Illegal defense: A rather nebulous
NBA
rule that was called irregularly. It's designed to prevent the use of the
zone
defense, today legal in the
NBA,
it was more like a
3-second
violation for the
defense,
in which no defender can stay in the
lane
for more than
3 seconds. If you were on defense and were not
aggressively guarding
someone, you could not spend more than
3
seconds in the
key at a time.
The term
Illegal defense has replaced
zone
defense in
NBA usage.
The rule now in place, supported by guidelines, defines approved
coverage by defensive players and teams.
Violations of these
rules and guidelines will be noted as
Illegal Defense.
a. Illegal defenses which violate
the rules and accepted guidelines set forth are not permitted in the
NBA
.
b. When the offensive team is in its
backcourt
with the ball, no
illegal
defense violation may occur.
The
illegal
defense guidelines needed to be eliminated because they have become problematic. They
are problematic for our fans, who don't understand the rule. They are problematic for the
officials, who admittedly have had difficulty administering the rule. And finally, the
teams have used the guidelines in a way that produces
isolation Basketball.
Teams identify areas on the floor that they can use to their advantage in a given
offensive matchup and this produces a real sameness of play amongst a lot of the teams.
With
isolation
Basketball, a lot of
NBA
teams began standing around. There is little player movement, there is little ball
movement, and there is a decreasing amount of
fast
break opportunities. These developments began with the misuse of the
illegal defense
guidelines and therefore they needed to be eliminated. By eliminating them, the
desired result is to get a game that once again is based on passing, cutting, player
movement, and ball movement. A game that hopefully produces
fast
break opportunities because that is the way our game should be played.
A defensive three-second violation that would prohibit a player on defense from being
in the
lane for more than three seconds, except when the player is defending
an opponent in the
lane area: When the
illegal defense
guidelines were eliminated, the number one concern was that teams would take a bigger
player, like a Shaquille O'Neal, Theo Ratliff, Shawn Bradley, or Dikembe Mutombo, and
simply put him in the middle of the
lane
to camp out and prohibit
drives
to the basket and encourage
low-percentage shots. In an effort to help alleviate that concern, the
defensive three-seconds violation was recommended. Prohibiting a player from being in the
lane
for longer than three seconds will hopefully prevent a player from simply camping in the
lane
for the entire
possession.
Daniel Ferrero - ebastats
- the Basketball statistics forum
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