6 new records in 8 years!The league began to review the scoring explosion problem: The NBA is too offensive?
This article was compiled from: ESPN
作者:Tim Bontemps和Kevin Pelton
原标题：NBA offenses are historically prolific -- does the league need to step in?
The NBA is in the midst of an offensive explosion.
The average points this season is the highest since 1969-70, and the league has set offensive efficiency records six times in the last eight seasons.
Stars are creating jaw-dropping performances at a pace not seen since Chamberlain's heyday. In January, four players scored more than 60 points in five days: Joel Embiid (70 points) and Karl Anthony Towns (62 points) on January 23, and Luka Doncic (73 points) and Devin Booker (62 points) on January 27.
Less than a month later, the Eastern Conference All-Star Team became the first team in history to score more than 200 points.
After the game, Lakers forward LeBron James was asked about the recent explosion of offensive stats in the league. "That's what a lot of [regular-season] games are starting to do," he said. We want to make the game faster. We want to get more shots. We want the game to be more free and fluid...... It's a deeper look at how we can make the game better. "
James isn't the first star to join the conversation. For years, the question of whether the offense had become too powerful had been the focus of discussions.
Now, the NBA's management is also having such discussions.
Joe Dumas, the league's executive vice president and head of basketball operations, was a mainstay of the '80s defensive elite "bad boys" Pistons, and he told ESPN that the league's competition committee has officially begun reviewing whether the game is overly offensive and whether changes need to be made to achieve a better balance.
"It's a topic we're looking at," Dumas told ESPN earlier this month. "We're diving into it right now to make sure we're on the right side. "
As the NBA takes a closer look at the shift in the balance of power on defense and offense, finding a solution will be a challenging proposition if necessary.
Three-time Timberwolves Defensive Player of the Year center Gobert told ESPN: "Overall, the rules are really good for offense. Keeping a team scoring under 100 points is much harder than it was a few years ago. "
The league has also reformed its scoring too low
The rise in total points is something that has seen in the NBA in recent years. In the 1984-85 season, he averaged 110.8 points per game, the highest in the NBA at the time. However, the 2003-04 season dropped to 93.4 points per game, the lowest point average per game in a non-stoppage season after the introduction of the 24-second offensive time limit.
Trail Blazers head coach Billups looked back on the year and said, "When defense is prioritized like that, the game is less popular. It's not fun to watch a game like that. Billups noted that the 2005 NBA Finals, one of the lowest-rated games in the league's history, was a turning point. In the Finals between the Pistons and Spurs led by Billups, the team averaged just 93.0 points per game.
"It changed the game," Billups said. Because if the ratings are so low, something has to change. That's what we're seeing. That's why offense is so important. That's why tickets are sold. "
In response to the offensive trough, the league made important changes to the rules. In 2001, then-Suns owner Jerry Colangelo persuaded then-chairman David Stern to set up a special committee to address what was considered too few points.
When the Commission's initial reforms — adding zone defense and reducing the time before a backcourt violation from 10 seconds to 8 seconds — proved inadequate, the league took another step forward. In the summer of 2004, the league began enforcing rules prohibiting hands touching offensive players from the outside.
The results are immediate. Led by offensive coach Mike D'Antoni and MVP point guard Steve Nash, Colangelo's Suns averaged 3.8 points per game in 2004-05, the biggest increase since the 1969-70 season. However, ten years later, the team is still averaging just 100.0 points per game. From 2005 to 2016, offensive efficiency stagnated.
To get to today's offensive heights — the league's elite teams regularly surpass 130 points on any given night — it will take a dramatic leap forward.
What was the biggest driver of the offensive outburst?
What has been the biggest driver of the NBA's recent rise in scoring?
Eight of the last nine seasons have set a league record for effective shooting percentage — counting three-pointers as 1.5 to reflect their added value. In the 2014-15 season, the average number of points per shot was 0.99. Today, that number is closer to 1.1 points.
