so what your saying..is the NBL should become more like the NBA where the only defence played is within the arch and predominantly consists of blocked shots?
That sounds like an excellent idea, I mean its only that juniors are taught from early stages to pressure the ball to create turnovers - must have missed the stage where creating a turnover was unfair because it didnt allow the other team to set up an offence.
Your point suggests we succumb to marketing pressures, and ensure that the game just looks 'pretty'. Thats not what the game is about, it can be ugly, and the diehards know that.
The further the game gets pushed from basic principles, to become more of entertainment which looks pretty, the more bullsh.. its going to be.

There is a difference between "pressuring the ball to create turnovers" and what's currently played in the NBL. Of course the defense needs to apply pressure to the ball handler, but right from when the ball is inbounded?

"The further the game gets pushed from basic principles, to become more of entertainment which looks pretty, the more bullsh.. its going to be. "

So you'd rather watch a game like last nights where a team can hardly set up an offense and there were a lot of turnovers? You mention "the further the game gets pushed from its basic principles", I'd argue that setting up an offense and trying to get past the defense is pretty basic in any non-trivial league, so I don't think using that as your argument really proves anything.

I guess if you're of the opinion that the NBL should be a league where basketball is played in a fundamental fashion only, then you probably won't see my points.

However, I'd submit that while the NBL needs to be a reflection of proper basketball concepts and fundamentals, to gain any significant following in Australia there needs to be a little more focus on playing a brand of basketball that's appealing.

setting up an offence is pretty basic, for any team...however i fail to see how it is the prerogative of the defence to allow this to happen. the game is as simple as whoever scores the most wins. if allowed to set up an offence, then it increases opportunity to score. why not pressure from the endline? if you create a turnover you are closer to your basket to score.
rather than adopt different defensive principles which go against the fundamental principles, shouldnt it be more of a case that teams should learn to look after the ball? you mentioned they were getting double and triple teamed..press break? means someone else is open..
i think your looking at the wrong approach..if the defence is raised then the offence needs to appropriately do so in turn..by this approach..the quality of the game should only increase, rather than go backward

Wouldn't pressuring up the court often create more exciting scoring opportunities? Either the defenders get a steal and have a fast break or scoring opportunity against an unclogged key, or the side with the ball can beat the press to do the same down the other end.

Ridiculous topic! Defence wins championships PERIOD!

Defence is what it is all about but that was like rugby in that first half. Refs need to be tighter in that area and the holding and pulling on arms under the ring.

Sixers just plain sucked at the extended pressure. See when the Sixers pressed on Gibson - Straight away Worthington was there to set a screen, I think Ingles also made himself available as a passing option. Compare this to the Sixers nearly EVERY time bringing the ball up left the 1 man to do it all himself.

Why does Bruce use up nearly 8 seconds almost every time he brings the ball up? It's been every game he's in...I find myself looking at the clock waiting for a back court violation to be called every time.
is that something he was taught to do in the US?
it reduces the shot clock down to 16 to try to execute a play nearly every time. No wonder there are so many turnovers.

I do get confused with you guys. Tinnie hustled (in a recent home game) & scored on some inbounds & it's sweet. The oppo do it, & boo hoo, that's not pretty.
FFS, the game's entertaining when all players on the floor are desperate for the ball.
Move on.

Thanks again DJ, for the "as it is" stuff. I am totally dis-heartened by last night, & excuses don't work for me. Guys, get real. We had a full squad, & we sucked.

The better team won.

If hes got 2 or 3 on him

some ones freeeee

Dana:
"Why does Bruce use up nearly 8 seconds almost every time he brings the ball up?"

No-one's helping him (screens, making themselves available), & the coaches should be right on top of that shit.
The last thing I'd want out this year, is for Aaron to leave, through not being supported. Give him some options & he'll make the right choices. Give him none, & expect miracles, is naive to the extreme.

KC- gone:

"If hes got 2 or 3 on him

some ones freeeee"

Yep, it's that easy. So why did the winningest coach (Goorj), give us such a no-brainer advantage?

This guy has no idea you sad little 36ers fan most likely if the dragons had have turned the ball over you would have been jumping up cheering for your team so dont give us this bullshit.

If you replace Bruce last night with Daniel Joyce this forum would be in absolute meltdown. Bruce sucked majorly last night - end of story!

Surely if Adelaide are struggling with a press, the players know what to do? Or the coach has to get stick into them until they do. We had problems with this last year as well, I think.

Isaac I have also noticed that we seem to struggle to break a press, and have done for the last few seasons.

The players seem to know how to break the press, but there never seems to be any additional help or options for the ball handler to use.

Surely just increasing the communication between the players could help to get through the press a bit easier

I think part of the point trying to be made was that the nature of the harassing defence is that often it involves uncalled fouls. That's part of what I got from the original post.

I agree with the posters above that really good harassing defence is fine and should be part of the game. The offence then has to raise its level to beat the defence. As stated above, you get a better quality game all round as a consequence. I think the point being made is that the level of harassment has increased over the years as the game - at the NBL level has been modified to call fewer fouls that stop the flow of the game. The idea being "no harm no foul". Unfortunately, this sort of leeway, once given inevitably leads to the boundary of what's allowed moving further out. So, we now have persistent tactics of bumping, holding, slapping and so forth, to unsettle the opponent and break up offensive sets and plays.

To misquote Magic Johnson, defence is a matter of feet, not fouling.

I love seeing the full court pressure. It maintains the tension in the game for the spectators, and creates many more options.

It seemed we were gambling on trying to get Bruce to break the press by himself so it would become a 5 on 4 or 4 on 3 situation. It's not that easy! send help it's pretty simple.