics has nothing to do with it. Lots of.. umm other stuff happened that threw everything off in 2020. Many people already found the NBA boring enough. Who wants to watch with no audience? That’s why ratings further suffered. I know people who watched because they appreciated the political messages.

Fact remains two things are at play: Games not as entertaining to many fans anymore (something the NBA themselves acknowledge as they try to bring back more defensive oriented rules sorely missing) and empty stadiums. Of course empty stadiums would further plummet ratings.

Meanwhile The Last Dance was more popular than the last decade of the NBA combined. Again, what does that tell you.

You highlighted the issues with the game yourself. It’s the game shifting the league’s culture.

[Smallville102001]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

I agree with the basketball stuff, and yeah load management is another soft joke meant to coddle players. These dudes have load management, play less minutes, take nights off, have far more luxurious (read: not team bonding) travel arrangements yet get injured at record rate. Oh and that’s while playing in a league currently less physical than golf. It’s weak. When you condition a spoiled culture, you condition soft players who shatter like glass.

But no, politics has nothing to do with it. Lots of.. umm other stuff happened that threw everything off in 2020. Many people already found the NBA boring enough. Who wants to watch with no audience? That’s why ratings further suffered. I know people who watched because they appreciated the political messages.

Fact remains two things are at play: Games not as entertaining to many fans anymore (something the NBA themselves acknowledge as they try to bring back more defensive oriented rules sorely missing) and empty stadiums. Of course empty stadiums would further plummet ratings.

Meanwhile The Last Dance was more popular than the last decade of the NBA combined. Again, what does that tell you.

You highlighted the issues with the game yourself. It’s the game shifting the league’s culture.

Yeah I don't get why guys get hurt so much and they have better medical to now days. Yes empty stadiums heart for sure but you would also think after basically 5 months with no sports because of the lockdowns that people would miss it more and that sports ratings would go up a lot more has a result but nope. So yeah going to have to disagree that politics play zero factor they do play a factor. It drove me nuts when they talked about a short offseason last year. They got a 5 month break because of the lock downs and then a few months for offseason and also played less games the last 2 years. So really they got like 2 offseason in 1 amount of rest. So if anything guys should be like crazy fresh right now.

[AIRJ23]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

Can someone tell me where to find the Help D slider? I was told to look into the coach settings but see no such slider there.

[AIRJ23]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

Yeah I don't get why guys get hurt so much and they have better medical to now days. Yes empty stadiums heart for sure but you would also think after basically 5 months with no sports because of the lockdowns that people would miss it more and that sports ratings would go up a lot more has a result but nope. So yeah going to have to disagree that politics play zero factor they do play a factor. It drove me nuts when they talked about a short offseason last year. They got a 5 month break because of the lock downs and then a few months for offseason and also played less games the last 2 years. So really they got like 2 offseason in 1 amount of rest. So if anything guys should be like crazy fresh right now.

Oh I agree with that off season part. What “short off season?!” Lmao. They had nearly an entire season off and then a shortened season. Dudes used to play battle basketball with far less luxuries and go 40 mins a night on 82 games a season. Many back to back games.

Humans will rise up to the challenge when faced with a challenge. You coddle them and they play at a lower level while conditioning poorly enough to break at said lower level.

[Smirkin Dirk]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

Ah, what are we talking about?

[Smallville102001]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

Oh I agree with that off season part. What “short off season?!” Lmao. They had nearly an entire season off and then a shortened season. Dudes used to play battle basketball with far less luxuries and go 40 mins a night on 82 games a season. Many back to back games.

Humans will rise up to the challenge when faced with a challenge. You coddle them and they play at a lower level while conditioning poorly enough to break at said lower level.

Now if you want to say short offseason it would really be this offseason because the season is starting on time but last season end 1 month later than normal because of the late start but even then season was 10 games shorter. With the whole short offseason talk going into last season to and how it was really a longer offseason the bad teams that didn't play in the bubble got even a longer offseason lol.

[Smallville102001]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

Ah, what are we talking about?

lol just about how nba has gotten more soft, and how they have made rule changes that help the offensive side of the ball too much lol.

[Smallville102001]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

Can someone tell me where to find the Help D slider? I was told to look into the coach settings but see no such slider there.

Did you look at the teams coach that you play has or the setting that has like time outs auto and such? I think it's in the team one.

[Smirkin Dirk]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

lol just about how nba has gotten more soft, and how they have made rule changes that help the offensive side of the ball too much lol.

Its less dirty but its not softer. There’s an emphasis on skill.

[Smallville102001]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

Its less dirty but its not softer. There’s an emphasis on skill.

I would say its both less dirty and also a softer game. Need kind of a middle ground. Like being able to close line a guy lakers and Celtics is not right lol but also calling like everything a flagrant foul is not right either.

[AIRJ23]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

Its less dirty but its not softer. There’s an emphasis on skill.

Major disagree. Invisible defense and 80% of offense being 3 pointers or fouls isn’t skillful to me.

Bring hand checking back and abolish the defensive 3 second rule. We’ll see the true level of skill. It doesn’t require much skill to score in paint that’s wide open.

Hard to determine skill when rules are designed to make anyone able to easily score. The league has suppressed any notion of true defensive able to be played. I watched every series in the playoffs last year and so many games had a “park shoot around feel.” Giannis stepping up on the D side in his final games was some of the most intense NBA I’ve seen in years upon years.

[AIRJ23]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

I would say its both less dirty and also a softer game. Need kind of a middle ground. Like being able to close line a guy lakers and Celtics is not right lol but also calling like everything a flagrant foul is not right either.

