re: Lack of defensive recognition in basketball today

i was talking about this saturday night with one of my friends

with the changes in defenses and move towards efficiency, teams are "giving up" on some things in order to gain on the other end. i read an article last week, i think it was about the warriors, and it was discussing how they don't overspend energy on offensive rebounds so that they get back on defense and slow fast breaks

my friend was talking about how they aren't those gritty, hardworking defensive teams like the mid-00s pistons. i brought up the grizz, who are very similar. they maxed out in the playoffs every year b/c their offense just wasn't good enough and could not become good enough. the grizz are very defensive and built around big men and a pure point guard. that style just doesn't work against teams built for the more modern game

defense is moving more towards having a rim protector and a bunch of long, athletic guys whose goal is to get steals and start transition. defense today has a ton of movement and lots of hedging/flexing for that reason.