NBA Competition Committee reviewing whether new rules mostly favor offensive plays

Posted by Matt February 28, 2024 5 Min Read

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It is no wonder that the NBA’s rule books have mostly been encouraging offensive plays, despite the frustration of defensive athletes who have no choice but to be extra careful when guarding attacks. This has resulted in record-breaking score boards and stars reaching 60+point displays more often. 

What better example than LeBron James’ reaction to the 397 points scored in the most recent All-Star Game in Indianapolis? “This is what a lot of the [regular-season] games are starting to look like, too,” he said after the match, which saw everything but defensive plays.

However, these scoring explosions aren’t entirely new. Let’s go back two decades, as NBA squads averaged 93.4 points per contest in the 2003/04 season, and the game was low-paced and defensive clutch performances had become a custom.

Ever since the following 2004/25 campaign, scoring in the league has grown steadily, as this was the year the rule book started to change. Not only were officials cracking down on hand-checking on the perimeter, but the NBA began to grow stronger as an entertainment industry.

As this season NBA teams are averaging 115.4 points per match, there is a sense among fans and experts that the balance has tilted too far away from defensive plays, as the sport is now focused on the attacking, slam-dunk frenzy.  This is why the league’s VP Joe Dumas has announced that the Competition Committee is reviewing the consequences of their decisions.

”…the league’s competition committee has officially begun reviewing whether the game has tilted too far toward offense and whether changes need to be implemented to achieve better balance,” he told ESPN this week.

Not too long ago, Dumars revealed that this was starting to become an issue for the sport. “The question is posed to each one of those groups: Is the balance out of whack? Do we need to balance this more to allow defenses to defend more, to do more on the defensive end of the court? And by and large, people are saying it wouldn’t be bad to have a little bit more defense…

“You don’t want it where the defense can just, you know, grab and hold, and you don’t want it when the offense has just this huge advantage, either,” Joe said.

Adam Silver also addressed the fact that scoring in the NBA is becoming easier, although he believes it has more to do with talent

There is no doubt that modern basketball in the NBA has changed immensely in the past decades, not only with the game’s rule book, but also in the way it is intended to keep growing as a show business, not just as a sport. The league’s top-rated offense is averaging almost 124 points per game so far.

Also, over the past two competitions, four different players have produced 70+ point games. “I want to dispel any notion that the league feels, or the league office necessarily feels that high-scoring games in the abstract are good,” Silver said. “I think what we want are competitive games. … The skill level is off the charts.”

The best example of change in basketball came during this season’s All-Star Game in Indianapolis, as it was the highest-point exhibition in the showcase’s history and the Eastern Conference dropped a new record with 211 points.

“Every player at every position has to be able to shoot the ball. … You’re seeing this global pool of talent coming into the league (with) some of the best athletes in the world who can frankly shoot the lights out. I think that’s partly what’s responsible for the increased scoring,” the commissioner concluded.