Have you seen Malice at the Palace on Netflix?

Man that league was INTENSE! That was true ball. You can feel the intimation of players before a game. You think that intimidation exists now? Lmao.

Sports should be physical. Like battle. It’s what draws us in. It’s what makes winning rewarding. What makes the money truly worth it. Players used to go into games expecting to get banged up a bit. And yet the game was more beautiful as well with multitudes of styles being played. What’s the beauty in all threes and no mid range and paint designed to be open? Having 5 guys loitering at the 3 point like is supped to be “beauty?” Lol. All that and they went hard for 82 games like soldiers. Now? Can’t even make it through one playoff series.

I’m not saying make it like the NFL. Simply stop the stupid soft foul calls and bring back hand checking and eliminate the 3 second rule on defense. Done. Jocik getting ejected for slapping a ball is pathetic and a testament to how soft the game is.

When I play basketball, I feel far more serious about a game and I fear physical opponents far more. The soft game is yet another factor into how players are cultured into being softer overall.

Did you look at the teams coach that you play has or the setting that has like time outs auto and such? I think it's in the team one.

Dunno why I’m having so much trouble finding it.

I wonder if Help D strength in the defensive sliders can help.

[Smallville102001]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

Major disagree. Invisible defense and 80% of offense being 3 pointers or fouls isn’t skillful to me.

Bring hand checking back and abolish the defensive 3 second rule. We’ll see the true level of skill. It doesn’t require much skill to score in paint that’s wide open.

Hard to determine skill when rules are designed to make anyone able to easily score. The league has suppressed any notion of true defensive able to be played. I watched every series in the playoffs last year and so many games had a “park shoot around feel.” Giannis stepping up on the D side in his final games was some of the most intense NBA I’ve seen in years upon years.

While another thing about like scoring is that more guys can shot now days and so you have to defend more of the court and by opening up more of the court that gives you more space to operate in. I can remember when centers and pf basically had no out side shot. So you would basically have 2 guys in the game that can't shot. Now you have maybe 1 guy playing that can't shot. If O'Neal played today I think he would dominate even more because 1 teams play smaller now and you can't put small guys on him. 2 you can't really defend him 1 on 1 and with how you have more shooters today you would pay even more if you did double him do it would be completely pick your poison. With defense today because of how athletic guys are and the rules you really have to be skilled to defend players to be able to keep them from getting past you.

Have you seen Malice at the Palace on Netflix?

Man that league was INTENSE! That was true ball. You can feel the intimation of players before a game. You think that intimidation exists now? Lmao.

Sports should be physical. Like battle. It’s what draws us in. It’s what makes winning rewarding. What makes the money truly worth it. Players used to go into games expecting to get banged up a bit. And yet the game was more beautiful as well with multitudes of styles being played. What’s the beauty in all threes and no mid range and paint designed to be open? Having 5 guys loitering at the 3 point like is supped to be “beauty?” Lol. All that and they went hard for 82 games like soldiers. Now? Can’t even make it through one playoff series.

I’m not saying make it like the NFL. Simply stop the stupid soft foul calls and bring back hand checking and eliminate the 3 second rule on defense. Done. Jocik getting ejected for slapping a ball is pathetic and a testament to how soft the game is.

When I play basketball, I feel far more serious about a game and I fear physical opponents far more. The soft game is yet another factor into how players are cultured into being softer overall.



Dunno why I’m having so much trouble finding it.

I wonder if Help D strength in the defensive sliders can help.

No I have not seen the Netflix thing. Like the Celtics Lakers close line type of thing I brought up you should not be able to do that's just flat out dirty but now days just simply going for the ball and you happen to hit the guy in the head is called a flagrant foul. That should be a common foul. A flagrant foul should be doing something that is truly dirt/trying to hurt a guy not trying to hit the ball and you just happen to hit the player hard.

[AIRJ23]

Re: Please turn the help defense, and cutter help defense back to were it was on rele

While another thing about like scoring is that more guys can shot now days and so you have to defend more of the court and by opening up more of the court that gives you more space to operate in. I can remember when centers and pf basically had no out side shot. So you would basically have 2 guys in the game that can't shot. Now you have maybe 1 guy playing that can't shot. If O'Neal played today I think he would dominate even more because 1 teams play smaller now and you can't put small guys on him. 2 you can't really defend him 1 on 1 and with how you have more shooters today you would pay even more if you did double him do it would be completely pick your poison. With defense today because of how athletic guys are and the rules you really have to be skilled to defend players to be able to keep them from getting past you.



No I have not seen the Netflix thing. Like the Celtics Lakers close line type of thing I brought up you should not be able to do that's just flat out dirty but now days just simply going for the ball and you happen to hit the guy in the head is called a flagrant foul. That should be a common foul. A flagrant foul should be doing something that is truly dirt/trying to hurt a guy not trying to hit the ball and you just happen to hit the player hard.

When I watch full games these days, I’m astonished by how many wide open drives and shots are given up. Coaches flat out say they don’t put much focus on defense. I dunno if it’s laziness, lack of defensive skill or the rules preventing even skilled defenders from defending well. But time and time again we see debates about the “best players in the league” where everyone concedes how nearly every player mentioned is horrible at defense. It’s nuts to me. Defense is 50% of the game (or should be).

I’d hope to see the league bring back defensive oriented rules as opposed to offensive favoring rules. Let us see the skills on full display. And ratings would soar. The biggest mistake the league made was assuming fans watch only when scores are high. When history has proven the opposite if anything.