The Association was letting players know that it was no longer cool to knock a guy coming into the paint they wanted him to be able to score at will for the all-mighty television ratings. The majority of the modifications have been of the watering down the game type. Since 1985, there have been over 25 rule changes involving contact and defense in the NBA.

However, the only thing that is offensive is that the National Basketball Association has watered down its product and true grit and competitive basketball is purely a moment in nostalgia. There were so many hand-checking modifications that one needed an abacus to keep count, and the end result was an NBA that would be supposedly more exciting, and with bigger offensive numbers to draw the fans in. During the 1990’s, the league brass instituted a grab bag of rule changes that were designed to drastically reduce the defender’s ability to, well, defend. In the immortal words of the late, great Lakers announcer Chick Hearn, there are just too many ticky tack fouls. With that said, we have compiled a list of five reasons why the National Basketball Association has become a shell of its former self.

There are also the players like Kevin Durant, and other young and gun offensive juggernauts, who think that defense is only for squares, and that building the All-Star team is the magic pill for those who have lived a life obscurity in the basement of the standings. To the disappointment of the fan base, these times have been replaced with a version of grade school touch football for the hardcourt, except that grade school touch football is rougher than what happens in the modern day NBA.įor the big men of today, the mid and long-range jumper is a necessity making Joakim Noah a household name, and forcing the memories of Shaquille O’Neal and other dominant centers into obscurity.

This was the era of aggressive offensive talents who were greeted with defensive geniuses, clamping down with the ferocity and killer instinct of a lion. Gone are the good ol' days of the roughhouse Detroit Pistons, the clothesline assaults in the paint, the swinging elbows under the basket, and the overall hooligan style of play that made the NBA something exciting to watch. Times have changed over the last thirty years in the National Basketball Association.

We all sang tickey tack