Amid widespread talks of the perceived narrative that today’s modern NBA isn’t at all versatile in terms of playstyle and variety (a notion I highly disagree with — and one not backed up by meticulous film study), most have largely ignored the defensive end of the floor in such discussions. When the old illegal defense rules were shelved in favor of the defensive three-seconds rule before the 2001-2002 season, it opened the door to a whole-new type of defensive strategy that was previously prevalent in high school, college, and international pro leagues: zone defense. Over the course of twenty years, the NBA’s version of zone defense has evolved from a mere afterthought using “vanilla” schemes (e.
Warriors’ defense has been in a zone — in more ways than one
