[ESPN TrueHoop] NBA vs. International Leagues Skill Comparison stats

The NBA has the worst defense of any of those leagues.

 

I'm from Europe, the reasons they shoot so many 3s are the smaller court that has tough spacing and I don't see playbooks as good as in the NBA.
While you run multiple screens and fakes in the NBA, European teams pass the ball around most of the time without really getting someone an open
look/chance to drive.

The NBA doesn't have a bad defense, it's just tough to guard someone on
a bigger court. We've seen the international games where NBA teams and the
US-Team flat out killed opponents on defense on a FIBA-sized court.

NBA players also seem to be better at 3pt% and ft%, they practiced a lot more in their life( majority of them) and have great individual coaching every day.

I liked some of OHMSS's posts, but saying the NBA has the "worst defense" is flat out silly.

Get a NBA team to play overseas for one year and they would win (nearly) every game.

 

NBA does have by far the worst defense. In fact, the stats clearly show that.

 

or... it could be that there is superior talent in the nba, maybe its a combination of both.

 

Europe has a very good developmental league for the NBA. Only the best and most fortunate are lucky enough to advance to the best league (The NBA) in the world. The NBA is the place where an all-Euroleague player like Luis Scola can come to be a very good roll player. In very rare cases a Euro MVP like Pau Gasol become the second best player on a NBA Championship team.

 

Show me stats that take the faster pace, more minutes, best players/athletes in the world and bigger court, different rules to account. What you say is just not true, you seem to simply hate on the NBA and glorify european basketball for some weird kind of reason.

 

i don't recall any Euros in the NBA with a good defensive reputation whatsoever.

from the top of my head i can think of Darko. but he barely plays.

if anything, in the NBA it seems it's quite the opposite.

 

European teams have better playbooks than most of the NBA teams. I don't know what games you've been watching, but your asumption is wrong.

NBA has the worst defense in terms of comparing their offensive skills to defensive. European basketball is much more balanced.

'Nearly' is quite the word. For example, the Knicks struggled in a preseason game against AJ Milano, which is nothing more than a solid team (I'd put them somewhere along the 15th team overall in Europe).

 

I'm watchin European games every week and I don't really see brilliant plays throughout the whole games. Maybe you could provide me with some games.
And the theory of comparing offensive skills to defensive and therefore calling European ball more balanced(maybe cause there are not that many players that are stellar on defense/offense so there's no one that takes a game over completely) isn't really an answer/fact you can prove.

Yes the Knicks struggled, but their team was a piece of ish at that time. If you take a look at all the years, 2nd tier NBA clubs crashed Europe's elite by a big margin. The individual skills, pace and athleticism killed European clubs.

You guys are sayin worst defense but have nothing that proves it, neither you integrate the pace/rules/bigger court as part of your theories.

 

There aren't brilliant plays but saying that european players just stand around on the court is rubbish. Almost every team runs screens and tries to get an open shot for their shooter.

About the defense, let me give you an example: if you have great offensive players playing average defense and average offensive players playing average defense, which defense will look better? The second one, of course. The NBA has bad defense comparing to the overall quality of the same league.
Btw, their players dominate on defense against international teams only because of their physical strength. Nothing more.

Well, now you say that the Knicks were crap at that time. But you also said "an NBA team playing overseas for one year would win (nearly) every game". You didn't specify what team, so you can include NYK in there.

NBA has the same rules as european basketball leagues (the only main difference is the 0,5 m farther 3-point line). The pace differs from team to team, it doesn't depend on the league. Here's an example: http://www.eurocupbasketball.com/ulebcup/competition/results/showgame?clubcode=CED&gamecode=113 (is that the pace you've been talking about?)

 

In the other leagues......

hand checking is allowed

real zone defense is allowed (not the arm's length fake NBA "zone")

you are allowed to pure zone up and take away the pick and roll if you want, or take away any individual player - ANY players on Earth can be rendered useless and a total zero if you want with the Euroleague defense rules

hip checking is allowed

the refs allow about 5 times more physical contact

You can hit the ball handler with your hip, with your shoulder, and with your hands - all legal

7 footers camp under the basket and in the lane all game long and you can clog the lane up if you want all game

there is no 3 second defensive violation

the court is smaller and there is basically no room to operate from the corners and less room from the elbows - meaning that 1/3 of the court is essentially taken away from the offense as compared to the NBA

the 3 point line is closer, which allows less spacing and makes it easier to guard the 3 line (making 3 point shots much harder)

the refs in those other leagues do not simply gift free throws for flopping (which is not even allowed), flailing, and for throwing your body into the defender. All these NBA free throw shooting contests that happen in ever playoff game don't ever happen in those other leagues. You rarely get award free throws, even if you actually were fouled.


The NBA rules are designed for high scoring and easy offense. It is much harder to scorer 15-20 points in a Euroleague game than it is in an NBA game. Exponentially harder actually because of the incredible difference in the rules, the game design and how the refs call the games.

David Stern freaks out if games are played in the 80s to 90s scores. Bertomeu (who runs Euroleague) does not care if games are played in the 60s scores.

 

News flash, Pau Gasol was never the Euroleague MVP.

 

Let's break down your post, OHMSS.

This is all the same thing, but you somehow made it into 4 points in your "argument"

another 4 points that all say the same thing.

See, your whole post can be summed up into 3 parts. More physical with hip and hand checking, smaller court, and pure zone.

Still doesn't change the fact that the NBA is where the most talented basketball players play. If the Euroleague was better than the NBA, Why would the best players in the world be here?

I'm not degrading the Euroleague. I respect the way they play and I agree that there are many talented players out there. I'm just saying that the NBA is the ultimate level of basketball.

 

In 2001 Barcelona won the Spanish cup and Pau was named Finals MVP. He was an MVP.

Here ends the lesson.

 

The Spanish Cup MVP is about as important as NBA player of the week.

 

http://www.eurocupbasketball.com/ul...by-group?groupid=410&phasetypecode=RS++++++++

http://www.eurocupbasketball.com/ul...by-group?groupid=412&phasetypecode=RS++++++++

http://www.eurocupbasketball.com/ul...by-group?groupid=413&phasetypecode=RS++++++++

You showed one overtime game with a ridulously high score for a Euro Game, not really provin anything as the usual scores are like 20-40 points lower.
That's the same as if I provided you a link to a 130+ points game between Warriors and Pacers,not showin the truth.

Now you agree there are no brilliant plays but where did I say they just stay around every time?

"if you have great offensive players playing average defense and average offensive players playing average defense, which defense will look better? "

Now you indirectly say that the average defense in Europe is hidden by the average offense and looks better because of that, so the equation is that European defense isn't better at all.

"Btw, their players dominate on defense against international teams only because of their physical strength."

Yes, but physical strength is a big part of hard defense, see guys like Artest, Wallace, Oakley, Rodman, Pippen. The workouts NBA guys do every day pay off and are of course a big advantage in defensive abilities.

 

I've seen you dispute nothing at all about the NBA having bad defense. All you can do is claim "it's the different pace". Yes, the Suns under D' Antoni did not play bad defense, it was just all the "pace".

 

I actually made multiple points that you didn't even reply to, read my posts.

Now you come up with the Suns cause you can't think of a point that proves your theories.