"More high-percentage shooting, which is shooting under the basket and three-pointers," 76ers head coach Nurse said, "will lead to more scoring." Most people make this the subject of their play. 76ers player Batum added, "It also shows the talent of basketball players today. ”
It's easy to blame this shift on NBA teams abandoning defense in pursuit of more scoring. However, while more and more teams are using difficult match-up or pull-up shots instead of open catch-and-shoot shots, their three-point shooting percentage is as good as ever.
The increase in free-throw shooting also reflects the NBA's increased emphasis on shooting. The league-wide free-throw percentage topped 78% for the first time in 2022-23 and is on track to do so again this season. Ten years ago, that figure was 76 percent.
Meanwhile, the league's 30 teams are averaging just 13.4 turnovers per game this season, the lowest since the first count was made in 1970-71. Even offensive rebounding, which has been on the wane in recent years, has seen a resurgence. Since the 2020-21 season when the 22% offensive rebounding rate hit rock bottom, the overall offensive rebounding rate has started to rise. This year's 24.5% is the NBA's highest since the 2014-15 season.
In addition to this, the space coverage of the offensive side has increased by about 5% since the 2021-22 season. In the same time period, the defender's coverage increased by only 0.3%. Kings coach Mike Brown said: "It's a little bad right now. There were only a few guys in the league before and you really had to worry about it outside the three-point line. ”
While Brown has seen the rise of offense, he has no answer to how to curb today's record-breaking scoring run. 'I don't know if there's anything I can do, the players are so good compared to when they were and it's hard to do. It's hard. ”
The quality of the game should be more important than the total score
Considering that Dumas won a championship with the "bad boys" Pistons, he is now overseeing the league's highest-scoring basketball product, which is perhaps an irony. But the five-time All-Star guard prefers to focus on the quality of basketball rather than soaring total points.
"Whether it's 150-151 or 100-101, I think what the fans really want to see is an incredible game," Dumas said. "'Man, did you watch last night's game? If that's what the fans say, then that's the great thing about the league. The score is secondary. ”
At the same time, the players have their own opinions.
Celtics guard Jrue Holiday is a five-time All-Defensive Team selection, and he made it clear that he doesn't like the upward trend in scoring. His solution was to make the players more physical.
"People like to see players score 60, 70 points, they can do anything," Holiday said, "If you can increase your defensive intensity and you can play as you used to, how can you get such a high score? So, I personally don't think there's a balance [between offense and defense]. "
Celtics guard Derrick White is Holiday backcourt partner, and his defensive efficiency ranks third in the league. 'The pitch and the space in the attack are huge, and if you give these great players space, it's almost impossible for them to be defended. White said.
Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon dismissed the notion that "defenders are at a disadvantage," though. In fact, Gordon believes that it is the responsibility of the players themselves to slow down these crazy scoring stats.
"I think there's a balance between offense and defense," Gordon told ESPN, "and all you need is better defenders, and everybody's crazy because you don't want to defend at all." If you want to reduce the opponent's score, you first have to want to defend, of course you need to be technical, but you also have to have the intangibles. ”
But players, coaches, and executives across the league admit that the NBA has evolved into an ecosystem over the past 20 years, and it's become increasingly difficult to defend. Differing perceptions of its severity also highlight the challenges facing Dumas and the competition committee. At the moment, the coalition is carefully studying the data, but is not yet close to taking any action.
"It's not there yet," Dumas said. He often gets calls from the team. Dumas added, "We're now digging into [the data] and we're making a lot of films, and we're putting together a lot of stuff to be able to look at the data and say, 'Well, yes, we do have a problem.'" But you can't make such a change based on hearsay alone. ”
Holiday has a more straightforward solution. "Blow every game as if it were a playoff game and blow every game as if it were an important game. I'm not saying that the game isn't important right now, but in the playoffs, it's a lot more physical, and you can, how to say, do more and get blown for a few fouls. That way, I think people will actually watch the game. ”