Anonymous
Years ago
Is the NBL the lowest IQ league in the world?
Week in week out you see these players do the dumbest things on the court. I dont know if its motivated by coaches or players, but boy, there are some really dumb things that happen.
2 things that stand out.
1. The full court press. This is the most irritating thing imaginable and i have no doubt it stems from teams trying to copy the Wildcats from last year. People say the NBA is a copycat league, but so is the NBL.
Time after time, you see teams with the full court press after every made basket or even from an inbounds play, yet so many times teams get burnt which results in an open layup. If its not an open layup, you see unecessary fouls and foul counts for players pile up.
Yes, you do see turnovers SOMETIMES off it, but for the amount of steals you get it to the amount of open shots you give it is no where worth as the majority of ball handlers are of high calibre in the NBL.
So why are they doing it? I have no doubt this stems fro m the Wildcats last season. What people dont realise is, they were able to do so because Damian Martin is arguably one of the best defensive guards the NBL has seen. He is a sublime defender and i dont see anyone matching him in this regard. So teams are merely just copying them even though they dont have the skill set to match.
You never see it in the NBA..Absolutely NEVER, only in the last 20 seconds when teams are trying to intentionally foul.
2. Another low IQ strategy which is the most stupid of them all is what is going on the last minute of games. Its an absolute dogs breakfast.
We see in absolute blow outs teams intentionally fouling even though they are down anywhere between 10-20 points.
A big reason it seems is the point differential that will determine spots later in the season if there is a tie.
But this is absolutely no reason why we see what is going on.
Why are teams intentionally fouling? Now, i can understand teams defending hard up to the very end so they dont concede points...absolutely, but why intentionally foul if there is no threat?
For example, if the ball handler is 6-7 feet behind the 3 point line and dribbling the ball to drain the clock, there is absolutely NO REASON AT ALL TO INTENTIONALLY FOUL. If the ball handler then tries to make a play by driving to the basket or attempts to put up a shot, you try and defend first and if you cant and you end up fouling, then so be it...no problem there, but if they are not threatening to score, why foul?
Are these people that DUMB?
If its the end of the season and its coming down to the tie breaker, then i can understand intentionally fouling , to send them to the FT line and hope they miss so they can try and eat into the TOTAL deficit. But we arent even there yet.
It makes ZERO SENSE.
Yesterday was a prime example, with 5 seconds left, United were JUST trying to inbound the ball and yet as soon as they dud, the breakers pretty tackled them, sent United the line and they made 2 Fts, and guess what they became even further behind in aggregate.
If united were driving to the basket, then i could understand trying to foul. Absolutely, but they werent. So why intentionally foul?
If that was the last game of the year and the Breakers were behind by say 2 in agggregate, then yes, that makes sense to foul.
Just begs belief, are teams/players/coaches THAT DUMB?
I am not bagging out the skill level of players or there will and desire, but rather what is happening between the ears...It really begs belief. Never seen a more dumb league.
